TWIN PEAKS SEASON 1 - REVIEW


I remember first hearing that David Lynch had made a TV series.

It was crazy clown time.

I couldn't wait to check it out.

So here we are, 2011, and finally I have allowed myself to sit through the whole first season of Twin Peaks. Was it worth the wait?

Oh yes.

That Twin Peaks only lasted two seasons is both shocking and unsurprising. Sure it was great but how long could a soap opera satire about dreams, lumber... oh and one little murder last for longer than more accessible shows like Sabrina The Teenage Witch? Oh 90's, you complicated mistress you...

The Twin Peaks Pilot episode gets the show on the road in a dramatic yet positively gloomy way with Kyle McLachlan's jolly detective, strong contender for best guy ever, only popping by about halfway through. The show revolves around the murder of high school student Laura Palmer, it's a whodunit where the usual CSI rules do not apply. It's a show in which birds, coconuts and logs often hold more evidence than the humans involved. It's like if Fringe impregnated Sunset Beach and it gave birth to a new show. A show in which coffee, pies and wood are all the rage and everyone is bat shit crazy.

Great things.

Lynch's show is one anarchic beast. One second you're clearly watching the best episode of Days Of Our Lives ever, another you're in Lynch Land when women with eye-patches worry about drapes and baguettes are chewed on frantically (and kinda sexually) as a symbol of brotherhood and friendship. Peaks has a true film noir vibe to it and its corny soap opera charm added to the darkness of the plot itself makes for a sinister, often very funny, ridiculous, dream-like watch. It really is unique.

The cast is excellent all around as one of the best arrays of weirdos you'll ever see on television. McLachlan's FBI agent Cooper steals the show, though, by being so gosh darn good and proper, embracing the weirdness completely, immersing himself entirely in the town's cookiness  and adding his very own brand of WTF to the investigation, using throwing rocks at empty bottles as evidence and such. But I guess when the FBI boss is David Lynch himself that stuff's bound to happen.

The show has more red herrings you could possibly imagine: everyone's a suspect. Even Joan Chen's adorable Jocelyn, wouldn't hurt a fly...

For all we know she ATE Laura Palmer raw!!!

(highly unlikely since her body was found)

It's a great first season with a neat last minute cliffhanger but this very much feels like only the beginning. I expect more insanity come season 2 and, of course, the film Fire Walk With Me. Stay tuned.

DAMN good show.

And HOT.

(see Twin Peaks for that joke to make sense)

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