Twin Peaks Season 1

So I started watching Twin Peaks quite a long time ago. I took interest in the show when I was looking for something to watch in the intermediary time between watching Stranger Things season 1 and 2 and an article suggested that if I liked Stranger Things I would like this show. It took me quite a long time to get through it so I’ll be honest and say I probably won’t remember every horrible and every good thing that happened in this first season. But I can give an overall perspective of Twin Peaks and let you know if it’s worth checking out or if I think I’m going to be continuing to watch season 2.

Twin Peaks starts off with the central event that sets everything into motion and that is the murder of the prom queen, Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee). She is found dead and wrapped in plastic. It is definitely one of the grisliest murders that have ever occurred in Twin Peaks and everyone seems to be affected by it. Soon after, Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) of the FBI is summoned to Twin Peaks to assist the investigation already started by the Sheriff of the town, Harry Truman (played by Michael Ontkean). The entire season is the unraveling of the mystery behind Laura Palmer’s murder and the strange on goings of Twin Peaks and its residents.

Right off the bat, I should describe the style of this show because it took me a little bit to understand exactly what I was getting into and I didn’t read into anything because I didn’t want any secrets to be spoiled. The truth is, the style of Twin Peaks is pretty odd and if

you’re not prepared for it, you are in for a long… LONG series. In short, Twin Peaks takes on a bit of a soap opera format. While the center of the show is focused on the murder mystery of Laura Palmer, the majority of the show you will watch the drama and love stories between the people of the town. And it’s really cheesy, and really, REALLY slow. I honestly don’t remember much of the first two episodes because the focus is on some kind of love triangle between the characters in high school and man is it dull.  I kept on falling asleep while watching those episodes and when I finally got to the third or fourth episode where stuff sort of picks up a bit, I realized that the first two episodes really weren’t that important.

As I’ve already alluded to, Twin Peaks has a lot of characters and they all have their own secrets and their own motivations and connections to Laura Palmer and her untimely death. Of course there is Dale Cooper and the Sheriff’s office doing the investigation, but then there’s the high school students and their weird love triangle between Laura’s friend, Donna (played by Lara Flynn Boyle), a motorcycle driving loner named, James (played by James Marshall) and Laura’s boyfriend Bobby (played by Dana Ashbrook). Then you’ve got the

women who work at the diner, the saw mill owners, Laura’s hysterical parents, the business men trying to make a land deal with all of Scandinavia, and one of their daughters, Audrey (played by Sherilyn Fenn) who honestly I have no idea what her deal is the entire show.

All of it is pretty confusing overall and I didn’t even name off all the characters. The show is designed with its acting, story, and music like a soap opera like Days of our Lives. Now if it was satirical I would probably actually really enjoy this show but this is supposed to be taken seriously for at least a majority of the plot and I just can’t deal with it sometimes while I was watching it. I had to take a break because it’s just dripping in cheese. While it tries to be a soap opera, a crime mystery, and a little bit of a supernatural thriller, it’s really only good at the genre that I wasn’t really looking for, Soap Opera.

Now, what I will say is that Kyle MacLachlan was just having a ball with this role and I couldn’t help but feel incredibly entertained whenever he was onscreen. He really does become a really likeable character and he is really the only reason I kept on watching the show.

Also, if you are watching this show because somebody told you there was a little bit of a supernatural element to it, you are going to be really disappointed. I don’t know if the supernatural parts of the show pick up a little bit in the second season but I was looking for those supposed supernatural parts and beyond some freaky dreams and premonitions, there is a lot to be desired. Now to give credit where it’s due, those dreams and premonitions were probably the part of the show that kept me watching and they’re actually done better than the crime mystery which I thought was the main focus of the show. But even when all is said and done, I was still disappointed with the elements that tried to make this show different than all the other murder mysteries that I’ve seen on TV before.

This is another show that I may need some explaining on. This show apparently has garnered a huge fan base and it’s become a bit of a cult classic. I will need some explanation as to why. I don’t want to insult you at all if you like this show, but I don’t see the appeal. I definitely don’t understand how it got rebooted this year but hey, almost everything from the 80s and 90s is getting rebooted, I shouldn’t be surprised.

Now the question is, am I going to watch the second season? Without giving much away, I will say the last episode did manage to sneakily get me hooked and there are definitely a bunch of cliff hangers that I will admit I was wondering a little bit how they concluded. I might watch the first episode of the second season just to see the closure of those cliff hangers but unless that first episode is mind blowingly amazing or if someone is able to explain what I’m missing in this apparent masterpiece, I more than likely will not be watching season 2 and its even less likely that I will watch the new season that just came out or the movies that apparently are out there.

Overall, I can’t recommend Twin Peaks. There are so many other shows that are just better made, keep you interested, and give better performances. If you’re looking for a crime mystery series, I can recommend others that are better like Broadchurch or Criminal Minds. If you’re looking for science fiction or supernatural shows, I can recommend others that are better like Stranger Things or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m not much of a Soap Opera fan so I guess if you’re looking for one this might not be a bad idea, but I can guess that people would say that The Vampire Diaries will probably catch your fancy more than this show.

Seriously though, if you like this show, please send me a comment or a tweet because the way I see it is it furthers the conversation and this is my opinion, I want to hear yours.  

What are your thoughts? What did you think of Twin Peaks? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films and TV shows I should check out in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews as well as live tweets and Stardust videos for an initial reaction I have on the movie or TV show I’m watching before the full review.

I’ll leave you with this. Something to note about this series is the soundtrack. Like I said you are going to hear this song over, and over, and over again if you watch this show. It's not a bad song whatsoever but it can get pretty tedious in context. It does kind of symbolize the weird in between this show is in when it came out in the beginning of the 90s but still had that 80s flair. Enjoy!