From my essay on the DVD release of "Twin Peaks Season 2" at MSN Movies:
"A path is formed by laying one stone at a time."Continue reading at MSN Movies...
-- The GiantThe robin, the mill, the saw blades, the road, the waterfall, the surface of the water. These are the markers down the path to "Twin Peaks," David Lynch's television town full of mysteries, nestled in the deep, dark woods of the Pacific Northwest. From April 8, 1990, to June 10, 1991 -- as the ABC show rapidly metamorphosed from hypnotic oddity to pop-culture phenomenon to baffling shaggy dog story -- these images in the opening credits (accompanied by the twin keyboard scales of Angelo Badalamenti's lush and ghostly score) provided the ritual entrance to Twin Peaks.
This is a territory circumscribed by ritual and repetition -- of daily life and cryptic clues and incantations. These iconic introductory images are Twin Peaks' Stations of the Cross, representing landmarks in the life of Twin Peaks' sacrificial lamb and lioness, Laura Palmer: high school beauty queen by day, tormented naughty girl by night. The Passion of Laura Palmer, murdered during Lent, the penitential season of grief, was lamented, reconstructed and re-enacted ("It is happening again") in one two-hour television pilot, a seven-episode first season, a 22-episode second season and a feature film prequel/coda, "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me."
Seven years after the DVD release of the first season of "Twin Peaks," the second and only full-season has at last appeared. (The two-hour pilot, mired in a tangle of rights issues, has never been released on DVD in North America.) Looking back over the series, with a sense of the overall terrain, it's clearer than ever how "Twin Peaks" was meant to be experienced. A hybrid of supernatural murder mystery and soap-operatic melodrama (and, though genuinely terrifying and disturbing, simultaneously a parody of both), "Twin Peaks" was never quite a serial, in that it did not lay its stones, sequentially, one at a time. It dumped pebbles and boulders all over the place. This is Lynchland, after all.
As the titles (and the title) suggest, Twin Peaks (and "Twin Peaks") is a set of geographical and psychological coordinates -- a spatial and temporal map like the one that, in the series' final hours, reveals the entrance to the Black Lodge (containing the red room with the dancing Man From Another Place) in space and in time. "I just know I'm going to get lost in those woods again tonight," a doomed Laura wrote in her diary. And that's the invitation Lynch extended to viewers: "Let's get lost."
I've never watched Twin Peaks, and was very annoyed that they would release the season one boxed set without the pilot episode. I say give me the actual whole series or I won't bother with it. (Although Jim's review certainly piqued my interest.) Just to be clear: This new boxed set has all that's left of the series, right? For some reason I thought that people always referenced a third season.
Also, Jim: English shows often only have six or so episodes a season ("The Office" only had 12 total, and the Christmas special), so I think quality often has a much greater effect than the number of episodes.
Jim, I was a huge Twin Peaks fan who watched every episode and was very sad to see it go. Unfortunately, I think the very last episode is one of the worse things Lynch has ever done. Sure, it has full-blown "Lynchian wierdness," but I had this nagging feeling watching it that Lynch and Frost said "screw it, ABC doesn't want us, so we're going to off everyone"--and the final shot of the series confirmed my belief and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Still, it was one of the best, most original television shows ever. Like Lynch's best work, it could pack suspensful, laugh-out-loud funny and downright scary moments all in an hour like no other show could.
I gotta be honest, except for the two episode lag after we learn the killer's ID and a few side plots, I was actually more satisfied by season 2. Maddy's death is probably the work I've ever seen from Lynch. It actually gave me nightmares (the only other film to do so was Ringu, which inspired a dream where I was fleeing from living television sets, not nearly as intense).
I disagree about the last episode. In terms of offing everyone, how is it any different from the season 1 finale? The final shot horrified me with the possibilty of what season 3 could've included. It reminded me a lot of what Jake said in Chinatown, where by trying to protect somebody he made certain she was hurt.
Annie: "Dale, I saw the face of the man who killed me."
Coop: "Annie, the face of the man who killed you?"
Annie: "It was my husband. Who's Annie?"
[Annie transforms into Caroline]
Caroline: "It's me. It's me. It's me."
The Final Episode of Twin Peaks contained some of the most haunting fiction I have ever witnessed on television. A Jungian Zeitgeist.
It was absolutely chilling, viewed through the lens of the entire series.
Seeing "Twin Peaks: Fire..." again, I marvel at how the final scene of the film -seams- into the final episode. And the first!
So sad. And, I still hope for Dale Cooper's soul. Chester Desmond too.
Jim, would you have bum-rushed Lynch when he was hangin' with his cow in LA, grab him by the lapels, and scream "WHERE'S THE GOOD DALE?!"
I fell in love with the series after the first DVD came out(I was about 10 when the show was on, so it probably would have been over my head) and quickly snatched up Season Two VHS tapes on ebay. So Season 2 finally comes out on DVD, I gleefully buy it, and then I realize in horror that SEASON ONE IS NOW OUT OF PRINT!!! What the hell??!! It's like they're deliberately f***ing with the fans at this point.
From FWWM:
Annie: (Appearing next to Laura on her bed) The good Dale is in the Black Lodge. Write it in your diary.
Jim, you have some really good timing! Just yesterday I got the second season as an early birthday present. I hadn't watched the second season since it was on TV, so I'm excited to go through it in order. I did skip around to my favorite episodes (and that ending) and today plan on doing a marathon with a buddy. It's nice to see that you and I are of the same mind (kind of). It must be the northwest thing (since I'm up here in Washington State, too). :)
My friend and I were watching Twin Peaks Season 2 tonight, and I commented how Twin Peaks changed my life. Yes, it sounds dramatic, but I was 14 at the time, and it opened me up to this new world of bizarro-ness and art and all this stuff. My friend and I agreed that I would probably be an engineer (no offense to engineers or anything...) and married to an engineer and have three kids. Now that I think about it, I'd be making a lot more money than I do now... But anyway, props to Twin Peaks. I can't wait to see the Wyndham Earle stuff, and I don't even remember the last episode. Also, I am a Washingtonian, and we were wondering if the real Twin Peaks is supposed to be in Pend Oreille County up in the NE part of the state.
I can't believe after all of these years that this show is still frequently discussed! As a HUGE fan back in the day, this is quite pleasing. I actually attended the cast party at the Sportsman's Lodge on June 10, 1991 and it was the most wonderful time...being 22 years old in Hollywood was quite fun as well!