Twin Peaks

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of David Lynch’s television masterwork. It looked and felt like nothing that had been made for TV before, approaching movie quality in its cinematography, complexity and maturity. The idea was simple enough: use the investigation of a girl’s murder to showcase the eccentricities hiding behind the daily life of a small town.

The brilliance and strangeness of David Lynch and fellow creator Mark Frost transformed the series however, giving it an inherent subtlety and weirdness that electrified viewers. This was further amplified by the surprising power of Sheryl Lee’s image as the murdered Laura Palmer, Angelo Badalamenti’s incredible score, and the stellar performances of most of the cast. Kyle MacLachlan was particularly superb as mystic FBI agent Dale Cooper, and in fact many of Cooper’s lines are things that Lynch, a dedicated spiritual seeker, actually says.

The series was eccentric from the first moment, but swiftly added paranormal and spiritual aspects, enhancing the already sinister atmosphere. The series gathered massive ratings, but started going into decline after network executives forced Lynch to resolve the murder mystery half way through the second season. Lynch and Frost then got distracted by the spin-off movie, “Fire Walk With Me”.

Tweeds Cafe in North Bent, WA by and (c) Mhicheil

Without Lynch’s vision at the helm, the series started to try too hard to be strange, viewers fled, and the program was cancelled. It remains some of the best television ever made, however, particularly up to the killer’s apprehension.

Twin Peaks opened the way for a whole raft of important off-beat TV shows – including “The X-Files” and “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer” – and raised the bar on production quality. Modern TV would be very different if it had never been shown.