Twin Peaks retrospective

Twin Peaks Retrospective

For many years I've been a fan of the 1990s TV show Twin Peaks, particularly the first series. Despite this interest, I only recently got around to watching the second and third series.

Given it's been quite some time since I last watched the first series and prequel movie plus series two and three are completely new to me, I thought it a good time to write a retrospective on my experience with the franchise as well as ask if it's worth watching Twin Peaks today.

The short answer is yes, watch it! Especially the first series. But, after that, I'd say it somewhat diminishing returns...

I think this is a slightly different take from most commentators, who seem to universally regard the third series as outstanding. While I do think it's much better than the second series, and the movie in some aspects, I have a few quibbles with it. So read on for a more detailed account of my thinking of the franchise as a whole, or at least skip to the end for my recommended watching order.

A sad note

Unfortunately while working on this essay, news came in that David Lynch has passed away. I won't elaborate on this too much, but I just thought it worth acknowledging the sad timing. David Lynch was an inspired visual artist and I would encourage you to check out his work!

Overview of series

I'll try not to repeat the plot in too much detail. Not so much as to avoid spoilers - be warned I will spoil the series - but because the plot is so intricate that it's hard to provide a concise description.

However, for this review to make sense it's important to have some grasp of the storyline, so....

Twin Peaks is set in a small town called Twin Peaks (big surprise there). It is a rural community in the Pacific Northwest of the USA[1]. The series opens with a popular High School student, Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee), discovered dead. Her body washed up on the shore, wrapped in plastic.

Her violent death prompts a response from the local police, and, due to some similarities with another murder case, and related criminal cross-border activities in Canada, the FBI become involved in the form of Special Agent Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan.

So far, this might sound like a rather standard Police Procedural, but Twin Peaks has plenty of the flare associated with David Lynch's work. The small town setting contrasts with an unsettling atmosphere and a strange almost inscrutable plot.

With the first series being a hit, it was quickly followed by a second series which was, and continues to be, much derided. Later a feature-length prequel, Fire Walk with Me, was released in cinemas. The movie was met with scepticism from critics upon release, but it has been reappraised in recent years and gone on to become a fan favourite.

After the movie, that was pretty much it from the franchise until 2017 when a new series, The Return, was released. As I mentioned above, The Return was widely regarded as a 'return' to form, with many fans and critics ecstatic to get their Twin Peaks fix after so long.

My experience with Twin Peaks

I didn't see Twin Peaks when it first aired, I would have been far too young. I suspect I first became aware of the series (as ever) via a parody on The Simpsons.

Even back then Twin Peaks was regarded as something of a classic cult favorite. I only got around to seeing the first series when I went to university. I was an undergraduate when a fellow student showed me a VHS recording (yes I'm that old). In fact, he showed me the concluding episode of the first series, I guess this was before spoilers were a thing...

Nevertheless, this brief exposure was enough to convince me that I had to see the rest of this series and fortunately I found a DVD box set of the entire first series in a local record store (again, old) and watched it through as quickly as I could.

The retrospective

Initially, I thought I'd reappraise Twin Peaks by reviewing each series chronologically. This resulted in an article that was far too long, and I think would be quite a slog to read so instead I'm going to focus on two topics that are particularly resonant for me: the aesthetics and the plot.

Aesthetics

Going back to my first experiences with Twin Peaks, what stood out to me was the show's atmosphere, and I think this was largely to do with its imagery. I couldn't follow the plot at first, but this didn't really matter. The beautiful wild woods, the kooky but compelling cast, and an ever-present threatening mood gave Twin Peaks a distinct vibe.

Also, it could be extremely funny. I can't think of another TV show that blends so many seemingly contradictory elements, from a 90s afternoon Soap Opera to a hardboiled detective story, to Lynch's surrealist tendencies.

The birth of grunge

Teasing out the aesthetics a bit more, upon rewatching the first thing I noticed was the contemporaneous setting i.e. the early 90s in Washington state, where Grunge started.

If you've ever seen a Nirvana music video you'll recognise a lot of the characters' looks. Whether the Production was trying to deliberately ape the look of Grunge musicians, or just incorporating regionally appropriate clothing, Twin Peaks captures a particular look of that era.

While Americana has played a role in many of Lynch's films, I don't think he's ever created something that feels so much of its era as Twin Peaks.[2]

Grunger than grunge

Another thing that became very apparent to me on rewatching Fire Walk with Me was how different it looked from the first two series. In particular, I felt it had a much dingier look.

To be clear, Fire Walk with Me is extremely well made, it just doesn't have the same glossy that the original TV series had. I suspect, this difference is in part due to the fact the original series was mostly filmed on studio sound stages, whereas the movie was shot on location.

More speculatively, I wonder if this rougher look is closer to Lynch's original intention. Certainly, when we get to The Return (in which he directed every single episode) it has an even rougher look.

In many ways, aesthetically, The Return is a step beyond Fire Walk with Me. This has both good and bad effects in my view.

On the good side, I believe The Return was shot digitally, which gives the realistic parts an even more realistic feel that contrasts more sharply when Lynch employs his characteristic surrealism.

Indeed, I'd suggest digital recording unlocked Lynch's creativity. There are some incredible visual effects that work rather well with the practical effects Lynch has always been skilled in.

Really there are only a few criticisms I have of The Return.

To begin with, as I perhaps hinted at above, Lynch really indulges his taste for strangeness here. Normally I quite enjoy the odd turns in Lynch's cinema (I am a big fan of Inland Empire for instance) but in The Return, I find some sequences overly long. Perhaps Twin Peaks works best when there is a light dusting of strangeness.

The plot

Moving on the second topic to review is the plot, which I think to this day is quite innovative.

Pace is crucial

It's not just all about visuals, the plot of Twin Peaks is quite riveting, and it's remarkable how Lynch and Frost were able to develop the storyline over such a long period.

As I mentioned the storyline of the first series is rather hard to follow at first, but it does all make sense once you get it. There are some unique touches, particularly for the time, for instance, you sort of see the killer at the end of the third episode.

The first series is particularly well structured, with a storyline that builds up to a very exciting conclusion. In fact, I would say of all the Twin Peaks media, it remains the most compelling watch.

Similarly, the movie prequel must have been quite innovative at the time. Today prequels, side stories, alternate universes and timelines are a familiar trope, but I think this was quite unusual in the early nineties. The Twin Peaks prequel event predates the Star Wars prequels by a few years.

As far as the story goes, Fire Walk with Me fills in a lot of details about the events leading up to the first series. We see the previous FBI investigation before Cooper was dispatched, but the main focus is Laura Palmer's final days.

The first section has a really interesting structure, it's almost like David Lynch decided to remake Twin Peaks but with everything slightly skewed - the local police are not in any way friendly, the FBI Detective we meet seems much tougher than Cooper (perhaps prefiguring the plot of The Return which focuses on the evil Cooper).

A second segment, follows, which focuses on Laura Palmer's final days. This section fills in a lot of details and is a compelling watch.

The Return's contribution

What of The Return's plot then? Well, it's very good. It centres on Cooper's evil doppelganger, Mr C, and his effort to stay in 'our world' rather than return to the mysterious Black Lodge.

One thing that is quite refreshing about The Return, compared to other attempts to revive old franchises is it mostly avoids lazy appeals to nostalgia.

Indeed where you could say that there was some amount of fan service in Fire Walk with Me, The Return resists nostalgia. At times, it feels almost like Lynch is almost teasing fans' expectations.

Cooper, for instance, doesn't strictly appear in The Return until the final few episodes, and then with quite a different character from the original series. He was always extremely component in the series, but in The Return he seems to have god-like foresight (well until the very end I suppose...).

Where I feel Lynch is teasing the audience is that Kyle MacLachlan actually appears throughout The Return, just as a different character.

First is the aforementioned and chilling Mr C (basically evil Cooper) and the curious 'Dougie Jones' who, without getting into too much detail, is essentially a clone.

I'm not in any way criticising Lynch for this, actually, it's quite clever how The Return plays the expectations associated with legacy products. It's remarkable that at once Twin Peaks both has an excellent example of fan service in the form of Fire Walk with Me and an excellent riposte to fan service with The Return.

One issue with The Return

However there is one issue I have with The Returns plot, I'm not sure there was a way around this though.

Where I think Lynch doesn't manage to escape being a legacy product is that the plot starts to become shall we say overly epic.

I mean, Laura Palmer is no longer just a High School student gone bad but has become some spiritual manifestation, with the emergence of her murderer tied to the denotation of the first nuclear bomb, which released some inherent evil in the world. I'm not exaggerating, that is literally the plot concisely started. So in the end, I feel Twin Peaks moves from fundamentally a surrealist crime mystery with some soap opera elements to something more akin to Sci-fi drama.

In fairness I think at least some of these ideas were alluded to in the previous series (well maybe not the nuclear bomb part), I guess I just prefer when these details were hinted at and the viewer was left to speculate on such things.

Now perhaps I am being too harsh, the good more than makes up for the bad in The Return. It really is an outstanding and worthy follow-up to the original series.

Some notes on the second series

You may have noticed I've not mentioned the second series much so far in this discussion. But I would like to touch on it as its flaws highlight why so much of the show works.

First, having finally watched it, I can appreciate what problems a lack of coherent structure creates for the series. Compared to the first series the structure of the second is a mess. Where the first season was concise and had a satisfying build-up to its exciting conclusion, the second series is bloated with two rather truncated main plots and a series of subplots that don't really work together.

Speculating once again, I think there may have been an intent to expand the show beyond the Laura Palmer storyline, thereby enabling an extended cast to take more of the centre stage. Later series then could have focused on the wider community of Twin Peaks as more of an anthology-style show.

However, this looser structure does not work at all in the second series. The Laura Palmer storyline is wrapped up far too quickly and the show descends into a sequence of rather irritating subplots. I assume this is when most people switched off from the series back in the day.

With that said the second series does get back on track when the focus moves to a rival for Cooper, Windom Earl (played by Kenneth Welsh), who seeks revenge on Cooper for having an affair with his wife, and wants to acquire some dark powers from the mysterious Black Lodge.

The fast pace of the first series is restored with this storyline and the series also ends on a cliffhanger with Cooper seemingly possessed by the same malevolent force that led to Laura Palmer's murder in the first place.

Is Twin Peaks worth watching today?

In short, yes, at least the first series. I was slightly concerned that after so much time, I might not enjoy the show on re-viewing. But I think the first series does hold up extremely well.

While it does look like something of a period piece now, it still has a weird dark vibe going for it. I suspect some modern first-time viewers might find the first couple of episodes a bit slow compared to contemporary dramas, but the plot exposition accelerates as the series goes on and the conclusion to the first series remains an exciting cliffhanger.

Watching order

As promised, here's my recommended order:

  1. Series 1 - Hands down the best expression of the franchise in my view, start with this.
  2. Fire Walk with me - Yes we're not going in chronological here. (How Lynchian...) I'd say watch this before the second series since the second series might put you off the franchise. Fire Walk with Me is just much better. I could only identify one small callback to the second series so you really don't need to see the second series before watching Fire Walk with Me to appreciate the plot.
  3. Series 2 - Now, if you like the first series and enjoyed the movie, I think you can consider yourself a Twin Peaks fan so you should be able to tolerate the bad points of series 2 and appreciate the good points.
  4. The Return - Back to chronological production order with this one. I put The Return right at the end because, unlike Fire Walk with Me, you really won't understand what's going on in The Return unless you've already watched all the other media before. Definitely don't start here, it won't make any sense, and not in a good way like when you watch series one for the first time.

Footnotes

  1. At least parts of the show were filmed in the state of Washington↩
  2. In this respect, Twin Peaks is uniquely closer to a Jim Jarmusch movie, which always seems very tied to the era they were made.↩
Twin Peaks retrospective © 2025 by William Samuel McDonald is licensed under CC BY 4.0

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My retrospective review of Twin Peaks. With viewing order… sammcdonald.me/miscreviews/...

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— Sam McDonald (@sammcdonald.me) 8 June 2025 at 12:45