How did you react to these turning points in Twin Peaks?

[Audrey Horne]

This is fun, and remember... Candid from how I felt at the time.

Show picking up again. Yes, yes, yes. The last six episodes are coming back! Please get it together because I want it to continue. Oh god, what will happen in a few years when I have to go off to college? I hope I have a VCR and a tv so I can continue recording. Recap by Cooper. Nice. Ugh, there's that guy with Audrey again. I did love him as a psycho in Dead Calm, though. I'm sure he's a psycho in this too. Wait did they just show a clip of Cooper with some skank on a boat? Whatever. episode is back and I am happy. ...45 mins later. What the hell was that?! Little pine weasel? Audrey locking lips with the psycho Dead Calm guy? Did she say there's no one in regards to Cooper when DC guy was crooning to her? Wait, another fake out love interest and now this one for Cooper?! Oh she was in that Cory Haim, Cory Feldman License to Drive movie. And she died in Drugstore Cowboy movie. Well, she better do the same here and get off this show! Wait, hold the phone, Norma of the wasted plot line has a sister?! James Marshall, Joan Chen and Ray Wise are off the show. It's a little sad that it is changing and they are bringing in more lame characters. This chess plot is going nowhere. Yikes, Crazy Ex Partner's disguises are the worst! Hmmm, nice to see Dr. Jacoby again, wish he was still creepy. I guess they have nothing for Dana Ashbrook to do. Didnt he kill someone in the pilot? What happened to the book house boys?

Oh good Christ, Ben is obviously Donna's father. Whip de doo! Lame. Hey, whatever happened to Audrey knowing Ben and Catherine were burning down the mill? Man, has it really been over three months since there's been an Audrey, Cooper scene? No matter they will have plenty coming up. Yes, Ben and Catherine together, more of this please. What is with that sweater, Dead Calm guy? Yay, Cooper is back in the suit! What, what, what, what?! Diner, Cooper telling a joke to License to Drive girl. Sweet music. Truman asking how long he's been in love with her?! I waited almost a year for that line to be used elsewhere and you guys are wasting it on this? Are those tears streaming down my face? Owl cave, ah this should be good. ...never mind. Miss Twin Peaks contest is coming? Um, the Twin Peaks of April 1990 would never stoop this low. Oh yay, the Crazy Ex Partner is now making giant papier mâché chess pieces and somehow going unnoticed lugging it up to gazebos with dead bodies inside. Again, the Twin Peaks of 1990 would never stoop so low. What the hell is next, a zebra costume? ...wait, I spoke too soon.

Ahhhh, yes Cooper is having a nice fireside chat with Dead Calm guy. As soon as he Cooper leaves, I'm sure DC guy will meet up with License to Drive Jennings Yoko Ono and reveal their dastardly plot. Why else would they be there? Ahhhh, remember being excited when I read in Rolling Stone magazine that Audrey is a virgin and won't compromise. That should pay off beautifully later on. Um.... Again, never mind. But we do get the one bright spot... Audrey hanging out with Pete. Already these two have great friend chemistry and only if it had happened earlier. Oscar and a Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Piper Laurie gets to wear bulky coats and fiddle with a box within a box within a box. Remember when she told Shelly to shut up, "I'm thinking." Donna, pass the peas, please!

Okay, I would like the ending to this with the red room finally coming back in that pond and bobs scary hand, and oh shit was that the high school hallway?! But it is thwarted with audrey deflowered by the wrong, wrong guy, Cooper kissing THAT GIRL, and the Giant warning him. I can only take solace in hoping that the Giant is warning him that the whole show and story has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Yay, Lucy's voice comes on at the end to tell us they are wrapping this up in June. surely they can fix this mess. ...never mind. They are pulling the last two episodes and burning them off after May Sweeps. Ah, only a few short months ago I was looking forward to the end of the season with the Cooper, Earle, Audrey plot. So naive.

[Audrey Horne]

The finale. Okay, it has been about a month and a half. Peaks has become a punching bag for critics, an afterthought for most viewers... Is that still on? Long is the glory of doughnuts, dancing dwarfs, saddle shoes, the cherry twist, Angelo's music on the radio. I have only one friend that will even come over and watch this as ...shudder the Monday movie of the week. If you knew what they put on for the other Monday Movie of the Week, you'll know just how low this has fallen. Yet, I am still clinging. Maybe we will be surprised. Dugpas, Jupiter and Saturn meet... What the hell are they talking about? Annie and Shelly mention Laura Palmer to Norma. Was she from the same show? Nice try, guys. In the funniest unintentional moment, deflowered Audrey tells her father she hopes, "it doesn't hurt this much in a week." The hilarity of Miss Twin Peaks practice. I turn to my friend and actually apologize. Then the real kicker, Annie (I can say her name now since it's been a few months) and Cooper talk about trees and planting in their underwear. Seeing Cooper in action and using his subtle metaphors, I rethink the past year. Maybe it was better that Audrey got out of this mess. But then the piece de resistance! Brilliant Crazy Ex Partner guy truly destroys anything left holy and pure from the pilot in his Log Lady costume. If the billowing smoke from a log cabin, the untended owl cave, the papier mâché body weren't enough for the law enforcement, this is the end all be all for Cooper is the Worst Detective Ever! I can only turn to my friend and pat them on the knee and apologize again. We also threw popcorn at the Annie,Cooper bedding scene.

Waitaminute! Another hour? And it's directed by Lynch?! Good luck, David. You'll have your work cut out for you and this shitstorm.

Hmmm, Andy and Lucy in a sweet, simple scene. That was good. Hmmm, the tone is different. Cooper in the Sheriff's office. Hmmm, that was good, that was dark and interesting. Ronnette! Hey this is getting pretty good. I sit up, the music is working, the mood is changing... Could Peaks be back?!

[LostInTheMovies]

Re: "Audrey Horne"

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I posted this topic - a treasure trove of recollected reactions (though hopefully you'll return eventually to offer thoughts on the finale & FWWM). Thanks! I hope others will respond & take a similar approach.

Here are some of my thoughts in response to yours:


Diary - I only read this after the series, knowing all about the killer and Laura's troubled life from FWWM. Thus I always wonder how it reads for people who haven't yet seen the second season. Weird that it was so popular (appearing on the NY Times bestseller list) yet it's just as psychologically dark as the prequel. I guess it's easier to be shocked by what's onscreen than on page?

Also really interesting that you read it AFTER the first two episodes of season 2. When I marathon through the episodes soon, I'm going to take a couple breaks along the way to dip into TP literature (including the Cooper tapes & autobiography, which I've never read before). Since I'm already violating strict chronology by watching the Log Lady intros before each episode & the Missing Pieces before Fire Walk With Me, I've decided to pause for the Diary AFTER the season 2 premiere. It seems like the first flashback to Laura's murder would be the best time to break for her backstory.


Rolling Stone - I didn't realize they had a section on each actress. I really need to dig up that issue.


Entertainment Weekly - Ah, I need to get my hands on these later issues too (the first issue to deal with Twin Peaks is online, but I haven't stumbled across the others yet). I'm especially interested to read Ken Tucker's follow-up where, a few months after giving the pilot an A+ and predicting that other critics will bash the show just to seem ahead of the curve...he apparently bashes the show and dismisses it as a fad. Hmmm. Before the rooster crows three times, Mr. Tucker, you will betray Twin Peaks...


Leland's last episode - Agreed. Though the episode gets a lot of love from fans and has some bravura moments, Tim Hunter goes way over-the-top and the scripting seems desperate. The resolution of the investigation is also kinda laughable and the overexplanation of all the clues in the dream (the little man danced...JUST LIKE LELAND!) is too much, like the shrink at the end of Psycho. But the death scene is good.


The wake - SPOT ON. Michael Warner of 35 Years of David Lynch also has a similarly funny, incredulous take on this scene. It's this weird combination of trying to acknowledge the tragedy and importance of what happened while launching new, mostly comedic storylines (with the emphasis way too much on the latter). And you're right, whether it's Leland or Bob who's responsible for Laura's murder (not to mention poor Maddy, who seems to get completley forgotten the second she's dead) this is a bizarre response to either revelation. John Thorne said that around this time his friend told him, "It's just a TV show now." Apparently Tina Rathborne herself had no idea what the point of this episode was.


Audrey/Cooper - I guess in this case ignorance was bliss as at least you THOUGHT something great was in store for them...


The stretch - "Huh, Lana is the most captivating woman in this world? Have you guys paid attention to the press over the past year? You know you have Fenn, Amick, Chen, Lee on this show, right?" The overreactions (Andy playing with his tie!) are just so ridiculous; it's like they knew they had to overdo it because of all the attractive women already in town. I almost wish they'd just gone all the way with overplaying it and cast someone really ugly, and then maybe even had her do scenes with Fenn & Amick in which everyone only pays attention at her. At least she would have really seemed a witch in that scenario. As it is, it's just too halfway. Don't even really know what they were going for.


Show picking up again - "I'm sure he's a psycho in this too." That's what I expected as well. Kept waiting for a twist. And then he flew off and I was like..."That's it?!"

"Yay, Cooper is back in the suit! What, what, what, what?! Diner, Cooper telling a joke to License to Drive girl. Sweet music. Truman asking how long he's been in love with her?! I waited almost a year for that line to be used elsewhere and you guys are wasting it on this?" I gotta admit, I actually like this scene quite a bit. It has some liveliness and spark to it after so many episodes that dragged, and I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Cooper's pointless penguin joke is actually funny (if only because it's so pointless). But then again, I shouldn't feel bad about liking this scene because it has Gordon Cole's hearing "cured" by Shelly's beauty which is one of the best moments on the series!

"somehow going unnoticed lugging it up to gazebos with dead bodies inside." LOL. I actually never thought of this before. So absurd, but I guess they fooled me.

Funny how even this "series picking up again" stretch has so many disappointments. Yet it does feel like a modest improvement, probably because the pace and energy bounces back. Those mid-season 2 episodes are not only pointless, they really drag; it feels like nobody wants to be there. These ones are a bit more fun (the mythology is back in play albeit in a lighter Indiana Jones fashion, there's actual suspense to the subplots - not to the level of season 1 but better than what we'd been getting, the actors seem to be having a good time, and hey, Lynch is back in town!). Although, as you put it, "Twin Peaks '90" would never stoop so low...even if the bar has been lowered post-Laura. When I wrote up the series for the first time (rewatching the series a few weeks after I first finished it) I skipped everything from ep. 17-28.


The finale - "Annie and Shelly mention Laura Palmer to Norma. Was she from the same show? Nice try, guys." I noticed this recently - from about ep. 17-26 or so (can't remember the exact number) there is no mention of Laura Palmer at all except for a scene or two in which Donna/James/Evelyn try to milk it out for the last bit of overwrought teen/noir pathos (and even then they might not mention her by name). Then in the last few episodes, she gets brought up a couple times - I wonder if Lynch prodded the writers to include a mention or two, paving the way for a return to form. It is striking.

"Hmmm, Andy and Lucy in a sweet, simple scene. That was good. Hmmm, the tone is different. Cooper in the Sheriff's office. Hmmm, that was good, that was dark and interesting. Ronnette! Hey this is getting pretty good. I sit up, the music is working, the mood is changing... Could Peaks be back?!" I LOVE that scene in the sheriff's office. Recently made a top 10 list of Peaks scenes and it was on there. I kept questioning myself, given the dramatic importance of the other scenes I ranked lower, but it's just so perfectly paced and played. The close-ups, the line deliveries (Nance is SO good in this scene), the camera panning from Cooper's face, the genuinely unsettling music, the clear-eyed yet off-kilter lensing and moody lighting. And it sure doesn't hurt that this comes after some very weak gruel. Yeah, I really do just love that scene...

[Audrey Horne]

No problem, this is fun. I was on a tear while having some morning coffee. Those are my opinions of what was happening when the show was airing. Ha, I could probably get more specific of where I was and thinking for almost every episode. What I was watching just in hopes of catching the next commercial, the collection of clippings I had, etc.

I've been corrected before on this regarding the diary, that it came out before the second season premiere. I only read it so late because I swear that was the earliest I could get my hands on it. And it was between the third and fourth episode for me. (Picked it up at Waldens, anyone remover that chain?). And in any case it kind of was perfect since that is when Donna discovers it in the show.

Ha, I think Peaks betrayed Ken Tucker if you ask me. And they did give it another A rating in the early season season. How have you never read the iconic Rolling Stone?! I wound up going to Bennington College and that was also featured on the same cover... The notorious sex scandal! It was like it was kismet for me.

I still think the Leland death episode is the first misfire of the series and has that second season messy feel. And most people put it in their top episodes. If Lynch had directed it, it would probably been glorious. Ray plays it beautifully though.

The Audrey Cooper thing, there really wouldn't have been any reason to know something was squashed at the time. Sam and Diane or Ross and Rachel would only get into big crossed story lines during the big sweep months to draw in ratings, so I just thought the same.

The diner penguin scene is great. But you wanted the response from twenty four years ago, and I was seeing red!

I'll finish up the rest of the questions. My original thoughts on Fire Walk With Me though could get me lynched. Er, pun intended?

[LostInTheMovies]

No problem, this is fun. I was on a tear while having some morning coffee. Those are my opinions of what was happening when the show was airing. Ha, I could probably get more specific of where I was and thinking for almost every episode. What I was watching just in hopes of catching the next commercial, the collection of clippings I had, etc.

I've been corrected before on this regarding the diary, that it came out before the second season premiere. I only read it so late because I swear that was the earliest I could get my hands on it. And it was between the third and fourth episode for me. (Picked it up at Waldens, anyone remover that chain?). And in any case it kind of was perfect since that is when Donna discovers it in the show.

Ha, I think Peaks betrayed Ken Tucker if you ask me. And they did give it another A rating in the early season season. How have you never read the iconic Rolling Stone?! I wound up going to Bennington College and that was also featured on the same cover... The notorious sex scandal! It was like it was kismet for me.

I still think the Leland death episode is the first misfire of the series and has that second season messy feel. And most people put it in their top episodes. If Lynch had directed it, it would probably been glorious. Ray plays it beautifully though.

The Audrey Cooper thing, there really wouldn't have been any reason to know something was squashed at the time. Sam and Diane or Ross and Rachel would only get into big crossed story lines during the big sweep months to draw in ratings, so I just thought the same.

The diner penguin scene is great. But you wanted the response from twenty four years ago, and I was seeing red!

I'll finish up the rest of the questions. My original thoughts on Fire Walk With Me though could get me lynched. Er, pun intended?

Can't wait, and take your time. I'm about to marathon through the whole saga - show, books, deleted scenes, and film - so I won't be back for a few days anyway. Though I got the blu-ray and watched the Missing Pieces, Between Two Worlds, FWWM, and Moving Through Time right away, this is the first chance I've had to REALLY dive into its contents. Tonight I've been watcing the Gold Box special features that I hadn't seen in years (the festival doc) & stuff like the on-set stills and the trading cards I had never seen at all. That plus your reminiscences have really for me in the mood to dive into Twin Peaks again.

And no holds barred on the recollections! That's exactly what I like about them, the extent to which they represent unfettered first responses.

[hopesfall]

This is so fascinating to read! AH, you remind me of how my older sister was when she was watching the show!

My first introduction to it was her trying to scare the crap out of her younger brother (me) by putting the pilot on and then subsequent episodes from her recorded VHS tapes. I must have been 9-10 at the time, it really did scare me. I remember her constantly telling me that Bob was a ghost, and the scene where Sarah screams at the vision of him when Donna's face changes gave me nightmares for literally weeks. It took me a short while to come round to watching the pilot of my own accord, but when i did i watched it a lot, although even then i would always fast forward past certain bits that upset/frightened me like Sarah's manic crying (that hit me hard), Ronette walking across the bridge (her zombie-like walk and appearance scared the shit out of me) and Sarah's vision of the gloved hand at the end.

I slowly became obsessed as i entered my teens. I read my sister's copy of the diary and watched the videos constantly. I would play laura palmer's theme on the keyboard in music class. I asked for a dictaphone for my birthday and christmas all the time but never got one. It took me until way into my late teens before i got round to seeing FWWM and reading Cooper's autopbiographical book. I loved the book but didn't like the film at all. I actually only started to appreciate the film years later, and now absolutely adore it and class it as one of my favourites of all time.

Unfortunately those are very hazy memories as i was so young, and i can't recall much more than that! Alas, it's because of my sister that i became somewhat obsessed with the show. AH's posts are so similar to her behaviour at the time that it made me chuckle, she wanted to know EVERYTHING and any time there was anything to do with Twin Peaks in the media she would go nuts.

[LostInTheMovies]

This is so fascinating to read! AH, you remind me of how my older sister was when she was watching the show!

My first introduction to it was her trying to scare the crap out of her younger brother (me) by putting the pilot on and then subsequent episodes from her recorded VHS tapes. I must have been 9-10 at the time, it really did scare me. I remember her constantly telling me that Bob was a ghost, and the scene where Sarah screams at the vision of him when Donna's face changes gave me nightmares for literally weeks. It took me a short while to come round to watching the pilot of my own accord, but when i did i watched it a lot, although even then i would always fast forward past certain bits that upset/frightened me like Sarah's manic crying (that hit me hard), Ronette walking across the bridge (her zombie-like walk and appearance scared the shit out of me) and Sarah's vision of the gloved hand at the end.

I slowly became obsessed as i entered my teens. I read my sister's copy of the diary and watched the videos constantly. I would play laura palmer's theme on the keyboard in music class. I asked for a dictaphone for my birthday and christmas all the time but never got one. It took me until way into my late teens before i got round to seeing FWWM and reading Cooper's autopbiographical book. I loved the book but didn't like the film at all. I actually only started to appreciate the film years later, and now absolutely adore it and class it as one of my favourites of all time.

Unfortunately those are very hazy memories as i was so young, and i can't recall much more than that! Alas, it's because of my sister that i became somewhat obsessed with the show. AH's posts are so similar to her behaviour at the time that it made me chuckle, she wanted to know EVERYTHING and any time there was anything to do with Twin Peaks in the media she would go nuts.

Great stuff! I saw Twin Peaks for the first time when I was 24 and Bob STILL scared the crap out of me haha.

Off to start my marathon now...

[Audrey Horne]

here's a article from the NY Times that reflected the mood and attitude of the show right before the killer was revealed...



'Twin Peaks': Splash on Both Sides of Atlantic; Who Killed Laura Palmer? Stay Tuned!

By BILL CARTER
Published: November 8, 1990

Who killed Laura Palmer? Bob did.

Yes, but who is Bob? Is Bob a real character or just a ghostly vision inhabited by one of the real inhabitants of "Twin Peaks?"

ABC is telling viewers they will learn the answer to the question that dominated television last spring in Saturday night's episode of "Twin Peaks." As the full-page ad ABC has run in several magazines this week puts it:

"Finally. Find out who killed Laura Palmer. Really."

This is the third time ABC has promised to solve the murder plot that began the network's hugely publicized, offbeat serial about strange doings in a Northwestern town. Promises, Promises

One ABC executive told several reporters and critics last spring that the mystery would be solved in the concluding episode of last season's seven-episode run. He was mistaken; it wasn't.

Then, during the summer, the president of ABC Entertainment, Robert A. Iger, known as Bob around ABC, promised viewers that they would know who killed Laura Palmer if they watched the series's two-hour opening episode this season. That show's concluding scene murkily implied that a character named Bob, who had to that point appeared in the series only as a figure in visions, was the killer.

On Saturday night, ABC now declares, the identity of Bob will be definitively revealed. Naturally, to preserve the mystery to its last ounce of suspense, ABC has not allowed Saturday's episode to be viewed in advance.

In earlier episodes, it has already been suggested that Bob is really a spectral being who appears and takes action only when a real person serves as his "human host."

Though nothing has ever been a sure thing in the "Twin Peaks" plot line, that apparently means some familiar character will be tagged as Laura's killer on Saturday night so the show can avoid criticism for pulling a killer out of a vision instead of out of the cast. Moving Beyond Laura

In finally offering a clear -- if not entirely coherent -- solution to the murder, the network is clearly seeking one more burst of interest in "Twin Peaks," whose ratings have slid this season.

But it is now apparent that the central mystery of the show, which became last season's television phenomenon, has become an albatross to the program this season.

Mark Frost, who along with the film director David Lynch created the series and serves as its executive producer, said in an interview shortly after the season began, "What we want people to start to realize is there is more to the show than Laura Palmer."

The purpose of much of the plot development in this season's episodes has been to get viewers more involved with the other characters, Mr. Frost said. "The predominant feeling we're looking for is to get people to like to go up to Twin Peaks and see what they see."

Specifically, what they have seen so far this season has been a series of events calculated to replace the curiosity over who killed Laura. Agent Cooper's Own Mysteries

For example, the program wants viewers to shift some attention to the question of who shot Agent Cooper. Even if F.B.I. Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) solves the Laura Palmer mystery, he will have to stick around town to find out who came to the door of his hotel room in last season's final scene and fired several bullets into his bulletproof-vested chest. About all he knows so far is the shooter was wearing a vicuna coat.

The focus on Agent Cooper has expanded to include an ominous event from his past in Pittsburgh. It involves a former partner who has now escaped from a mental institution and seems to be on the loose.

Cooper is also deepening a romantic link with Audrey (Sherilynn Fenn), whom he rescued from the brothel One-Eyed Jack's, where she was drugged and held against her will by the show's third bad guy named Renault.

Other unresolved questions the show can continue to explore include these:

Why does Nadine now have the strength to rip refrigerator doors off their hinges, and why does she think she's back in high school?

How many more characters will sink into comas? (Four so far.)

Whatever happened to Catherine (Piper Laurie), who supposedly died in a fire?

Did the food critic from Seattle ever make it to the Double R Diner?

Is the show's second Laura Palmer diary -- the one being hidden by Harold, the shut-in who raises orchids, gets meals on wheels and scratches divots in his face with a garden claw -- really a copy of the Laura Palmer diary written by David Lynch's daughter, Jennifer, and published this summer to help promote the show? If so, will that revelation help promote sales of the diary in bookstores?

As for Mr. Lynch himself, will he remain in the series playing Cooper's hard-of-hearing FBI boss?

Mr. Frost said: "Television is always getting hammered because everything tends to happen a certain way. We try to play with time and space and dimension. Why can't films and television be more like real life? Real life is really weird."

[LostInTheMovies]

here's a article from the NY Times that reflected the mood and attitude of the show right before the killer was revealed...



'Twin Peaks': Splash on Both Sides of Atlantic; Who Killed Laura Palmer? Stay Tuned!

By BILL CARTER
Published: November 8, 1990

Who killed Laura Palmer? Bob did.

Yes, but who is Bob? Is Bob a real character or just a ghostly vision inhabited by one of the real inhabitants of "Twin Peaks?"

ABC is telling viewers they will learn the answer to the question that dominated television last spring in Saturday night's episode of "Twin Peaks." As the full-page ad ABC has run in several magazines this week puts it:

"Finally. Find out who killed Laura Palmer. Really."

This is the third time ABC has promised to solve the murder plot that began the network's hugely publicized, offbeat serial about strange doings in a Northwestern town. Promises, Promises

One ABC executive told several reporters and critics last spring that the mystery would be solved in the concluding episode of last season's seven-episode run. He was mistaken; it wasn't.

Then, during the summer, the president of ABC Entertainment, Robert A. Iger, known as Bob around ABC, promised viewers that they would know who killed Laura Palmer if they watched the series's two-hour opening episode this season. That show's concluding scene murkily implied that a character named Bob, who had to that point appeared in the series only as a figure in visions, was the killer.

On Saturday night, ABC now declares, the identity of Bob will be definitively revealed. Naturally, to preserve the mystery to its last ounce of suspense, ABC has not allowed Saturday's episode to be viewed in advance.

In earlier episodes, it has already been suggested that Bob is really a spectral being who appears and takes action only when a real person serves as his "human host."

Though nothing has ever been a sure thing in the "Twin Peaks" plot line, that apparently means some familiar character will be tagged as Laura's killer on Saturday night so the show can avoid criticism for pulling a killer out of a vision instead of out of the cast. Moving Beyond Laura

In finally offering a clear -- if not entirely coherent -- solution to the murder, the network is clearly seeking one more burst of interest in "Twin Peaks," whose ratings have slid this season.

But it is now apparent that the central mystery of the show, which became last season's television phenomenon, has become an albatross to the program this season.

Mark Frost, who along with the film director David Lynch created the series and serves as its executive producer, said in an interview shortly after the season began, "What we want people to start to realize is there is more to the show than Laura Palmer."

The purpose of much of the plot development in this season's episodes has been to get viewers more involved with the other characters, Mr. Frost said. "The predominant feeling we're looking for is to get people to like to go up to Twin Peaks and see what they see."

Specifically, what they have seen so far this season has been a series of events calculated to replace the curiosity over who killed Laura. Agent Cooper's Own Mysteries

For example, the program wants viewers to shift some attention to the question of who shot Agent Cooper. Even if F.B.I. Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan) solves the Laura Palmer mystery, he will have to stick around town to find out who came to the door of his hotel room in last season's final scene and fired several bullets into his bulletproof-vested chest. About all he knows so far is the shooter was wearing a vicuna coat.

The focus on Agent Cooper has expanded to include an ominous event from his past in Pittsburgh. It involves a former partner who has now escaped from a mental institution and seems to be on the loose.

Cooper is also deepening a romantic link with Audrey (Sherilynn Fenn), whom he rescued from the brothel One-Eyed Jack's, where she was drugged and held against her will by the show's third bad guy named Renault.

Other unresolved questions the show can continue to explore include these:

Why does Nadine now have the strength to rip refrigerator doors off their hinges, and why does she think she's back in high school?

How many more characters will sink into comas? (Four so far.)

Whatever happened to Catherine (Piper Laurie), who supposedly died in a fire?

Did the food critic from Seattle ever make it to the Double R Diner?

Is the show's second Laura Palmer diary -- the one being hidden by Harold, the shut-in who raises orchids, gets meals on wheels and scratches divots in his face with a garden claw -- really a copy of the Laura Palmer diary written by David Lynch's daughter, Jennifer, and published this summer to help promote the show? If so, will that revelation help promote sales of the diary in bookstores?

As for Mr. Lynch himself, will he remain in the series playing Cooper's hard-of-hearing FBI boss?

Mr. Frost said: "Television is always getting hammered because everything tends to happen a certain way. We try to play with time and space and dimension. Why can't films and television be more like real life? Real life is really weird."

Thanks! I ran across this a few months ago when I was really researching the question of how & why the show lost viewers and critics. I definitely found it to be one of the most revealing articles. Its observations about investing viewers in other characters really explains a lot about why season two feels so different from season one, even in the very good pre-reveal episodes. Suddenly characters and stories are segmented into their own worlds and the show feels much more uneven. I see where this approach came from but in retrospect it was clearly a mistake.

And as Frost seems to acknowledge today, he was wrong about Laura Palmer. There is no Twin Peaks without her, as Lynch often says. Bob Engels put it very well in the Reflections book: in the first season, a cloud of guilt hangs over everyone. It's what unifies the disparate storylines and characters and makes the diverse show feel a whole. It is, quite simply, what the show is about: a community that often means well (and sometimes doesn't) but cannot face up to or deal with the fear, sadness, and betrayal beneath the surface. Laura Palmer is the perfect symbol of this and she remained at the heart of the show even when it tried to forget her. Just finishing a run-through of the series only confirms this. Twin Peaks was three things, all linked and dependent on one another to keep the series moving: the mystery/tragedy of Laura Palmer, the melancholy, unsettled, yet appealing community, and the cheerful eccentricity/energy of Agent Cooper (ultimately, and perhaps surprisingly, it was the first that gave off the most heat and enabled the other two). Everything either resulted from these elements & their intersections or was window dressing. That said, viewers clearly couldn't stand not knowing. It was a no-win situation and what we ended up with may be the best possible result. I'll certainly take it!

[Audrey Horne]

I would say there is no Twin Peaks without the Shadow of Laura Palmer.

It's all in hindsight, but at the time I was so excited about wrapping up the Laura storyline and moving on because I was thrilled about discovering what the new mysteries could be. The cast was perfect, and the possibilities were endless. It was an exciting time. But like it has been pointed out by cast, directors and creators, Laura's death united them. It enabled us to peel layers, and made everyone a suspect. I feel, even back then, it needed to overlap its mysteries, so as one was winding down another one was already in play and we are equally absorbed. And keep it adult in tone, not hokey. We needed to have more moments of discovery like Bobby in Jacoby's office, Audrey crying at watching Leland dance, Jacoby confessing to Cooper at the cemetery. Probably the best approach was to keep Leland alive and on the loose for a bit while ramping up the Earle story line.

I will try to finish up the rest of the 1991 and FWWM reactions tomorrow. Still fun!

[LostInTheMovies]

I would say there is no Twin Peaks without the Shadow of Laura Palmer.

It's all in hindsight, but at the time I was so excited about wrapping up the Laura storyline and moving on because I was thrilled about discovering what the new mysteries could be. The cast was perfect, and the possibilities were endless. It was an exciting time. But like it has been pointed out by cast, directors and creators, Laura's death united them. It enabled us to peel layers, and made everyone a suspect. I feel, even back then, it needed to overlap its mysteries, so as one was winding down another one was already in play and we are equally absorbed. And keep it adult in tone, not hokey. We needed to have more moments of discovery like Bobby in Jacoby's office, Audrey crying at watching Leland dance, Jacoby confessing to Cooper at the cemetery. Probably the best approach was to keep Leland alive and on the loose for a bit while ramping up the Earle story line.

I will try to finish up the rest of the 1991 and FWWM reactions tomorrow. Still fun!

Though it's an interesting alternative I'd never really considered, I don't know if "Leland on the loose" could have carried on for long (I have heard people complain that even the brief two episodes where we're ahead of Cooper lack suspense, but I don't really agree - if anything they are more suspenseful in the true Hitchcockian sense). And I think the problem with Windom Earle is that he's all about Coop. Even if he's threatening the town, he remains apart from it whereas Laura was the perfect way into town and to make, as you put it, everyone a potential suspect. With Windom, everyone is a potential victim...big difference.

The "shadow" of Laura Palmer is a great way to phrase what was needed. I remember when I first watched the show I thought it would stay strong after Leland died because it would use her mystery as a platform to explore the mystery of the woods (the end of ep. 16 certainly indicates as much). After all, we may know who killed her but this only unlocks even greater mysteries: how does Bob work? Where does he come from? As they explicitly say at the end of the episode, where is he now? Most importantly, why is he drawn to this town and its people - how do THEY welcome him in? (Make Bob too much of a straight possessive demon, as ep. 16 flirts with doing, and you risk the same problem as with Windom; a passive populace just isn't as interesting, or truthful.)

Had Lynch stuck with it, he could have even kept Laura in the mix through dreams and Lodge visits (as he eventually did). I don't think this would have been enough to save the show's popularity - for various reasons, I think mainstream success was doomed to be faddish (also, and oft-overlooked, is the shocking nature of the reveal, both the killer's identity and the violence of the revelation, which alters the show's tone and deepens the darkness). However, taking the deeper-into-the-woods route may have avoided the sharp decline in quality even if it didn't ensure a third season.

That said, in retrospect Twin Peaks' (the show's) denial of Laura and its own darkness is, in a weird way, sadly fitting since it reflects Twin Peaks' (the town's). It's like the show fell prey to the very disease it was depicting. And it also make it all the more powerful when the darkness (and eventually Laura herself) come rushing back and flood everything in the final episodes (especially the finale itself) and the prequel. Looking at it this way doesn't make the weak episodes any stronger, but it does make them more fascinating.

I also have to admit I'm more a movie person than a TV person...I like stories or sagas, however long and convoluted, that have an arc and purpose. While many seasons of a Twin Peaks that miraculously maintained the balance and tension of the first season would have been wonderful, it's the messy, complicated roller-coaster ride that keeps me thinking and coming back more than anything else: moody, spooky pilot - entertaining first season - intense killer's reveal arc - sharp decline - slow comeback - tragic finale - fascinating fragments/glimpses (missing pieces) - and finally the "into the shit" film. Even Deer Meadow is the perfect prelude to the final plunge: "I've already gone places, I just wanna stay where I am"...fat chance in Lynch's world. I suspect Twin Peaks achieves greater heights by stumbling and lurching on its way than it would have if everything went smoothly.

Of course, this often makes for supreme frustration, especially on first engagement when the viewer doesn't know what to expect (luckily, although I saw the series years later, I knew nothing about where it was headed except that it was cancelled and there was a film - I didn't even know that they actually DID reveal the killer; I thought it was cancelled when the network/audience realized they never would!). Which is why I can't wait to read your initial reactions to the end of the saga.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

I will try to finish up the rest of the 1991 and FWWM reactions tomorrow. Still fun!

Looking forward Audrey.
Love to read impressions from who had the privilege of watching TP when it first aired and all the hype was around it.
Great stuff

[LostInTheMovies]

I will try to finish up the rest of the 1991 and FWWM reactions tomorrow. Still fun!

Looking forward Audrey.
Love to read impressions from who had the privilege of watching TP when it first aired and all the hype was around it.
Great stuff

I don't think I could have stood waiting a week (not to mention a summer, or a year for the film!). It was hard enough watching it on Netflix (pre-streaming) and waiting for my next disc to arrive!

[Audrey Horne]

that may be why I was so disappointed in the episode where Leland dies and Cooper "solves" the mystery. In the interim between the episodes I would watch and watch the previous episode (and surely ones before that) looking for new clues. That was at least half the fun, the thrill and speculation of what would happen.

[chalfont]

I would say there is no Twin Peaks without the Shadow of Laura Palmer.

It's all in hindsight, but at the time I was so excited about wrapping up the Laura storyline and moving on because I was thrilled about discovering what the new mysteries could be. The cast was perfect, and the possibilities were endless. It was an exciting time. But like it has been pointed out by cast, directors and creators, Laura's death united them. It enabled us to peel layers, and made everyone a suspect. I feel, even back then, it needed to overlap its mysteries, so as one was winding down another one was already in play and we are equally absorbed. And keep it adult in tone, not hokey. We needed to have more moments of discovery like Bobby in Jacoby's office, Audrey crying at watching Leland dance, Jacoby confessing to Cooper at the cemetery. Probably the best approach was to keep Leland alive and on the loose for a bit while ramping up the Earle story line.

I will try to finish up the rest of the 1991 and FWWM reactions tomorrow. Still fun!

Yes, the mystery , sadness and guilt of her death was the foundation of everything else happening
That scene with Audrey crying is probably my favourite scene of the whole show.
Just minutes before, we see her spying on Ben and Josie(?), laughing - then we have this scene - Leland supported out, the sad Laura Palmer theme on top of a dark, mysterious and scary tone. The camera unsteady, like some kind of presence watching. And then, Audrey in the corner crying. It is so sad, powerful, confusing and fantastic......