The endings of Twin Peaks

[John Justice Wheeler]

I remember quite distinctly actually thinking that Andy was going to be revealed as the killer at the end of that slow pan across the conference table at the beginning of season 2. To reveal it in just such a casual kind of way seemed very possible for Lynch. I also vaguely remember that I never entirely discounted Leo as the killer because having it actually be the otherwise obvious red herring seemed again like the kind of thing Lynch would do. I've never liked the way all this is resolved though in the infamous Roadhouse scene with Cooper's invoking of "magic". It's a silly scene because it's just so lazy. This version of Cooper is only pro-active enough to assemble a select collection of male cast members and then wait around for something to happen (he says himself that he doesn't know what will come next). I guess we're meant to see it as yet another example of his intuitive deduction technique and obviously it does work for him here but the way that happens and then what happens later with Leland ("How about a confession?") always seems pat and overly tidy to me. I can't believe there wasn't a better way to do all this.

[LostInTheMovies]

Plus it contains the excellent, excellent, excellent scene of Ben and Jerry Horne dreamily reminiscing about the magical but oh-so-hopelessly-lost boyhood moment - "Louise Dombrowski dancing on the hook rug with the flashlight..." It's when I saw that scene that I knew Ben couldn't be the killer!

I know some don't like this scene but on my first viewing, I think it was the last purely magical classic "Twin Peaks moment" till the finale (though I got a big kick out of the Lynch-Amick stuff on its own terms). It captured the dreamy/ethereal mood of the series, so often tied to music, that attracted me to it in the first place but seemed to evaporate even by the too-fastly-paced ep. 16.

Now I'm more merciful to some other late-season moments, Ben's home movie for one. But the hook rug dance still holds a special charm.

[Ross]

Did anyone else think that maybe Maddy would still be alive after episode 14? I remember that first watch and actually thought she might still be alive (especially after the first season cliffhanger had left so many in danger only to be just fine.) Of course as soon as ep 15 starts we know otherwise.

[asmahan]

Did anyone else think that maybe Maddy would still be alive after episode 14? I remember that first watch and actually thought she might still be alive (especially after the first season cliffhanger had left so many in danger only to be just fine.) Of course as soon as ep 15 starts we know otherwise.

Yes! I was really hoping she was only injured, but felt stupid for thinking so by the opening of the next episode.

[Agent Earle]

Plus it contains the excellent, excellent, excellent scene of Ben and Jerry Horne dreamily reminiscing about the magical but oh-so-hopelessly-lost boyhood moment - "Louise Dombrowski dancing on the hook rug with the flashlight..." It's when I saw that scene that I knew Ben couldn't be the killer!

I know some don't like this scene but on my first viewing, I think it was the last purely magical classic "Twin Peaks moment" till the finale (though I got a big kick out of the Lynch-Amick stuff on its own terms). It captured the dreamy/ethereal mood of the series, so often tied to music, that attracted me to it in the first place but seemed to evaporate even by the too-fastly-paced ep. 16.

Now I'm more merciful to some other late-season moments, Ben's home movie for one. But the hook rug dance still holds a special charm.

That scene holds me in thrall whenever I witness it and had a big part in me becoming a person I am (not even joking all that much)
Speaking of enthralling, I can to this day vividly remember the shivers I got when me and mom watched the conclusion of this episode Audrey Horne described earlier: the dead of night, the spooky music, the dark woods, the swarming police officers with flashlights, grim-looking Cooper in his trench coat, a body wrapped in plastic being dragged on the lake shore, and then - shocking revelation: "It's Maddy Ferguson!"... Esoterically creepy beyond words.

[Agent Earle]

I've never liked the way all this is resolved though in the infamous Roadhouse scene with Cooper's invoking of "magic". It's a silly scene because it's just so lazy. This version of Cooper is only pro-active enough to assemble a select collection of male cast members and then wait around for something to happen (he says himself that he doesn't know what will come next). I guess we're meant to see it as yet another example of his intuitive deduction technique and obviously it does work for him here but the way that happens and then what happens later with Leland ("How about a confession?") always seems pat and overly tidy to me. I can't believe there wasn't a better way to do all this.

To me, it has always seemed that the better way would be if they'd hold off the killer's capture for at least 3-4 episodes and had those episodes present a situation where the viewers would be aware of the killer's identity and the characters in the series wouldn't be - I bet this setup would offer a number of kooky developments and peculiar contexts that would be cool to witness. Sort of like it was in the episode 15 which was imbued with this very special feeling and menacing atmosphere that just weren't explored enough (just think what a few more eps worth of Ray Wise's and Bob's madness would/could mean!). When I watched episode 15 originally, this was the development I kinda anticipated and was rather let down that the whole thing went another way and was over in just one measly episode (16), though I liked that episode - and like it still - very much, in any case more than episodes following immediately afterwards (17 to, say, 21, 22).

[Snailhead]

Yeah, I always was perplexed by the way that they wrapped up the Palmer story within 2 episodes of the revelation. Despite the fact that the golden goose (the mystery of who killed Laura) was gone, there was a new golden goose that was provided immediately - how long will it take Coop to find out what we, the audience, know about the murders? That could have easily been stretched out for as long as they needed to properly re-orient the story in the wake of the revelation.

[Agent Earle]

Was there ever any reason given for it? It has been well and famously covered why the killer was revealed as early as he was, but I don't recall anyone saying anything about why they felt it was necessary to have him caught, dead and outta the picture a scant two episodes later.

[Rami Airola]

2. EPISODE 14 - The important information would have been revealed, with many open questions remaining, and this would have marked Twin Peaks as a powerful, poignant tragedy. I think if the show was a new miniseries being written for cable in the mid-teens, this IS how it would end.

That's how the first rerun of the series ended in Finland.
Maddy gets killed. Coop is puzzled. Curtains. "Sarja päättyy" shown on screen (it's Finnish for "the end of the series").

I wonder if there were people watching who hadn't seen the series before. I wonder how they felt seeing it ending at that point.

[Aerozhul]

Did anyone else think that maybe Maddy would still be alive after episode 14? I remember that first watch and actually thought she might still be alive (especially after the first season cliffhanger had left so many in danger only to be just fine.) Of course as soon as ep 15 starts we know otherwise.

Yes! I was really hoping she was only injured, but felt stupid for thinking so by the opening of the next episode.

I thought this could be a possibility too, as I was an optimistic 13-year-old boy at the time. : )

[Aerozhul]

A good friend of mine guessed it was Leland a few minutes into the very first episode I showed him (either the pilot or the first non-pilot episode, forget what I put on). Anyone else on here had Leland as their first guess? I saw FWWM before the series so I couldn't ever say who I would have thought

I first suspected Leland in Episode 3 when Albert was describing the murder and how the killer leaned in for one last kiss - I immediately pictured Leland doing that in my mind. Then I later wrote it off as too easy and was hoping it would be someone completely out of left field - I also suspected Andy for a while - perhaps he was only pretending to be a simpleton and a gentle soul and he was actually a vicious killer. I even suspected Catherine at one point (absurd, I know....again I was 13).....

[LostInTheMovies]

Was there ever any reason given for it? It has been well and famously covered why the killer was revealed as early as he was, but I don't recall anyone saying anything about why they felt it was necessary to have him caught, dead and outta the picture a scant two episodes later.

I think the network's rationale for wanting to reveal the killer was "the audience will turn on us if they don't know." I think that was part of Frost's reasoning too but some of his quotes (talking about the Laura mystery taking over the show) also indicate he thought having one ongoing storyline was dangerous. So for him I think it was less imperative to answer the central question than to end the plot altogether so they could move on to the next big thing and warm audiences to the idea that there would be new mysteries on Twin Peaks. Break them of the addiction faster, I guess. This is just my speculation but it seems to fit how he viewed Twin Peaks, and TV storytelling in general, at the time.

[LostInTheMovies]

2. EPISODE 14 - The important information would have been revealed, with many open questions remaining, and this would have marked Twin Peaks as a powerful, poignant tragedy. I think if the show was a new miniseries being written for cable in the mid-teens, this IS how it would end.

That's how the first rerun of the series ended in Finland.
Maddy gets killed. Coop is puzzled. Curtains. "Sarja päättyy" shown on screen (it's Finnish for "the end of the series").

I wonder if there were people watching who hadn't seen the series before. I wonder how they felt seeing it ending at that point.

Wow, how did that happen?! Was it supposed to signify the end of a season - were the seasons divided differently there? (I've heard of that in some places.)

[Rami Airola]

2. EPISODE 14 - The important information would have been revealed, with many open questions remaining, and this would have marked Twin Peaks as a powerful, poignant tragedy. I think if the show was a new miniseries being written for cable in the mid-teens, this IS how it would end.

That's how the first rerun of the series ended in Finland.
Maddy gets killed. Coop is puzzled. Curtains. "Sarja päättyy" shown on screen (it's Finnish for "the end of the series").

I wonder if there were people watching who hadn't seen the series before. I wonder how they felt seeing it ending at that point.

Wow, how did that happen?! Was it supposed to signify the end of a season - were the seasons divided differently there? (I've heard of that in some places.)

I have no idea. They just ended it there.
I had seen the series through when it originally aired and was excited to watch it again. I was expecting to see the rest but to my surprise it just ended there. I don't know who had made that decision and why.

When the series was first shown in Finland, it was separated into two parts. In spring 1991 they showed the episodes until the killer's reveal on episode 15 (counting the pilot in) and in fall 1991 they showed the rest. So they kinda showed it as if season 1 ends in the killer's reveal.

The first rerun happened in spring 1995. That's when they only showed it until the killer's reveal and then boldly stated "the end."




Later it has been aired in 2000, 2007, 2012 and 2013. Each time they showed every episode.

Only in 1995 they showed half of the episodes and said that's all folks.

It's also weird that Fire Walk with Me aired in January 16th 1995 - a few months before the rerun happened - yet for some reason they felt they should end the show before the Black Lodge stuff happens. I remember really wanting to see that stuff after seeing FWWM and being disappointed when the rerun suddenly stopped. Luckily I had already seen it when it originally aired but I can't imagine what those who saw the series for the first time must've thought.

[claaa7]

Only in 1995 they showed half of the episodes and said that's all folks.

It's also weird that Fire Walk with Me aired in January 16th 1995 - a few months before the rerun happened - yet for some reason they felt they should end the show before the Black Lodge stuff happens. I remember really wanting to see that stuff after seeing FWWM and being disappointed when the rerun suddenly stopped. Luckily I had already seen it when it originally aired but I can't imagine what those who saw the series for the first time must've thought.

wow those were some times, imagine having to wait 2.5 years between the US premiere of an american film and the European premier. i remember that too, but i can't for the life of me remember it being THAT long.. one year or something like that sounds plausible from my memory.