For many people, including me, turning on the show, “Twin Peaks,” is like willingly slipping into a dream. Beyond its enigmas and idiosyncrasies, we see the light and love present in the connections between everyone in the town. However, immense darkness and tragedy permeates the background of every scene. These two forces are always in constant tension with one another, moving back and forth forever. I find myself thinking about this show constantly, even a week after finishing it.

“Twin Peaks” might be the greatest television show that I have ever seen. Never have I torn through so many hours of narrative content and been so ready for more. It’s kind of hard to know where to start with a project such as this, which is so packed to the brim with compliment-worthiness. Yet how could I do justice to these strengths? I remember listening to a review of the show that stated that Agent Cooper was the greatest TV protagonist of any TV show that they had seen. I kept this in mind when I watched the show, but did not quite understand what they meant. Only after watching a few hours of “Twin Peaks,” as well as doing a lot of reflecting, do I mostly agree with their statement. In my opinion, the quality of Cooper’s character is rivaled only by a few — most of whom hail from his same show. However, singing the detective’s praises is just a statement, and changes nothing about the quality of the show. It therefore cannot do justice to Cooper’s character, nor the quality of the show as a whole. The same can be said about many other aspects of the show as well: music, performances, directing, atmosphere. After much back-and-forth, I’ve come to the conclusion that all I can firmly say that  speaks to the quality of the show is the show itself, and the sights and sounds crafted by Mark Frost and David Lynch.

One moment that sticks out is a scene wherein Ben Horne and Jerry, his brother, are lying on a prison bunk bed. Jerry says it reminds him of a time when they were kids in a bunk watching a girl dance with a flashlight in their room. The following scene — of the girl dancing while the boys watch — is deeply moving for a completely inexplicable reason. Many of the emotionally resonant scenes such as this flashback come out of nowhere, notably when James, Donna, and Maddy are playing and singing a cover of a love song in their living room. This scene, and the show in general, touches deep, deep emotions that leave moments like these plastered in my mind. The scenes I describe are completely unrelated to the narrative aspects of the show (especially the former), but “Twin Peaks” would not be the same if they were removed. The greatness of “Twin Peaks” is thus rendered indescribable. The meaning of any scene and any aspect of the show, from the music to the iconic prom photo of Laura Palmer, will be interpreted differently by the people who have seen it and those who have not. 

Of course,  for anyone who has watched the show before, there is probably a giant elephant in the room that I have been deliberately avoiding. The elephant is the lukewarm (at best) reception to the second half of Season Two. I will be transparent in that I do not have any intent of seeing any episode in the second half of season two. There is nothing that really interests me in the show anymore, and most of what originally did is wrapped up in Episode Nine, “Arbitrary Law.” However, I think that the decline in quality of “Twin Peaks” actually started at the end of Episode Seven, “Lonely Souls,” in which the titular mystery of Laura’s death is revealed to the audience. For many people, “Lonely Souls” is one of the best episodes of “Twin Peaks,” an opinion I can completely understand. The ending is completely hypnotic — and terrifying — for reasons that would be repetitive to list. In all honesty, it might be one of the best scenes David Lynch has ever directed. The mood, the music, and the line “It’s happening again” never fail to thrill. When I first watched the episode, I was speechless. 

It’s one of the only episodes besides the pilot and the Season One finale that I can really distinguish from the rest. However, the more I thought about this episode, the more I thought that the show unintentionally shot itself in the foot by revealing who Laura’s killer was. In the featurette “A Slice of Lynch,” David Lynch stated that “[Laura’s] mystery was sacred, and it held the other ones. It was the tree and the others were the branches.” David Lynch (and, way less importantly, I) doesn’t believe this mystery should ever have been solved, or at least not so overtly. If the show lost a branch, it could always grow new twigs back; but when it lost its trunk, it lost its roots. As a result, most of the tension that had been so expertly built up after 15 episodes came tumbling down. This is one of the reasons that I am apprehensive about watching the 1992 film “Fire Walk With Me,” as it shows what happens the night of Laura’s murder. 

However, I will say that the reveal was executed very well, even if it should not have happened. In all honesty, as a watcher, I don’t really care about most of the mysteries on their own besides that of Laura’s death. They all tied into Laura somehow, which only made them greater. To me, the show can be divided up into three parts: the beginning of the murder to Maddy Ferguson, the murder of Maddy to the resolution of Leland’s storyline, and then the denouement. If I had to choose between the first season and the beginning of the second season, I would choose the first. There are several relationships left not fully explored, such as Norma and Big Ed or Audrey and Cooper, and in my opinion, the characters that they did decide to expand on were some of the weakest from Season One,
as I had a hard time relating to such idiosyncratic characters like the log lady. 

The first part may be where the majority of my love for the show lies, but the second part is also great. It is just not the same show. The main tension, and the greatness of Cooper’s character, lay in him always being one step ahead of everyone — even the audience. However, in almost all of Season Two, Cooper is not as sharp-witted (he completely forgets about Audrey), and especially after Maddy’s murder, he is playing catch up to the audience. There are many parts of the middle part that are amazing (the dancing girl, “It’s happening again,” the ring in the roadhouse scene, and Leland’s death are particular standouts). Yet, the episodes remain incompatible with the show that preceded them. I remember rewatching the part where Cooper yells “Damn, that’s good coffee… and hot!” and thinking that was something his character in the second season never would have said. Likewise, I was interested in who Bob was until they gave the whole jig up in the span of just a couple minutes. I was interested in the show until they resolved the main premise of the story.  However, let’s give credit where credit is due. Even after I’d argue “Twin Peaks” declined, it was still crafted by two masters, and had its fair share of exceptional moments. The problem that I experience with many TV shows is that a lot of them are packed with filler while the main plot is very drawn out; and this is true for the second half of the show, but the opposite is very nearly the case for the first half. In either case, it is likely that the people managing the financial side of these shows listen more to the ratings instead of the creators, and solving crucial mysteries is the best way to get ratings. It is ironic that the show that paved the way for narrative television also suffered from the same problems as many shows currently do. Now, all that’s left to say is “It is happening again.”