Twin Peaks: What's the big deal?

[ghouck]

I watched the pilot of Twin Peaks, and I have to say: What's the big F-ing deal? I must be missing something because people talk about how eccentric and weird this show is, and I didn't see anything but average Drama, definitely nothing that screamed "David Lynch" to me. I read things about how bizarre and unique it is, but I'm just not seeing it. Yes, the FBI Agent is quite weird, and it's obviously an elaborate mystery, but other than that' I just haven't seen anything that special out of it. Can anyone clue me in here?

[akiratubo]

I like the first season because it really is weird, though you get the idea everything would make sense if only you had just a little bit more information.

The second season sucks because when you finally get that little extra bit of information, it still doesn't f#@!ing make much sense.

[Rev. Powell]

It was only a little weird, sort of BLUE VELVET level weird instead of ERASERHEAR weird.  The second season was much weirder (and more disappointing) than the first.

It's this dream sequence everyone seems to remember and associate with the series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05xm2eN-1VA

I mostly remember how hot Sherilynn Fenn was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYSYlVFF_94

[3mnkids]

It was quirky maybe but I think people just loved to say yeah, I watch twin peaks, cool huh.  uh huh.    By the second season they started to believe all the hype and threw any intelligence out the window and just went for weird. overrated garbage IMO. sorry to fans of it.   

[Mofo Rising]

It gets a lot weirder after the pilot.

Thing about Twin Peaks is that it came out at a time when there really wasn't anything else like that on television. The show deliberately apes the overwrought style of soap operas, albeit with a dark heart and fairly outlandish eccentricities. The mystery of the first season ("Who killed Laura Palmer?") was never meant to be solved, and the audience was expected to tune in every week just to spend time in this odd corner of the world.

Obviously, that didn't work. The second season is pretty poor, as they no longer had the thread people were interested in. So they started interweaving more of the outlandish Twin Peaks mythos into the story. The show was quickly canceled.

I love Twin Peaks, although I'm a fan of David Lynch. As akiratubo said, "it would make sense if only you had a little bit more information." I find the show intriguing. It has just the right mix of atmosphere, music and out-and-out weirdness, so I'm willing to forgive it when it comes out flawed. In the second season those flaws come more to the fore (boy, do they ever), but the final episode is one of the most screamingly weird things ever broadcast on network television.

If you want to jump into just how strange David Lynch's idea of Twin Peaks is, check out the movie Fire Walk With Me. No longer constrained by TV execs, Fire Walk With Me is bizarre from start to finish, not to mention completely perverse. I think it may be my favorite Lynch film.

I'd stick with it for a few more episodes to see if anything takes. You may still not like it, and I certainly can't recommend the second season to anybody. If you have it, though, check out the final episode. Great stuff.

[beck]

If you dont 'get' twin peaks in the first section... youll never 'get' it. It will always evade you. Stop watching it. You wont understand it  ;)

[Doggett]

Did you see the movie ?

[Jim H]

I watched some of it when it first aired, funny to think of it now.  I was 7 or 8 during that time frame.  It definitely gets weirder as it goes on. 

I don't recall it ever being as weird as Lynch's films though.