This article is about the television series. For alternative meanings, see: Twin Peaks (disambiguation).

Twin Peaks was an American television series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost . The show is set in the fictional town of Twin Peaks in north-east Washington.

It aired on the ABC network in the United States from April 8, 1990 until June 10, 1991. Some episodes were written/directed by Lynch and Frost, but most were directed by guests invited by Lynch. The show was co-produced by Aaron Spelling's production company and ran for 29 episodes over two seasons.

Contents

1 Overview 2 Summary 3 Soundtrack 4 Variant versions 5 Characters 6 Trivia 7 External links

Overview

Twin Peaks tells the story of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and his investigation into the murder of a popular young local girl Laura Palmer. The programme portrays small-town America via an imaginary tight-knit community of unsophisticates. The pilot was filmed in the real-life town of Snoqualmie, Washington, not far from Seattle, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

The gradual unraveling of the tale necessarily exposes each Twin Peaks inhabitant to unwelcome scrutiny from Agent Cooper and men from the Sheriff's Department. As with much of Lynch's other work (such as Blue Velvet), Twin Peaks explores the relationship between the veneer of respectability and the seedier layer of life beneath it. The programme borrowed generously from American soap operas in its melodramatic presentation of its characters' morally dubious activities. However, like all Lynch's previous and subsequent work, there exists a strong moral seriousness that informs the totality of the production.

The series is particularly memorable for Kyle MacLachlan's performance as Special Agent Dale Cooper, who had the most famous line in the series (which became a catch phrase): "This is a damn fine cup of coffee."

The series made use of multiple red herring plot elements and spin-offs into other media that was novel for American television at the time. While the search for Laura Palmer's killer drove the first season, single episodes would detour into self-contained plots. Most fans agree that once the killer was revealed the series lost pace.

It should be noted that each episode takes place over the course of a single day, usually beginning in the morning and ending around midnight.

Summary

The body of Laura Palmer, homecoming Queen and a popular girl, is discovered wrapped in plastic by Pete Martell. The news is relayed to the town's residents who react in various ways. Meanwhile across the state line a second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is found walking in a catatonic state along some rail road tracks. Since the crime crosses state lines, the FBI is alerted and Special Agent Dale Cooper arrives to investigate. Cooper's initial examination of Laura's body reveals the typed letter 'R' inserted under her fingernail. He recognises this as the "calling card" of a killer who took the life of Teresa Banks a year earlier in the town of Deer Meadow.

Cooper quickly establishes that Laura's character and relationships are not as they first appear, and that she's far from the innocent homecoming Queen that the town knew her as. Laura had been two-timing her boyfriend Bobby Briggs with the biker James Hurley, a situation known to Laura's best friend Donna Hayward. Cooper also finds traces of cocaine in Laura's diary, a habit she shared with Bobby.

Cooper is staying at the Hotel owned by the Horne family. Audrey Horne develops a crush on Cooper and when he traces Laura's cocaine usage to a club called 'One-Eyed Jacks' she infiltrates it for him. It is revealed that Laura had also been working as a prostitute sometimes based at the club. Cooper has a dream in which he visits the Red Room where he meets the Man from Another Place and the trapped spirit of Laura Palmer who whispers into his ear the name of her killer. However when he awakes, Cooper is unable to remember the name.

The information that Cooper has gained from psychic and observed means leads him to a number of suspects but he knows that finding Laura's secret diary holds the key. This diary is held by Harold Smith who was one of Laura's confidants. The secret diary reveals that from a young age Laura was abused by a character called Bob and that her use of drugs and sex are the means she has evolved to supress Bob.

Maddie Ferguson, who is Laura's cousin and her spitting image, arrives to stay with Laura's parents. Both of them at times confuse Maddie with Laura. Maddie also becomes obsessed with finding Laura's killer and discovers that this is Leland Palmer, Laura's father. Leland kills Maddie but is captured by Dale Cooper who realises he has been possessed by the malevolent spirit of Bob. Leland smashes his own head against the wall of his cell and in his dying moment his soul is restored.

Soundtrack

Composer Angelo Badalamenti, a frequent contributor to Lynch projects, scored the series and provides the leitmotif "Laura's Theme", the famous title theme and other evocative pieces to the soundtrack. Julee Cruise added ethereal vocals that complimented the otherworldliness that typified Twin Peaks during its run.

Variant versions

The pilot episode, first screened on TV in the US, was also released theatrically in Europe as a stand-alone story. The European version is 20 minutes longer than the TV pilot with a different ending added to bring closure to the story (see below the spoiler warning).

After the TV series had ended, Lynch made a prequel movie, Fire Walk With Me, co-written with Robert Engels (a writer from the series).

In September 2002, the first season (episodes 1-7) of Twin Peaks was released as a DVD box set. The box set was noted for being the first TV show to have its audio track redone in DTS. The set was heavily criticized for not including the key pilot episode, which could not be included due to the fact Lynch sold the rights to it to another company in order to facilitate its release theatrically. The pilot episode is included in the box set released in Europe, but as of late 2004 it is not yet known whether the televised version of the pilot (which ties in with the rest of the series) will ever be released to DVD in North America, or if the version released there will be the theatrical version.

The second season is due to be released worldwide by Paramount.

The European version wraps up the story by showing Mike, the one-armed man , shooting Bob who admits to the murder. Most of the supernatural aspects of the story are toned down or eliminated.

Characters

Grouping	Name	Description	Played by
The FBI	Special Agent Dale Cooper	Investigates Laura's death	Kyle MacLachlan
	Albert Rosenfield	Abrasive forensics expert	Miguel Ferrer
	Chief Gordon Cole	Cooper's stone-deaf boss, shouts all the time	David Lynch
	Diane	Cooper's never-seen secretary	? (never seen or heard)
Twin Peaks Police Department	Sheriff Harry S. Truman	Lover of Josie Packard	Michael Ontkean
	Deputy Andy Brennan	Dorky sidekick, lover(!) of Lucy	Harry Goaz
	Deputy Hawk , Tommy Hill	Tracker	Michael Horse
	Lucy Moran	Ditzy receptionist	Kimmy Robertson
The Sawmill	Josie Packard	Widowed sawmill owner, lover of Sheriff Truman	Joan Chen
	Catherine Packard Martell	Scheming with lover Ben Horne to burn the mill	Piper Laurie
	Pete Martell	Long-suffering husband of Catherine	Jack Nance
The Palmers	Leland Palmer	Laura's father	Ray Wise
	Sarah Palmer	Laura's psychic mother	Grace Zabriskie
	Laura Palmer	Murder victim, connected to almost everyone in town	Sheryl Lee
	Maddie Ferguson	Laura's cousin	Sheryl Lee
The Johnsons	Leo Johnson	Brutish trucker, drug-runner, had sexual relationships with Laura Palmer	Eric Da Re
	Shelly Johnson	Wife of Leo, lover of Bobby Briggs	Mädchen Amick
The Briggses	Major Garland Briggs	Air Force officer involved in Project Blue Book	Don S. Davis
	Betty Briggs	Unassuming wife and mother	Charlotte Stewart
	Bobby Briggs	Rebellious teenager, boyfriend of Laura Palmer, lover of Shelly Johnson	Dana Ashbrook
The Hornes	Benjamin Horne	Wealthy businessman, owns hotel, department store	Richard Beymer
	Jerry Horne	Ben's playboy brother	David Patrick Kelly
	Sylvia Horne	Ben's constantly angry wife	Jan D'Arcy
	Audrey Horne	Ben's sultry teenage daughter	Sherilyn Fenn
	Johnny Horne	Ben's mentally handicapped son, tutored by Laura	Robert Bauer III
The Haywards	Doc Hayward	Coroner, performs autopsy on Laura Palmer	Warren Frost
	Eileen Hayward	His wife	Mary Jo Deschanel
	Donna Hayward	Laura's best friend, lover of James Hurley	Lara Flynn Boyle
	Harriet Hayward	Donna's younger sister	Jessica Wallenfels
	Gersten Hayward	Donna's youngest sister	Alicia Witt
The Hurleys	Big Ed Hurley	Gas stop owner, lover of Norma Jennings	Everett McGill
	Nadine Hurley	Ed's drape-obsessed wife	Wendy Robie
	James Hurley	Ed's nephew, secret love of Laura Palmer, lover of Donna Hayward	James Marshall
The Jenningses	Norma Jennings	Diner owner, lover of Big Ed Hurley, organiser of meals on wheels with Laura Palmer	Peggy Lipton
	Hank Jennings	Her husband, paroled criminal, conspirator with Josie Packard	Chris Mulkey
	Annie Blackburn	Younger sister of Norma, an ex-nun with a troubled past	Heather Graham
The Renaults	Jacques Renault	Canadian, croupier, drug-runner, had sexual relationship with Laura Palmer	Walter Olkewicz
	Jean Renault	Criminal brother	Michael Parks
	Bernard Renault	Murdered brother	Clay Wilcox
Others	Dr Lawrence Jacoby	Psychiatrist, therapist of Laura Palmer	Russ Tamblyn
	Blackie O'Reilly	Brothel madame	Victoria Catlin
	Harold Smith	Agoraphobic horticulturist, Laura's friend	Lenny Von Dohlen
	Margaret Lanterman	The Log Lady , mystic, widow who divines through her ubiquitous log	Catherine E. Coulson
	Denise/Denis Bryson	Cross-dressing DEA Agent who investigates drug allegations against Dale Cooper	David Duchovny
	Dick Tremayne	Pretentious employee of Men's Department at Horne's, ex-lover of Lucy.	Ian Buchanan
	Windom Earle	Psychopathic ex-partner of Cooper, desires the powers of the Lodges,	Kenneth Welsh
The People from the Lodges	The Man From Another Place	Enigmatic dwarf	Michael J. Anderson
	The Giant	A giant who helps Cooper	Carel Struycken
	Phillip Michael Gerard	AKA MIKE, the one-armed man . A shoe-salesman who also acts as host for Mike.	Al Strobel
	BOB	malevolent presence who haunts Laura	Frank Silva
	Mrs. Tremond / Chalfont	Messenger from Lodge with nephew - Pierre (who knows of BOB). Intentions unknown.	Frances Bay

Trivia

• The musician Moby used "Laura Palmer's Theme" as the basis for his track "Go".
• Marilyn Manson titled a song on their Portrait of an American Family album “Wrapped in Plastic”, apparently after a line of Pete Martell 's in the first minutes of the pilot. The track itself appears to have a sample of Laura Palmer’s scream from episode 29
• The series launched the careers of a number of actors, including Heather Graham, Lara Flynn Boyle, Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn.
• A number of principal and minor actors from Twin Peaks also had small (but memorable) roles on the sitcom Seinfeld:
  • Warren Frost (Doc Hayward) and Grace Zabriskie (Sara Palmer) had recurring roles on Seinfeld as Susan's parents (George Costanza's fiance, Susan).
  • Ian Abercrombie (the medical insurance salesman when Leo is brought home after being shot) had a recurring role on Seinfeld as Mr. Pitt (Elaine's boss).
  • Frances Bay (Mrs. Tremond) appeared in three episodes as the "marble rye-bread lady" (where Jerry Seinfeld stole her marble rye)
  • Walter Olkewicz (Jacques Renault) appeared as the cable man that Kramer tries to avoid
  • Molly Shannon (woman from the adoption agency, also of SNL fame) appeared as one of Elaine's co-workers that did not swing her arms when she walked

External links

• Twin Peaks website
• Twin Peaks Gazette