What's So Great About Twin Peaks

We look back at the iconic series, Twin Peaks, to understand what made it so groundbreaking and influential. The series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost brought cinematic visual techniques to TV, challenged audiences, and built an atmosphere that countless shows have since tried to emulate.

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[Music]
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suddenly it was 25 years later I was old
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sitting in a Red Room the American
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primetime television landscape in the
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late 80s was in transition but it was
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still over saturated with unambitious
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soap operas and conventional laugh
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tracks family sitcom TV was at the
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bottom of the media hierarchy it was
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called the idiot box to underline its
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intrinsic lack of any artistic or
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intellectual value then came Twin Peaks
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it was the spring of 1990 when the show
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first aired on the ABC network and
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launched a national obsession over who
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killed Laura Palmer the show marked a
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turning point in the history of
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television starting with the evident
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dramatic change in visual style Twin
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Peaks was the communal effort of TV
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writer Mark Frost and film director
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David Lynch who co-created this puzzling
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and dark universe we’re about to dive
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into again more than 25 years later with
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the upcoming new season Twin Peaks
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proved to be a game changer with
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enduring resonance with in popular
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culture the show foreshadow today’s
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binge watching environment and paved the
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way for TV to transform from the boob
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tube into a critically acclaimed form of
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artistic storytelling so how did Twin
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Peaks do all of that and after this
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video if you’d like to know 25 facts
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about Twin Peaks head to our friends at
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all-time movies the midget did a dance
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Laura kissed me and she whispered the
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name of killer in my ear
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who was it I don’t remember damn to
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start off it was daring it was a
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multi-layer john r a hybrid a blend of
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mysterious detective investigation and
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soap opera drama with shocking horror
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turn and slapstick comedy moments it
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reflected a fuller sense of the full
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spectrum of what life is life is
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hilarious and it’s terrifying and it’s
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moving and is touching and it’s romantic
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and it’s all those things so we tried to
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create a full kind of smorgasbord there
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it’s not a puzzle at all it’s a lamb
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with so many things going on the
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narrative arc required a new structural
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formula one that refused the need for
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plot closure with in every episode
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before Twin Peaks there had been a few
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attempts at serial story telling and
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interweaving plot lines and genres that
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were usually bound to the episodic form
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thank Hill Street Blues Cheers
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or st. elsewhere but these shows still
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regularly achieved closure within a few
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episodes and the story arcs that did
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span over seasons relied on character
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growth rather than story structure Twin
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Peaks show that a more experimental
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formula could catch on with audiences
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episodes raised a lot of questions
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without feeling obligated to supply the
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answers punctually or perhaps ever
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audiences are challenged to navigate
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through uncanny plots and subplots
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involving multiple realities
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doppelgangers psychological disorders
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dream sequences and vehicles very early
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on in the series the comprehensible
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logic driven investigations are
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subverted by the supernatural a presence
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that plays a crucial part in the story
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for example in Cooper’s method of
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investigating the murder guided by his
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dreams and intuitions Lawrence Jacobi
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you did it you hit it Lucy make a note
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that the bottle was struck but did not
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break very important and in the villain
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Bob an ungraspable demonic force that
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possesses humans
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even feeds on pain and terror after the
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resolution of the Laura Palmer murder
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mystery something that Lynch reportedly
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never intended to resolve the second
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season went so far to the extremes of a
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free associative unstructured format
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that it tested some audiences patience
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and ultimately got cancelled ending on a
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cliffhanger the Messier second season
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also reflected behind the scenes
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conflict as Lynch left the show after
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having a very hard time swallowing the
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constraints imposed by ABC about the
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Laura Palmer resolution there was room
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for so many other you know mysteries but
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that mystery was sacred and it held the
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other ones it was the tree and the other
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ones were the branches you want to know
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who – Laura do did we all did one of the
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most amazingly good things about the
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show is its visual world even though
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Lynch only directed six episodes out of
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30 other directors took their lead from
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Lynch’s eccentric vision while bringing
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their own sensibility to the work while
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most TV fictions took care to erase the
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presence of the camera the lynch/frost
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productions calavicci Grammer to
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visually amplify meaning they brought
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cinematic visual language to TV of
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course the series still made use of some
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common TV visual conventions like shot
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reverse shot the Twin Peaks is
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cinematography includes innovations like
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unusual camera angles to create emphasis
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on the emotional distress of a character
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deep depth of field to create strong
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composition camera movement to enhance
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the drama of the scene and emptiness
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within the frame as an ominous sign in
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the earing unsettling moments of the
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show dread and horror are designed
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around the stillness of the frame taking
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a cue from the cinematic style of
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Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining these
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shots arouse creepiness and anxiety by
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creating an ambiguity around what the
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precise nature of the threat actually is
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the fascination with feelings is another
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visual attribute of the show which
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translates to a tendency to hold the
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camera on a given emotion or detail for
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much longer than we’d expect
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[Music]
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and it’s a show that’s willing to let
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this moment play in full body to your
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ear a little bit humbled anxiety say
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mayor’s eat folks and those he spokes
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and lintel lamzy divey with all of these
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sophisticated visual techniques Twin
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Peaks helped legitimize television as an
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art form creating the origin point of
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auto TV
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[Music]
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the atmosphere of Twin Peaks is really
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the kicker of the show as evidenced by
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how many have tried to emulate it in the
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years since there are many different
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moods and tonality ‘he’s within the
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series ranging from the darkest
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nightmarish sight to the cotton-candy
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feel of the local diner with the key
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mood the show establishes is an ominous
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one ever lurking underneath the surface
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of harmless Americana this lynchin motif
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also occurs in the directors acclaimed
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film blue velvet which has a lot in
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common with twin Pete both our mystery
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stories set in lumbering town a dig
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below a white picket fence version of
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America in search of the hidden the
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visual motif that exemplifies the dark
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quality of the series is the repetition
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of detailed naturalistic elements such
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as the water flowing the owl and the
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wood elements that here concealed
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obscure menacing forces the sinister
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state of mind is also mirrored and
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intensified by the soundtrack composed
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by Angelo Badalamenti the show’s unique
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haunting musical identity works as a
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powerful emotional trigger and just like
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the themes they’re underscoring the
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compositions have both a light and dark
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quality the lighter music has a 50s or
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60s field sparkling guitars
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finger-snapping jazz
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here’s five glasses that you wanted I’m
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teen pop machinist to suggest lovers
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innocence and a sense of romantic
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longing the darker themes features into
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soundscapes marked by harmonic
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suspensions and dissonance where the
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unnatural timbre of the electronic
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instruments evokes the otherworldly
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[Music]
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the score participates in the
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storytelling by using leitmotif or
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recurring musical themes associated with
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a certain character emotion or idea
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quite famously
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[Music]
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and I’ve yet
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his chin
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I’m I still have me it’s night
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flashlight beam moves across the ground
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and a hand a gloved hand lifts the rock
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and takes out a necklace broken in half
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it was Laura
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meanwhile the blend of musical styles
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also give Twin Peaks an anachronistic
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feel while the series is set in 1989 and
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captures that late eighties texture it
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also seems apart from any time which may
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be one reason it hasn’t lost its power
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somehow we feel like the world of Twin
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Peaks is really out there somewhere in
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the Pacific Northwest untouched by time
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even when the camera is not pointing at
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it another touchstone of the series is
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its memorable characters we learn right
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away that the inhabitants of Twin Peaks
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are not what they sound at the beginning
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everyone is a suspect behind every
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innocent appearance their lives darkness
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within this is especially true of Laura
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the shining homecoming queen whose death
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is followed by one sort of revelation
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after another in addition to the mystery
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element of neighbors as suspects the
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show develops itself operatic and
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personal intrigue elements almost
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everyone in town is caught up in
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intricate love affairs but most
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important are the chorus and
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peculiarities that make the Twin Peaks
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characters so brilliant it’s an ensemble
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character-driven show Diane 11:30 a.m.
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at where a twenty fourth entering the
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town of Twin Peaks five miles south of
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the Canadian border 12 miles west of a
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state line
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never seen so many trees in my life and
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as the show develops Agent Dale Cooper
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becomes one of the most compelling TV
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characters in screen history
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this is excuse me a damn fine cup of
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coffee
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audiences fall for his idiosyncrasies
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his childlike enthusiasm for trees and
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his obsessions with coffee we offer you
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gentlemen a cup of joe
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mrs. backer just said the magic word
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cherry pies two more pieces of this
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incredible pie
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and the significance of Tibet following
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a dream I had three years ago I have
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become deeply moved by the plight for
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the Tibetan people and filled the desire
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to help it was giving a little bit of
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story a little bit of plot but it really
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established the character so you get a
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sense of man this guy is very different
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Audrey that right would slant in your
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handwriting indicates a romantic nature
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a heart that yearns be careful
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– every scene is a chance to observe the
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highly specific traits that the
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characters bring to screen which are
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ultimately an intimate window into an
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odd society and causes men will be
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allowed to return to their home not to
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be stopped by the Confederate States the
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idea for all this really came from a
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dream yes it did of course
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Twin Peaks is ambition in both narrative
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and thematic density makes it a
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demanding show for viewers
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whereas television up to this point was
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often experienced as a disruptive
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activity as viewers would change
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channels or keep the TV on as background
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noise while performing other tasks Twin
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Peaks required attentive participation
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the show’s ambiguity and opacity make it
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a subjective experience where the
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boundaries between dream reality and
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fantasy are blurred the viewer becomes a
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creator of meaning and that’s not an
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easy job
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break the code solve the crime
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[Music]
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since the early 90s television has
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changed radically it would be wrong to
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credit this one show for all that’s
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taken place after it still it’s hard to
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imagine what TV would be like nowadays
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in the so-called golden age of
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television
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if the cinematic enigmatic ultimately
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impenetrable Twin Peaks had never been
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created everywhere we look we find
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series that share some of their DNA with
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Twin Peaks Lords about Mahalo a tribute
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to it we want to know why town is called
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Twin Peaks for instance Twin Peaks is
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interest in the uncanny can also be seen
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in hits like the x-files a decade later
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lost and most recently stranger things
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crucially Twin Peaks paved the way for
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stories that revolve around not just a
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specific self-contained enigma to
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resolve but also a larger place were
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initiated into whose nature is to be
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explored and a more rounded intuitive
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investigation it taught TV authors to
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trust instinct over intellect mood over
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meaning and to emphasize the journey
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over the destination yet the show’s real
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importance lay not in its direct
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influences but in the way it changed the
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perception of the medium and how viewers
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experience it suddenly television was
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full of possibilities Gary
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I have no idea where this will lead us
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but I have a definite feeling it will be
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a place both wonderful and strain
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[Music]