Twin Peaks and 15 Months Of Fame By : Jack Connolly
There are many famous abstract artists . People like Jackson Pollock and Henri Matisse revolutionized the way the world views art . Abstract filmmaking , also called “ Making confusing movies ,” is a less mainstream type of art , but is still a great , if time-consuming , form of art . I say time-consuming because the ending of Mulholland Drive will keep you scratching your head for months . David Lynch , the director of such disturbing masterpieces as Eraserhead , Inland Empire , Mulholland Drive , and Blue Velvet , is one of the more brilliant storytellers in recent memory . Riding on the success of his most recent work , Blue Velvet , Lynch , in collaboration with then-newcomer Mark Frost , started work on Twin Peaks , a soap opera-noir-horror-romance-mystery-satire , which left more people scratching their heads than a widespread lice breakout . The show was set in Twin Peaks , Washington , your typical small town 5 miles south of the Canadian border . The series starts when Pete Martell , the local fisherman , finds the body of Laura Palmer , the Twin Peaks High School Prom Queen , washed up on the shore . An FBI agent named Dale Cooper shows up , and what follows is 18 of the best ( and 12 of the worst ) episodes in TV history . While Twin Peaks was , at its heart , a murder mystery , one element set it apart from other murder mysteries at the time : the killer was never supposed to be revealed . It was also a surreal supernatural nightmare , but that ’ s beside the point . David Lynch is a very open-ended person , so he just started the show and hoped it would stay good ( although with a genius like David Lynch at the helm , whether or not it would stay good wasn ’ t really a question ). Spoiler ( although it ’ s not really a spoiler because it ’ s revealed in the third episode ): Laura was killed by a demonic entity named Killer BOB . And now the question becomes ,
Photography by Emma Jacques
“ Who was BOB possessing when he killed Laura Palmer ?” But , “ Who Killed Laura Palmer ?” sounds better , so we ’ ll use that . Although BOB is a famous character in Twin Peaks and a critical part of the show ’ s mystery , he wasn ’ t originally supposed to exist . When David Lynch was shooting the pilot , Frank Silva , the show ’ s set dresser , showed up in a mirror . David Lynch is a master of little details , and he noticed Frank Silva in the shot , and he was like , “ Bring me this dude ,” then Frank Silva showed up and Lynch was like , “ This could be cool , say , how ’ d you like to kill Laura Palmer ?” Silva was like , “ Sure , cool GARMONBOZIA .” And thus , a beautiful friendship was born .
Even if Twin Peaks is the greatest TV Show ever made ( there ’ s no debating it ) the middle of season 2 is painful . You see , because he was forced to reveal the killer , David Lynch just up and left after season 2 episode 9 . Only Mark Frost was left , and the quality of the show explains why Frost wasn ’ t included in any future Twin Peaks projects . The show was absolutely horrible until the finale . James leaves , Billy Zane shows up , and Cooper loses his FBI badge . Everything was bad . But if 12 episodes of actual torture is the price to pay for the visual nightmare that was the finale , I ’ d say it was worth it .
If David Lynch is famous for one thing , it ’ s his hauntingly beautiful visual style , and in no place is that more apparent than Twin Peaks . David Lynch could make disposing of a dead body look operatic and beautiful . Oh wait , he did that ? David Lynch is great at using colors . The color red is used in so many different ways in just the first season , from Josie ’ s shirt to the curtains in the Red Room . Everything about the first 18 episodes of Twin Peaks is visually perfect .