Twin Peaks: Season 1 (1990) Cre: David Lynch & Mark Frost
- Ridley Coote
- Aug 20
- 2 min read
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When the opportunity arrived to finally watch this iconic and highly acclaimed series, from the equally iconic and highly acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch, along with Mark Frost, I lept on it. I have wanted to watch this series pretty much as long as I've known who David Lynch was, and the show's fervent and committed fanbase seemed like more than enough justification for wanting to watch it myself, never-mind that I've loved every Lynch film I've watched thus far.
One thing I have discovered on my journey to explore the strange and very varied filmography of Lynch is his wonderful music selections. His creations always sound as good as they look, and this series was much the same. I loved the show's dreamy soundtrack; both the 'Twin Peaks' theme and the 'Laura Palmer' theme were truly exemplary. Both pieces fit the themes and feel of the series perfectly.
This first season is eight episodes of mysterious, surrealistic, and intensely intriguing television. I love seeing Lynch's vision of a murder mystery detective series, and the world-building that Lynch provides for the setting is so good. He makes 'Twin Peaks' feel both like a real place and something far too mysterious and surreal to exist in reality. The story takes its audience through a series of twists and turns which both build upon and subvert detective mystery tropes, and provides a brilliant end-of-season cliffhanger, which set up season two phenomenally well.
Kyle MacLachlan provides an incredibly endearing and unexpectedly amusing detective lead who guides audiences through this debut season with a gentle and familiar-feeling touch. He really was wonderful, and the perfect hand to play a David Lynch protagonist. He was supported by a number of actors who gave some pretty tremendous performances across the season, with my favourite being that of Sherilyn Fern, whose turn as the intriguing Audrey was just brilliant.
The other names that really stood out to me across the season were Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Ray Wise. These names represented those who I felt had the best character work, as much as anything else. Honestly, everyone provided performances that were, at the very least interesting, and the likes of Richard Beymer, Joan Chen, James Marshall, and Everett McGill, should not be discounted for their acting either.
Overall, I found this series to be very typical of its iconic creator, in that it was strange but quite brilliant. I found myself undeniably enthralled and captivated by the mysteries unfolding before my eyes, and was equally compelled by some of the interesting and varied characters who inhabited the town of 'Twin Peaks'. I will most definitely continue this journey, and cannot wait to see what the much longer second season will provide.
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