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May 15, 2013 6:22 PM

Twin Peaks - Worth watching for the first time?

Twin Peaks has always sounded like the kind of show I'd like but I didn't own a television when it was originally broadcast so I didn't see it then. I've heard that the second season is both a departure from the first season and a bit bumpy and directionless. Never the less it's up on Netflix and so I'm considering watching it.

However if the story arc resolution blows or the resolution leaves extensive unresolved issues I'd invest my time limited TV viewing time in something else. So is the series worth watching or is it like lost where it turns out the producers didn't actually have the series mapped out and were just winging it leaving all sorts of unresolved and ded end sub plots?

As I'm managed to not absorb more than the basic premise of the show please no spoilers.

posted by Mitheral to Media & Arts (48 answers total)

It's unique and well worth watching; of its time and yet apart from it. I loved the ending.
posted by flippant at 6:24 PM on May 15, 2013

I loved it when it was originally aired. It feels incredibly dated now and was fairly painful for me to rewatch. Try the pilot and see what you think.
posted by purenitrous at 6:27 PM on May 15, 2013 [6 favorites]

Watch the first season; don't feel bad about skipping the second.
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:28 PM on May 15, 2013 [30 favorites]

I was in the same position as you a few months ago. I ended up watching both seasons on Netflix. I think it was worthwhile. Although it is only 2 seasons, the main arc from the first season does get reasonable closure by mid-way through the second. The second season is pretty out there, but I enjoyed it. It's definitely a little dated, and very weird, but fun.

If you like odd characters and mysteries, I would recommend it.
posted by tocts at 6:37 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's such a strangely charming show, I would highly recommend at least trying it out. The second season does end on somewhat of a cliffhanger, but for various spoilery reasons I wasn't very bothered by it, although I normally am. The end of the second season does start to wander, but it's such a short show, it doesn't really matter much.

There is a movie associated with it, but watch the movie AFTER the series, or skip it altogether.
posted by muddgirl at 6:48 PM on May 15, 2013

I watched it long after it had aired. The first season was amazing. The second season is pretty bad. There is a natural point of resolution - you will know when you hit it. I would not feel bad about it leaving it there.
posted by smoke at 6:49 PM on May 15, 2013 [4 favorites]

Yeah, it can be cheesy at times and feel pretty dated (omg the music), but if you like weird things and quirky characters (log lady!) then you'd enjoy it. The main character, Dale Cooper, is one of my favorite TV show characters of all time. Kyle McLaughlin was perfect for the role.

Regarding the second season: after the main mystery was solved it did kinda go a little directionless when they were trying to figure out what to do, but in my opinion it started to get interesting... of course then it ended. So even though it ended on a cliffhanger, it was a entertaining ride and I'm glad I watched the whole thing.
posted by littlesq at 6:50 PM on May 15, 2013

What? Yes. Of course. What?
posted by nathancaswell at 6:56 PM on May 15, 2013 [15 favorites]

I could not get into Twin Peaks after the Big Mystery is solved in season 2, but the first season and the beginning of the second is amazing. Believe the hype.
posted by ablazingsaddle at 6:59 PM on May 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

I just finished watching it a couple weeks ago. I was totally unspoiled (hadn't even seen anything else by Lynch) and enjoyed it immensely! I even enjoyed the second season, though I agree it suffers in the middle.

It's like The Wire— you know how people say that even the worst episode of The Wire is better than most tv? I think the same's true for Twin Peaks.
posted by yaymukund at 7:05 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

I just watched it a couple months ago. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend it. As everyone says, the second season isn't near as good as the first but I still enjoyed it. Maybe just feel more free to cook or clean or whathaveyou while watching the second season.
posted by saul wright at 7:05 PM on May 15, 2013

I watched the whole thing for the first time a few years ago and loved it. And was pretty frustrated with how it ended. I wanted there to be more and I wanted there to be better resolution. I watched the movie. It did...ok at hitting a few of the things I was looking for.

You should still watch it. Just because.
posted by phunniemee at 7:06 PM on May 15, 2013

I watched it for the first time about two years ago and enjoyed the first season a great deal. The second season was not nearly as good, but the last episode was incredible. Watch it if only to marvel that it aired on network television.
posted by synecdoche at 7:06 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Personally, I would trade Twin Peaks for every other television show ever made and, likely, ever to be made. But even if you don't agree, the entire run is so short. Stop watching if you don't like it. It's not an indelible taint like watching Two and a Half Men.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:08 PM on May 15, 2013 [5 favorites]

It is the single most amazing television show ever made, very quirky and full of odd absurdist humor. Smart, too. David Lynch left during the second season but came back for the finale, so the finale is AWESOME (though some of the second season episodes are pretty awful). Caveat: the movie is not great, but you'll love the show so much you'll watch it anyway.
posted by brina at 7:08 PM on May 15, 2013

"I'd invest my time limited TV viewing time in something else." This may be the first time I ever lol'd at a askmefi question! Twin Peaks is basically the best/most bizarre soap opera, and being a soap, there are some filler episodes you may feel like waste your time.
I say watch the pilot. If you aren't hooked then don't watch anymore.
posted by hellameangirl at 7:20 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

the movie is not great

The movie is incomprehensible. Might as well be random shots of a dwarf talking backwards, red curtains, and Chris Isaak.
posted by goethean at 7:21 PM on May 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

Watch the first season, of course. The second? eh, depending on your mood, you can watch the full thing or just watch the episodes David Lynch was involved in, or skip the whole thing.
posted by OrangeDrink at 7:29 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

> Worth watching for the first time?

Twin Peaks and Fire Walk With Me are among the best and most batshitinsane amazing pieces of art ever created by human beings.

> However if the story arc resolution blows or the resolution leaves extensive unresolved issues I'd invest my time limited TV viewing time in something else.

'Extensive unresolved issues' is basically David Lynch's oeuvre.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 7:38 PM on May 15, 2013 [7 favorites]

It's worth watching with one caveat -- understand that once you get to the big reveal (and actually a little earlier than that), the show runners just started experimenting wildly without any real hope of having anything stick. It's fun as a creative experiment.

Then when you're completely done with the show, watch the movie, which is itself another experimental work.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:39 PM on May 15, 2013

I accidentally (switched library dvds) watched only the pilot and the second season my first time through the series. I did not find unresolved issues (or not knowing what the hell was going on) to be a problem in the least. I felt the same way when I went back and watched the whole thing through. Still wasn't sure what was going on, but that didn't spoil the flavor of the thing.
posted by theweasel at 7:41 PM on May 15, 2013

The AV Club recommended Twin Peaks on a recent episode of Bullseye. You can hear it in this clip, beginning at 2:18.

I, myself, have never re-watched Twin Peaks, so my memories of it are 20 years old now… that review has me thinking about revisiting it. Give a listen.
posted by mumkin at 7:46 PM on May 15, 2013

I've watched the whole thing 2-3 times over the years. Each time I notice clever, interesting elements of mystery or magic that I didn't notice the time before. But the ridiculous end of season two does get more absurd with repeat viewing. It seemed cutting edge and unlike anything I'd seen before when I watched its original broadcasts while I was in middle school.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 7:56 PM on May 15, 2013

What purenitrous said: I loved it when it was originally aired. It feels incredibly dated now and was fairly painful for me to rewatch. Try the pilot and see what you think.

There are some incredible, memorable moments (I still quote plenty of Twin Peaks lines at old friends from high school when I see them) ...but 90% of the acting is just dreadful, and while the story arcs and characters are fascinating, most of the dialogue is unnatural or overwrought.
posted by duffell at 7:57 PM on May 15, 2013

I rewatched the first season and partway into the second about a year ago, for the first time since they aired originally. So intense, and funny, and exquisite! That this ever aired on prime time on a network still blows my mind wide open. There was nothing like it at the time, and still nothing like it even now.

Lynch, please come back to tv or movies! We miss you so much!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:05 PM on May 15, 2013

You have nothing to lose by watching the excellent first season. If you love it, keep going, but brace for much higher wtf/ohh ratio.
posted by tomboko at 8:06 PM on May 15, 2013

Yes. Dear god, yes. If you're hooked after the pilot, then watch the first season and SO MANY jokes told over the last 20 years will suddenly make sense to you. Twin Peaks is perfect binge-watching material for a long rainy weekend.

And remember: the owls are not what they seem.
posted by Elly Vortex at 8:09 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

Stop watching after you find out who killed Laura.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:14 PM on May 15, 2013 [3 favorites]

Personally, I'm a fan of the show and have seen it probably 4-5 times all the way through.

It is totally worth watching. It's fantastic, and parts are dated, but it still holds its own on a whole.

It's also worth watching because fans of the show have gone on to become some pretty great content makers out there. This makes for quite a few Peaks references in the oddest places.

I crushed hard on a barista once who unprompted quoted Cooper.
posted by furnace.heart at 8:30 PM on May 15, 2013

For whatever reason, people have long assumed I was a Twin Peaks fan, somehow forgetting I was only 4 years old when it aired. It might have been my adolescent love of the weird and occult; I don't know. It's also my father-in-law's favorite show of all time and he brings it up on a somewhat regular basis, so when I finally got around to watching it last month, there was a fair amount of pressure for me to like it. Having now watched it, I can honestly say I'm glad I did, if only for a fuller understanding of all the pop culture references, but I didn't love it the way I might have. I think there were just too many expectations, and I'd absorbed way too many references over the years for it to feel truly fresh to me, but even with all the flaws, I'd say it was a worthwhile experience.
posted by Diagonalize at 8:35 PM on May 15, 2013

Personal anecdote, a few years ago my group of friends dressed as several TP characters for Halloween. I was Shelly (although I can only dream of being as beautiful as Mädchen Amick). It was pretty amazing. Even more amazing is one of said friends met Ray Wise through work and showed him photos of us, to make things extra meta.
posted by hellameangirl at 9:11 PM on May 15, 2013

I would say first season and them play it by ear. I rewatched the whole run recently, and the second year loses the path pretty badly at times ( although opinions differ on what exactly is good and what is awful).

Bear in mind that it might come across as a little underwhelming 23 years on. Set against your favourite HBO series, it might come up short, but remember that it arrived in a world of Cheers and L.A. Law and Family Matters, so its sheer strangeness beggared belief.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:27 PM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]

That show was goddamned revolutionary and even if it's dated and kinda crappy at the end of season two, it's still revolutionary and you've reminded me I should watch it again.
posted by notyou at 10:04 PM on May 15, 2013

I first saw it just over a decade ago, when the calendar in the show lined up with the real one, so we could watch the show in "real time." It was pretty great, though there is some unresolved craziness at the end.

I rewatched about half of it recently as part of the USC series on it, and it's really fun to watch as a group. It's far funnier than it gets credit for being, and a lot of the high weirdness still holds up well.

"...but 90% of the acting is just dreadful, and while the story arcs and characters are fascinating, most of the dialogue is unnatural or overwrought."

Uh, it's a bit of a piss take on soap operas. Most of that unnatural and overwrought stuff was intentionally so.
posted by klangklangston at 11:12 PM on May 15, 2013 [2 favorites]

It is a great show for a weekly watching party, like a night when you invite your friends over for some themed food and watch a few episodes.

There is a lack of total "closure" or the feeling that David Lynch didn't get to complete all he had planned when you get to season 2 but it doesn't seem too jarring for a show about mystery, hidden layers and suspending belief. I am a big enough fan that I went to all the filming locations I could find when I visited the area. You'll either love it or hate it.

Pushing Daisies is a show I loved so so much and really enjoyed watching but it is totally one of those shows that was ended before all plots had played out and a great mystery was just left there hanging.
posted by dottiechang at 12:15 AM on May 16, 2013

I watched it for the first time last year. Oh hell yes!
posted by Trivia Newton John at 12:46 AM on May 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yes. And remember to take a look at what else was on TV (and also remember how limited TV options were) when it originally aired, because there's a great little meta-joy in the "holy shit, this is weird for mainstream television NOW, how did it get aired THEN during prime time?!

But mostly, yes. It is good. The second season falls apart a bit into just...silliness; it becomes pretty obvious where David Lynch had loosed the creative control. But even then, it's still entertaining, because the context was already set up from such a wonderfully twisted place.
posted by desuetude at 1:19 AM on May 16, 2013

I'm watching it for the first time right now. Yes, you should definitely watch it. It is a little dated, but I think that makes it charming.
posted by Fig at 2:40 AM on May 16, 2013

... and feel pretty dated (omg the music)

I think the music is the greatest strength of the show.

... most of the dialogue is unnatural or overwrought

This is part of the charm.

Let me phrase my answer in the form of a pseudo BASIC program.

10 HAVE YOU SEEN BLUE VELVET? IF YES THEN GOTO 30
20 WATCH BLUE VELVET
30 DID YOU LIKE BLUE VELVET? IF NO THEN QUIT
40 SURE, WATCH TWIN PEAKS SOMETIME
posted by fleacircus at 3:41 AM on May 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Watch at least up until the point where David Duchovny shows up as Special Agent Denise Bryson.

Yes, Denise.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:35 AM on May 16, 2013

The Twin Peaks pilot and Fire Walk With Me are two of the best things David Lynch has ever done, and, yes, Fire Walk With Me needs to be seen after everything else, as one thing it's very effective at is recontextualising things we thought we already knew about the characters.

After the killer is caught, it's like the series was turned over to professional TV series makers to do something normal with, and the oddness of the first episodes turns into a kind of deliberate affectation. It's not without certain pleasures, and I enjoyed it at the time, but if I rewatch the series I get very impatient very quickly and usually skip ahead.

One thing it has is a kind of unexpected, sudden emotional rawness - the brittle atmosphere at the beginning of the pilot prefectly captures the feeling that accompanies unexpected tragedies in small towns; there is another murder before the killer is caught that is one of the most emotionally devastating things I've ever seen on TV (and probably requires a trigger warning, for people who need such things). As would the movie, though if you get that far, you'd probably imagine there wasn't much more it could do to disturb you. And you'd be wrong.

So - everything until the killer is caught, then anything directed by Lynch from then on (definitely the last episode, though if you've not watched the rest of the series, it won't make much sense. But this is Twin Peaks, that's a feature, not a bug).

However, like The Prisoner, it's something in TV that's so different from everything else, that it's worth becoming at least conversant in that world.
posted by Grangousier at 6:08 AM on May 16, 2013

It's probably one of the bravest experiments in the history of television. In a very real way, I think it paved the way for the current "golden age of TV" we're enjoying (Breaking Bad, Top of the Lake, The Wire, etc.). I also think that if it debuted today instead of when it did, it would have lasted five or six seasons and had a fantastically satisfying wrap-up.

I find the entire show, including "Fire Walk With Me," deliciously watchable. I understand peoples' complaints about the second season, but I don't share them. Each episode is what it is, and is like nothing else.

I envy you seeing it for the first time!
posted by jbickers at 6:57 AM on May 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

the movie is not great

The movie is incomprehensible.

Plus, irritating. But I saw it in the middle, so YMMV.

When it was first on, I caught the pilot and a couple episodes. Then a few years ago, I got the DVDs from the library and caught up, but lost interest completely in the middle of the second season, especially after seeing the movie. Early stuff's really good, though.
posted by Rash at 9:20 AM on May 16, 2013

I watched it when it first aired, and it was amazing. I'm not sure I'd watch it now with the same enjoyment. (If for no other reason that seeing how beautiful Sherilyn Fenn used to be compared with the withered, anorexic look she's sporting now.)

For a similarly weird and wonderful series from that time, check out Max Headroom.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:53 AM on May 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

The absolute minimum you should watch echoing what many other people have said, but here are the exact episode numbers:

- Season 1 - All episodes
- season 2 - episodes 1-9, then skip to 22 (the last episode)
- Fire Walk With Me
posted by kpmcguire at 11:38 AM on May 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Twin Peaks is absolutely delicious, barring yes those dull episodes in the middle of s02 and pretty much anything involving James, the World's Most Boring Biker. The music is haunting and sultry, some of Badalamenti's best work... I still listen to the score on the regular. The finale is worth coming back for just for the pure spectacle and unnervingness of the whole thing. And 'Fire Walk With Me' is great as well, however it's also a radical tone shift (or magnification) from the series... the show is surprisingly hilarious at times, while the film is downright malevolent in its exploration of psychic poison.
posted by FatherDagon at 1:54 PM on May 16, 2013

Also, can I just say that if How I Met Your Mother doesn't put Agent Cooper and Leland Palmer back together next season, it's just a jerk of a show.
posted by synecdoche at 3:54 PM on May 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Angelo Badalamenti talks about the experience of writing the Twin Peaks love theme with David Lynch.
posted by Lexica at 9:34 PM on May 16, 2013 [1 favorite]