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Who killed Laura Palmer and Television’s Uniqueness?

by Lauren Modery

The murder of Laura Palmer on David Lynch’s short-lived cult television show, “Twin Peaks,” kept the public interested with its demented edginess. Edginess. That is something I haven’t seen on the television in a long time.

TV now is stale. Dramas are reduced to the soap opera lives of doctors, lawyers, or cops and comedy to the quirkiness of singles living in the city or dysfunctional families. Why can’t more shows be like Twin Peaks? Murder, midgets, coffee and cherry pie. Now that was television. Only David Lynch could have a show where a prom queen was a druggie whore, David Duchovny played a cross-dressing FBI agent, a crazy recluse had a pet log, and people talked backwards.

Over the summer, I rented all 29 episodes of “Twin Peaks” and crammed them into a two-week period like junk food. That is exactly what “Twin Peaks” is - pure sweetness. It is addictive. The show began in 1989 with a two-hour pilot of the discovery of recently murdered Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), “Twin Peaks’” prom queen and resident “good girl.”

The quirky-yet-charismatic FBI Agent Cooper (played wonderfully by Kyle MacLachlan) is brought in to investigate with the help of the local law enforcement. The show then plays out like Clue; we are introduced to over thirty characters, most as key suspects in the murder.

To be honest, “Twin Peaks” was a soap opera. It had a continuing story line and dealt with sex, incest, murder, insanity, etc. But what makes this show so unique was that it was and is different than anything that has ever been on TV. When I first saw the scene where Agent Cooper has a vision of sitting in the red room with the backwards-talking, dancing midget, I was floored, something that hasn’t happened since via TV.

Conveniently the first season of “Twin Peaks” is available on DVD for around $55 (if you don?t feel like taking the time to rent every episode on VHS) and the film prequel to the series, “Fire Walk With Me,” is also available on DVD for around $15.

Inconveniently both DVDs lack substance; no mention of David Lynch, no outtake or deleted scenes, just some rinky-dink features like “Learn to Talk Backwards with the Midget” and a way-too-long interview between two dorky fans and co-writer and producer Mark Frost. I highly recommend the entire series, though some parts of Season Two lag. I guarantee once you watch, you’ll become addicted to that damn fine Twin Peaks black coffee and cherry pie.

Email Lauren Modery at enidlala@yahoo.com