6 Best Moments From Twin Peaks

By Julian Bata / August 22, 2012

1. Beyond Life and Death

Oh man, this is it. The show has definitely had it's ups and downs. Without a doubt, out of the 30 episodes that have aired, just over a tenth of them can truly be considered top-tier entertainment. After a slew of awful ideas, things that I really just want wiped clean from my memory, this episode just comes out of nowhere. The very last one. Granted, there was definitely a general sense that the show was returning to it's initial calibre of quality writing and direction, but I don't know if anything before the series finale could really be considered a masterpiece. Now, you must be thinking to yourself, "what scene will you be talking about now, Julian?". Well, that's the thing: there really isn't one moment in this episode that I can choose from. Not only is every single second of it just perfect (well, aside from a sappy, but thematically appropriate opening) , but I dare call it my favourite episode from the series. PERIOD. There really isn't much else to say without giving a little backstory, so here we go. Every show has low points. You can only milk something for all it's worth for so long, and, unfortunately, that's the exact opposite of what was done with Twin Peaks. Now, that might sound like something of an oxymoron. In fact, for many other shows, like The Simpsons, you're just kind of left to wait until it finally just dies in it's own whorishness. But this wasn't the case with Lynch's show, no. You see, following the success of the first season, many people were left with even more questions than they had when they began watching the show. Essentially, the only reason people were tuning in was because they wanted to find out who killed Laura Palmer. As a result, ABC, the station that aired the show, forced Lynch and the gang to make the grand reveal, to "kill the goose who laid the golden egg", as the director put it. This wouldn't have been a problem, except for one detail: the plot was resolved in the MIDDLE of the second season. In a typical writing structure, something that was set-up as the penultimate conflict (in this case, discovering the identity of the murderer) would be left until the very end of the show's run, but the executives, for some idiotic reason, decided to put it out there halfway through the season's run, leaving writers scrambling for new ideas. Now, jumping from one subpar storyline to another, many were left wondering why Twin Peaks was even still on the air, especially when, aside from a forced cliffhanger, the plot (or rather, the only one that seemed to matter to people) seemed to have been resolved. However, then we were introduced to two new characters: Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh), Cooper's old partner from the FBI, and Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham), a more appropriate romantic interest for Cooper than Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn), who was only a teenager after all (if you think that by "more appropriate" I mean "less interesting", then you're correct!). Earle had gone insane following an affair that his wife had with Coop, and has since been plotting his revenge, along with furthering his interests in the Black Lodge, the red room from Cooper's dreams, a place of pure evil. Already, this is shaping up to be a much more promising plot than what we'd been show beforehand, but again, it's still rather unassuming compared to what was to come. So, enter Beyond Life and Death, the final episode in the series. Having kidnapped Annie at a "Miss Twin Peaks" contest (yup, that happened), supposedly to bring her to the Black Lodge as a sacrifice, Cooper is forced to face his both his fear of Earle, as well as his fears of evil surrounding Twin Peaks. The episode just has this foreboding atmosphere that's prevalent the whole way through, maintaining the threat that both Earle and the Lodge pose. There are just way too many moments in the episode to pick out from that are pure awesome, but here's a few: Earle inhabiting Briggs' wife as a means of telling him that he's "got Cooper in the Black Lodge", which, in the way that it's presented, is actually kind of creepy. Another great moment occurs when Cooper enters the Lodge, where the rooms are flooded with strobe lights. His subtle realization that this is the red room, as well as the fear that he expresses as a Lodge inhabitant (musician Jimmy Scott) begins singing Sycamore Trees, is fantastic.From there, things get progressively better, to the point where it may just be, in my opinion, some of Lynch's finest work. As Coop tries to traverse the Lodge in search of Annie, he bares witness to a number of oddities, not the least of which involves the appearance of doppelgängers, evil versions of Twin Peaks' inhabitants, including Leland Palmer, who claims that he "did not murder anybody", Laura Palmer, who shrieks like a banshee, to great effect, too, as it actually scares the hell out of you (try watching it at night, alone).

Finally reaching Earle, Coop offers his soul to save Annie, but his efforts are of no use, as his adversary's own soul is taken by BOB. As Coop tries to get out of the Lodge, now utterly terrified, he comes face-to-face with his own doppelgänger, who proceeds to chase him down. While we see him catch up, real-Cooper's fate isn't revealed until the episode's final moments, as we see him escape from the Lodge with Annie, the both of them completely disoriented. Harry, who has been waiting outside of the Lodge for his friend for days, runs over to Cooper, bringing him back to his hotel room. The ending to the episode (and, unfortunately, due to the ratings, the series) is both satisfying, yet also leaves you wanting more. You see, as Coop wakes up in his bed, he tells Harry and the town doctor that he needs to brush his teeth. Of course, something doesn't feel right, but we just sit around, waiting to see what happens next. As Cooper drops some toothpaste on his brush, he begins pouring the stuff down the drain, until finally smashing his face into the mirror, revealing that he is under the possession of BOB, as it is the demon's reflection, rather than the loveable protagonist's, we see in the mirror. He then begins laughing maniacally, repeating the phrase "how's Annie?" (subtle). While totally hammy compared to the rest of the episode, it's still a fantastic cliffhanger, and a great ending to the episode as a whole. If only the show had continued, the series could have really redeemed itself in the eyes of the masses. Unfortunately, not a lot of people watched the episode when it first aired, thus, the studio was forced to cancel Twin Peaks, leaving us with a dark, unfulfilling end to the series. Still, on it's own terms, it's a fantastic, powerful conclusion to the second season, and there's really no other way I would've wanted to see it resolved.