9. Who Killed Laura Palmer? - Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks took a standard murder mystery plot to a whole new level and brought the bizarre to mainstream audiences. It was a television show that gripped its audience. The question who killed Laura Palmer became as iconic as
Dallas' who shot JR? or
Friends' we were on a break! The first season was a masterpiece of television. The grim discovery of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic was a powerful image. The arrival of Dale Cooper and his recordings to the never seen Diane, the log lady, mysterious dreams in a red room and a backwards talking dwarf, Audrey making interesting use of a cherry stalk, and of course the dreaded Boball mixed with the traditional deduction of potential suspects. It was also, for all attempts and purposes a soap opera. We had affairs, black mail, relationship woes, drug abuseand I think that is why
Twin Peaks was so successful. It blended enough of the real world with the supernaturalensuring that audiences who would normally shy away from cult otherworldly shows kept tuning in. The show continued to grow from strength to strength into season 2, building to the big reveal of who Bob was really possessing (as a pivotal character was murdered) and the eventual capturing of the killer a couple of episodes later. Unfortunately the series lost its way after that, struggling to find its momentum as those soap opera moments took over and things went a bit silly. But it regained focus towards the end, with the introduction of Dale Coopers nemesis Windom Earle and terrifying journey into the Black Lodge in the final episode to rescue Coopers love Annie. And
that endingit is utterly cruel and brilliant at the same time. And with great dialogue like One day my log will have something to say about this. My log saw something that night and Diane, Im holding in my hand a box of small chocolate bunnies, this was one show that took a kooky, cult premise to the masses and is still regarded as a brilliant, much loved show to this day. Definitely a DVD box set to add to your collection if you haven't already got it.