20 Amazing TV Plot Twists You Wish You Could Relive
6. Twin Peaks - Leland Palmer Is The Killer
David Lynch hadn't planned to reveal who killed Laura Palmer, at least not as early as this. His hand was forced by the network though, and he made the best of a bad lot with the solution to the mystery, which was undeniably outstanding.
The killer of Laura Palmer was none other than her own father, Leland (Ray Wise), a previously sympathetic character who'd been shown to be completely devastated by his daughter's death. As is shown in season two's ninth episode, titled Episode 14, the demonic Killer Bob (Frank Silva) has possessed Leland and, to hammer this point home, he kills Laura's cousin Maddy (Sheryl Lee) in a terrifying sequence.
Resolving the Laura Palmer storyline at this point in the narrative was a mistake, and the remainder of the series struggled to find a new narrative direction, eventually resorting to a multitude of ill-judged, soapy plot lines that moved away from what made people love Twin Peaks to begin with. Nonetheless, this was perhaps the most unexpected and sad reveal that Lynch could've gone for, and Episode 14 is one of the best episodes of Twin Peaks' entire run, so it wasn't a total loss.