Twin Peaks not only set the stage for True Detective, but basically every critically-acclaimed piece of television of the past couple of decades (except sitcoms, although it had its moments). David Lynch and Mark Frost's cult classic may not have much in common with Nic Pizzolatto and Cary Joji Fukunaga's on the surface, but delve a little deeper and there's a lot to discover. Where True Detective has a cinematic swagger to it, Twin Peaks is decidedly TVish, with a look inspired by cheesy soap operas. You know: bright colours; beautiful people; melodrama. It is overblown where True Detective is understated. Surreal where True Detective is grounded in reality. Like its descendant, though, Twin Peaks has a central mystery fuelling it, and uses it as a catalyst to explore all the dark recesses of the population in an otherwise idyllic-seeming little mountain town. FBI Agent Dale Cooper's eccentricities are a little more in check than Rust Cohle's, and his partner Sheriff Harry S Truman is a lot more relatable than Marty Hart, but the exploration of man's underlying capacity for great evil sure is similar to what happened in Vermillon Parish. It lost its way as it got into the second season, as that central mystery - who killed Laura Palmer? - was wrapped up entirely too quickly, leaving the writers scrabbling to come up with a new premise to base the show around. It almost made up for that with a finale and prequel movie that are the opposite of all the mystical references in True Detective (where TD leaves them as window dressing, TP brings them to terrifying reality), and the show still has a cult following that continue to pick over the show's myriad loose ends and general weirdness.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
