Monsters of Television

Wading into pop culture is a bit like going to university. It’s a hodgepodge of people with a hodgepodge of interests forced to live together in relative harmony. Don’t take a particular class – read a specific book, see a certain film or watch a certain show, tune in to a musical group – and there’s a hole in your education, an understanding you will fail to have. There are frats and sororities and clubs dedicated to topics of all kinds – shows, songs, characters, plot-holes – and if you aren’t part of them, you’re jeered or pitied. Or both.

And just like university, there’s simply too much to take in, so you miss things. You can still understand their place in pop culture – I have never seen Lost or The Simpsons, but I “get” many of the references made to them and I have a pretty solid grasp of where they fit in the grand scheme of things – but you will never quite fit in with those who have actually had the experience.

Tackling a pop culture icon like Twin Peaks is like crashing a frat party. You know a few people (the tropes), recognize a few others (actors you know from elsewhere), and the rest are strangers (everything else). But you begin to get visuals – experience – that help you understand all the vague references the “in” crowd throw at one another. And you start to feel comfortable. You’re “one of them” now. You know about it, too.

That’s the sort of feeling I get going into Twin Peaks. I know next to nothing about this show, other than that people use that tone when talking about it, the tone that says it’s a Big Deal. From the pilot alone, I can see why. At an hour and a half, it plays more like a movie than a television episode, albeit a movie made entirely of set up.

Twin Peaks is a little town where nothing is as it seems and everyone is someone else. The texture created in this opening episode is phenomenal. The pilot is basically a slow build as the murder is discovered, people begin to find out about the murder, and the audience finds out about the people. As a pilot, it’s a clever way to introduce a sprawling cast of characters. As a show, it’s a simple enough concept that (if the buzz I heard is anything to go by) was handled much more effectively than its contemporary counterpart, The Killing, has been. Unlike The Killing, Twin Peaks has always piqued my curiosity, both as an independent entity and as part of television culture.

Twenty minutes into the pilot, I was invested in the characters, interested in the plot, and completely in love with the little town. The last time I was so quickly taken by a show, it was Downton Abbey (which needs to come back right this minute) which, oddly enough, also has a very large cast embroiled in all manner of secrets and dealings and romances. And a mysterious death. But that’s neither here nor there.

And while the town is up to its eyeballs in intrigue (Twin Peaks: Everyone’s a Douche in Their Own Way), it’s FBI Agent Dale Cooper who seems to hold the weird factor. He’s a strange one, and I’m not sure yet if it’s good strange or bad strange. He’s strange, but he’s clever, and it’s fun watching him get a handle on the town, the people, and the Palmer case. And he and Sheriff Harry S. Truman (I love this show already, you guys) have already established a pretty good chemistry, so I’m just going to go ahead and call that bromance.

One thing I do want to bring up – as both a positive and a negative – is the music. The simple drum brush beat that continually pops up (and that I recognize!) is absolutely wonderful. It’s quirky and playful and has the right kind of tempo to invoke anything from “Something’s Afoot!” to “The Hero Arrives at the Scene!”. Plus, it’s just fun. The Dramatic Strings… not so much. They felt very soap opera-ish to me. A few of the honestly sorrowful moments in the pilot were badly tempered by dramatic orchestral swells that were unnecessary and melodramatic. I’m still testing the tone of the show, so I’m going to hope that those types of cues disappear, change, or are actually being played for a more parodic/humorous take.

As a pilot, this episode sets up only questions with no answers. But with so many characters and so many different intersecting storylines, this is one web that needs that kind of room to breathe. The answers will come, and I’m sure they’ll be doozies.

Notes:

• Everyone is so young! All fresh faces and youthful glows. I didn’t even recognize Ray Wise at first because the man had brown hair.
• During the scene on the beach with the body, I kept having to shush my frantic inner forensics nerd who was screaming, “GLOVES! PUT ON SOME GLOVES!”
• That’s it. I’m bring back the black and white saddlebacks. I totes had some of those back in 1990. I miss them.
• Also, I’m pretty sure we had Mrs. Palmer’s Sofa of Hysteria and Sedation in pink.
• Don Davis (in uniform about seven years early, getting practice)! Michael Horse (who will play nearly the same role on the X-Files in a few years – I DEMAND CROSSOVER FIC)!
• “[Ding!] The Norwegians are leaving! [Ding! Ding!] The Norwegians are leaving!” CLASSIC.
• “Who’s the lady with the log?” “We call her Log Lady.” Seriously. Love it already.
• BONUS: That Psych episode will be even funnier now.
• FIRE WALK WITH ME. (EEEEEEE!)