That’s a reasonable question given that the recent installment of this classic TV series came out over 20 years after the end of the previous season. However, this long break somehow fits with the story built in the first two seasons of Twin Peaks—right before Season 2 comes to a close, a villain tells our hero, FBI agent Dale Cooper, that he’ll be seeing him again in 20 years…
And a little over 20 years after that episode, Season 3 was released!
I highly recommend watching Twin Peaks. It’s a classic show that, despite being older than most people reading this article, has really held up over the test of time. For the first few episodes, it stays true to its mystery/horror/drama genre. We’re introduced to the little town of Twin Peaks just as it’s been thrown into disarray: beloved prom queen Laura Palmer has been brutally assaulted and murdered. Underneath one of her fingernails is a magazine cutout of the letter “R,” matching the M.O. of an uncaught serial killer last sighted only a few towns over. FBI agent Dale Cooper is sent to help solve this case once and for all!
***SPOILER WARNING***
However, despite the crime backdrop, the heart of the show really lies in its fun and expansive cast of characters. Unfortunately for Laura Palmer, her death quickly becomes a plot device used to bring together an assortment of lives that would have otherwise not crossed or become so deeply entangled with one another. We’re introduced to Laura’s mother and father, who are both completely destroyed by their daughter’s death. We watch her father descend into madness, and feel incredibly empathetic for him, before realizing many episodes in that he’s in cahoots with a morally grey businessman who is easily the most disgusting character introduced thus far (he almost slept with his own daughter!)—but even he isn’t without his fun quirks and bits of goodness.
***SPOILER END***
We meet Bobby, Laura’s boyfriend—his issues with his military father and obvious aimlessness almost make up for the fact that he cheated on Laura and is a selfish jerk. We meet Donna, Laura’s best friend—her dedication to solving Laura’s case is commendable until she thinks she can do a better job than law enforcement. We meet Agent Dale Cooper, who we as the audience relate to most—he falls in love with the wonderful people of Twin Peaks and the atmosphere of the small town. His practical and positive attitude and deep love for coffee make him an immediate favorite and a uniquely unforgettable character.
Twin Peaks is not a show with a linear plot; it does not merely follow Agent Cooper and his attempts to solve Laura Palmer’s murder. It’s a show with multiple story lines, and individual character arcs and relationships. All characters get their time in the sun; no one is mounted as protagonist and narrator. The characters seem more like real people, and you become invested in all of them, even ones that would simply be cast as “the bad guys” in other shows.
Twin Peaks consistently ends in some of the best cliffhangers I’ve seen. It’s no surprise, then, that the last episode of Season 2 ends in a painful, painful twist. I was so glad I started watching Twin Peaks after Season 3 was released, because I would have hated waiting two decades for it!
However, although somewhat enjoyable, watching Season 3 left a sour taste in my memory of Twin Peaks as a whole.
The core of the first two seasons was the characters and their relationships to one another, as well as their shenanigans. I expected something similar in Season 3 and was left disappointed. A new set of characters is introduced, which is fine, but as soon as they’re introduced they’re gone! They don’t say more than a few lines, they interact only with a specific set of characters, and there’s no underlying plot vaguely attempting to connect any of these disparate scenes together.
All the reviews of Season 3 had been so promising too!
The best way to enjoy Season 3 is to think of it as an independent project inspired by the characters and story of its predecessors. It takes a turn for the abstract without a plot or fleshed-out characters to ground it, and ultimately resembles an art film more than the final installment of a fan-favorite TV series.
And while maybe the shift in Season 3 just doesn’t fit my personal preferences, there’s also a lack of relatable female characters. Not only are there no female leads, or any characters anywhere close to that, but the women in the more prominent roles fall into one of three categories: sexy, smart, and two-dimensional; plot device; and nagging and heartless to likeable male characters. The female characters in the first two seasons—which came out in the early nineties—were more interesting, well-rounded, and diverse than the women in the 2017-released third season.
I was so excited for Season 3. The way that Season 2 had ended left the door open to so many possibilities and new stories for the folks in Twin Peaks. However, the third season took a hard left, not only leaving many of the larger questions of Season 2 unaddressed, but opting for a completely different sort of story, depicted in an abstract way, with a cast of characters far less interesting than those in the previous seasons. Twin Peaks Seasons 1 and 2 are wonderful to watch, and they end on a note that is solid enough to be satisfying. I would not recommend watching Season 3 with expectations similar to the prior offerings.
Is this still Twin Peaks? Unfortunately, in name only.