DVD: TWIN PEAKS
The Log Lady tells all at last
By Joe Pompeo
The rumors have been floating around for years: “‘Twin Peaks’ Season 2 soon to come out on DVD!” But time and again, David Lynch fans have settled for watching the bizarre, early-’90s mystery-thriller series on archaic VHS cassettes, or second-rate bootlegs of the short-lived Spanish edition DVDs.
Now the rumors have finally come true. On April 3, Paramount finally released the six-disc box set, Twin Peaks: The Second Season, once and for all appeasing anyone who’s ever been captivated by the image of a suit-clad midget talking backwards in a creepy red room.
It’s this sort of weirdness people have come to expect from David Lynch, but despite everything about “Twin Peaks” that makes little or no sense, the plot is fairly simple. It revolves around the brutal murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer; a well-loved, yet depraved high school senior whose death unravels a pattern of baffling occurrences in an otherwise quiet woodland town. The story goes something like this: Girl gets killed. Charming FBI agent shows up to solve the crime. An inexplicable presence manifests itself in the form of a hideous character named Bob, and people constantly find themselves caught up in a soap opera of mystery and scandal.
When season two picks up, Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) has just been shot by an unknown assailant, but after surviving the attack quickly jumps back on Laura’s case armed with some new clues provided by a supernatural giant. Although the killer’s identity is revealed mid-way through the season, the mystery of Bob and his evil phantasmal associates carries on until the end, however bogged down it becomes by a series of irrelevant and tedious side stories beginning somewhere around Episode 17.
Fortunately, the casting of actors, who at the time had yet to achieve major fame—David Duchovny, Heather Graham and Billy Zane, to name a few—is enough to hold the viewer’s interest until the mind-blowing final episode. And with special bonus features like cast and director interviews, behind-the-scenes discussions and newly re-mastered introductions from the inimitable character, Log Lady, this DVD set is a must have for anyone who can’t get enough coffee and cherry pie.