MeinMMO author Christoph Waldboth cannot help but return to his absolute favorite series Twin Peaks at least once a year. However, 2025 was a particularly emotional experience as an important person passed away.
Who killed Laura Palmer?
When this question occupied countless television viewers in the early 1990s, I was not even born yet. It wasn’t until years later that I caught up on Twin Peaks. As a big fan of David Lynch, who created the series together with Mark Frost, I wanted to understand what so many people loved about Twin Peaks.
Two seasons and 30 episodes later, I understood. Since then, I watch the series at least once a year, preferably during a dark season, because it fits the mood of the story well.
Although Twin Peaks has become a cult series over the years, it is rarely mentioned in the modern series landscape. So to refresh your memory: What is Twin Peaks actually about?
On the surface, the series tells the story of the murder of Laura Palmer and the investigations that this tragic event triggers in the small town of Twin Peaks in the Northwest of the USA. FBI agent Dale Cooper comes to solve the case and soon has to deal with the quirky residents of the town.
While the main focus is on clarifying the question – Who killed Laura Palmer? – one quickly learns about the small and big stories that happen aside from the main plot.
Twin Peaks presents a vibrant world full of quirky characters. Most of them are somehow connected to Laura Palmer and constitute a big part of the series’ charm. While Dale Cooper investigates, a multifaceted small-town world, with all its problems, worries, needs, and even small joys, reveals itself to him and us as an audience. Even if it’s just the black coffee, which Cooper likes to describe with the following words:
“This is damn good coffee.”
A Unique Genre Mix
Twin Peaks fascinates me to this day with its unusual blend of different genres. While the main plot, especially at the beginning, feels like a classic crime story, mystery elements are soon added. No wonder, after all, David Lynch was one of the great surrealists of American cinema. Dreams and nightmares play a significant role in solving the case.
This leads to absurd, enigmatic moments within the series that continue to occupy fans today, allowing for new interpretations to emerge. Some of the surreal images have long become iconic, especially the so-called “Red Room,” where many of Cooper’s dreams take place and which has even been referenced in the Simpsons.
Apart from that, Twin Peaks also contains elements of a soap opera – love is an important theme for many characters, and romantic relationships dictate entire subplots. Added to this is the comedy genre, which appears in the form of certain figures like the clumsy policeman Andy or Nadine – a woman who tries to make curtains as noiseless as possible.
These funny moments lighten the usually dramatic main plot and ensure that Twin Peaks never becomes too dark. Thus, a good balance is created with the few horror moments that David Lynch and Mark Frost sprinkle in.
Especially the first fourteen episodes manage to captivate me with their story and the themes being negotiated – even though I already know the (unusual) resolution of the murder case. Twin Peaks then continues for another sixteen episodes. The further plot qualitatively unfortunately drops a bit, but in the end, it is the characters that keep me engaged.
They ensure that I return to Twin Peaks year after year. Despite the sad occasion – the death of Laura Palmer – the series has a profoundly optimistic underlying tone. This is mainly due to the main character Dale Cooper and his actor Kyle MacLachlan, who also made Blue Velvet and the 1984 Dune with Lynch.
Even the nostalgic images and the melancholic music by Lynch’s long-time composer Angelo Badalamenti continue to enchant me anew. It was just that the return to Twin Peaks in 2025 was a whole lot more emotional than in previous years.
A Master Leaves the Stage
David Lynch passed away on January 15, 2025. He leaves a gap in American cinema and I will personally miss him very much. When I heard of his death, I rewatched his films (Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet …), and then also Twin Peaks again.
This rewatch was much more emotional than the previous ones and made me realize once again what a masterpiece Lynch and Frost created – including the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Not only did they create a milestone in television history, but they also influenced many subsequent productions.
Particularly the mystery boom of the 90s with series like The X-Files is largely due to Twin Peaks. Later series like True Detective, Riverdale, or Fringe also show influences.
But other media also refer to Twin Peaks. A prominent example is the game Alan Wake from Remedy, which quotes places and characters very directly. Over the years, a number of stories emerged that comforted fans of Twin Peaks over the fact that the cliffhanger of Season 2 in Episode 30 has not been resolved since 1991.
Until the year 2017.
Then a third season was released and surprised many fans with a significantly darker tone and a surreal plot that strayed far from the original. The new episodes correspond more to Lynch’s later films than to the original Twin Peaks and are much more cryptic and puzzling. The third season is definitely recommended, even though it lacks the lightness of the first two (which you MUST see beforehand for spoiler reasons).
Who killed Laura Palmer?
Again and again this question. Of course, I won’t reveal the answer. Consider it an invitation. All of you who do not know the series yet and can appreciate a mystery story should be warmly recommended. And all others who are already fans are invited to return to the quirky small town. For a coffee and a piece of cherry pie at the Double R Diner. See you there!
