Twin Peaks:The Return Episode 1

 This review is full of spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens, don't read it!!!

So, last night the world of Twin Peaks came alive once again.It is one of the most eagerly awaited TV premieres of the last few years.The last time we saw Agent Cooper,he had emerged from the Black Lodge but there was something wrong with him.It was the evil Cooper doppelganger who escaped and the good Cooper was trapped in the Black Lodge. Cooper was BOB and BOB was Cooper. That was twenty-five years ago and things are different now.Let's begin with part 1 of the premiere.

There is a flashback of Laura Palmer in the red room. She says that she will see Cooper again in 25 years. Meanwhile, he is stuck in the Black Lodge. Cut to the Giant who tells Cooper that 'it' is in our house now' and he tells him to 'remember 430 and Richard and Linda'. Cooper understands and he is the only one who does at this point!! We move to Twin Peaks and Dr.Jacoby(Russ Tamblyn), who is seen living in the woods. We move to New York City where there is a large glass box with a hole in it, through which the city can been seen. A man called Sam(Benjamin Rosenfield) is sitting in a room watching the box. There are cameras on it and they are recording everything. The memory cards are placed in a huge storage unit. His girlfriend, Tracey(Madeline Zima) brings him coffee and asks to come inside and see what he is doing as it is top secret. The security guard, played by UFC fighter Michael Bisping, is watching to make sure that she doesn't go in. She goes away. 

We are taken to the Great Northern Hotel and see Ben Horne(Richard Beymer) is still in charge there which is a welcome sight. The last time that we saw Ben, he was bleeding on Dr. Hayward's carpet after a confrontation over Ben being Donna's real dad. We were never told if he lived or died, so it is great to see him back. In comes Jerry Horne(David Patrick Kelly) who is now an aged hippy who sells pot legally. Jerry is introduced to Ben's new secretary, Beverly(Ashley Judd).  He suggests that Ben might like her and want to make a move on her but Ben denies this. Then we visit the Twin Peaks Sheriff Station and we see Lucy Brennan(Kimmy Robertson) at the reception and she is still her old self!

Then, we are introduced to bad Cooper(Kyle MacLachlan)who is sporting a very unusual hairstyle. He has grown his hair and he dresses differently. He is bad to the bone! He goes to a house of weirdos and comes away with two people- Ray and Darya. He takes them off with him for some task. Cut back to NYC and Sam is waiting for Tracey who comes with her coffee once again. This time, there is no security guard so he lets her inside to see what he is doing. She sees the box and is bewildered. He tells her that some billionaire is paying for all of it. They start kissing and then having sex. While they are doing this, the box goes black and something starts to appear. It is some sort of figure. It emerges from the box and kills them both violently.

In the town of Buckhorn, South Dakota, the body of a woman, Ruth Davenport, is found in her apartment. The problem is that it is her head that is found on someone else's body. The cops find fingerprints all over her apartment and they are the fingerprints of local headmaster, Bill Hastings(Matthew Lillard) who seems bewildered by all of this. He knows more than he is saying so the cops are suspicious of him. Deputy Hawk(Michael Horse) receives a phone call from the Log Lady(Catherine E. Coulson). She tells him that 'something is missing' and  he has to find it. She tells him that it has to do with Agent Cooper and that he has to use his heritage to find it. He sets to work retrieving old boxes of files.

The first episode was great. Seeing those old faces again was like meeting old friends and it was so good to revisit Twin Peaks again. I love that it is still the same town that it was all those years ago.
I love that the bad Cooper is on the loose and it is interesting to see Kyle MacLachlan playing the part so differently this time around. Bad Cooper's hair was amusing but there is something menacing in his eyes which seem blacker than midnight! This episode has David Lynch stamped all over it and it is wonderful. There are a lot of different stories here, so you have to pay attention or you will become lost easily. This is for Twin Peaks fans only, I would think, because if you have never watched the series, you will be so lost that it won't make any sense. I loved the scene with the creature in the box as it was really creepy. This is shaping up to be one of the most memorable TV shows of the decade. David Lynch is back and he has not lost his touch. Not by a long shot. Any doubts that I might have had about him being able to recreate the Twin Peaks universe are gone now. I am delighted with this show so far and I can't wait to see more!!! I will be back soon with part 2 of the premiere!!!!