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Twin Peaks "Was Transmitting at Exactly My Frequency": Damon Lindelof

Damon Lindelof (Lost, HBO's Watchmen) explains what it was about David Lynch & Mark Frost's Twin Peaks that impacted him creatively.

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Article Summary

  • Damon Lindelof hails Twin Peaks as "the greatest piece of art ever to be broadcast on a television screen."
  • The series blended genres and defied convention, inspiring creators.
  • Special Agent Dale Cooper, one of Lynch's finest creations, epitomized the odd.
  • Lindelof's favorite episode is the surreal "Part 8: Gotta Light?" from 2017's "The Return."

As far as all-time favorite series go, David Lynch & Mark Frost's Twin Peaks will always be in our conversation. Originally running for two seasons on ABC (1990-1991), the Kyle MacLachlan & Sheryl Lee-starring series would be followed up in 1992 with the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and a third season (Twin Peaks: The Return) on Showtime in 2017. Luring us in with what appeared to be a procedural drama in which FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (MacLachlan) is sent to the town of Twin Peaks to help Sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) solve the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Lee), the series would prove itself to be much more. Combining an alt-reality approach and soap opera & horror tropes with some deep dives into Lynchian symbolism & humor, the series set a new creative high bar that continues to influence the television medium to this day. In a special essay for Variety as part of its "100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time," Damon Lindelof (Lost, HBO's Watchmen) explains why the series "was transmitting at exactly my frequency" and why he's "spent the better part of my career fiddling with my tuner in an effort to channel that exquisite art into my own."

twin peaks
Image: ABC Network/HBO

"I believe David Lynch and Mark Frost's 'Twin Peaks' is the greatest piece of art ever to be broadcast on a television screen. It was transmitting at exactly my frequency. And I have spent the better part of my career fiddling with my tuner in an effort to channel that exquisite art into my own." Lindelof shared in his submitted essay. "'Twin Peaks' chewed up genre and spit out paradox: Drama yet comedy, terrifying yet absurd, old-fashioned yet cutting-edge. It was crimey and soapy and thrilling. It was a heavily serialized whodunit that was infinitely more interested in what done it, a simultaneously procedural and existential mystery that could only be solved by the greatest lawman in the history of television, Special Agent Dale Cooper. As played by Kyle MacLachlan, Coop was brilliant, sexy, and obsessed with pie. As we watched him navigate the increasingly weird townsfolk, we gradually began to understand he might very well be the weirdest of them all."

While we tend to lean towards the interrogation scene during the second season involving Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) – no spoilers – we were surprised to learn that Lindelof's favorite franchise episode didn't hit until the recent third season. "That season's eighth episode is my favorite of the entire series, maybe of all series, but if you ask me to explain what happens in it to you, I will sound like an insane person," Lindelof penned – and if you've seen "Part 8: Gotta Light?" then you can appreciate how summarizing that episode in less than ten minutes without missing the thematic points is a lost cause.

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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