Twin Peaks

In 1989, logger Pete Martell discovers a naked corpse wrapped in plastic on the bank of a river outside the town of Twin Peaks, Washington. When Sheriff Harry S. Truman, his deputies, and Dr. Will Hayward arrive, the body is identified as homecoming queen Laura Palmer. A badly injured second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is discovered in a fugue state.

FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate. Cooper's initial examination of Laura's body reveals a tiny typed letter "R" inserted under her fingernail. Cooper informs the community that Laura's death matches the signature of a killer who murdered another girl in southwestern Washington the previous year, and that evidence indicates the killer lives in Twin Peaks.

The authorities discover that Laura has been living a double life. She was cheating on her boyfriend, football captain Bobby Briggs, with biker James Hurley, and prostituting herself with the help of truck driver Leo Johnson and drug dealer Jacques Renault. Laura was also addicted to cocaine, which she obtained by coercing Bobby into doing business with Jacques.

Laura's father, attorney Leland Palmer, suffers a nervous breakdown. Her best friend, Donna Hayward, begins a relationship with James. With the help of Laura's cousin Maddy Ferguson, Donna and James discover that Laura's psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, was obsessed with Laura, but he is proven innocent of the murder.

Hotelier Ben Horne, the richest man in Twin Peaks, plans to destroy the town's lumber mill along with its owner Josie Packard, and murder his lover and Josie's sister-in-law, Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie), so that he can purchase the land at a reduced price and complete a development project. Horne's sultry, troubled daughter, Audrey, becomes infatuated with Cooper and spies for clues in an effort to gain his affections.

Cooper has a dream in which he is approached by a one-armed otherworldly being who calls himself Mike. Mike says that Laura's murderer is a similar entity, Killer Bob, a feral, denim-clad man with long gray hair. Cooper finds himself decades older with Laura and a dwarf in a red business suit, who engages in coded dialogue with Cooper. The next morning, Cooper tells Truman that, if he can decipher the dream, he will know who killed Laura.

Cooper and the sheriff's department find the one-armed man from Cooper's dream, a traveling shoe salesman named Phillip Gerard. Gerard knows a Bob, the veterinarian who treats Renault's pet bird. Cooper interprets these events to mean that Renault is the murderer and, with Truman's help, tracks Renault to One-Eyed Jack's, a brothel owned by Horne across the border in Canada. He lures Renault back onto U.S. soil to arrest him, but Renault tries to escape and is shot and hospitalized.

Leland, learning that Renault has been arrested, sneaks into the hospital and murders him. The same night, Horne orders Leo to burn down the lumber mill with Catherine trapped inside and has Leo gunned down by Hank Jennings to ensure Leo's silence. Cooper returns to his room following Jacques's arrest and is shot by a masked gunman.



Twin Peaks è una tranquilla località montana dello stato di Washington, poco distante dal Canada.

Una mattina Pete Martell scopre il cadavere nudo di una ragazza avvolto in un telo di plastica. Lo sceriffo Harry S. Truman e il Dott. William Hayward accertano che è Laura Palmer, figlia unica dell'avvocato Leland, una delle ragazze più popolari della città. La notizia si sparge tra gli abitanti di Twin Peaks, causando incredulità e dolore.

Nel frattempo Ronette Pulaski, un'altra giovane del posto, è trovata in fin di vita mentre vaga in stato confusionale. Avendo la ragazza superato il confine canadese, interviene l'FBI, che affida le indagini all'agente speciale Dale Cooper. Egli si integra con facilità tra gli abitanti di Twin Peaks, grazie al suo spiccato senso dell'umorismo e al suo modo di porsi saggio e schietto.

L'unica possibilità che ha Cooper di risolvere il caso è accettare che a Twin Peaks il concetto comune di razionalità ha poco valore. Spesso si deve muovere guidato dall'istinto e dall'immaginazione. Inoltre avrà più volte occasione di usare le sue affascinanti facoltà paranormali che gli permettono una sensibilità specifica per gli eventi che si verificano su un piano distinto ma adiacente a quello della realtà. Dovrà inoltre confrontarsi con curiosi personaggi al limite dell'assurdo, il più delle volte decisivi per le indagini (es. la Signora Ceppo, il Gigante, il Nano, Il Maggiore Briggs ecc...).

Il perno della trama cambia radicalmente dal nono episodio della seconda stagione in poi, con l'arrivo in città dello psicopatico Windom Earle. L'uomo prova un profondo rancore per l'agente Cooper (che ha avuto una storia con sua moglie) ed è attratto dalle forze occulte che operano a Twin Peaks.