Twin Peaks

I have great respect for those who do not succumb to the temptation of the almighty dollar, but instead stay true only to what they set out to do, despite how difficult that may be. I was reminded of this earlier this week when I finished watching Twin Peaks. I won’t claim to be an expert on the show in any sense of the word, in fact I had absolutely no idea what it was up until a month ago when a friend lent the Blu-Ray box set to me with the claim that it was amazing. But after finishing the series, and even while watching it, I couldn’t help but get the sense that money must have come into play. The second season dove into strange, unnecessary waters that seemed nothing more than filler until the season finale. For the first season, and really up until the killer was revealed, the show was captivating, enthralling, and all sorts of other adjectives of the ilk. That was the story. The mystery was what drew people in and had the country, or so I’ve been told, gripping throw pillows in anticipation. But then we had resolve, and yet the show kept going. I am aware that David Lynch and Mark Frost were distracted by other projects, which is all the more reason why the show should have ended. But with the show’s massive popularity, how could the network let go? We’ve seen this scenario time and time again. Prison Break, Austin Powers, and countless other franchises that should never have been franchises at all. One great piece of work could have been left for fans to love for generations, but instead became only “the good part” of a slowly dwindling and dying series.

I can empathize that such money making machines create jobs for the cast and crew, that the crew loved working together and the feel of a show so much that they never wanted it to end, and even that the audience wants to see what happens next with the characters, which can occasionally work out well. But it seldom works. There are plenty of programs that grew better with time, such as Seinfeld, if you ask me. But I suppose shows like that aren’t quite comparable. They rely only on one premise per episode and the end credits are something of a reset button, bringing the characters back to square one to embark on another zany adventure next week. But story driven dramas should be told only until the natural drama runs out. It should be kept in the hands of those who first conceived the idea, and the ideas should not be generated on a weekly basis in a  writers’ room.

Of course, this is all taken from someone who is about as far from the creative world as possible, and if I had a job writing for a television show I would be over the moon. But that is only the ego in me. The artist in me, and the fan of good art in me, wants art to remain pure, even if it is for only a brief period of time. It should be left just as the artist intended.