The series opens with the body of local beauty Laura Palma being discovered and one could be forgiven that this was going to be another routine murder mystery. There are the expected strange clues such as a letter hidden under the girls nails linking it to a previous crime... which might lead one to think it is a serial killer drama. The local sheriff's department call in the FBI and Agent Dale Cooper is dispatched to town; he is to become the series' protagonist. He starts out investigating the death as he would any other but it isn't long before things turn strange; he has a strange dream that is some how more than a dream and people see a strange man know as Bob. As the investigation continues we learn more about Laura's life and discover that she wasn't as innocent as people thought and was mixed up with some dangerous people; that doesn't mean it was one of them who killed her though. The series is about much more than a murder investigation; it also follows the lives of those affected by it and those around them. There are many subplots involving the personal relationships of the people and their general lives.
This series deserves to be considered a cult classic; creator David Lynch does a great job bringing his strange world to the screen; nothing here is quite normal... even the things that appear to be are just slightly off; for example even though the film is set in the present (at the time it was made) it has a '50s feel to it; as though the town was somehow in the wrong time! The acting from the main cast was spot on; especially Kyle MacLachlan who plays Agent Cooper, Michael Ontkean who plays Sheriff Harry Truman and Sherilyn Fenn who played the sultry Audrey Horne, one of Laura's friends. It isn't the question of who killed Laura Palmer that makes the series so fascinating, that gets solved early in the second season; it is discovering little details about the characters as the series progresses and when it ends you will either be tearing your hair out in frustration or thinking you've just seen something great... or possibly both!
This series deserves to be considered a cult classic; creator David Lynch does a great job bringing his strange world to the screen; nothing here is quite normal... even the things that appear to be are just slightly off; for example even though the film is set in the present (at the time it was made) it has a '50s feel to it; as though the town was somehow in the wrong time! The acting from the main cast was spot on; especially Kyle MacLachlan who plays Agent Cooper, Michael Ontkean who plays Sheriff Harry Truman and Sherilyn Fenn who played the sultry Audrey Horne, one of Laura's friends. It isn't the question of who killed Laura Palmer that makes the series so fascinating, that gets solved early in the second season; it is discovering little details about the characters as the series progresses and when it ends you will either be tearing your hair out in frustration or thinking you've just seen something great... or possibly both!