Here I sit, over a week after the 2 hour finale of Twin Peaks…and I still don’t know if I can put into words what I watched. That’s right folks…if you don’t have Showtime, you missed it…Twin Peaks returned after 26 years. David Lynch brought us 18 hours of craziness like only he can.

I was too young to watch the original series when it first aired, so I caught up on Netflix many years later. Once I heard Showtime struck a deal to bring it back with almost all the original cast (Michael Ontkean’s sheriff Harry Truman was the only one I missed), I was eagerly anticipating “The Return.” They definitely did not disappoint. In fact, they drew a record number of subscriptions to Showtime. If you watched the original series, most people found it very strange. This version, makes the original seem totally normal.

Kyle MacLachlan was fantastic basically playing 3 different roles, only one of which was the version we knew and loved from the original series. Agent Cooper as we knew him did not actually appear on the show until the 15th episode! Which was a little infuriating to me honestly, but the payoff was great ( I am the FBI). David Lynch’s role that he wrote for himself (Gordon Cole) was a little bit more important this time around, and I really enjoyed it. I wish we saw David Lynch act more. I was also truly floored that he was able to get 99% of the original cast back. It was great to see that level of continuity in the characters aging and growth that really added to the story in my opinion. I was also pretty impressed with how Lynch was able to use footage of David Bowie (from his role in the prequel film Fire Walk With Me) and make him an important role posthumously. As well as Catherine Coulson “The Log Lady” from the original series who died in 2015 yet was featured in at least 4 episodes this time around.

The show also broadened it’s horizons in a few ways. The production value had a serious step up, as we ventured into different locations (Las Vegas, South Dakota, New York, etc.) instead of just Twin Peaks, Washington. There were also a lot of big name additions to the cast, mostly in small cameo type roles. Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, Michael Cera, Amanda Seyfried, Robert Forster (Sheriff Truman’s brother, Frank), Jim Belushi, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tim Roth, Matthew Lillard, and Ashley Judd to name a few. There were also a few big name musical performances. Nine Inch Nails and Eddie Vedder were just a few of the acts that graced the stage of the bar within the show.

This show continued to push the boundaries, it wasn’t like any other show I’ve ever seen. It also wasn’t like a conventional film. It was somewhere in between. It was disturbing in parts, funny in others, heart warming one moment and frustrating/confusing the next. But always interesting, thought provoking, and intriguing television. If you’re interested at all, it really isn’t hard to go catch up. Just know, from the second you hear Angelo Badalamenti’s opening theme, you’re in for a weird ride, and probably not a lot of answers.

So, while everyone else was talking about dickless people, incest, and dragons…you missed the real best show of the summer.

–Tony