Many many moons ago, I downloaded Twin Peaks. It wasn't until last night that I finally got around to starting in on the episodes. I suppose part of my motivation to finally watch it came it part from Tim Boucher's recent exhortations about the series in the wake of his marathon viewing. Now I'm utterly hooked. Just finished episode 9. I'm haunted. Good God, Lynch is a genius.

How much can I say without spoiling it for those who haven't seen the show? I would tend to agree with Tim that it's probably best to go into it with as little information as possible. That said, I'm going to go ahead and discuss a bit about it.

It takes place in a small logging town, near the northern border between the U.S. and Canada. The premise of the show is about the investigation of the murder of a local teenage girl. Unlike many shows which have a crime-of-the-week format, the WHOLE THING (so far) is about the mystery surrounding the murder of this one girl. Most definitely an ongoing storyline, a multi-faceted mystery, with new clues and discoveries unfolding with each episode. You might think they'd run out of fresh material pretty quickly with that format, but so far, that hasn't happened.

Also, every episode covers a timespan of roughly 1 day. The lead character is the FBI agent who comes into town to investigate the murder, but the series follows the lives of a several of the other people who live in the town. Often, their interactions and connections with the case (and with the greater mystery) don't become apparent until several episodes later.

While the genesis of the story -- and its ongoing focus -- remains the murder of Laura Palmer, many connections to other crimes, conspiracies, and fishy business in this seemingly innocent town are gradually uncovered; it's enough to make you go absolutely nuts trying to grok it all. Who's good? Who's evil? Who's downright malicious? How are so many people (including the Laura's own genuinely grieving parents) mixed up in this insane web of creepiness?

Well, as is obvious from the fact that it's 3:30am, I've indulged my viewing appetite to the point of excess on this night. I was going to stop a couple episodes ago, but then the end credits came at just the wrong moment, and I just had to see what would happen next. How crafty of them.

I have a feeling this show is going to leave me dreaming some very strange dreams. Like Tim. But please, dream gods, please, don't make me work for Ben Horne!

SPOILER below, cause I can't resist.

[/me still shivers thinking about that scene at One-Eyed Jack's. The part where Audrey, in the course of her freelance investigation into the shady bordello north of the border, was assigned as the "new girl" to the unnamed owner/client as a celebration present after the Norwegian investors signed that big contract. When she put on that mask in the bed, I'm sitting there going, No way. She's your freakin daughter, dude! This was not happening on network tv. This was not happening on network tv. But the symbolism is indeed ripe with meaning.]

Goodness gracious, what a wacky show. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys a true brain-twister. Would you expect anything less of David Lynch?