Twin Peaks revealed who killed Laura Palmer in season 2, but why was the original series ended after that, given that it was only part of the mystery?
When it first aired in 1990, Twin Peaks blazed the way for daring serialised drama on television, but after revealing the main killer, the programme lost momentum and was discontinued after season two. However, at that time in the storey,
Who Killed the Laura Palmer Series?
The disclosure of who murdered Laura Palmer was only one element of the storyline, so why did it end the series?
The central mystery of Twin Peaks is who killed Laura Palmer. Laura’s body is discovered wrapped in plastic along a riverbed outside of Twin Peaks, a small logging town in the Pacific Northwest, at the start of the series.
Many strange things start to happen after that, including creepy dream sequences and uncanny encounters. As Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) arrives in town to investigate Laura Palmer’s death, a cast of weird individuals is introduced.
The first season of Twin Peaks drew a massive audience, with 34 million people tuning in at the peak of the show’s popularity.
Nonetheless, the show’s viewership began to decline as ABC officials pressed the show’s writers to reveal who killed Laura Palmer in the midst of season 2 for sweeps week.
Although part of this is due to season 2’s meandering quality, many fans no longer had a purpose to watch the show when the mystery of Laura’s killer was answered. This was unfortunate because Laura’s killer turned out to be only one minor aspect of the Twin Peaks mystery, and the show was discontinued on a cliffhanger.
Laura Palmer’s assailant was only one piece of the puzzle.
David Lynch was well aware that discovering who killed Laura Palmer would mean the end of Twin Peaks. It was the core question that the show revolved around. Despite this, Twin Peaks was a huge hit, attracting the attention of a lot of television executives and writers. Lynch stood helplessly by as Season 2 crumbled, with little he could do to stop it.
After learning in the middle of season 2 that Laura’s father, Leland Palmer, killed Laura while possessed by the demonic spirit known as Killer BOB, many viewers tuned out.
Despite delivering the key solution to the show’s issue, which Lynch didn’t want to share, this revelation raised further Twin Peaks questions. Agent Cooper, for example, realises by the end of season 2 that if Killer BOB is not stopped, he will kill again.
He’s still looking into the mysteries of the Black Lodge and its inhabitants, which could have lasted for many more seasons. Instead, season 2 ended with Agent Cooper’s soul trapped with Killer BOB and Cooper’s evil doppelganger laughing maniacally.
It’s terrible that the original series was wrecked by so many awful episodes in season 2, as well as the late reveal of Laura Palmer’s killer.
Twin Peaks: The Return, which debuted on Showtime in 2017, was able to pick up where the original series left off and continue to investigate the strange mysteries that make Twin Peaks so captivating, including what happened to Laura Palmer.
Season 4 will hopefully be greenlit in the future, as the programme has proven to be so much more than its fundamental enigma.
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