In observance of
Halloween, the Sandbox will feature a
series of posts reviewing spooky movies and TV shows over the next month called
“Fright Flicks October 2016.” This
entry, Part I, takes a look at two supernatural-mystery shows: Twin Peaks (1990-present)
and Stranger
Things (2016-present).
As streaming services continue to fragment television
audiences, it becomes harder and harder for new shows to break through the
clamor. That makes Stranger Things’ (tele)kinetic rise to popularity all the more remarkable. To give you a flavor for the trendy supernatural-horror-mystery,
here are some of its key ingredients:
- Visual and musical stylings informed by acclaimed filmmakers of the 80s
- A seemingly idyllic small town surrounded by ominous woods
- A chilling crime against a virtuous youth
- A bereaved mother
- Mystical messages from the other side
- An open-minded lawman with a tragic past who gets to the bottom of the mystery through resourceful sleuthing
- A tight-knit group of gutsy adolescents determined to help their friend while navigating romantic complications
- Teenagers getting in over their heads
- Military secrets
- An ephemeral, evil force lurking in the woods
- Deftly-executed cliffhangers
Stranger Things had me hooked from the first scene. Its retro vibe, compelling characters, and
tight pacing made me eager for each upcoming episode. The riveting script by the Duffer Brothers was
enhanced by an excellent cast, especially a star-making performance by 11 (year
old) Millie Bobby Brown. Although the satisfyingly
climactic eighth-and-final episode wraps up the mystery which kicked off the plot,
that plot has thickened over the course of the season. Enough issues remain unresolved to make me
eager for the upcoming season.
My eagerness for the
next season, however, is matched by pessimism. And here’s why:
Remember that list of Stranger
Things’ key ingredients? Each one of
them was also a key ingredient in another supernatural-horror-mystery series:
ABC’s Twin Peaks, which premiered in
1990. Twin Peaks was created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, who were
critical darlings at the time for their work on television’s Hill Street Blues (Frost) and the films Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man (Lynch).
The uncanny similarities between Twin Peaks and Stranger Things don’t stop there. Like Stranger Things, the first season of Twin Peaks consisted of eight episodes,
and immediately catapulted to the highest strata of popularity and critical
acclaim.[i]
Unfortunately, the “catapult” metaphor is more apt than the
show’s early fans would prefer. After its explosive ascent, Twin Peaks plummeted in both quality and
viewership in its second season. Twin Peaks was not renewed for a third
season, but it did gain a cult following which inspired Showtime to pick it up
for an upcoming,
limited revival.
I believe Twin Peaks failed
because the narrative devices which the writers injected to prolong the series were
inimical to what made it a good story in the first place. At first, Twin
Peaks was on track to be a great whodunit, and worked best when it focused
on its central mystery (i.e., “What happened to Laura Palmer?”). I suspect many viewers lost patience as a
hodgepodge of lesser intrigues eclipsed that central mystery during season two. The show became unsalvageable near the middle
of that season when it resolved the Laura Palmer mystery and replaced it with a
vanilla, cat-and-mouse plot, swapping mystery for dramatic irony. By seeking to draw out its success, Twin Peaks inadvertently undermined that
success.
Although I was hooked after watching the first season of Twin Peaks, I wish I hadn’t been: The engrossing
excellence of the first season did not outweigh the sloppy slog of the second. Stranger Things is in danger of falling
into the same trap: The central mystery of the series (i.e., “What happened
to Will Byers?”) was solved at the end of the first season, and any
yet-to-be-resolved subplots, existing or new, are unlikely to serve as adequate
replacements. At this point, I doubt
there’s anything that the Duffer Brothers and the rest of the Stranger Things team can do to replicate
the success of the first season without inadvertently undermining what made it
successful. As satisfying a draught as Stranger
Things is, it emanates from an opaque cask; and that cask, I fear, is more
than half-empty.
A single, ambivalent conclusion applies to both shows: You
will definitely be immediately hooked, and you will (probably) be ultimately
disappointed.
[i] Twin Peaks’ first season is still the highest rated first season
of any show in Metacritic’s
“suspense” category, and it’s ranked fourth overall in that category behind
Breaking Bad’s last season and The
Sopranos’ second and third season.
Its two-hour pilot was the highest-rated
feature-length program in the 1989-90 TV season, drawing a third of all viewers,
and it subsequently earned ABC the best
ratings for its time slot since 1986.
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