Twin peaks episode 1 & 2 SPOILER WARNING (no, seriously 
)
Ok, finally watched the first two episodes, put together to form one long two hour (almost) epic. Given that series 2 ended on the biggest down note possible, with Agent cooper seemingly posessed by Bob, it was hard to imagine this series opening with the traditional 'quirkiness' that marked the first few seasons. Given this coffee and cherry pie enfused tribute to small town America was the main draw for a lot of people this could end up being an issue for some. Its worth considering then that this was mainly the surface layer of the story and as with Blue velvet, once you dig deeper there is genuine darkness to be found. These first two episodes operate more like
Fire, walk with me in that they strip away the veneer of normaility and civilisation and expose the darkness and the weirdness lurking beneath like a gaping wound.
Twin peaks itself is suggested to be business as normal, as much as we see of it anyway. the main focus of theses two opening episodes is to catch up with Agent cooper, who posessed by Bob is out in the world causing untold mayhem. We discover Cooper appears to be running some criminal enterprise with various lowlifes. He's also somehow linked to agent Phillip Jefferies (Bowies character from FWWM), its also mentioned that he's 'visited' Major Garland Briggs which suggests this character is no more. However someone seems to have replaced Jefferies and this mystery person may be connected to a mysterious syndicate in Las Vegas as well as a Bizarre scientific expermient in New York city connected in some way to the Black Lodge.
cooper also may be responsible for a brutal, almost ritulistic killing of a small town librarian. Her head left decapitated next to some unidentified body like some kind of ghastly jigsaw puzzle. The killing is pinned on a local high school prinicipal whose prints are all over the scene. The theme of things beneath the surface is also explored here with this seemingly happy middle class marriage that disintergrates through infedelity and hatred. The jail scene between the couple cements the notion that things are never quite what they seem. The show isn't all grimm dark however. There is a genuinely hysterical scene of two cops looking for an apartment key when called out to a possible death thats comparable to the hit man scene in Mulholland drive for seemingly simple and mundane tasks becoming frustratingly complicated.
Overall its a case of 'so far, so good'.