While Twin Peaks perpetually looms large in the pop-culture consciousness (black coffee, cherry pie, small towns hiding very dark secrets), it’s moved even more to the forefront with the recent passing of David Lynch. And as diehard fans know, it’s nearly Twin Peaks Day, observed every February 24. It’s the date when Laura Palmer’s murdered body was discovered—wrapped in plastic—and FBI Agent Dale Cooper arrived to take on the endlessly peculiar case.
To fully immerse yourself in the knowledge contained within Twin Peaks, it’s recommended you watch the entirety of its run: season one (eight episodes) and season two (22 episodes), which aired on ABC from 1990-1991; feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, a prequel story that arrived in 1992; and Showtime’s Twin Peaks: The Return from 2017. There may be no more poignant encapsulation of our current moment than the final seconds of The Return, in which Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper—who has been through a hell of a lot—realizes he doesn’t know what year it is, or even which version of reality he’s occupying. The series ends with a piercing scream from a woman who looks just like a middle-aged Laura Palmer, and may very well be her in some parallel dimension.
Existential dread is as evergreen as the trees that surround Twin Peaks, but 2025 has definitely put out some major “trapped in the Black Lodge” vibes, and the time feels right to recall some wisdom from the show’s earlier days. Here’s a look back at that first eerie, quirky, stylish, groundbreaking first season of Twin Peaks—and 10 life lessons we can still draw upon today, 35 years after the show debuted.
1. Hold on to your sense of wonder
Cooper pulls into Twin Peaks knowing he’s got a grisly task ahead of him, unraveling the salacious secrets of the recently deceased local Homecoming Queen. But he also can’t believe his incredible luck at being sent to a town so full of wondrous things: Douglas fir trees, snowshoe rabbits, multiple restaurants proffering perfect cups of coffee. Yeah, things get grim and surreal along the way, but Cooper’s delight in the charms of Twin Peaks—a place where yellow lights still mean “slow down”—is his most endearing quality.
2. Everyone has secrets
The bedrock upon which all of Twin Peaks is built is that the truth is rarely visible on the surface, and there’s always more to the story than what you may initially assume. That goes for Laura Palmer, the circumstances of her murder, every character in her orbit, and the town itself, which for all its folksy charm contains some very bad souls, influenced by the forces of evil lurking among all those majestic trees.
3. Get things straight right off the bat
Agent Cooper’s very first conversation with the improbably named Sheriff Harry S. Truman offers a lesson in how to properly break the ice in a potentially awkward situation: immediately state your intentions clearly and firmly. Knowing that local police don’t always take kindly to federal agents, he makes it clear to Harry that he’s in charge. But he’s also so genuinely respectful, and is so clearly scary-good at what he does, that the working relationship falls into place almost as quickly as the friendship does.
4. Be detail-oriented
Early in the case, Cooper dazzles Harry and his staff by finding an important clue hidden in a reflection—specifically, a motorcycle only visible by zooming in on an image of Laura’s eyeball, no small feat of enhancement given it’s captured in a camcorder-shot video from 1990. Elsewhere, he’s able to pick up on nuances that escape everyone else, using powers of observation that come from years of on-the-job training, as well as innate abilities baked into his exceptionally tuned-in consciousness.
5. Trust the log!
This may never happen outside of Twin Peaks, but if a woman cradling a log ever sidles up to you and promises she has some important information to divulge… you best pay attention. If you never do meet an actual Log Lady, you can apply this in a more metaphorical sense, which might be the best approach anyway when receiving insights like “Shut your eyes and you’ll burst into flames.”
6. Try looking at things from a different point of view
For Agent Cooper, this means sometimes suspending himself upside-down in a pair of gravity boots. But that can also have a less literal interpretation. Try re-thinking whatever your problem is from a completely different perspective, perhaps while stuffing a jelly donut into your mouth, and the answer might suddenly become crystal clear.
7. Not everything has to make perfect sense
If you watch Twin Peaks expecting every mystery to be solved, you’ll sacrifice a lot of enjoyment. While Laura Palmer’s killer is eventually revealed (you’ll have to keep watching into season two for that one), many of the show’s pleasingly perplexing plot points remain enigmatic until the end. While this proved challenging for certain early-1990s TV audiences unfamiliar with David Lynch’s storytelling style, it’s now one of Twin Peaks‘ most distinctive and enduring trademarks. Not everything has to make sense, and not everything can or should be explained.
8. Keep an open mind
This one ties into the previous life lesson, and maybe into all the other points on this list as well. To use a Twin Peaks example, maybe—much like Agent Cooper—you have a dream in which you’re seated in a red-curtained room where a small man dances and people speak nonsensical phrases in reverse. These could be signs from the universe helping you navigate your life, or even help you solve a murder. Never rule anything out, no matter how strange it seems.
9. Hold onto (even your craziest) dreams
Nadine’s storyline takes some far-fetched twists, giving her super-strength and the notion that she’s still a high-schooler (the eye patch is also an unhinged bonus). But before that, she’s just a demanding housewife with one very specific dream: to create “a noiseless, completely silent drape runner.” It’s an obsession, really. But it gives her a sense of purpose, and how can you argue with that? You better not argue with Nadine if you know what’s good for you!
10. “Give yourself a present”
One of the most-quoted lines from the show remains a mantra for the ages, as imparted by Cooper to Harry: “Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee.”
All three seasons of Twin Peaks—the first two from ABC and Twin Peaks: The Return from Showtime—are streaming on Paramount+; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is streaming on Max.
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