If you've heard that "The X-Files" and "Twin Peaks" are coming back in 2016, you likely had one of two responses:
1. You are unbelievably, indescribably excited. You wear flannel and tie your ponytail with velvet crush scrunchies. You have a recurrent fantasy about kicking it with David Duchovny and Kyle MacLachlan that definitely gets a little randy in the nighttime.
2. You have no idea what I'm talking about, or worse, you do know because certain unsavory someones who lived on your hall freshman year could never shut up about both/either show.
It is this second demographic that I am speaking to now. Hopefully, by the end of this article, I will have convinced you to spend this glorious month of October (or as I like to call it, Halloween: Extended Edition) binge-watching both shows on Netflix and getting super pumped for their return. Here we go!
What the hell are these shows?
"The X-Files" is about two FBI special agents, skeptical, flawless Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and believer, "spooky" Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). They both work on the X-Files, unsolved, mysterious FBI cases that usually involve supernatural murder and hammy acting by extras. The show's larger plot arc, which is arguably more interesting, is that the government is hiding the existence of aliens and is definitely up to no good.
"Twin Peaks" is a lot of things: A soap opera, a satire of a soap opera, a tribute to film noir, a supernatural thriller, and overall an unapologetically weird shit show. In a small town, deep in the forests of Washington, a homecoming queen named Laura Palmer is murdered; FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) arrives on the scene to figure out what happened. What he discovers is more horrifying than him or anyone else in Twin Peaks could ever see coming.
Why is everyone so obsessed with these shows?
"The X-Files" hits that perfect sweet spot between a procedural crime show and a supernatural television epic. It has "Monster of the Week" episodes for the casual watcher and an overarching storyline with a very gradual build for those who love to immerse themselves completely in a show. It also has amazing character development and one of the most compelling female leads of any show, during the 90s or otherwise (no shade at Buffy or Ally McBeal though). ALSO LOOK AT THESE FLAWLESS DORKS:
"Twin Peaks" also has elements of true crime and the supernatural, but has a significantly more niche audience. For one thing, the show is admittedly slow on the uptake: It doesn't reach peak (I'm hilarious) supernatural insanity until a few episodes into Season 2. It also features some mind-numbingly weird, cardboard acting: While there's definitely an argument that this is deliberate and one of the clever, satirical elements of the show, it can definitely make it hard to watch. To give you an idea, the kind of person who really enjoys "Twin Peaks" probably looks like this (this guy is also a character on "Twin Peaks"):
It's not the end of the world if "Twin Peaks" isn't your thing, but it's worth at least one watch through for how masterfully crafted it is, the artful use of suspense and horror and young Kyle MacLachlan's beautiful face.
Why are they coming back?
My work colleague (hey Kyle!) has an interesting marketing-related theory: The shows' primary demographic when they aired, i.e teenagers, now have purchasing power, so show revivals could in turn lead to profitable franchise revival for FOX ("The X-Files") and Showtime ("Twin Peaks"). Another less analytically sound opinion (i.e. mine) is that these shows broke significant ground for television.While conspiracy shows are a little out of style now, "The X-Files" remains a beloved hallmark of compelling serialized television. Although "Twin Peaks" was canned pretty early on, its experimental nature paved the way for television to get more weird and subversive (Vox has a great article on this). In other words, spending hours of your life in a blanket burrito watching these shows will make you more cultured!
Why doesn't David Duchovny love me?
Great question, reader. Bree Sharp and pretty much everyone who was famous in the 90s feel your pain:
Enjoy your binge-watching and remember: The owls are not what they seem.
