Reviews

-Although sometimes exceptional, the special effects would, more often than not, seem amatourish in nature; -The series' incredible protagonist is a shell of his previous self for most of it; -Half of the performances came across as stilted and unnatural; -Arcs and small scale narratives rarely connected, and many inclusions could be argued as pointless; -It moved at a snail's pace;

Despite all this--or precisely because of it--if I could give it six stars, I think I might.

Then again, lowering the score feels just as likely. It's an absolutely cerebral and oddball experience--equal parts thoughtful and ridiculous--and that's all I wanted it to be.

Pilot episode: One hour and a half of a perfectly paced, incredibly atmospheric, dive into a small towns' handling of grief. I'll never forget how long it took for the main character to even be presented to the viewer. Its intentions were clear and the results were there, culminating into one of the most empathetic and emotive pieces of art I've come to consume. 10 out of 10;

Season 1: A creative twist on the common soap opera, retaining the genre's trends, to an extent, while adding just enough David Lynch weirdness and ambience onto the mix. It has fairly big cast of characters, who are all entertaining, and surpringly diverse. Perfectly paced in a tight span of just 8 episodes. 9- out of 10;

Season 2: Could have come to completely curbstomp the first season's level of quality, but, sadly, loses itself in the middle. Even so, in retrospective, the dip wasn't even that steep. Granted, episodes 11 through 15 were often kind of a slog, with how they settled for cheap plotlines and common soap opera conventions (albeit, with some quality moments sprinkled throughout), but, after that, it got pretty enjoyable again, and only continued to improve. It retained its vanilla soap opera storytelling but built it in a way where the, already great, characters were allowed to shine. And, meanwhile--as to make its rise even sweeter--the ethereal elements that made its first stretch so entertaining begin their return as well. Overhated. It was still great. 8 out of 10.

Final Episode: An episode so good I needed to mention it separately. While the pilot ran on the beauty of empathy, this one chokes the viewer in overbearing dread. A spiritual, and intentionally undigestable, piece of work that made even the season's low points unbelievably worth it. I find myself split between giving it a 9 or a 10, but I'm closer to the former.

Bonus round: Detective Dale Cooper is now one of my all time favorite characters out of any medium. A unique personality through and through, and one the show's setting does wonders to highlight.

This isn't telling you stay silent if in an abusive relationship. Words like those ARE indeed spoken but the episode itself presents it in a more ironic kind of way. Heck, the climax here is shot like a godamn HORROR MOVIE. Could the message have been handled somewhat better? Definitely, I agree on that front, but taking that issue(again, not a real flaw since, AGAIN, it isn't presenting Darwin's actions as an inherently good thing) aside, the episode's still as funny, creative, well animated and well directed as the show's become known for being.