Ruumis rannalla (S01E01)

If you have the honor of knowing the US cut of this pilot episode, then you have seen the best possible example of filmmaking and an emotionally captivating introduction to a town where nothing is as it seems. And of course a perfect introduction to the first season of this cult series of all cult series that is more delicious than a cherry pie eaten by Agent Dale Cooper. If you see the European cut of the pilot, where there is twenty minutes extra and investigations into the case of Laura Palmer’s murder reach a successful end, you also have an XXL portion of heavy-weight quality waiting for you. But now imagine this: you don’t realize that a different version that this exists and you automatically put on the next episode, hoping it will answer many questions and... and you’re shocked. What the? Why? Where? What a jerk, grrr - I’d like to kill that Lynch: he’s just taking the mickey, isn’t he? While watching the dream-sequence finale (where some fragments from the closed version) you suddenly realize that there’s something wrong, you take a look at the net and everything becomes clear. You calm down and become boundlessly enthusiastic again. Both versions deserve full marks, but I prefer the classic ninety-minute one because the solution of the case in the longer one is markedly rushed and they needlessly kill all loose ends from the preceding footage. It’s like having a chess board, but only using it to play draughts on. While the classic version launches a masterful game of chess that hasn’t been beaten by any other TV production to this day (at least to the middle of season two). (15.09.2008)

This pilot was able to entice me to watch the rest of the series without any problems. I wonder how it will continue. (06.06.2009)

The beginning of a phenomenon after which TV series were never the same. If it wasn't for the arrival of Agent Cooper and the audience fever that followed him, it probably wouldn't have been possible to venture into the woods in The X-Files a few years later or to enjoy the mysteries of golden geese named Lost and Desperate Housewives for another decade. The very beginning of all mysterious escapades starts with the finding of a corpse and starts modestly and appealingly. I eagerly await every clue and even though I know I won't get a resolution, I look at everyone present as a potential murderer, whether I like them or not. I only try out detective stories when they have a glimmer of a different genre within them, and luckily there are several of those here. (03.05.2017)