| Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces | |
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 Cover of theTwin Peaks: The Entire Mysterybox set (2014), for whichThe Missing Pieces was originally produced | |
| Directed by | David Lynch |
| Written by |
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| Based on | Twin Peaks byMark Frost David Lynch |
| Produced by | Gregg Fienberg |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ron Garcia |
| Edited by | David Lynch |
| Music by | Angelo Badalamenti |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by |
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Release date |
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Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country |
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| Language | English |
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces is a 2014compilation ofdeleted and extended scenes fromTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,[1] a 1992psychological horror film directed byDavid Lynch and written by Lynch andRobert Engels. The scenes were not included in the early home video releases ofFire Walk with Me and remained under lock and key for over twenty years, although their content was generally known to the public via theFire Walk with Me script.
When filmingFire Walk with Me, Lynch shot up to five hours of material but cut the film to two hours and fourteen minutes for its theatrical release, explaining that he wanted to focus the film on the story ofLaura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). The deleted scenes principally concerned theFBI's investigation into the murder ofTeresa Banks (Pamela Gidley), who shared a killer with Laura, and everyday interactions with characters from seasons one and two of theTwin Peaks television series (1990–91).The Missing Pieces restores characters who were entirely cut fromFire Walk with Me, such asJosie Packard (Joan Chen),Ed Hurley (Everett McGill), andNadine Hurley (Wendy Robie), and adds material to characters whose participation was reduced in the final edit.
AlthoughThe Missing Pieces is loosely structured as afeature-length film and has a feature-length runtime, it is not a standalone story and omits expository and storyline material fromFire Walk with Me, meaning that familiarity with the original film is essential to understandingThe Missing Pieces. It has generally been released as a special feature tohome video releases ofFire Walk with Me, such asCBS Home Entertainment'sTwin Peaks: The Entire Mystery andTwin Peaks: From Z to A andThe Criterion Collection'sFire Walk with Me re-release.
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FBI AgentsSam Stanley andChester Desmond question the owner of Hap's Diner about the recently murderedTeresa Banks, his former employee. The local sheriff unsuccessfully fights Desmond to stop him from moving Teresa's body toPortland for further analysis.
Special AgentDale Cooper chitchats with his unseen secretaryDiane. After Desmond disappears, Cooper debriefs Stanley.
In Argentina, AgentPhillip Jeffries abruptly vanishes. Several years later, he materializes inGordon Cole's Philadelphia office and tells Cole, Cooper, andAlbert Rosenfield about his vision of the spirit world.
InTwin Peaks, cocaine-dealing high schoolersBobby Briggs andMike Nelson lament that they oweLeo Johnson $5,000 and are running low on product. Leo abuses his wifeShelly.
Laura Palmer is horrified to find pages ripped out of her secret diary. She borrows her motherSarah's car on the pretext that she forgot to bring her books home. Sarah discovers the ruse and tells Laura that she does not need to lie to her.
At dinner,Leland Palmer eagerly anticipates a delegation of Norwegians, who are planning a major real estate deal with Leland's bossBenjamin Horne.[a] Leland teaches Laura and Sarah to introduce themselves inNorwegian. Laura and Sarah roar with laughter at Leland's antics.
Laura, who moonlights as a prostitute, sneaks out to exchange sex for drugs with a trucker. Teresa Banks, another prostitute, wonders why her client Leland backed out of a prearrangedfoursome. After deducing that Leland is Laura's father, she tries toblackmail him.[b]
At theDouble R Diner, Laura picks up the day'sMeals on Wheels shipments, but backs out.[c]
After Laura expresses gloomy thoughts toDonna Hayward,Doc Hayward gives Laura a comforting message.[d] Laura cheers up, but becomes icy after Leland asks her to come home. Donna's parents realize that something is wrong between Laura and Leland.
At home, Laura hearsBOB's voice from the ceiling fan above the stairs. BOB begins to possess her; a demonic smile creeps across her face. Laura comes to when Sarah interrupts her. Terrified, Sarah repeats that "it's happening again", implying that Leland went through a similar experience.
Laura, Donna,Jacques Renault, and their clients recklessly drive across theCanadian border to Jacques' nightclub.[e]
Bobby, who just killed a man,[f] asks Laura to hide $10,000 for him. Laura needles Bobby about the shooting, exacerbating his guilt. To Bobby's dismay, the victim was carrying baby laxative and not cocaine.
Laura's possessive psychiatrist,Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, demands to know why he has not heard from Laura recently. Laura disgustedly replies that she has recorded audiotapes for him.
On the night of her death, Laura has an awkward dinner with Sarah; Leland is working late. Laura visits Bobby and is welcomed byMajor Briggs, who is reading anapocalyptic vision from theBook of Revelation to his wife Betty.[g] After returning home, Laura sneaks out.[h] Leland sees her, but lets her leave.[i]
As Leland kills Laura, theLog Lady hears Laura's screams.
Pete Martell humorously defuses a complaint by customer Dell Mibbler, who says that Pete andJosie Packard'stwo-by-fours are not exactly two by four inches. After Dell rebuffs a straight answer, Pete argues that at Dell's bank a dollar is notworth what it used to be. Although the answer is absurd, Dell is satisfied.
Ed Hurley andNadine Hurley stop by the Double R for coffee, but Nadine storms out after seeing Ed's ex-girlfriend (and secret lover)Norma Jennings working the counter. Ed returns to apologize to Norma, who is crying. Later, Ed and Norma spend a quiet evening together and talk about their situation.
Sheriff Truman and his deputies,Andy andHawk, plan to catch a local drug dealer. Later, Andy, Truman, andLucy chat at the sheriff's station.
In theBlack Lodge, Dale Cooper speaks withthe Man from Another Place.
WhileAnnie Blackburn recovers from her ordeal withWindom Earle, a nurse steals her blue ring, which Laura, Teresa, and Phillip Gerard have also worn.
Doc Hayward and Sheriff Truman hear Cooper'sdoppelgänger injure himself. The doppelgänger lies on the floor to await them. Doc encourages the doppelgänger to get bed rest, but he protests that he has not yet brushed his teeth.
David Lynch originally shot more than five hours of footage forTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which he cut down to two hours and fourteen minutes.[2] He explained that he wanted to focus the film on Laura Palmer, that the film's runtime was a concern, and that the deleted scenes "were too tangential to keep the main story progressing properly".[3] However, he denied making the cuts (at least purely) for runtime reasons.[4] He remarked that "it might be good sometime to do a longer version with these other things in, because a lot of the characters that are missing in the finished movie had been filmed. They're part of the picture, they're just not necessary for the main story."[3]
Although the film's editorMary Sweeney said that Lynch would "love" if the deleted scenes were released,[5] the unused footage was not released for over twenty years.[6] Lynch suggested that the distribution companies that owned thehome video rights toFire Walk with Me could not agree with him on a price toedit,mix, andcolor grade the remaining footage.[7][8]
The deleted scenes remained under lock and key, but the film's shooting script was publicly accessible.[9] The script gave fans a general sense of what Lynch cut from the final edit, including interactions between Agents Desmond, Stanley, and Cooper; a fight between Desmond and Deer Meadow Sheriff Cable; a lost and disoriented Agent Jeffries; a dinner where Leland Palmer entertains his family; conversations between Laura and BOB's disembodied voice; the revelation that the package of cocaine that Bobby Briggs steals from the deputy was actually baby laxative; and an extended version of the scene where Cooper'sdoppelgänger interacts with Sheriff Truman and Doc Hayward.[10]
During the twenty-two-year interval betweenFire Walk with Me andThe Missing Pieces, the deleted scenes became a frequent topic of discussion within theTwin Peaks fandom. Various commentators described them as the fandom's "Holy Grail".[11][12] At various points, fans campaigned for distributors to release the deleted scenes as adirector's cut or as special features to a home video release.[6]
In 2012, Lynch andMark Frost secretly began developing athird season ofTwin Peaks,[13][14] which premiered in 2017.[15] In January 2015, they delivered a version of the season three script toShowtime (the cable TV arm ofParamount, which owned the rights toTwin Peaks throughAaron Spelling Productions).[16] While Lynch and Frost worked on the season three script, Lynch and Paramount's home video subsidiaryCBS Home Entertainment agreed to release a box set combining the first two seasons ofTwin Peaks withFire Walk with Me. As part of the deal, Lynch producedThe Missing Pieces as a special feature for the box set. Given the longstanding speculation about the deleted scenes, the never-before-seen material inThe Missing Pieces was deemed the highlight of the re-release.[6][17][18]
While promoting the box set, Lynch commented that "it was great going back into the world [ofTwin Peaks] ... and living with the people again".[19] The third season was still a secret at the time, but when asked about futureTwin Peaks stories, Lynch teased that "you never say never".[19]
To commemorate the box set, Paramount organized a special screening ofThe Missing Pieces at theVista Theatre in Los Angeles on July 16, 2014. Lynch delivered a cryptic introduction about the beauty ofwood.[20][21] Three months later, Showtime announced the third season ofTwin Peaks.[22]
It was also released as bonus material on theCriterion Collection edition ofFire Walk with Me.[23]
Reviewers generally agreed thatThe Missing Pieces was not a standalonefeature film, instead characterizing it as "a series of vignettes that capture stolen moments";[24] a "fragmented ... cluster of vignettes";[19] and a series of "dead ends, intriguing digressions, smart discards, and intriguing unused options".[6] One writer said that the film "seemingly presumes we'll be watching with full knowledge of already-seen events".[17]
Several reviewers noted thatThe Missing Pieces still adds to theFire Walk with Me story, despite its fragmented nature. Jace Lacob (BuzzFeed) explained that the film eventually "coalesces into something" that "give[s] us a deeper portrait of Laura and those around her ... something alternately funny and heartbreaking, terrifying and uplifting".[24] He added that the deleted scenes further showcasedSheryl Lee's "incredibly nuanced and powerful performance ... giv[ing] television's most famous dead girl a profound sense of vulnerability".[24] Chuck Bowen (Slant Magazine) noted thatThe Missing Pieces specifically "underline[s] the town's willed obliviousness to Laura's misery".[25]
However, critics cautioned thatThe Missing Pieces did not resolve any of the mysteries left by the second season's cliffhanger ending. Jonathan Eburne (Los Angeles Review of Books) noted that while the 2014 box set was "terrific ... it remains steadfast in its refusal to [resolve lingering questions about its characters' fates or the series' "otherworldly cosmology"]".[26] Lacob agreed that the film did not "pull back the curtain on the larger mysteries ofTwin Peaks".[24]
In the years sinceThe Missing Pieces was released, severalbootlegfan edits have attempted to splice the deleted scenes intoFire Walk with Me to create a coherent whole.[27][28][29]
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