Twin Peaks Pilot

Original Airdate: April 5, 1990

The series begins at the Blue Pine Lodge, where Josie Packard busies herself at the mirror. Pete Martell gives an unreturned kiss to wife Catherine and heads out to fish. As Pete finds a place to start fishing he discovers a dead body wrapped in plastic. Though turned on her back, Pete can tell that it is a female.

Pete calls in his discovery to the Sheriff’s Office, where Lucy Moran attempts to get instructions out on how to answer the phones in the office. Sheriff Harry S. Truman leaves for the crime scene where he is met by Dr. Hayward and Deputy Andy. Andy breaks down into tears as he takes crime pictures. When Truman and Dr. Hayward finally flip the body over they discover that it is the body of Laura Palmer.

At the same time at the Palmer house, Sarah Palmer calls for her daughter from downstairs. After calling a few times, Sarah heads upstairs and finds her daughter missing. Sarah calls the Briggs house in hopes of finding Laura there with Bobby, but Mrs. Briggs can only say that Bobby left early to go to running before football practice. Sarah calls Bobby’s football coach, who says that Bobby has not come in yet, nor has he been on time for the last few weeks.

At the Great Northern Hotel, Audrey Horne gets into a limo to head to school. Meanwhile, her father Ben Horne and Leland Palmer, Laura’s father, prepare a group of Norwegians in hopes of acquiring the Packard land. Leland is taken out of the meeting by a phone call from his wife. As she asks him the whereabouts of Laura, Sheriff Truman enters. Over the phone, Sarah can hear the Sheriff and the husband and wife learn that their daughter is dead.

At the Double R Diner, Norma Jennings and Shelley Johnson speak with Bobby. When Heidi arrives to take Shelley’s place for the day, Bobby offers to take her home on his way to practice. Bobby thinks that Norma knows that he and Shelley are having an affair, but she says that Norma is too interested in him to notice.

On the road to Shelley’s home, Bobby passes cop cars heading out. When they arrive at the Johnson house, Bobby sees Leo Johnson’s truck, lets Shelley out, and speeds away.

Truman and Leland Palmer arrive at the coroner’s office, there Leland requests to see Laura’s body. After identifying the body, Leland breaks down and cries.

At Twin Peaks High School, Donna Hayward watches Audrey remove the saddle shoes and smoking at her locker. James Hurley asks Donna where Laura is and jokes that it is about it being a nice day for a picnic. After the bell, Bobby enters the school and is told that the sheriff is looking for him. As an office worker escorts him into the office, Bobby makes some remarks to Mike “Snake” Nelson.

In Laura’s normal morning class, a police officer whispers something to the teacher as a girl screams outside the building. Noticing the absence of Laura, Donna breaks down crying, knowing that something has happened to her friend.

Bobby becomes angered as the police question Bobby as to where he was during the morning. Truman tells Bobby that Laura is dead and that he is a suspect at this time. As Andy takes Bobby to make his one phone call as he yells about loving Laura. The principal finally goes over the intercom of the school to inform everyone that their classmate is dead. Meanwhile Donna is consoled by her classmates, as James looks on worried.

At the Palmer house, Truman and Dr. Hayward question Sarah Palmer about her daughter as Deputy Hawk and Leland Palmer looks through look through Laura’s room. Hawk finds Laura’s diary and a camcorder tape, requesting to take them. While questioning, Truman receives a phone call from Lucy saying a Mr. Yanuck Pulaski at the mill reported that his daughter did not come home last night.

At the Packard Saw Mill, Catherine Martell and Josie Packard fight over closing the mill. As owner, Josie finally goes over the intercom and tells everyone that the mill is closing for the day due to the death of Laura Palmer and the disappearance of Ronette Pulaski.

On the bridge, Ronette Pulaski is seen walking, near dead. James pulls up to Big Ed’s Gas Farm on his motorcycle to tell his uncle that Laura is dead. As he leaves, Nadine Hurley order Big Ed to have her drapes up by nightfall.

FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper arrives in town, speaking to his recorded messages to Diane, covering everything from his plans to what he ate for lunch. At the hospital, Cooper meets Truman and tells him of how great the lunch cherry pie was. Cooper lets Truman know that the FBI is now in charge of this matter before asking what those majestic trees are. They go to the hospital bedside of Ronette Pulaski and learns that she was raped. Truman says that there is little to no connection between Ronette and Laura. Cooper wants to question her, but cannot since she is in a trance-like state. Looking at her finger, Ronette begins to say “Don’t go there” before going to sleep.

In the hospital halls, Cooper is introduced to Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, Laura’s psychiatrist. Dr. Jacoby makes light of the moment, musing that her parents did not know that she was seeing him.

In the autopsy room, Cooper looks under her nails and finds a letter R on a tiny piece of paper. Cooper speaks to Diane of this body being like he has seen before. In fact he believes that it is a straight out connection. Hearing all this, Truman begins to wonder and asks what it is that he is not being told. Cooper says that they have much to talk about.

Donna goes to Big Ed, where he consoles her. She asks where James is and Big ed gives her a message from him to meet her. Snake drives up and tells Donna to get in the car and help him find Bobby, his best friend. When she says no, he goes into a fit and speeds off.

Cooper reads through Laura’s diary and finds comments on asparagus and meeting “J” the night of her murder. In the front of the diary, Cooper finds a safety deposit box key and some white residue that looks like cocaine.

Andy calls into the sheriffs office and tells Lucy that he has found the place where Ronette and Laura were taken and tortured. Though crying, Andy tells Lucy to tell Truman that he did not cry upon discovery.

Cooper and Truman start questioning Bobby with his lawyer. They go through the evening of Laura’s death and then question a fight they had a few weeks earlier. Cooper shows Bobby what is on the video they found. It shows Laura and Donna dancing beside a picnic. After a few moments, Cooper gives Truman a message saying that Bobby did not do it. Cooper continues questioning over Laura seeing another person with the initial J and doing cocaine. After he denies everything, Bobby is let go.

Audrey and Julie, the concierge at the Grand Northern Hotel, are told to make sure that the Norwegians do not learn of Laura’s death. With that Audrey heads into the room with the Norwegians and tells them that Laura has been murdered.

Bobby begins to head out of the sheriffs station and finds Snake there. He tells him that the police are after a person with initial J and that he is now going to head out a kill himself a certain biker.

In the interrogation room, Donna tells the police that the video was taken by a female hitchhiker. Cooper let’s her go, knowing fully well that she is lying. Lucy and Truman enter and Lucy tells Cooper that she typed what Bobby had said. Before she can speak, Cooper chimes in that they had talked about a biker. He pauses the video on Laura’s eye, where there is the reflection of a motorcycle.

At the hotel, the Norwegians start to leave, which angers Ben Horne and pleasures Audrey.

At the site Andy had found, a railroad cart, Cooper finds a mound of dirt with a half-heart necklace on the top and a note at the bottom. The note is written in blood saying “Fire Walk with Me.”

Up in the mountains, James sits looking at the other half of this heart necklace.

At the Horne house, Audrey and her mother sit as Johnny Horne hits his head against a doll house. It seems that he cannot comprehend that Laura would be coming by.

At the bank, Truman and Cooper look through Laura’s safety deposit box. They find over ten thousand dollars, cocaine, and an issue of Fleshworld. Inside the magazine is a picture of Ronette Pulaski and Leo Johnson’s truck.

Meanwhile, Leo questions Shelley about the type of cigarettes she smokes since a mysterious new brand has been found inside the house.

Big Ed receives a call from Norma Jennings and they decide to meet at the Roadhouse. Big Ed sees that Nadine is working on her silent drapes and leaves.

At a town meeting, Cooper is introduced to the people of Twin Peaks, where he tells them that a girl named Teresa Banks was found dead a year earlier not too far away. Cooper says that Laura was the second victim, Ronette would have been the third. He recommends that everyone teach their children some caution and reminds them that the murders occurred at night.

At the Hayward house, Dr. Hayward tells his wife of what has been found and said about the murder. Listening in, Donna learns that the police believe that the killer has the other half of the heart necklace. Donna sneaks out the window with the help of her little sister Harriet.

Snake arrives at the house to pick-up Donna. When Dr. Hayward goes to get her for Snake, he finds that she is missing. When he tells Snake that Donna is not there, Snake heads out to the Roadhouse.

Dr. Hayward calls into Truman that Donna is missing, and Truman tells Lucy to call an all-points bulletin for her.

Inside the Roadhouse, Big Ed tells Norma about Nadine’s drapes fetish and she promises Big Ed that she will leave her husband Hank, who is in prison for manslaughter.

Staked out in front of the Roadhouse, Cooper and Truman see Snake and Bobby pull up. Soon afterwards, the two see Laura pull up to the Roadhouse on Harriet’s bike. When she enters, Snake grabs her and manhandles her. Big Ed stops him and Snake and Bobby begin to fight him. Donna is taken to James and the two ride off on his motorcycle with Truman and Cooper following behind.

Donna and James lose Truman and Cooper momentarily. The two speak about what happened with Laura, with James admitting to being with her the night before. Laura told him that she was a different person from everyone’s image of her. She ran off after they spoke and she was dead the next day. Donna and James kiss for the first time. Donna tells James that the police are looking especially for the heart necklace that he has. The two agree to hide it under a rock near where they are.

As James heads off taking Donna home, Truman and Cooper see them and pull them over. They arrest James and take him up to the station. As he is into a cell, Bobby and Snake begin giving him dirty looks.

Dr. Hayward picks up his daughter and forgives her since he believes that there must have been a good reason for her doing it.

Truman introduces Cooper to the doughnut spread that Lucy puts out. Cooper asks Truman to help him get a good hotel room for a good price and Truman promises him a nice room in the Great Northern.

From their cell, Snake and Bobby begin tormenting and barking at James.

Truman meets Josie outside the Blue Pine Lodge. Catherine tells Ben Horne that the sheriff is there again. Truman and Josie sit thinking about how the murder happened a mere twenty-four hours ago.

At the Palmer residence, Sarah Palmer wakes screaming with the nightmare that a gloved hand has found the necklace.