Image via Complex Original
Twin Peaks turns 25 today, and though it only lasted a couple seasons, it left behind an indelible mark on pop culture. David Lynch's supernatural drama, which is set for a reboot on Showtime (possibly sans Lynch), has been referenced, copied, and emulated to no end over the years, but the best nods to the cult classic may come from an unexpected place—the teen drama Pretty Little Liars. The hit ABC Family series is pretty much Twin Peaks 2.0, which creator Marlene King has openly acknowledged. To see just how similar the two shows are, here's every way PLL stole from Twin Peaks (beware: spoilers abound).
Both shows are about a pretty blonde who's been mysteriously murdered.
PLL episode: Pilot
Twin Peaks episode: Pilot
Both series kick off with the murder of a gorgeous high school Queen Bee, who was loved, envied, and feared among her peers. Supporting this, posthumous videos are discovered of Laura Palmer and Alison DiLaurentis, both suggesting that the girls led scandalous double lives starkly different from the pristine ones that made them popular.
Both dead girls have alter egos.
PLL episode: Season 2, Episode 18
Twin Peaks episode: Season 1, Episode 5
The amount of fake-outs PLL has had will make you want to throw your TV out the window. First, Ali takes on a brunette alter-ego, Vivian Darkbloom, to run off with her boytoys; second, she has a doppelganger in the form of an unrelated person entirely, Cece Drake. An older and more conniving version of Ali, Drake has it out for Ali and the Liars, whom she believes got her expelled from college and effectively ruined her life. What's more, if the show decides to get back on track with the book, Ali's institutionalized twin Courtney is bound to make an appearance.
While it isn't this twisted on Twin Peaks, the series does introduce Laura's lookalike cousin Maddy, a brunette version of the dead girl, who thrives off people comparing her to Laura and gets a kick out of stirring up love triangles. Of course, that's not the only time a Laura double makes an appearance; an evil version of Laura Palmer, who only exists in the haunted and extra-dimensional Black Lodge, is revealed during the show's series finale.
The dead girls kept journals that are filled with clues about their murderers.
PLL episode: Season 2, Episode 13
Twin Peaks episode: Season 2, Episode 11
While Laura's secret diary reveals that she was often a victim of abuse, sometimes willingly, by serial killer BOB, Ali's private journal discloses the most private, scathing details about all of her friends and lovers.
The bad boy love interests are very similar (and not very bad).
PLL episode: Season 1, Episode 14
Twin Peaks episode: Pilot
Let's just count the similarities between Caleb and James: they both live with extended families (since their parents are MIA), they're both quiet, brooding, and excellent at trespassing, and they both fall in love with the dead girl's BFF (Hanna and Donna, respectively). The only difference is James was also Laura's secret lover, while Caleb would never put his junk anywhere near Ali.
Both shows feature handsome floppy-haired kids who are first accused of murder.
PLL episode: Season 1, Episode 10
Twin Peaks episode: Pilot
Sure, it's a bit of stretch since PLL's Toby was basically a shut-in Boo Radley-type before he joined rejoined civilization, and Bobby Briggs was always the pretty popular one, but they both start out as the lead murder suspects, and have hair fit for a Tiger Beat poster. While it was believed that Toby was out to get Ali for blackmailing him into taking the blame for blinding his step-sister, Bobby's motive was allegedly his jealously over his ex-girlfriend Laura's affair with another man.
Tippi is basically Waldo the bird.
PLL episode: Season 4, Episode 2
Twin Peaks episode: Season 1, Episode 6
The parallel is simple really: both shows use a bird as a plot device. These winged Watsons spill clues at the most importune times.
Both feature a couple of old dudes with unstable minds.
PLL episode: Season 4, Episode 10
Twin Peaks episode: Season 2, Episode 1
SPOILER ALERT: Twin Peaks' Leland Palmer is revealed to be the murderer of his daughter Laura under BOB's possession. As the series progresses, Palmer slowly loses his mind as he struggles to fight BOB within him. Not unlike Leland, PLL's Dr. Louis Palmer also experiences lucidity. Although he's not a killer, he does share memories about Alison that only serve to make her case even more peculiar.
The single-syllable villain is manifested in more than one character.
PLL episode: Season 2, Episode 13
Twin Peaks episode: Season 2, Episode 15
Pretty Little Liars has A, which turns out to be a crew of bullies all seeking revenge on bad bitch Ali, while Twin Peaks has BOB, a demonic entity who essentially amasses the same kind of army by taking the form of one person to another.
Both have elements of the supernatural.
PLL episode: Season 4, Episode 5
Twin Peaks episode: Pilot
Twin Peaks is steeped in paranormal hell; its main villain, Killer BOB, is essentially a demon. PLL only dances with the devil for a hot second, when the character Mrs. Grunwald, a former sorority house mother/psychic, appears in the series to connect it to Ravenswood, ABC Family's failed supernatural spin-off show (RIP).
The teenagers won't go to the police when they definitely should.
PLL episode: Entire series
Twin Peaks episode: Entire series
Because where would the drama be if these teens actually sought help? Instead, they deal with cyber and supernatural bullies to the detriment of their own lives. What's worse, none of them even consider leaving their town of, like, 10 people. Even when they pack up and go (word to PLL's Caleb), they end up moving right back like the masochists they are. What's worse, when the teens do work with the authorities, the suspicions are only turned against them, as if there's no one else in the world who could possibly be at fault.
No one ever suffers any PTSD.
PLL episode: Season 3, Episode 12
Twin Peaks episode: Season 1, Episode 7
Arguably the wounded sheep of each series, Twin Peaks' Shelly and PLL's Emily both gun down their abusers (Shelly's ex-husband; Emily's former fling) in self-defense, without suffering much PTSD from the act in the episodes following. Tears are shed, and the girls are a little rocked, but life continues without much change following the incidents.
No one ever goes to school.
PLL episode: Entire series
Twin Peaks episode: Entire series
Sure, the kids on both shows go to school, but have you ever actually seen them participate? No, they're always lounging in the cafeteria, throwing shade in the hallways, making out with their teachers, and dealing with drama at prom. And when they're not busy with that, they're lounging at diners or coffee shops, gossiping in each other's rooms, or running from murderers in the woods.
All the characters are too good looking to be believable small town folk.
PLL episode: Entire series
Twin Peaks episode: Entire series
Have you ever been to a small town in Bumblefuck, Nowhere? High school kids from such off the map areas certainly don't look like the cast of Laguna Beach. Granted, this is television, and sex and beauty sell, but IRL towns with 5,000 person populations don't exactly breed Hollister models. Where are the kids with braces? Where's the acne? Where are the trucker-hat wearing dudes with the pubescent peach fuzz on their upper lips? Also, why do they all look like they're in their mid-20s?
Everything goes down in the woods.
PLL episode: Season 3, Episode 12
Twin Peaks episode: Season 1, Episode 6
To name all the shit that goes down on PLL in the woods alone would need it's own post, but here's a quick list of sylvan occurrences: Hanna gets run over by a car, Emily is kidnapped by Nate, and Ezra takes Aria to his creepy pedo-cabin. Conversely, on Twin Peaks, the woods is where all the supernatural nonsense happens, including where the authorities encounter the infamous psychic Log Lady and where the secret society known as the Bookhouse Boys dispels evil.
An Agent Cooper makes an appearance in 'PLL,' which is a direct nod to Agent Cooper in 'Twin Peaks.'
PLL episode: Season 1, Episode 10
Twin Peaks episode: Entire series
As a direct reference to Twin Peaks' Agent Dale Cooper, the official assigned to Laura Palmer's case throughout the series, Pretty Little Liars introduces its own Agent Cooper for a couple episodes to assist in the Rosewood Police Department's investigation of Ali's murder.