The new ‘Twin Peaks’ is frightening, baffling and just right for fans

First he wrote a letter to Showtime thanking the company for making it happen. Then he called his mom and warned her not to watch the new “Twin Peaks.”

“I’ve never written a letter thanking a company like that,” said JJ Wandler, the owner of downtown restaurant and bar Garageland. “But it’s amazing. I’m really excited about it.”

So why did he warn Mom?

“It’s actually really intense and frightening,” Wandler said. “It doesn’t have the kind of cute charm the old ‘Twin Peaks’ had.”

Showtime released nothing about the highly anticipated return of “Twin Peaks” which debuted on Sunday, so hardcore fans like Wandler weren’t sure what to expect. Except something weird.

The original “Twin Peaks” was set in a small town and focused on the murder of 17-year-old Laura Palmer, whose body is found naked and wrapped in plastic. Characters like Log Lady – who walked around cradling a log of firewood – and oddball psychiatrist Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, as well as not so bright yet somewhat innocent Deputy Andy, make for a weird cast.

“Good weird, you know?” Wandler said.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg had this to say:

“Through its first two hours, David Lynch’s new ‘Twin Peaks’ is unsettling, weird, funny and basically impossible to review.”

Yet Fienberg also called the new show “accessibly scary, disturbing and audaciously funny as many of the best parts of the original ‘Twin Peaks.’ ”

The first “Twin Peaks” ran on ABC in 1990-91 and was followed by a feature film, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.”

“I was apparently one of few who went to see that in theaters,” Wandler said with a laugh.

In the new “Twin Peaks,” FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is again played by Kyle MacLachlan, just like Grace Zabriskie returns as Sarah Palmer, Laura’s mother, and Sheryl Lee is back too, as Laura Palmer.

“I didn’t know how that was going to work, but it actually works,” Wandler said. “It’s set 25 years later and I think they’ve used makeup to make the original actors look more haggard than they really are.”

Original directors Mark Frost and David Lynch co-wrote the new series and Wandler said it’s obvious that Showtime gave Lynch full control.

“It opens with this beautiful black and white that goes straight to ‘Eraserhead,’ ” Wandler said, referencing a 1977 Lynch film.

The New York Times’ James Poniewozik wrote that at times “it feels as if a nostalgic 1990 version of the show is alternating scenes with a colder, harder-edged 2017 version.” Poniewozik also wonders if the new version has “staying power beyond the class-reunion phase.”

But Wandler is hooked. Over the years he’s watched the entire original show four times, he said, and he’s collected Twin Peaks magazines, memorabilia and photos. When he heard filming had resumed in North Bend, where much of the original show was filmed, he made a point of stopping on his way to and from business in Seattle.

“I never saw Lynch but I did see Mark Frost eating at the cafe,” Wandler said.

Specifically what was it Wandler found so much more disturbing about the new series?

“The sound,” he said, “it’s very gross and slushy in places.”

That and what he called “very graphic violence” made him call and warn Mom.

“It’s really dark. It’s kind of terrifying,” Wandler said. “It’s definitely Twin Peaks.”