“This Georgia is damned fine coffee!”

Justin’s rating: enif si eeffoc ehT

Justin’s review: Twin Peaks’ unfortunate cancellation at the end of its second season in 1991 left fans of the mixed mystery series wanting more. The 1992 movie, Fire Walk With Me, certainly wasn’t the sequel or resolution many had hoped to see. But before the series went dark for the next quarter century, there was a strange, short addition to the franchise.

What you have to understand is that when the two-season show was brought over to Japan, the country went nuts for Dale Cooper, Harry S. Truman, Laura Palmer, and all the rest. Twin Peaks was a smash hit in the country and ingrained itself into the pop culture landscape, with Japanese gobbling up anything even remotely related to the show.

So it was a huge get for the Georgia Coffee Company to snag director David Lynch, a chunk of the cast, and the rights to make a four-part commercial miniseries set in Twin Peaks itself. Clocking in at a total of two minutes, the four commercials detail a mini-investigation where Cooper helps a Japanese man named Ken find his missing wife Asami in the town. Along the way they bump into a few of the well-known locals and drink a whole lot of coffee from a can.

And you know what? For two minutes, they pack in a pretty good experience. It’s kind of thrilling to see Andy, Lucy, Shelly, Hawk, and the Log Lady again. There’s the familiar music, some of that out-of-the-box clue solving, and a hard sell on canned coffee. The mystery even takes them to the Black Lodge in the final installment, as Cooper and Ken rescue Asami.

It’s a curious little scrap of Twin Peaks memorabilia, but for fans of the show, I’d say it’s a must-watch due to the tone, the presence of the original cast, and Lynch’s hand on it. And it makes a whole lot more sense than Twin Peaks: The Return.