POP! Television – Twin Peaks: Audrey Horne

Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me and The Secret History of Twin Peaks.

“They found my friend Laura... lying facedown on a rocky beach... completely naked. She'd been murdered.”

I’m actually a relative newcomer to the world of Twin Peaks. My mother was a huge fan back when it was airing in the early 90s, but I didn’t start on it myself until late 2015. It had been on my to-watch list for years, but there was always some complicating factor – generally that the series wasn’t readily available on DVD or was simply too expensive for my then-limited means. Not to mention that a number of the DVD releases have had issues, too.  

But boy, am I glad I did. It rapidly became one of my favourite TV shows, and one of the big standout characters is Audrey Horne. 

Initially a mischievous troublemaker, within a few scenes of her on-screen arrival she’s sabotaged a multi-million-dollar deal. Why? Apparently just for laughs. She provides the first hint that the town of Twin Peaks has plenty of strange secrets beneath the surface, by acting as its very own femme fatale. Of course, as the series goes on we discover that she does actually have a heart of gold (trite though the phrase may be) and she matures quite rapidly after meeting Dale Cooper. She’s not Laura Palmer’s friend per se, but she ultimately places herself in a number of high risk situations to help uncover the killer. She uncovers a lot of key clues -- if not the actual killer -- and in the process discovers that her own father was one of Laura’s several lovers. That's a conversation that no-one would ever want to have with their parents.  

In POP form, Audrey is depicted in her most memorable outfit – a red sweater and a plaid A-line skirt, accompanied by saddle shoes. Save for the muted colours, it wouldn’t have looked out of place on the set of Grease. This outfit has a threefold purpose:

1.  It somewhat resembles a school uniform (she is a high school student after all);
2.  Its retro look thematically reinforces the show’s noir elements;
3.  It’s also just something that a teen might have worn during the era. There was a big wave of 1950s nostalgia during the 80s – it’s one of the things that helped make Back to the Future such a big hit – and that had a flow-on effect to fashion, too.  

To reinforce her wannabe bad girl status, she’s also holding a cigarette. Just like the “tough” kids at your school used to. However, I’d say she pulls it off with a little more style…      

Audrey isn’t quit a compelling a POP as Dale, Laura or BOB, but she is a key character in the series and so it’s fitting that she made this initial line-up. Sherilyn Fenn is returning for the 2017 revival, so it will be interesting to see what Audrey’s been up to post-bank explosion – did John Justice Wheeler ever come back for her? And if he didn’t, did things ever work out with Coop? All will be revealed over the next few months.