My ranking of the cast of Twin Peaks (1990) - Part 1

I have to apologize again for being so slow with my reviews. I'm trying to post as often as I can but sadly I haven't had that much spare time lately. I'll soon post my review of Marisa Tomei's Oscar-winning performance but meanwhile I've decided to post my ranking of the cast of Twin Peaks (1990), which is definitely one of my favorite television series.

37. Heather Graham as Annie Blackburn

She comes in last for me not because it's a terrible performance but because Annie is a completely useless character that was clearly introduced just to replace Audrey Horne as Agent Cooper's potential love interest. In her few episodes in the series, Annie stands out in the wrong fashion - she seems ill-fitting to the unique atmosphere of Twin Peaks and even though this could be intentational as Annie is supposed to be somewhat of an outsider I never felt it really worked. Heather Graham is not awful in the role and she has a few charming moments but overall her performance felt somewhat weak and not incisive enough to make the character feel any less forced. She never made me care too much about Annie's personal tragedy and doesn't really share that much chemistry with Kyle MacLachlan, not to mention that she occasionally makes a few really odd acting choices.

36. James Marshall as James Hurley

Out of the main characters, I've always felt James Hurley to be by far the least interesting one and that's partly due to James Marshall's performance. The role of James is quite tricky to pull off as he's supposed to be somewhat mysterious, good-hearted and tormented all at once. I never felt James Marshall ever really managed to find the right path with the role as I've always found his performance to be rather dull as he mostly keeps the same dour, one-note expression throughout the series. I never felt really invested in his character's plight, I never really understood the motivations behind his actions and I never cared much about his romance with Lara Flynn Boyle's Donna as I thought their chemistry was lacking. Not to mention that his own subplot in Season 2 is perhaps one of the weakest elements of the series. I wouldn't necessarily call his performance a truly bad one and he has a couple of successful moments but overall I was unimpressed. Despite having much less screen-time I thought he was better in the show's third season.

35. Lara Flynn Boyle as Donna Hayward

I really liked Lara Flynn Boyle's performance in the first couple of episodes: I thought her reaction to Laura's death in the classroom was devastating and I thought she did a nice job at portraying both her grief over her friend's demise and her realization of her feelings for James. But after that I felt she completely lost the grip on the character: Donna is supposed to be the somewhat insecure, sensitive friend of Laura Palmer but after the beginning Boyle plays her with a misplaced confidence that does not fit with the concept of the character. I thought she was very bland for most of the remaining episodes, delivering her lines with the same, monotonous, breathless tone and relying on always the same mannerisms (smile through tears, slightly raising one eyebrow). She has a couple of good moments throughout (her outburst in the graveyard) but mostly I felt her performance to be a weird mix between stilted and melodramatic.

34. Eric Da Re as Leo Johnson

Unlike in Graham's, Marshall's and Boyle's cases, I really don't have a problem with this performance and I think Da Re is perfectly good in the role. In the series' first season, I found him to be a properly menacing presence especially in the scenes of domestic violence. It's a rather limited part as he's mostly just a mean abuser with not many layers and I fail to see in his performance the reasons why Shelly was attracted to him in the first place, but still he gives a fairly effective portrayal of his character's viciousness. In the second season I thought he was good as well in his portrayal of his character's damaged state though he again is quite limited by the fact that he's mostly just Windom Earle's henchman. To his credit he does well with what he has and even manages to create some sympathy for the character in the last few episodes.

33. Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Henry Truman

Another case of a rather good potrayal of a limited character. Truman serves as the straight man to Kyle MacLachlan's quirky Dale Cooper and Ontkean serves the purpose of the role perfectly well: he's always a bit overshadowed by MacLachlan but he gives a perfectly solid performance that is often engaging and endearing. He shares a very nice chemistry with MacLachlan and the two of them make their characters' friendship realistic and moving. He also does quite well in his scenes on his own and he's particularly effective at portraying his sincere love for Josie Packard (Joan Chen). The main reason why he isn't lower is that there are a few terrible moments in his performance that are unintionally laughable, such as his "PUT IT DOWN!" in his final scene with Chen and his drunken outburst. Those moments aren't many but they detract a little from the performance, which is still good overall.

32. Frank Silva as Bob

This performance is very hard to rank as on one hand it's undeniably effective but on the other hand Bob is not really a character but rather more of a presence. Silva definitely makes Bob the threatening, menacing and terrifying presence he is supposed to be and every scene of his is downright chilling. It's a purposefully inhuman performance and Silva is great at being a ferocious, animalistic figure whenever he appears. David Lynch's direction definitely enhance the performance which is indeed memorable even if it's technically rather one-note. 

31. Madchen Amick as Shelly Johnson

A perfectly solid performance and gets placed this low only because the show has a pretty amazing ensemble. Amick's performance is not among the most memorable of the cast but she's still pretty remarkable in the role, portraying very well her character's immaturity (and her poor taste in men) while still making us sympathize with her plight. She's very touching in her scenes with Da Re enhancing both the terrifying nature and the emotional power of the scenes depicting his abuse, while in the second season she effectively portrays her character's frustration as she has to deal with her husband's condition and her stormy relationship with Bobby (Dana Ashbrook). She's also good in the less emotionally charged scenes and she's a generally quite charming presence on-screen, sharing a particularly endearing chemistry with Peggy Lipton. It's a very good performance though I felt her best work in the series is in the third season.

30. Chris Mulkey as Hank Jennings

This is one of those performance that I find faultless and perfectly fitting to the character but just don't love particularly. Mulkey's performance is very good as he portrays so well Hank's viciousness making him a properly despicable character and I particularly appreciate the way he handles his scenes with Peggy Lipton: there's a genuine love on his character's part but at the same time he's very effective at portraying his character's unwillingness to accept the fact that he does not deserve her. He effectively shows how Hank subtly manipulates her into staying with him and overall creates a rather compelling and fascinating character. The reason why he's relatively low on this list is not because his performance is not good but simply because I like other performances in the show better. 

Next: ranking from 29 to 20.

This ranking only counts the performances in the first two seasons of the show. I loved the third season, I thought it was a groundbreaking experience and I'd love to talk about its performance (especially Naomi Watts' and Laura Dern's, both amazing) but it would be really hard for me to rank such a huge ensemble.