The first season is a masterpiece. Second season goes off the rails and loses direction fairly early on

But it's very much redeemed by the third season, which is every bit as good as the first season, albeit rather different in tone.

Part 8 of season 3 left a deep impression on me. I still think about it regularly.

"This is the water and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes and dark within."

(I had to check if that was part 8 - but of course it is.)

Last few episodes are great again, and then we got Fire Walk With Me which is awesome. Also check out the feature-length The Missing Pieces composed of scenes cut from Fire Walk, if you haven't.

Frankly I find even the "bad" stretch of S2 better than more than half of allegedly-good TV, anyway.

I agree, although on rewatches I have fast-forwarded through a lot of the James scenes in S2.

James-hate is common even among the more devoted fans of the show, I think.

https://www.tinymixtapes.com/features/why-we-hate-james-hurl...

I think about the "Watching Twin Peaks" comic around 2/3 down that page pretty much every time he's on screen. "Ugh yes please go," indeed.

Oddly, I liked him in The Return.

I really only dislike his scenes with Evelyn to be honest, it's one of the few subplots that just bores the hell out of me.