In the futuristic year of 2004, Jim Belushi keeps having dreams there's a rhino in his pool. His wife (Dana Delany) thinks their son the futuristic year of 2004, Jim Belushi keeps having dreams there's a rhino in his pool. His wife (Dana Delany) thinks their son was switched at birth with a bio-engineered assassin. Her mother (Angie Dickinson) runs an evil organization (*coughscientologycough*) in a holy war with a terrorist group run by David Warner. Plus, a new form of virtual reality, pioneered by The Senator (Robert Loggia) is sweeping the nation. And Ernie Hudson got jacked on VR and keeps hallucinating he's in front of a cathedral.

Just another day in sunny LA.

It's easy to dismiss WILD PALMS as a TWIN PEAKS rip-off (because it is), but it's still a fascinating object all on its own: A five-episode ABC mini-series scripted by Bruce Wagner (A novelist) heavily inspired by William Gibson's cyberpunk work and directed by a murder's row of hungry filmmakers: Keith Gordon (THE CHOCOLATE WAR), Kathryn Bigelow (NEAR DARK), Phil Janou (THREE O'CLOCK HIGH) and... Peter Hewitt? (BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY).

The entire running time has got the arch melodramatic feel of PEAKS, backed by a very Badalamenti score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, but instead of using soap opera/mystery tropes to guide an audience into the surreal, everything in PALMS is elevated from the get-go into disconnected absurdity. There are no relatable characters or recognizable archetypes, so instead of a dramatic arc, it's an insane mess of high pitched STUFF HAPPENING that's constantly self-destructing in a world that couldn't exist beyond the frames before our eyes. It doesn't surprise me that PALMS doesn't have the following of PEAKS, because it plays principally as a provocation - ripping away anything recognizable until only arch symbols are left. I was surprised at how definitive it's final episode played out - without a speck of sequel set-up as if ABC was like "Please. No more!" For everyone that's willing to take the trip, they'll find a beguiling, beautiful, and sourly individual piece of work.n was switched at birth with a bio-engineered assassin. Her mother (Angie Dickinson) runs an evil organization (*coughscientologycough*) in a holy war with a terrorist group run by David Warner. Plus, a new form of virtual reality, pioneered by The Senator (Robert Loggia) is sweeping the nation. And Ernie Hudson got jacked on VR and keeps hallucinating he's in front of a cathedral.

Just another day in sunny LA.

"It's easy to dismiss WILD PALMS as a TWIN PEAKS rip-off (because it is), but it's still a fascinating object all on its own: A five-episode ABC mini-series scripted by Bruce Wagner (A novelist) heavily inspired by William Gibson's cyberpunk work and directed by a murder's row of hungry filmmakers: Keith Gordon (THE CHOCOLATE WAR), Kathryn Bigelow (NEAR DARK), Phil Janou (THREE O'CLOCK HIGH) and... Peter Hewitt? (BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY).

The entire running time has got the arch melodramatic feel of PEAKS, backed by a very Badalamenti score by Ryuichi Sakamoto, but instead of using soap opera/mystery tropes to guide an audience into the surreal, everything in PALMS is elevated from the get-go into disconnected absurdity. There are no relatable characters or recognizable archetypes, so instead of a dramatic arc, it's an insane mess of high pitched STUFF HAPPENING that's constantly self-destructing in a world that couldn't exist beyond the frames before our eyes. It doesn't surprise me that PALMS doesn't have the following of PEAKS, because it plays principally as a provocation - ripping away anything recognizable until only arch symbols are left. I was surprised at how definitive it's final episode played out - without a speck of sequel set-up as if ABC was like "Please. No more!" For everyone that's willing to take the trip, they'll find a beguiling, beautiful, and sourly individual piece of work." -Letterboxd