[4] It features series regulars Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Richard Beymer and Kenneth Welsh; and guest stars Frank Silva as Killer Bob, Michael J. Anderson as The Man from Another Place, Carel Struycken as The Giant, and Heather Graham as Annie Blackburn.

Twin Peaks centers on the investigation into the murder of schoolgirl Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) in the small rural town in Washington state after which the series is named.

In this episode, after the kidnap of Annie Blackburn, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Dale Cooper (MacLachlan) and Sheriff Truman (Ontkean) pursue Windom Earle (Welsh) to a portal leading to The Black Lodge—a strange, frightening place which exists on an alternate plane of reality.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) has been sent to the town to investigate, and has discovered the murderer, a demonic spirit named Killer BOB (Frank Silva), had possessed the body of Laura's father, Leland Palmer (Ray Wise).

Earle's true goal is to use the power of the supernatural Black Lodge, whose entrance is somewhere in the woods surrounding Twin Peaks.

Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham), a former convent resident and sister of Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton), arrives in Twin Peaks.

Concluding he requires fear to enter, he interrupts the Miss Twin Peaks pageant and kidnaps its winner, Annie.

In the pandemonium, Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie), a 35-year old woman believing herself to be an eighteen-year-old high school senior, sustains a head injury.

Meanwhile, Deputy Sheriff Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz) discovers a map hidden in a cave marking.

Sawmill owner Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) discovers a puzzle box left by her brother's business enemy, Thomas Eckhardt (David Warner).

Catherine and her brother Andrew Packard (Dan O'Herlihy) find a security deposit key inside the box.

Local logger Pete Martell (Jack Nance) enters, telling the Sheriff that the Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson) stole his car.

Cooper concludes it was a disguised Earle escaping with Annie, and the real Log Lady enters, holding a jar of engine oil.

Meanwhile, Truman recalls a circle of twelve sycamore trees in the woods, which match up with the markings on the cave map.

Nadine recovers from her head injury with her senior boyfriend Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger), estranged husband Ed Hurley (Everett McGill), doctor Doc Hayward (Warren Frost), and Norma.

Hearing an owl, Cooper finds the pool at the center of the sycamore trees, and sees red curtains appear.

Andrew and Pete arrive with the safe deposit key, and they open the box left by Thomas Eckhardt.

At the Double R Diner, Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) proposes marriage to Shelly Johnson (Mädchen Amick).

Nearby, Major Briggs receives a message from Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie), Laura's mother, in a distorted and different voice: "I'm in the Black Lodge with Dale Cooper.

He stumbles back to a new room, following a trail of his own blood, and sees Caroline, Earle's wife, lying on the floor beside his own bloodied body.

Lynch also expanded the cast, adding characters that were not in the original script like The Log Lady and some that had not been seen in the series for some time, including Maddy Ferguson, the Palmer family, Ronette Pulaski, and Heidi the waitress, meaning Ray Wise, Grace Zabriskie, Sheryl Lee, Phoebe Augustine, Andrea Hays and more return.

In an interview with Chris Rodley, Lynch said that the last episode "was written, but when it came to the Red Room, it was, in my opinion, completely and totally wrong.

"[6] Twin Peaks production coordinator Sabrina S. Sutherland recalled, That’s the only time David ever really got mad at me on that second season.

So he rewrote it and took out stuff that he didn’t like, and made new scenes to make it more like his and Mark’s original vision of Twin Peaks.

Although Lynch planned to make a trilogy of Twin Peaks films after the conclusion of the television series, the financial and critical failure of Fire Walk with Me rendered the franchise inactive until 2015, when Lynch and Mark Frost commenced production of the limited television series Twin Peaks: The Return (2017).

Mark Frost's 2016 tie-in book for the 2017 relaunch of the series elaborates on some of the events that transpire in "Beyond Life and Death."

It is revealed in The Secret History of Twin Peaks that Audrey Horne survived the bomb blast at the bank, but that both Pete Martell and Andrew Packard died.

We also learn that Benjamin Horne survived his run in with Doc Hayward and later purchased all of Catherine Martell's land in Twin Peaks retaining his stranglehold on the town.