Created by Mark FrostDavid Lynch Full name Shelly Johnson Significant others Bobby Briggs, Leo Johnson | Nationality American Occupation Waiter | |
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Similar Bobby Briggs, Donna Hayward, Audrey Horne, Leland Palmer, Norma Jennings | ||
Shelly Johnson is a fictional character from the American television series Twin Peaks on ABC. She is portrayed by Mädchen Amick and was created by the series creators David Lynch and Mark Frost. Shelly is a waitress at the Double R Diner. She also appears in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) and is set to appear in the 2017 Twin Peaks series.
Contents
Television series
Shelly is a waitress who dropped out of high school to marry Leo Johnson, who she had fallen for after he gave her attention. Once they got married, she realized Leo just "wanted a maid he didn't have to pay for," in the words of Shelly. Leo is a sadistic wife beater and he has connections to Laura Palmer's murder. Shelly has been having an affair with Bobby Briggs, Laura's boyfriend. Leo finds out, and attempts to kill Shelly by tying her up inside the Packard Saw Mill and setting it on fire. However Catherine Martell, another intended victim of the fire, frees Shelly and helps her escape.
During the second season, Leo is in a catatonic state after being shot by Hank Jennings. Shelly quits her job at the Double R Diner to care for Leo at home, where she and Bobby have an open relationship. When Leo awakens from his catatonia and tries to kill Shelly, Bobby comes and fights with Leo. Shelly stabs Leo in the leg, and Leo wanders off into the woods. Shelly later asks Norma for her old job at the Double R Diner, which Norma gives back to her. Shelly later receives fragments of poetry from former FBI man Windom Earle. Shelly later enters the Miss Twin Peaks contest. Bobby later proposes to her, however she declines due to her marriage with Leo.
It has been confirmed that Shelly will be in the 2017 Twin Peaks series.
Film
Shelly appears in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).
Reception
Rolling Stone praised the distinctiveness of the character stating that she was "Played by arguably the single best-looking human being on the show – and in a cast that included Sherilyn Fenn, Lara Flynn Boyle, Joan Chen, Peggy Lipton, Sheryl Lee, and Heather Graham, that's really saying something – Shelly Johnson was further away from the show's center than almost any of them. But that's kind of the point. Yes, she extricated herself from the high-school hell that consumed Laura by dropping out and getting married to brooding, drug-running trucker Leo Johnson. But that didn't save her from drudgery, boredom, betrayal, and abuse. It just moved the venue and raised the stakes."