Twin Peaks

[Josh]

I’m attending a ladies’ arm wrestling show Friday night. A friend of mine is a competitor and I’m part of her entourage. She’s gonna be Tawdry Horne. I’m going as Sheriff Frank Truman. There’s also going to be a Log Lady, Gordon Cole, Dr. Jacoby, MIKE, and possibly more.

[Skummy]

Read the Final Dossier today. Didn't think much of it; while I didn't like Secret History, it was at least packed full of content and ideas, this felt really light on detail, and much more of a cash-in. It confirms a few theories, though, and fleshes out the stories of characters that didn't appear in the Return, or only barely. 

Thoughts on some of the things it more or less confirms, and what that might mean, though;

Spoiler

Richard is definitely the son of BadCoop and Audrey, and Audrey is probably in a private care facility, though nothing to really explain anything beyond that.

BadCoop was the one responsible for the New York experiment.

The timeline has been altered - Laura Palmer disappeared twenty-five years ago, rather than having been murdered. Her life up to the point that Cooper appeared to her in the Fire Walk With Me timeline seems to have been no different, though - so that still leaves a fair few question marks around the ending of the series, and whether the woman Cooper found actually was Laura Palmer or not.

It's speculated that, when Jeffries appeared to Cooper in Fire Walk With Me and seemed shocked to see him, or to doubt that it was the real Cooper, this may be to do with Jeffries travelling through time via the dimension of the Lodges etc. - he thought he was looking at the doppelganger Cooper, not the real thing. This would suggest that the events of Fire Walk With Me, in Jeffries' timeline, happened after he encountered Bad Coop in the most recent series. That would also suggest to me that, while the Lodges exist outside of time and allow people to travel across space and time, the process isn't always entire controlled or conscious - Jeffries didn't necessarily know, at this point, that he had travelled through time, hence his shock and confusion when told what year it was. This is echoed by Cooper freaking out and asking what year it was at the end of the series. I'd assumed that Cooper had altered the timeline of events so drastically by saving Laura that he was effectively in an alternate timeline, but in the present year - what's more likely is that Cooper had travelled either forwards or backwards in time, though which, and whether that's significant, I couldn't say. It's also unclear what that means in regards to the Not-Laura he finds in that timeline, or the significance of the Palmer house seemingly belonging to Lodge spirits at that point. I'm not sure if any clues during that storyline would point to any anachronisms to suggest that it's taking place in the past. 

The Dutchman was a motel in the '30s, but demolished decades ago - so somehow it either exists out of time, or something about its location allows people to travel back in time to a point when it did exist. Why Jeffries has taken up residence there, I don't know.

Sarah Palmer was born in New Mexico, so is all but 100% confirmed to be the young girl from episode 8.

Joudy is named as a Sumerian demon, linked with Ba'al. Joudy doesn't seem to be a real aspect of Sumerian mythology, so appears to have been invented for the purposes of the show's mythos. It's an evil female spirit that feeds on human suffering, and Ba'al or Beelzebub is its male counterpart. Something evil and disastrous will happen if the two ever unite.

 

This is where we get into my theory part of it, which I'd been working with during the series, now expanded to include the mythology - we know that Leland was tormented by BOB as far back as his early childhood, and Sarah was attacked/possessed/something by what we can assume was a Lodge entity back in her childhood. Working on the assumption that Joudy has possessed Sarah Palmer, perhaps BOB was effectively Ba'al, and the two possessed Leland and Sarah and moved them closer together in an attempt to bring about whatever the end result of them combining their powers would be. Laura Palmer was created by the White Lodge to provide counterbalance and attempt to stop them. The question mark over this, though, is that if BOB then possessed Cooper, BadCoop was presumably using the New York experiment to try and locate (and trap?) Joudy for the same ends - how or why did he not just know that Joudy was still possessing Sarah, unless BOB himself/itself was unaware?

My theory, then, is that we've never really seen Ba'al or Joudy - the "Mother" creature is perhaps the closest to either - and BOB and whatever's possessing Sarah aren't Ba'al or Joudy, but are aspects of them, or lesser demons somehow under their control, working at bringing about the union of Ba'al and Joudy in part. Perhaps there are other examples all over the world - other Sarah Palmers and Leland Palmers brought together unwittingly by demonic forces, until the whole of Ba'al and Joudy are united. The underlying essence of the story seems to be about karma, and man's capacity for evil.

 

[Hobo]

Most of what I've read about The Final Dossier hasn't really bee that surprising.

I would be inclined to believe that Carrie Page is Laura Palmer. Or at least a version of her. I feel like the ending of The Return and the way she reacts to hearing the names of her parents is an indicator of that.

I did see a theory about "The Fireman" in a video I watched about The Final Dossier suggesting that The Fireman is like the Fireman of a steamtrain. He keeps the whole system going rather than putting out fires (although come to think of it the fact he sends Mr C to the Sherrif's Station rather than the Palmer House seems to indicate something?). Not sure if that was from the book or just something the video maker asserted.

The whole thing with the frogmoth had to be tied to Sarah Palmer was the only logical thing. One of the very first lines in The Return is The Fireman/Giant telling Cooper "It is in our house now". I would see sense in "it" not being all of Jouday but rather some of it. The same could probably be said of BOB and MIKE. They're representative of something but not the whole thing.

On the subject of Judy

I was re-listening to The Fire Talk With Me podcast the other day. It was an episode discussing a season 2 ep and they were talking about Josie Packard. Josie was the very first person we ever saw in Twin Peaks and there was that suggestion that "Judy" was at one point meant to be Josie's sister. I have to wonder if at some point Josie was going to be more important.

Then again maybe she has remained important?  I know that Joan Chen wasn't included because Lynch couldn't find a way to fit her into the show but I still feel like there's some stuff in The Return that bares at least some echo of Josie.

I feel similarly about the MC at the Roadhouse. In an alternate universe Jimmy Scott might have played that part.

I don't mean this in a "all minorities look alike" kinda way but the casting of Naido and the Roadhouse MC feel like specific choices meant to remind the audience of certain characters.

 

 

 

[Skummy]

Spoiler

I've also heard that Judy was originally intended to be Josie's sister, though with the change to "Joudy" I assume that angle was dropped, rather than still carrying any particular relevance to the plot as is.

As for Carrie Page, I still can't quite grasp a lot about that; when she "disappeared", did Cooper (or some Lodge entity) simply deposit her in another timeline entirely? So Laura Palmer grew old as Carrie Page, with no memory of her former self? I have to assume that the time Cooper met Carrie was in the past - maybe the Palmers hadn't moved into the house yet, maybe they moved in there when Sarah was expecting Laura? Did Carrie grow up in another timeline, arriving there as a teenager, yet somehow losing all memory of Laura Palmer? Maybe she lived a Dougie-esque existence forming a whole new set of memories, until she was traumatically awoken back as her Laura-self? Or maybe Carrie just freaked out, and her fear at whatever was going on was enough to open the gate to the Black Lodge again?

Mrs Tremond gave Laura Palmer the painting that was a gateway to the Black Lodge, now Mrs Tremond is in the Palmer house, and Carrie has (willingly or otherwise) been drawn there. Maybe Cooper is an unwilling agent in opening that door again.

At the moment, I would lean towards Carrie actually being a Tulpa of Laura, while the real Laura remained in the Red Room, whispering to Dale Cooper. But then, perhaps Laura was a Tulpa of Carrie - the Fireman had to create Laura (episode 8) from somewhere, maybe it was from this seemingly random woman in Odessa?

There's also a lot of fan speculation that "Carrie Page" is representative of the missing page of Laura's diary.

 

And then there's Diane...we assume that Naido is the real Diane, but that Diane has a red, black and white colour scheme, a little too Red Room, and that can't be coincidence. Particularly not when there's another Diane doppelganger outside the motel. Was this third Diane the real thing, and the one that went with Cooper another Black Lodge creation? Maybe there was never a real Diane - remember that we'd never seen her before this series, and we already know that the Lodge can play havoc with people's memories, so Cole and Albert having knowledge of her doesn't necessarily contradict that. Diane could have been created out of Dale Cooper.

Still can't begin to grasp the meaning of "Richard and Linda", though.

 

But then, at the same time, a lot of my interpretation of this series is that it's a dream - not in a literal Dallas sense, but that it's a not-quite reality, more shaped by one individual than another, and follows a dream-like logic. "Who is the dreamer?", probably Cooper. Cooper's psychological impulse to save damaged women may have saved Laura Palmer, or may have condemned her to worse. And who knows what impact it had on the broader world? Or is it the dream of Laura Palmer, coping with traumatic abuse from her father - none of the supernatural elements have been true, it's just Laura's coping mechanism to explain a horrific act?

I also think there's significance behind “Is it the story of the little girl who lived down the lane? Is it?”, from both Audrey and The Arm, especially as The Arm says it in the last episode. I assume "The Little Girl Who Lived Down The Lane" is Laura Palmer, and both The Arm and Audrey are somehow aware of there being two timelines - one where Laura died, and one where she disappeared - and just as The Arm asked, "is it future or is it past?" to determine where in the timeline he was meeting Dale Cooper, "Is it the story..." may be a means of determining which timeline we're currently occupying. But, then, how does Audrey play into that? She's obviously institutionalised somewhere, so is her seeming ability to tune into something outside conventional reality being taken for insanity?

 

 

[Hobo]

I would 100% assume Carrie is a Laura tulpa and she "woke up" in the same way Cooper in the final scene. It never occurred to me just

when the final scene of The Return might have taken place. It wouldn't surprise me if it was an alternative timeline or if it was the past. 

I'm of the belief that Diane was never real, just an affection Cooper developed. I would think the one we see for most of the series is BOB's creation. Naido is a version created and hidden from BOB by Lodge spirits. As for the third, she seems to exist just to get Cooper to a certain point. Then, I think we see once her job is done she loses her memories of being Diane and becomes someone else, Linda. The Lodge grants her a sort of freedom rather than destroying her as they did Dougie and the other Diane. Possibly because she may have some further use? Or because the others were created for a more sinister purpose?
 

I would also tend to believe it's all a dream. I waver between whose dream it is. I think at points it's Laura's dream. It being her coping mechanism seems like a completely logical idea. I also think sometimes we see Cooper's dreams. I think, possibly, we see Audrey's dreams. It all sort of mixes together in some ethereal way.

[Skummy]

Bored, I've been looking through comments I made at the time the show was airing, and seeing if there are any theories I threw around that might have come true, but that I forgot about, or if any throwaway comments might take on more significance now.

I had a thought.

In Episode 8, we saw The Fireman seemingly create Laura Palmer, and deposit her in the world. It looked like this was in direct contrast to Joudy (?) creating BOB - but they can't have happened at the same time, as BOB was born of nuclear testing happening while Sarah Palmer was only a child, and Laura had to have been born much later. Time is probably irrelevant in the Lodge, though.

But maybe that wasn't Laura Palmer. Maybe whatever Laura Palmer is, she's necessary to the balance between White and Black Lodge. Perhaps, knowing that BOB was going to kill Laura Palmer (the "true" Laura Palmer?), that was The Fireman creating a Laura Palmer Tulpa - perhaps that was the only time in the whole series we actually witnessed the creation of a Tulpa, a Lodge-created Laura Palmer doppelganger ("she's my cousin, but doesn't she look just like Laura Palmer?"). Or maybe the "Laura Palmer" created by the Fireman is the Laura Palmer that's been in the Red Room all along, whispering plot points in Dale Cooper's ear ever since the first season.

If it was necessary for a Laura Palmer to exist in the world, perhaps The Fireman created Carrie, so that she could be safe and hidden away while the "true" Laura Palmer was killed. Which is the real Laura Palmer? is that even a useful distinction?

 

Outside of meta-narratives about the nature of art and storytelling, and of David Lynch's entire oeuvre, I think there's something really significant in doubles and doppelgangers that provides the key to everything happening in Twin Peaks.

Two Coopers.
Laura and Carrie (or Laura and Maddy)
Two (or three?) Dianes
The Double R Diner.
Two Sherriff Trumans.
Two Mitchum Brothers
Two Milford Brothers
Two Horne Brothers
BOB and Bobby
MIKE and Mike
The Black Lodge and The White Lodge
Twin Peaks.

 

And then there's this;

http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/theories/easter-egg-secret-history-of-twin-peaks/

 

Quote

The two-page spread shows a picture of a “special shelf” at the Bookhouse library, with the favorite members’ books on display. Each of the eleven books is labeled with a number, matching the book to its owner. There was something very strange about this picture. For one, why dedicate two whole pages to show off some books? Secondly, the use of numbers above the books felt like a classic cipher to a secret coded message. And finally, notes about the books included phrases like “Much can be learned in unexpected places” and “Good literature is a mirror through which we see ourselves more clearly.” Alarm bells were going off…

So, I did what any good Bookhouse Boy would do; I held the picture up to a mirror. And looking back at me was the secret to the code, clear as day. I had been wondering why Mark Frost chose to use the Roman numeral “I” instead of the number “1” throughout the novel, and I finally had an answer why. When reflected in a mirror, the Roman numeral “I” reverses  perfectly, while the number “1” does not. The only number that does reverse perfectly is “8.” Therefore, book I, book 8, and book II all stand out from the other books, because only these three look uniform in the mirror. Now it was time to decode the message…

When using the first word of each book title, a frightening warning is revealed:

I. Fear and Loathing: on the Campaign Trail ‘72
8. The Warren Commission Report
II. Double Indemnity

“Fear The Double.”

 

[Hobo]

On the dopplegangers: I've got FWWM on in the background and two sets of Chalfonts  rented the trailer at the Fat Trout.

 

[Hobo]

 

 

[Hobo]

If anyone has the DVD or Blu-Ray of The Return do watch the Behind The Scenes films. They're really fascinating.

 

[Skummy]

http://politicsslashletters.org/dreamer-twin-peaks-return/ An interesting take on The Return, focusing on the theme of duality, and the question of "Who Is The Dreamer?".

[Skummy]

Been thinking about that theory, and about Twin Peaks in general, a lot lately - I just got through the Twin Peaks chapter of Lynch's book - and I'm not quite on-board on Cooper being the dreamer, at least not in such a literal sense.

It's right that there are recurring themes in much of Lynch's work - duality, secrets/secret identities, and the blurred lines between the interior and exterior worlds - and what I'm going to call an extra-exterior world - are common in almost all of the "pure" Lynch projects.

In addition to what's talked about in that piece - Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive and Twin Peaks: The Return all move between the interior and exterior lives of characters without clearly delineating which is which (or if the distinction matters), and all feature an extra-exterior character that somehow manages, controls or influences those lives; in Mulholland Drive it's Mr. Roque pulling strings to get Diane cast in the movie, in Eraserhead it's the Man In The Planet, and in Twin Peaks it's the Lodge entities, though most explicitly The Fireman in the creation of Laura Palmer.

The Man In The Planet, in particular, I find analogous to the Fireman - both seem to operate at a mechanical level, and both introduce an element into the world that shapes the story. 

The scene, in episode 8, of The Fireman introducing Laura Palmer to the world - creating her? - I think is key to the entire story, though I've not really figured out how. As well as the Eraserhead connection, The Fireman and Senorita Dido appear to inhabit Lynch's Club Silencio, which connects them to Mulholland Drive - which plays into my broader theory of Twin Peaks: The Return having a meta-narrative as the connecting thread that runs through all of David Lynch's work. 

Back to The Fireman, though - he's called that in the credits, but what do we see on-screen to warrant that name? Seemingly nothing. But a Fireman exists to extinguish fires, and what do we know about fire in the world of Twin Peaks? The Log Lady tells us that fire is evil, BOB is associated with fire - "Fire Walk With Me", "do you want to play with fire?" - and The Fireman seemingly creates Laura to counteract BOB, and Laura is so key to the story, that it's easy to assume that she is sent to Earth by the Fireman to be the catalyst that defeats BOB, to be the counterpoint to BOB, or in some way to see out The Fireman's plan. That was my interpretation until now.

But if Laura is the embodiment of goodness and purity...well, we never really see it, do we? She's as susceptible to sin, weakness and temptation as anyone - if not moreso. Fire Walk With Me certainly doesn't paint Laura as saintly and pure - in fact, part of the entire point of the first season of Twin Peaks is that the entire surface appearance of Laura Palmer as the pure, perfect prom queen is chipped away at and shown to be a facade by just about every single character. Like every character in the original cast, she has a dual life, and has a world of secrets.

So then what is the Fireman doing by creating Laura Palmer? Perhaps it's a knowing sacrifice - The Fireman has seen that BOB has been created, and that Sarah Palmer has been seeded with whatever the creature that crawls into her mouth is, and needs to send Laura into the world to counteract the greater evil that would come of BOB and Judy (?) coming together. But then that means that The Fireman has created Laura knowing that she will be abused, tortured and murdered, which paints that character in a whole different light.

 

And then there's whatever happens when Cooper "saves" Laura - we end up in a whole other universe, with yet another set of doubles, yet see the telephone pole that has been pointed at as somehow significant through the entire series in Odessa in this "universe", whatever that might mean. In this universe, Dale Cooper seems to combine characteristics of Good and Bad Coop - so I agree with the article's interpretation that, whatever has happened here, this is a Dale Cooper with his duality resolved; no longer two separate doppelgangers, he's a whole person now, with all the flaws and inconsistencies that involves. Though I would add that this Dale Cooper isn't entirely whole - part of him has been removed in order to construct a new Dougie Jones, and maybe it's removing the pure, innocent, childlike wonder of Dougie that has made this Cooper have a more aggressive, Bad Coop-like edge? 

Laura's double in this world is Carrie Page. Any significance in the name? The missing page of Laura's diary, perhaps? The heroes had to look for a Page - but the Page in question was Carrie, not Laura's diary? 

But then who is Carrie, what year is it, what does the ending mean? 

This reminds me of a line from Bioshock Infinite - I'm going to spoiler tag this just in case, as it's vital to the plot of that game;

Spoiler

"There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city".

Those are the constants across every timeline, every universe. Everything else is variable, everything else exists in infinite combinations, but there's always a man, always a lighthouse, always a city. The cycle repeats, every single time.

In Twin Peaks terms, I think it's much the same - there's always a woman in trouble. Perhaps there's always a BOB, perhaps there's always a Judy, perhaps there's always a Dale Cooper trying to save her. But above all else, there's always a woman in trouble - always David Lynch's Marilyn Monroe, whether that be Laura Palmer, Carrie Page, Diane Selwyn, Sandy Williams, and so on. Dale Cooper's crime, in the finale of The Return, was attempting to remove Laura from the timeline altogether. He tried to break the cycle.

I'm sure Jeffries must factor in to a bigger degree that I've figured out yet, though.

 

[tristy]

Lynch announced a boxset today on Twitter.

As for the collectibles/packaging...

Quote

A 21-disc collection, TWIN PEAKS: FROM Z TO A will be housed in packaging with an exterior adorned by a wraparound vista of haunting and majestic Douglas Fir trees. Once opened, a depiction of the infamous Red Room is revealed with its brown and crème chevron floor and brilliant red curtains. Sitting in front of the red curtain will be an exclusive die-cut acrylic figure of Laura Palmer kissing Special Agent Dale Cooper. This acrylic figure comes inside a plastic display holder held in place by magnets. Fans will have the option of leaving the figure in place inside The Red Room environment or removing and displaying it elsewhere. The plastic holder can also serve as an easel to display individual images from The Red Room Gallery, a curated set of 5” x 5” printed cards depicting memorable moments in The Red Room. Each package will also contain an individually numbered collectible certificate.

Content:

Quote

• From the extensive behind-the-scenes footage of David Lynch making the  A Limited Event Series (shot primarily by Jason S), 20-30 minute (approx.) pieces titled “Behind the Curtain” were edited and are included for each of the 18 Parts.
• A rare newly-shot interview of Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee who sit with longtime David Lynch collaborator Kristine McKenna to look back at their body of work on Twin Peaks, as well as Fire Walk With Me.
• In a newly-produced featurette, fans can go “On the Couch” with Harry and Kimmy as Harry Goaz and Kimmy Robertson share fond Twin Peaks memories.
• As an additional treat for fans of A Limited Event Series, a compilation of full-length, unedited versions of many of The Roadhouse Bar musical performances.
• The box set also includes one 4K UHD disc that includes “Part 8” of Twin Peaks: The Return along with a new ultra-high def transfer of both versions of the Twin Peakspilot, overseen by David Lynch himself.

 

Only $139.99. Not bad honestly - I'm considering it, even though I have all of the seasons + the Criterion version of Fire Walk With Me.

[Moses Julep]

Netflix released "What Did Jack Do?", a 17 min short movie by David Lynch, staring David Lynch and a monkey. It is exactly what you think it would be and it is wonderful.

[Hobo]

[Jimmy]

One of the single greatest achievements in cinematic history.

I am wholly satisfied with that if Lynch is. Like, I'll take more, but I don't need it. 

I felt that re-defined what TV has the potential to be. Wow. 

[Hobo]

"Falling" singer Julee Cruise has died aged 65