All encompassing Twin Peaks thread (Spoilers!) (1 Viewer)

[Ike]

Okay,
It took some doing, but I watched every episode from the second season, and have now finished watching Fire Walk With Me. Needless to say, I've got a lot of questions. Obviously, there will be lots of SPOILERS. Do not read ahead unless you've seen the first and second season, and Fire Walk With Me.
1. Why does Laura never see anything but Bob? Why can't she see the person Bob is in? Even Cooper, who we are told is gifted on the show, and can see him (mainly in visions), doesn't see Bob but sees Leland.
This leads to a reading of FWWM that Bob is a character Laura has created to keep her from realizing her father is doing these awful things to her. But, this doesn't really seem consistent, since Annie shows up, and tells us Bob has entered Cooper (seen in the last episode), and would mean that FWWM has it's own mythology outside of the show.
2. In FWWM, the Man From Another Place (the midget) says he is the arm, and then makes a noise. Shortly there after, we see Gerard, and the noise is heard. The noise would require two hands to make while driving a car, so how Gerard makes it is the question. So the obvious reading of this is that the MFAP is the "arm" of Gerard. But this answer is even more confusing than the question. Anyone care to shine a light on what this could mean?
3. This is more of a thought than a theory, but I'll throw it out, and see if someone can make more sense of it than I have-I may be reading too much into this, but the Cream corn kid (as introduced in season 2) looked a hell of a lot like David Lynch. Eerily so, I'd say. Anyone else notice this?
I'll operate under the conclusion it was intentional. The Cream corn kid (shortened to CCK from now on) shows up, and he's a little magician. Sometimes things happen just like that, he says, and snaps his fingers. He makes the corn disappear.
Then a few episodes later, Gordon Cole, as played by David Lynch, shows up. Gordon has a (hilarious) hearing problem, that as far as I can remember, is never explained (Gordon just says it's a long story.) Gordon constantly has to scream.
In FWWM, the CCK appears again, though with age he looks less like Lynch (I'm assuming it's the same actor). But now, CCK wears a mask-one with no eyes, no mouth, and with a long nose.
Is there something going on here? Lynch dopplegangers showing up without their senses? Does this have to do with the common doubling in Twin Peaks? (Maddy/Laura, Cooper/Chet, good Cooper/bad Cooper, Midget/Giant)?
I'm sure I have more questions, but will see if anyone is as curious as I am before continuing.

 

[BrianB]

So the obvious reading of this is that the MFAP is the "arm" of Gerard. But this answer is even more confusing than the question. Anyone care to shine a light on what this could mean?

Yes. He is the arm. The "common" interpretation of this that I've seen is that he is exactly what he says - he is the arm that Gerard cut off. Remember the end of series 2 where he touches the stump?

What does it mean? To me, it means he's the trixter, Loki, etc - Gerard says he was evil until he cut off his arm (he saw the light of God), so I take from that that LMFAP is the personification of that evil.

 

[Tim Gerdes]

My impression of Laura and Bob isn't that Bob prevents himself from being seen, but rather that Laura cannot accept that he father is molesting her, so she blocks it out, seeing only the evil that remains. To me is simply the psychological trauma of being abused by a parent.

As for the Little Man From Another Place, I also interpret the events of FWWM to suggest he is the arm, or Mike's evil. What I don't understand is why the Little Man would help Cooper in his quest to solve Laura's murder, if he is Mike's evil personified.

Mrs. Tremond or Chalfont's grandson (the creamed corn kid) was played by Lynch's son in the series, which certainly explains the resemblance. He was played by a different actor in the movie though. I believe his similarity to Cole is more than coincidence.

Mrs. Tremond and her grandson were somehow connected to Bob and Mike and the rest. They also inhabited a house to meet with Donna and then latter vanished to be replaced by another Mrs. Tremond. They seem to exist outside of the space-time continuum.

Now if the grandson was actually Cole, or at least somehow connected to him, it would explain in part his focus on "Blue Rose" cases, as well as his trust in agents like Cooper and Jeffries who both exhibited the ability to communicate with an alternate dimension.

And if the child were Cole, it would be consistent with the Giant, who seems to exists both in a younger form and as "Senior Droolcup", the elderly bellhop at the Great Northern.

It's been a while since I've seen everything. I can't wait until the season 2 DVDs come out, so I can revisit Twin Peaks.

Tim

 

[Ike]

What I don't understand is why the Little Man would help Cooper in his quest to solve Laura's murder, if he is Mike's evil personified.

Maybe it's for the same reason that the Black Lodge confirms what the Giant says-they want Cooper to enter, to use him as a vessel for Bob.

As for the Kid (CCK) I didn't know it was Lynch's son! That explains it. I still think there maybe an overtone of Lynch inserting himself in the series, via himself and a Doppleganger. The kid knows that Harold Smith will kill himself several episodes before he does (the French that he speaks from Smith's note). The person master minding the show (Lynch) would have known also. The lack of senses on the characters is particularly puzzling. Just something else to mull over.

Another question I have about FWWM is why the Chet Desmond/Theresa Banks story is of so much interest. It's quite different from the rest of the movie, and doesn't have anything to do with Twin Peaks the town. Lynch has said that he liked the small-town stuff he shot in Twin Peaks, but the movie would have been too long. This tells me the Chet Desmond story is particularly important, since about 30 minutes are devoted to it. Why, I can't really figure out, since we could have inferred that Leland killed Theresa in a few flashbacks.

I don't hold this against the film-it's just puzzling. What is it about the town, about Chet, about Sam Stanley that Lynch holds so important? Is it the fact that, like a lot of things written on the show have suggested, it's the opposite of Twin Peaks? I read something that said that Chet is the opposite of Cooper, in that he's particularly mean (the coffee trick he plays on Stanley), but does that make him opposite?

Other random questions about FWWM-are we supposed to infer that Chet is in the Black Lodge? What is the significance of the symbol on the ring being the same symbol used on the cave drawing?

 

[Bill Street]

Thought I would resurrect this thread.

I just recently watched when IFC played FWWM and it re-kindled the Twin Peaks itch in me. I haven't seen the entire series, but in it's original run I caught a few episodes here and there including the final ep.

Have any cable networks picked up the series to reshow? I may have to break down and pick up a set, but I don't have to wait an indeterminate amount of time to get to see Season 2. I know all ep's (besides the pilot) are available in a VHS series, but I also heard quality on this is crappy. Is it recorded in EP?

Finally, while it would have been really great to see some loose ends tied up with Twin Peaks, isn't it very Lynch-ian to end with that stark visual of Cooper staring into Bob in the mirror? Closure just is something not to expect from David Lynch, which is something I actually really like about his work.

Bill S.

 

[teapot2001]

Bravo airs it every now and then, most recently around November.

~T

 

[Bill Street]

Thanks for the infom Thi! Bravo seems to have a lot of cool programming... I need to check out the network more often!
Bill S.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Anyone have any thoughts on Ike's question of the importance of Chet Desmond's character, and the first 30 minutes of FWWM?

It seems eerily out of place but I really like the beginning of the film.

 

[Bill Street]

I'm guessing the Chet Desmond part of FWWM was there to set up the ring as something significant we should look out for. It also reiterated that all this had happened before. I do agree though that it does seem out of place, but many things seem out of place in Lynch movies.

Bill S.

 

[Richard Travale]

Other random questions about FWWM-are we supposed to infer that Chet is in the Black Lodge?

I don't believe that Chet is in the Black Lodge.
IIRC, and it has been a while since I have watched the 2nd season and FWWM, but didn't someone say that if you enter the circle of sycamore trees with any doubts or fear, you will end up in the black lodge?
I say that the trees were just one of many entrances and the pile of dirt under the trailer was also one. When Cooper entered the lodges it was clear that he was filled with doubt and fear yet it seemed when Chet entered the lodges, he was free from any of these feelings and just concerned with finding the truth. This is why I think that Chet is in fact, in the White Lodge.

 

[Chris Atkins]

I want Twin Peaks Season 2 on DVD!!!! After the absolutely fantastic season 1 set, I can't be teased any more! Arrgghh!

 

[Matt Stone]

I want Twin Peaks Season 2 on DVD!!!!

According to a post at alt.movies.david-lynch today, Artisan has no plans to release Season 2 on DVD.
As for the Chet Desmond thing, there has been a lot of talk (mainly generating from an article in a Wrapped In Plastic) that the Chet Desmond sequence of FWWM is merely Coop's dream. The theory suggests that Desmond is a mental projection of Cooper in his own mind. This has been much discussed at alt.tv.twin-peaks and on the Twin Peaks Gazette Forum, IIRC.

 

[BrianB]

What, what, what, Matt? Got a link? All the rumours on dugpa et al have pointed to it being in the works, just delayed etc.

 

[Matt Stone]

Well, it's just a usenet post. Take that anyway you want, but considering we haven't heard anying official from Artisan in god-knows-how-long, I'm starting to get a little nervous.

 

[Matt Stone]

After reading my post on the Software forum, David Lambert contacted Artisan...and they confirmed that there are no plans to release Season 2 in 2003. This is very disappointing news.