Before You Watch
This is one of the most important episodes of the first run of Twin Peaks. It’s where much of the mythology around BOB and the other citizens of a plane of existence, intimately related to the “real world” in this story, is delivered. Concepts introduced here will impact how we interpret the events of The Return (Season 3).
Pay attention to the demands that Cooper’s friends and colleagues make of him to “fix this weird situation.”
Who is “The Lonely Soul?” Are there more than one? If there is more than one, can they be called lonely after they recognize each other? This is a riddle at the heart of Twin Peaks. As we get deeper into Twin Peaks: The Return, I will ask you this question again over the next few months. Your answer may change over time and surprise you.
You will meet the current Mrs. Tremond. The Tremonds are dwellers at the threshold. They keep the stoop and greet most visitors with a fussy and weird welcome. You’ll see another Mrs. Tremond at the threshold of the final close.
Consider the relationship between The Giant and The Old Waiter.
After You Watch
On Cooper’s Flaw
Cooper has trained his whole life to save the world from a menace no one except him (“The self-proclaimed chosen one) can battle and overcome. This is a classic Hero Complex, where good-hearted people refuse to accept the worst things they can do. And his so-called friends practically dare him to step into BOB’s trap.
On Cooper at the Threshold
Cooper stands on a stoop with a woman, seeking answers inside the house. This memetic cycle will repeat when Cooper gets lost in his dream. As viewers, however, we must remember this pattern. We have a job to do with it. Knocking on this door and asking grants the next step in the journey. This is how Cooper’s intuition works, powered by an innocent curiosity and a great desire to do good in the world. This quality of curiosity and honor will save his mortal soul, but only with the viewer’s help. By the end of this journey, I hope you will see this unique narrative journey and expression in modern fiction.1
On Cooper’s Perception of The Red Room:
Cooper learns here that The Red Room is outside and part of his consciousness. He learns this from Laura’s description of The Red Room and the little man.
We can project that Cooper may suspect the Red Room is a psychic estuary where the shared inner worlds of lonely souls collide with paranormal bi-polar entities that toy with the human souls lost in its maze, either with cruel aggression or cryptic poetry that is beyond passive. The engagement is a ruse so these demi-god-like beings can feed off the suffering and joy produced by their human crops.
Years later, The Matrix series would adopt a similar existential threat, where humans are used as batteries to power the physical operation of machines. It’s a bit of a shift from psychic vampires to AI machines that run amok, but not far. The Cylons are here. The Borg. The Sith.2
What Scares BOB
MIKE scares BOB because they used to kill together, but MIKE cuts his arm off and beats BOB. In this episode, we learn that BOB is not all-powerful, but defeating him is no easy task. BOB may have a plan to overpower MIKE, but he may need to find the right host to execute his plan. More to come on this.
The Meaning Of Cooper’s Ring
No, I’m not going to explain it because this is one of those questions that can go on for hours between Twin Peaks fans. There are no definite answers for some facets of art, only how the experience makes us feel. I feel that Cooper’s ring is a symbol of his honor and loyalty. A ring is a symbol of commitment, an unbroken circle. When Cooper accepts a ring or gives one, he commits. Commitments are powerful points of manipulation. The ring in Twin Peaks forces me to ponder the characters’ commitment to each other. Considering where we’re going, starting with how we feel about the ring in Twin Peaks is a good place to start with this symbol.
On The Doppelganger Effect
Is the Old Waiter the Giant’s doppelganger? Does anyone see the waiter except for Cooper? Yes, Major Briggs and the rest of The Bookhouse Boys do. It’s important to understand that the inner worlds and outer worlds echo in the first two seasons of Twin Peaks. In Fire Walk With Me and The Return, these worlds will merge to break Cooper’s reality. We get the privilege of riding with him on the journey down the hole.
The Old Waiter Offers His Consolation Again
This is a revelation that BOB has chosen Cooper as his next host victim.
The Fast Destruction of Leland Palmer
Here, we witness how BOB manipulates and overcomes his host. This is what Cooper is in danger of suffering (in fact, he will). Our appreciation and analysis of this material need to have a working knowledge of the impact of this creature, BOB, on its host. When BOB leaves Leland, and the awareness of what he’s done to his daughter reaches the surface of his consciousness, he dies of shame and sorrow, professing his undying yet neutered love for his child.
We also learn that BOB is always in search of others to harvest. Leland brought others, but they wanted Laura. She was too strong for them. And so they made him kill her. Does this revelation affect your sympathy for Leland’s actions and behavior? Does he suffer enough here to satisfy your sense of justice?
James Speaks For The Viewer…and Cooper
As often happens in prestige television dramas, what happens in the next scene is different in a different situation and highlights and comments on what happened in the previous scene. Upon learning that Maddie is going missing and likely dead, James gives up on the world, including Donna, whom he had just given a commitment ring (there’s that symbol again) earlier. Cooper has to be feeling this dread as he holds a dead Leland Palmer in his arms, crying and wet from the falling water in the jail cell.
We Seek Simple Answers to Difficult Questions
But this is too difficult in Twin Peaks. Now, Cooper seeks magic, and with that choice comes danger. Hubris will kill, while humility can save.
That Gum You Like Is Coming Back in Style
This is a good thing. It’s the exact phrase the creators of Twin Peaks used at the same minute when they tweeted the Return to the world in 2014. Chew the gum. Solve the crime.
The Fire Walk With Me Poem
Thru the darkness
of Future Past
the magician longs to see
one chants out
between two worlds
Fire -- walk with me.
The Time Has Come For You To Seek The Path
Your soul has set you face to face with the clear light, and you are now about to experience it in its reality, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky. The naked spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum without circumference or center. In this moment, know yourself and abide by that state. Look to the light. Find the light. Into the light. - Dale Cooper
Cooper guides Leland down a release path, similar to a Book of the Dead from the Old World. How to let go and leave this world. It sounds like Leland makes it out, perhaps even redeemed. That is not the case. When he reports seeing Laura, his true suffering has just begun.
Cooper will forget everything he says to calm and comfort Leland’s passing. We must remember, as viewers. I will call your attention to these words at the appropriate time.
At the end of this scene, Cooper is deeply moved by Leland’s suffering, crimes, and dissolving end.
The Evil That Men Do
Is it easier to believe a man would rape and murder his own daughter? - Dale Cooper
Cooper escalates the scope of their mission from solving the murder of Laura Palmer (it was Leland) to stopping BOB from killing again. By the end of this tale, you will judge if he is successful in this fool’s quest.
Next class…Cooper steps into BOB’s trap.
Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
The premise I seek to prove in my writing is that Twin Peaks: The Return is one of history's great works of art.
This idea of the cruel other operating from the shadows is a common framework in modern epic fiction, hinting at forces operating like this in our material world. Maintaining this mystery and mystique over time is important because it keeps us morally sharp.
[Podcast] Week 5: 'Twin Peaks Movie Club on Substack