[Twin Peaks] Chapter 20 - Hour Twelve "Let's Rock"
A Skeleton Key To Twin Peaks, 2nd Edition
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TPTR = Twin Peaks The Return (2017)
FWWM = Fire Walk With Me (1992)
RRL = The Red Room Dream Layer
TVL = The Version Layer
MPL = Missing Page Layer
TFM = The Fireman’s Mansion
Twin Peaks = The entire franchise
Chapters 1-9 are free to read.
INTRO12
Part 12: Scene 1
(0:00:00-0:01:40) Local (10:32:06-10:33:46) Global Time
1m40s
E21
Part 12: Scene 2
The Version Layer: Buckhorn, SD
(0:01:40-0:07:34) Local (10:33:46-10:39:40) Global Time
5m54s
PN: Blue Rose Investigation
Albert, Tammy, and Gordon drink good wine (stocked from his wine cellar) in a small room with floor-to-ceiling red curtains. Gordon scans the room with a device before they speak.
Gordon says to Albert, “No, you’ll be the one to tell her.”
Albert tells Tammy to ignore the strange man. She laughs.
They all toast, “Here’s to the Bureau!”
Albert says to Tammy, “Here’s what you need to know.”
Gordon, his hearing technology tuned to high sensitivity, begs them to “Please speak succinctly and do not make any loud, sharp noises.”
Albert says, “In 1970, the United States Air Force shut down Project Blue Book, their 20-year investigation into UFOs. They concluded that no credible evidence existed and, therefore they posed no threat to national security. In other words, a massive cover-up.”
Cheers again.
Albert continues:
“A few years later, the military and FBI formed a top secret task force to explore the troubling abstractions raised by cases that Blue Book failed to resolve. We called it The Blue Rose, after a phrase uttered by a woman in one of these cases just before she died, which suggested these answers could not be reached except by an alternate path we’ve been traveling ever since. Gordon suggested an agent by the name of Phillip Jeffries to head the squad. He soon recruited three others: myself, Chet Desmond, and Dale Cooper. Perhaps you haven’t failed to notice that I’m the only one of that group who hasn’t disappeared without explanation, which has lead to a certain reluctance on Gordon’s part to bring new blood into the fold, until tonight. Agent Preston, you’ve been on our radar since you made the honors list at George Washington High, not to mention the Dean’s List at MIT and top of your class at Quantico.”
Tammy looks shocked and says, “You’re asking me to join the Blue Rose Task Force?”
Albert looks at Gordon and says, “Yep.”
She surveys this opportunity and almost immediately accepts.
Albert will brief her in detail in the morning.
Gordon smiles at her and toasts, “To Tammy and the Blue Rose.”
Tammy is overwhelmed when she toasts, dramatically exhaling several times.
Gordon gets notified that Diane is on her way, comes in through the red curtains, and strolls to her chair.
Albert offers Diane a bottle of vodka and she says she likes it on the rocks. Albert replies, “Well, you’re in luck. The Dakotas are still in the ice age.”
Diane gets her own ice out and makes her own drink, and Albert says, “Diane, we know your work with Agent Cooper has given you more than a passing insight into The Blue Rose. So even though you’re no longer part of The Bureau, we’d like to deputize you.”
Gordon adds, “On a temporary basis, because we really need your help.”
Diane is smoking now and looks at each of them, then asks, “What’s in it for me?”
Albert says, “Some cash, not much. Maybe the satisfaction of learning what happened to your friend Cooper.”
She stubs out her cigarette, holds up two fingers like a gun, and says, “Let’s rock!” Dramatic sound effects emphasize this gesture, and Gordon knocks hard on the table to mark the pact.
I consider the mention of Project Blue Book in this scene to be the first direct connection with Mark Frost’s book The Secret History of Twin Peaks.
And this is also where we first discover that here in TVL, Phillip Jeffries, and not Gordon Cole, initially headed up The Blue Rose Task Force. This is important because it is another marker to demonstrate the reality shift since this bad dream started way back in FWWM.
Think back to that scene with David Bowie in FWWM. Does it seem that Gordon Cole treats the man like he is in charge of the entire task force? I don’t think so. This is a shift. If Jeffries recruited Cooper, why would Cole need to introduce them? This is a significant slip in the narrative, demonstrating a difference in the details of reality between RRL & TVL.
Tammy Preston is a character with the best of Dale Cooper’s investigative skills, curiosity, and humility. And this ability is being given agency within the dream.
But Cole and Albert do not let Tammy know about Diane’s corruption. Of course, this is secret knowledge hidden from Tammy, but it does not prevent her from acting in a few episodes when Diane attacks.
Tammy gets access and a mission here to investigate this Blue Rose situation down to the marrow in the bones left behind. And that is precisely what Special Agent Tammy Preston does in both of Mark Frost’s books.1
D22
Part 12: Scene 3
The Version Layer: Twin Peaks, WA
(0:07:34-0:13:13) Local (10:39:40-10:45:19) Global Time
5m39s
PN: Something Is Wrong In Twin Peaks
Jerry runs for his life out of the forest. Nothing is chasing him.
He falls, gets back up, and keeps running.
Sarah Palmer shops for groceries. She likes vodka...a lot. She adds two bottles of Bloody Mary mix to her basket. Then, she politely asks the cashier for a carton of Salems.
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