[Twin Peaks] Chapter 27: Hour Seventeen "The Past Dictates The Future"
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.
INTRO17
Part 17: Scene 1
(0:00:00-0:01:40) Local (15:15:29-15:17:09) Global Time
1m40s
E27
Part 17: Scene 2
The Version Layer: Buckhorn, SD
(0:01:40-0:07:02) Local (15:17:09-15:22:31) Global Time
5m22s
PN: Blue Rose Investigation
SN: White Lodge Plan
Albert pours Gordon a drink while Gordon stares at the gun he couldn’t draw on Diane. Then, finally, Gordon says, “I couldn’t do it.”
Albert tells him he’s gone soft in his old age and then repeats it when Gordon “doesn’t hear” him. Gordon says, “Not where it counts buddy.” Tammy moons at Gordon, maybe knowingly.
They all toast to “The Bureau,” and Cole tells a story. It’s a story he’s kept from Albert for twenty-five years.
Cole says, “Before he disappeared, Major Briggs shared with me and Cooper his discovery of an entity, an extreme negative force called, in olden times, ‘Jow-day.’ Over time, it’s become ‘Judy.’ Major Briggs, Cooper, and I put together a plan that could lead us to Judy. Then, something happened to Major Briggs, and something happened to Cooper. Philip Jeffries, who doesn’t really exist anymore. Now, the last thing Cooper told me was, ‘If I disappear like the others, do everything you can to find me. I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone.’ And now, this thing with two Coopers. And recently, a paid informant named Ray Monroe sent a cryptic message indicating that the Cooper we met at prison is looking for coordinates, coordinates from a certain Major Briggs.” Gordon expresses how sorry he is for keeping the plan from Albert and that he doesn’t know if the plan is unfolding as intended because they should’ve heard from “Our Dear Dale Cooper.”
The phone rings. It’s FBI Agent Headley in Las Vegas. They found Douglas Jones, but they don’t know where he is, “The bed is empty,” he tells Cole.
Bushnell walks in and asks to speak to Chief Gordon Cole. He has a message for Cole from Cooper. “I am headed for Sheriff Truman’s. It is 2:53 in Las Vegas and that adds up to a 10, the number of completions.” Mullins explains to Cole that he’s Dougie’s boss, and Cole responds, “That makes two of us.” He thanks Mullins very much.
Cole hangs up the phone and asks, “DOUGIE IS COOPER? HOW THE HELL IS THIS?”
Albert and Tammy look around, consulting the equipment around them. Like a flood, all the information in obfuscation flows out of Tammy’s recitation. They blew up Dougie Jones’ car, tried to shoot him, and he’s been spotted in the company of two organized crime figures. Tammy learns Cooper electrocuted himself by sticking a fork in a wall socket.
Albert says, “That’s strange, even for Cooper.”
Gordon says, “A Blue Rose Case, most definitely.”
Tammy tells them Cooper was hospitalized in a coma until this afternoon.
Cole exclaims, “Pack it up! I know where he’s going!”
Gordon could not fire on Diane, which Mr. C likely relied on to eliminate Gordon from the Version Layer. Luckily, Albert and Tammy did not suffer from Gordon’s hesitation. It’s good to surround ourselves with those who fill the gaps in our own tendencies of good behavior.
Consider the statement, “The bed is empty.” In this dream layer, the Dreamer has awakened. He is aware of his presence and influence inside the dream. But Cooper is still limited in this liminal dream space. He can’t defend himself because he has been stripped of his ability to creatively apply effort and force to his will. But awareness and kindness do have power when working together. Cooper can call for the aid of his friends, even the ones he’s never met, like Freddy and Frank Truman. And he can call on those whose memories remain uncorrupted, like Andy and Lucy, Hawk, and The Log Lady.
It all comes out like a river, what is known and what is not. That happens in this scene. All the information that the investigative powers of the Dream possess reveals the landscape of the situation before the Dreamer’s eyes. The cartoonish manner of revelation here highlights the absurdity of how dreams operate. Consider that this alters the definition of a Blue Rose Case because instead of being a paranormal X-Files-like investigative program, it’s dream shepherds testing the moral boundaries of how energy flows into the dream. These aberrations must be dealt with, or the immortal moral soul of the Dreamer could be cast into non-existence, damning them in a Universe of Forever and Ever, Amen.
Two birds with one stone. For Cooper, in this dream, there are only two outcomes that matter:
Exiting this trap of Dream Consciousness
Keeping their connection with his moral source intact.
What is the one stone that would accomplish this? It’s the image of Laura Palmer. She’s the one, and the mission is simple, Change time to save her life by taking her home. It’s so simple an order that even a misguided hero could follow it. Remember that Cooper wouldn’t be in this situation if he didn’t fail morally at the critical moment when he allowed the worst part of himself to run out of the Red Room because he was frozen by the choice of which princess to save.
D34
Part 17: Scene 3
The Version Layer: Twin Peaks, WA
(0:07:02-0:10:21) Local (15:22:31-15:25:50) Global Time
3m19s
PN: Something Is Wrong In Twin Peaks
The holding cells are quiet at night at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station. The drunk is almost passed out against the bars. Chad has been watching him drift away. When he’s sure the drunk is passed out, Chad gets up from his cot and moves to the edge of the bed, but his movement stirs the drunk out of his stupor, causing Chad to abandon his plan. Outraged, he calls the guy a “Fucker,” which the drunk promptly repeats and starts working on passing out again.
Elsewhere, Mr. C drives at night, getting closer to the next stop in his dark journey.
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