On Monday, June 10, 1991, the ABC television network broadcast the last two episodes of "Twin Peaks," #28 and #29 (or 2021 and 2022 in timeline counting). In the following weeks, there were hundreds and hundreds of messages posted about the finale in the alt.tv.twin-peaks newsgroup. Topics included: - What happened to Audrey, Pete, and Thomas Eckhardt in the bank vault? - What happened to Ben Horne? - How did the head injury mysteriously move between Bobby and Mike? - What was the meaning of the conjunction of the planets? - Wasn't a scene repeated from the pilot episode? - What happened to Leo? - What was the Log Lady's role in finding the Black Lodge? - Amusing moments from the pageant. - Who was speaking through Sarah to Major Briggs? - What happened to Annie? - What happened to Cooper? - What are doppelgangers? - Weren't there some inconsistencies in the Black Lodge sequence? - In what way are the Giant and Senor Droolcup "one and the same"? - What is the significance of the name Glastonberry Grove? - What was the significance of Laura Palmer's presence in the Black Lodge? - What is the Black Lodge? - Did we see the White Lodge? - What was the configuration of the rooms Cooper went through? - What happened to Windom Earle? - What did it all mean? - Comments by those who hated the finale. - Comments by those who loved the final. - What questions were left unanswered? - What will happen to the characters now? - What will happen in the "Twin Peaks" movie? - Why didn't "Twin Peaks" catch on with viewers? 26 Mar (Sunday) [Episode 2021 - 6/10/91 Part 1 Written by Barry Pullman Directed by Tim Hunter] Morning -- Leo reaches for the key and frees Briggs. L: "Save Shelly" -- Ghostly Earle returns with a new game for Leo. He's got something in a bag. 1:05 pm (clock on wall) -- Norma, Shelly, and Annie chat about the Miss Twin Peaks pageant. Norma won the first one 20 years ago. -- Ben and Audrey talk about Jack. He's got some philosophy books from which he hopes to learn how to be good. Audrey reports that the Packards are using the Twin Peaks Savings and Loan to funnel cash to their Ghostwood project. Ben hopes to expose this and still wants Audrey to make a speech -- Andy stares at the petroglyph. Cooper tells Truman about how he thinks Josie died of fear and a vision of BOB immediately afterwards. Earle eavesdrops and talks to Leo about getting Miss Twin Peaks. Leo's teeth are clamped on a string from which a flimsy cage of spiders hang over him. -- Pinkle has the Miss Twin Peaks contestants rehearse a dance. The mayor, Dick, and Norma discuss criteria, then Lana seduces Dick in a storage room. 1:17 pm (Cooper to Diane) -- Cooper tells Diane he just finished his second meditation. Annie arrives wanting help with her speech. The pageant is in 6 hours. They end up in bed. -- Nadine shows slides of her wrestling. Jacoby has Nadine (with Mike) and Ed (with Norma) discuss their breaking up. Both proclaim they are getting married. -- Briggs is picked up by Hawk -- Cooper and Truman attempt to question Briggs. Cooper smells haliperidol on him. Andy looks at the petroglyph again. -- Andrew, Pete, and Catherine are still wrestling with the box. Andrew finally shoots it open. Inside is a key, which Catherine puts in a cake- saver so it is in plain sight. -- Donna demands the truth from uncooperative Will and Eileen -- Andy looks at the petroglyph again. Cooper figures out from a book that the petroglyph tells of a time when Jupiter and Saturn are in conjunction. Briggs mutters "protect the queen" and "fear and love open the doors." Andy knocks the bonsai to the floor. Truman goes to pick it up and discovers the bug. 7:00 approx (Annie to Cooper, "in 6 hours") -- The Miss Twin Peaks pageant, opening dance number. Pinkle makes his move on the Log Lady. Talent competition begins. Lucy dances. -- Earle as the Log Lady knocks out Bobby. Lana dances. -- Audrey makes her speech. Donna demands and gets the truth from Ben. He's her father. -- Annie makes her speech. Earle watches from the rafters. -- Lucy makes her announcement to Andy and Dick that she wants Andy to be the baby's father. Andy then goes to look for Cooper. -- Annie is named Miss Twin Peaks. Lights go out and chaos ensues as Nadine is hit on the head with a sandbag, Cooper sees Earle, and Earle takes Annie Power is restored and Andy tells Cooper he's figured out the petroglyph to be a map. *** Pageant My friends all remarked that Lynch was really going all out on his last episode when Norma & judges were talking about the pageant (first 15 mins of show) and a guy walks in front of them carrying a deer? Did it look peculiarly like something kind of kinky or do my friends just have very dirty minds? They all seemed to notice it right away! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Me too. It sure looked to me like the guy was humping away at it. Gave me a good laugh. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FaveMoment from the last two episodes: the Anonymous Worker and his Lovely Deer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Did it occur to anyone else that Lucy was doing some pretty fancy stunts (including that split) for a lady who was pregnant? yes! I was thinking "that kid's going to POP out any time now !!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The beauty pageant scene worked pretty well (boy, that Lucy sure can dance, but she has a poor sense of prenatal care!). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cooper's acting was certainly better in the mirror segment than it was after the Miss Twin Peaks Contest and the "Whoops, There Go The Lights Scene". I mean his reaction and subsequent acting when he discovered Annie missing was BAD. LAME. I mean there was *no* emotion. No heavy breathing. Nothing. Especially when he was explaining to Harry that she was gone. He had the drama and emotion of a shrub. Please don't try to tell me he was overloaded and overwhelmed. He could have done a better job than that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wasn't it a bit late for Audrey to enter the pageant? The scenes they showed were great, though... the choreography just slightly off, the dark- ness just a touch away throughout... I would have liked to see all of the contestants' talents, instead of just the first couple -- imagine what Nadine or Audrey would have done! ;-) Also : Why only three judges, all of which had many personal stakes on the outcome? Wouldn't they have deadlocked? Anybody else think that Lana's face looks kinda like a monkey's? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lana's lame excuse for a 7 veils dance deserved to go down in flames. No wonder Dick switched his vote to Annie. Lana should have watched the "Temple Dance in Praise of Eros" from "History of the World, Part 1"! :-) ("He is a eunuch. _He_ is a _eunuch_! He's *DEAD*!") ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have I missed it or did nobody mention the chessboard image on the floor of the stage in the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant? With Annie looking like a white queen (i.e. Windom's queen)? Wow Bob Wow. How about the fact they were all dancing wrapped in clear plastic (raincoats)? ============================================================================== [Part 2 Written by Mark Frost & Harley Peyton & Robert Engels Directed by David Lynch] Night -- Lucy and Andy discuss what happened at the pageant -- Cooper, with Truman and Hawk, ponders the petroglyph and "Fire walk with me." Pete enters and says the Log Lady stole his truck which had 12 rainbow trout in the bed. The circle of 12 sycamore trees is where Hawk found the bloody towel and ripped pages - Glastenberry Grove. The Log Lady arrives with some oil which her husband said is the opening to a gateway. Cooper determines it to be what Jacoby smelled. Ronette is brought in and recognizes the smell of that oil from the night Laura died. *** Conjunction of planets "On June 15, in the waning twilight about 9:30 P.M., the three brightest nighttime objects - the moon, Venus, and Jupiter - will join the planet Mars in a rare and striking conjunction. In case of clouds don't worry, for although the moon will be elsewhere by the following evening, the conjunction of the three planets actually grows more dense, until on the 18th they'll all fit inside a circle less than two degrees wide. (Your thumb held at arm's length covers about two degrees of the sky.)" Bob Berman, DISCOVER Hmmmmm. Does this mean the entrance to the White Lodge will become available on June 15? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HEY its not just Jupiter and Mars...the entrance to all of NETWORK TELEVISION itself will be open this TIME!!! David Lynch had better take advantage of this while he can! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Although Jupiter and Saturn are about as far as they can get away from a conjunction right now, Venus and Mars are headed for a conjunction! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Although Jupiter and Saturn are about as far as they can get away from a conjunction right now, Venus and Mars are headed for a conjunction! Yes, it's been fun to watch them. This reminds me that I had tried to do some research on that poem by Yeats and run into some stuff that was such a tangent that it didn't seem worth posting. However there are a few things that might be interesting. I believe the text of the poem as posted went something like this: When Jupiter and Saturn meet What a crop of mummy wheat! The sword's a cross, thereon He died; On breast of Mars the goddess sighed. Supposedly Yeats felt that his two children represented two fundamentally different temperaments, one essentially pagan and the other (to his mind) Christian. The first stanza refers to his son Michael, whom Yeats describes in a letter about this poem as "born free among the most cultivated, out of tradition, out of rule". His daughter Anne is the Venus-Mars, "Christian" personality, which he describes as "democratic". He goes on to contrast the two by saying that the son is always thinking about life and the daughter about death. So much for Yeats' view of his children's personalities. As far as the poem goes, a very interesting link between the first stanza and the second is that Great Conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn were used as markers for the new World-Ages (when the sun rises in a different sign of the zodiac at the vernal equinox, which happens about every 2,000 years as a result of the precession of the earth's rotation). In fact, a great conjunction of these two planets in Pisces is thought to have been the Star of Bethlehem in 6 b.c., ushering in the Age of Pisces, dominated by Christianity, one of whose central symbols is the fish. I don't think it's too far out to use the mummy wheat (wheat found in Egyptian sarcophagi and still viable after thousands of years) as a symbol of Jesus (something from the world of death coming back to life--I think of the Easter carol "Now the green blade riseth"), which would lead from the first stanza directly into the second, but I imagine that Windom Earle uses it to mean something like a spirit or symbol from an earlier world-age coming back from being buried. Now wheat would seem like a much more peaceful, beneficial product than fire, which would be a closer characterization of what's coming, so probably he was being ironic. The Mars-Venus conjunction as a Christian temperament? I'm not sure I buy this from Yeats, but I suppose a case could be made for it. The character in Twin Peaks who seems to have had the closest similarity to Mars' temper outbursts is Leo Johnson, and Shelly would definitely make a good Venus. Alternatively, if Windom Earle sees himself as Mars (he is definitely picking a fight with Cooper) he is trying to align himself with a queen, who would then be his Venus. Mars never did to Venus what Windom Earle is planning to do to his queen though. Enough of that. I just thought some people might find it interesting information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Coop sure knew alot about the planets, etc. So why didnt he recognize the symbols for them right off the bat. We did! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Cooper says something like "we have to look at the ephemeris" the close-up show that follows is that of some Mickey Mouse planetary drawing instead of the real ephemeris: a table of numbers. I thought that was silly. Yah. That was dumb. But an actual ephemeris is not very visually interesting for tv. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How long does it take for Jupiter and Saturn to align? By my calculations: 20 - 25 years. (Coincidence?) When will Coop see Laura again? 20 - 25 years. When did W.E. get the boot from the Black Lodge project? 20-25 years ago. Now, I think we have a cycle here. Every 20-25 years a good cop goes into the Black Lodge and comes out as a bad guy. Happened with WE, happening with CooP. Since WE was working on the BL before Coop met him, Coop will probably get a partner soon after marrying Annie. Train the partner, have the partner fall in love with Annie, kill annie ... *** Log lady/oil Someone earlier asked how Coop could know that the Log Lady would show up in HST's office "in one minute." I also thought that this was peculiar. Why does he say "one minute," not "a minute" (which is the common colloquialism). Furthermore, notice that when the LL knocks at the door, Coop pointedly looks at his watch, as if to confirm the time that the LL showed up. ??? (An aside: is there anyone besides Coop who calls the LL by her real name? I thought it was somewhat humorous in the way that Hawk announced the LL: "It's the Log Lady" (I think that's a correct quote.) The way he said it made it sound like he was "announcing" someone of title: "It's the Duke of Nottingham." Oh, well, *I* thought it was funny.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If the Log Ladys husband knew about the oil, did he know about the Lodge itself? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I think he did...maybe that's one reason he was encased in the Log (perhaps by BoB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hey, what WAS the point about the oil? Coop didn't have it with him when he went to the Lodge, so even that part about it being a "gateway" was a throwaway...?! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I think the bright circle in Glastonbury Circle was around a pool of that oil. When Cooper looked into it, before he entered the Red Room, he said, "An opening to a gateway...", the same as what the Log Lady said about the jar of oil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A friend pointed out that the oil was quite valuable. Coop and Harry were trying to verify where WE and Annie were. Log Lady brings the oil, tying it to the gateway. Next, Ronda ties the smell of the oil to Leland/Bob. Finally, Hawk ties Leland/Bob/Laura/Ronda to the circle of trees - end of use for the oil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The burnt engine oil is puzzling. If it is really engine oil, then what does that imply? Did the black lodge begin with a car crash, a ufo crash? If it is not engine oil but just something that smells and looks like it, could it be brimstone? Traditionally hell and devils smell of sulfer and brimstone. Is that smell similar to the smell of burnt engine oil? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Earle takes Annie to the circle of trees and beyond the red curtains -- Nadine is 35 again. She wants to know who Mike is, why Norma is there, and where her drape runners are. *** Bobby/Mike injuries Some have pointed out that the fact that Bobby is shown to not have any apparent head injury (in the way of disorientation, bandages, etc.) after the Miss TP contest and the fact that Mike does have such symptoms (and makes the comment about running into a tree) suggests a great plot inconsistency. Well, it could be the case that BOTH Bobby and Mike were hit by WE's log, but we were only shown Bobby being hit, and that Bobby's injury was not sufficient to result in disorientation or require bandaging. I know, it's a lot of ifs, but it (or something similar) *could* be the case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A friend pointed out that Bobby has a good deal--he gets hit on the head and Mike winds up with the wound. (Remember the Nadine scene? Mike is clocked and Bobby is later A-OK in the diner....) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bobby sure made a quick recovery, seeing how he was clobbered with that log. Not even a bandaid. Wonder if his personality has changed? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bobby got clobbered by the ersatz Log, and _Mike_ had the head wound and said he got hit by "a tree", and Bobby was mooning over Shelly with no wounds at all? I am confused. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let me use this bandwidth to clear up two VERY annoying misconceptions on the net. I assumed by now everyone should have figured these out. I will tell you two things. They will be true. Go home and check your tapes. Then I will give you your damn ring back. 1) Bobby's comment was in reference to the LOG, not the LOG LADY/WE. WE just picked a hunk o' firewood, which looked nothing like her husband. His comment makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER in the other context. NONE. 2) Bobby got hit on the head. WHAM. Mike got hit on the head, too. WHAM. Bobby did not require a bandage (subdural hemotoma?), Mike did. Bobby's head injury did not channel to mike, nor did Mike selflessly trade heads with Bobby. GIVE IT UP, PEOPLE. How do I know this? Because Mike did not get hit until AFTER Nadine was sapped with the sandbag, by his own omission. And that was HIS head on his shoulders. MIKE'S. NOT BOBBY'S. NOT. Read this. Understand it. Do not err on these points again, or a small dwarf will be sent to your house to violate your sister. Backwards. ============================================================================== --- Ben apologizes to Eileen. Donna cries for Will to be her father. Sylvia walks in and Will belts Ben, who hits his head on the fireplace. *** Ben/Doc/Donna Nobody has mentioned the scene where Ben and Dr. Hayward confront each other. Ben gets his head rammed into the fireplace almost like Maddie got her head rammed into the picture of Missoula and almost like Cooper rammed his head into the mirror. I think Cooper is not the only one possessed by Bob. I think Donna's desire to be like Laura is going to be filled beyond her wildest nightmares. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Did Doc kill Ben, or merely injure him? I hadn't thought he killed him. Isn't the wound on Ben's forehead in the same place as Cooper's when he smashes his head into the mirror. (In fact, the Doc and Ben scene reminded me of the Leland and Maddy scene, in this one respect.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This show is not at all as bloody as most network fare, it's just that we *look* at the characters and the emotions. When the cop shows have people shooting each other a gazillion times with machine guns, running each other over with cars, throwing each other from the tops of 20+ story buildings, etc., etc., it's so easy to watch and forget. That's just normal automated killing, nice and tidy. But when we ram a head into a mirror or glass or brick wall, then examine the regret or evil-glee of the agressor, and not cut away quickly to the getaway car, it hurts. You get to *see* the truth of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ben Horne. Dead? Giving his last twitches before his soul leaves his body? Why the BOB music as Hayward kills him? And then Hayward's at the hotel? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I don't think Ben can possibly be dead. If he was, Hayward would be in jail not taking care of Coop at his bedside. I didn't realize there was any BOB music, but I'll take your word for it. Perhaps part of the reason why people feel it was out of character for the good doctor is that he was possessed by BOB when he did it, or maybe it was some kind of psychic backlash of bad vibes coming from the showdown in the Black Lodge. My prediction is that since Ben has tried to be good and it just didn't work out, he'll go back to being bad. I hope I'm wrong. I like Ben as a good guy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The plotline with Donna and Ben was the worst. Donna just seems to whine all the time. Nobody cares about her anymore. This seemed to be invented just to give these characters something to do. What was the point? And having Dr. H get so mad? For a sec, we all thought BOB had possessed him! No way.. Doc H cant have it in him. And him at Great Northern so suddenly? Nope, sorry, not buying it.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why, and how, did Ben suddenly change when his wife came barging in to his scene with the Haywards? Before he sounded troubled, but at least honest -- genuinely trying to do the right thing but going about it in the most wrong way. Afterwards his voice lost all its conviction; he sounded merely wimpy and afraid, giving Doc Hayward the righteousness with which to deck him. But then why the spooky music and the bowtie twitching? Was Ben harboring another spirit all along (the OAM's pointing to him in 10/8)? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is it just a coincidence that Audrey dies just after we find out that Donna is another daughter of Ben? Sounds good to me. In the forthcoming Twin Peaks movie Donna will get to do neat stuff that Audrey used to do. She will stop being such a wimp. She's been on a roll since James left. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isn't there a temporal continuity problem? Ben gets killed the night of or the early morning after the Miss Twin Peakls contest. His wife is a witness to this. Yet Audrey is chaining herself to the mast in defense of the Pine Weasel the morning after, supposedly ignorant of her father's fate. (This I didn't like since I like the character of Ben and ALSO wanted to know what scared him int he episode previous! But I have to admit it took me by complete surprise!) ============================================================================== -- Andrew switches the mystery key with another he has for a safety deposit box -- Cooper and Truman find Pete's truck. They head into the woods. Cooper goes alone, with Truman following, and sees an owl and the sycamore trees. He enters the curtains into the red room. The little man from another place is there. Another man sings, then disappears. -- Andy comes looking for Truman 27 Mar (Monday) Morning -- 10 hours later, Truman and Andy are still waiting for Cooper 7:25 am (Andrew's watch) -- Audrey practices civil disobedience and chains herself to the bank vault. Andrew and Pete arrive and open the safety deposit box to discover a bomb that goes off. Eckhardt's note: Got you, Andrew, Love, Thomas. ============================================================================== *** Bank scene ============================================================================== Is there any meaning to be attached to the bank guard's jubilant exclamation of "It's a boy, it's a boy..."? Who was he talking to? Who had the baby (ifthis is what "It's a boy" means here)? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thomas Eckhart is not wearing glasses, nor visibly carrying any. The glasses that go flying are not his; if they were, Lynch would have at least shown them somewhere during the sequence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nobody has commented on the joke on Audrey; she didn't chain the bank door shut, which would normally be the whole point of this sort of disobedience (disrupt the normal flow of things). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The vault looks like this: ====== - Audrey - ====== / XX / path taken by Dell et al XX / ! / ! XX ____/ ! XX / ! / XX ! / XX ! ! ! \!/ +---------------------------------- Audrey watches them walk back, then closes the door again mostly. When Dell is called back out, Andrew quickly opens the door; Dell couldn't have gotten much further than where Audrey is. We get a shot of the inside of the box: the note says, Got you, Andrew Love, Thomas We get a reaction shot of Andrew and Pete (Andrew scared, Pete puzzled), then a shot of an explosion in the box, coming outwards; reaction shot of Andrew & Pete brightly lit fade to white; outside the bank, two windows and the door blow out with a lot of smoke, but the near window frame is relatively intact afterwards; Dell's glasses fly through the air. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can't wait for the movie, though I'll miss Jack Nance. I can't believe Lynch would have killed off someone who's such a favorite of his. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Lynch intends to make a movie without Audrey and Pete?....no no no Somehow I can't imagine Lynch unemploying Jack Nance...! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Can we assume that Audrey, Pete and Andrew are dead. How sad! Now we will never know how the fish got into the coffee pot. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It's too bad Pete and Audrey bought the farm, but I think Andrew got precisely what he deserved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just a thought: If Audrey & Co. are toast and since the quaint old man never called the police or the Gazette, that makes for an odd picture...How would an investigator explain the fact that Ben Horne's daughter had been chained to the gate of the vault before the explosion? It's the stuff Enquirer articles are made of. . . ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm hoping that Audrey, Andrew, and Pete ARE dead. Just because it wouldn't be a rip-off that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, Andrew has to be dead. How could he not be? Pete was standing behind Andrew so there is a chance that he could be alive. Audrey was on the other side of the rather large (surrounded by steel) vault. I'd bet that she is still alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very surprised about Audrey being in the bank during the explosion. However, I guess she can afford to have her character (possibly) killed off. She certainly has gained enough publicity from TP! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Was anyone else very annoyed by the scene with the old man at the bank.. walking.. very.. slowly.. to.. wherever.. it.. was.. he.. was.. going? ARGH! Especially since Coop was in the Lodge at the same time.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Annoyed? Hell no. Classic, I mean *CLASSIC* Lynch. It was hilarious. I also felt sad, in some ways, for older people. Did you notice the close-up shot of the woman bank teller who was sleeping? Did it remind you of a scene in "Eraserhead?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The scene with the banker toddling back and forth between Audrey, the water cooler and the sleeping (dead?) clerk was incredible. Will go into television history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I loved the scenes with the old banker. They were EXCRUCIATING to watch, especially with the story in the WL/BL developing. The fact that Lynch used it before made it even more painful, because you knew it would take _forever_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I thought that the scene with the bank manager was about the only redeeming feature of the whole two hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Loved Dell the bank manager. There's nothing like a dead stop to make you appreciate breakneck speeds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why does Lynch let Senor Droolcup and the bank teller walk so s-l-o--w-l-y? I think Lynch noticed the same thing that Kubrick discovered in 2001. You can control an audience with speed. Fast speed a la Star Wars gets you there, but so does slow speed. Remember Kubrick's slow, stately space ship to Jupitar. Lynch's version of that slow space ship are these old, senile men in crucial situations. Of course, then it doesn't work, it irritates us. Senor Droolcup, last September, did not work me, but I liked the bank teller. I was on the floor laughing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Was no one else struck by the similarity bewteen the bank manager, walking with such trouble to give Audrey a cup of water, and Senor Droolcup, taking forever to bring Coop his Joe? Marx said, all great figures in history appear twice: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Here the order is reversed (leaving aside the question of greatness)! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speaking of Wild at Heart, I noticed last night that the hotel manager in New Orleans is Del the banker in the TP finale!! Same thick black glasses, suit and hilarious body language. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yep, the only difference was that in Wild at Heart, he had a four-legged cain. I think I liked him better without it (in TP). The way Lynch had him walk was just hilarious. Sometimes I wonder if Lynch has something against old people; he always portrays them in such a comical fashion. Also, didn't anyone notice that the full-screen shots of fire that were interspersed thoughout the Black Lodge sequence were taken from Wild at Heart as well? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was watching my video tape of the final episode yesterday w/ the possibility in mind that Catherine planted the bomb. I watched her place the key in the cake saver for "safe keeping." Later when Andrew went to switch keys, I noticed that the key and key tag were arranged differently. This seemed to indicate to me that catherine had already taken the key and later returned it. The note w/ the bomb seemed to smack of Eckhardt though... Plot by Catherine or continuity error? - You decide! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How about this.. Catherine planted the bomb in the safety deposit box because she was getting sick of Andrews taking over. Only she didnt think that Pete would be there.. or maybe she didnt care.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, Catherine planted the bomd...the question is, what did Catherine take out of the deposit box before she planted the bomb ??? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How could anyone think that Catherine blew up her own brother? Yes, she doesn't _trust_ him, but sure as rain in Oregon it was Eckhardt who planted the "Got you" surprise for Andrew. After attacking the box with a rolling pin and a pistol, I enjoyed his comeuppance, until realizing its full significance! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Someone (i forgot which post--sorry!) suggested that catherine got to the safety deposit box first and placed the bomb. This seems possible: the note was addressed to Andrew. However, the original Chinease puzzle box was given to Catherine. How could Eckhardt have known that ANDREW would be the one to finally solve the puzzle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ with a note that said "Got you, Andrew" -- addressed to a person he didn't even know was alive until about a half hour before his own death? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > That bomb could have been planted years ago, when Eckhart and Andrew > first got mad at each other. I still don't buy it. The box was given to Catherine, and was given by Eckhardt's secretary (or whatever she was to him). This woman had no idea Andrew was still alive, either; and nobody had a motive for killing Catherine (well, nobody in THAT group, anyway). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I think you are right about Catherine letting him get the key. It is also possible that the uxorious Pete didn't catch him by accident, but was put on watch by Catherine to make sure that if it wasn't a trap, he would protect her interests. If it was a trap, then she was rid of both of them, giving her sole ownership of the Mill and the development. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Regarding Audrey and Pete: Audrey was some distance away from the blast which took place in a very large room. Furthermore, the bomb appeared to be simple explosive and not a pipe bomb or something more deadly. The blast was undoubtedly channeled by the shape of the safety deposit box so that Packard got it full force in the head. That would have absorbed a lot of the energy and Pete off to the right was probably well shielded by the door of the box. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As Marge Simpson would say, "HmmmmmmmmmmMM!" Somebody's glasses blew out the door of the bank, or out a window. If they were the old banker's glasses it must have been some blast, since he was nowhere near the bomb. If they were Andrew's, they would have had to blow around a corner, out the vault door, and then outside, again making it quite some blast. I doubt Andrew's bulk would be effective at shielding something like that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I predict that Audrey and Pete recover from their injuries, but due to the intensity of the blast, they HAVE TO TALK LIKE THIS SO THEY CAN HEAR THEMSELVES JUST LIKE GORDON COLE DOES!! Audrey will then become a sucessful lecturer on ecology, since she won't need a PA system to be heard. Pete will become President, due to a nostalgic craze for Ronald Reagan's can't-hear-you- the-the-helicopter's-too-damn-loud pres conferences. Or else they're grilled meat patties (with head wounds, of course). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pete dead? Audrey dead? - Audrey first. In the spirit of "keeping up with the Palmers", the Horne's have started a filial life-taking ritual. Pete? He was one of the nicer guys on the cast, though I could never figure out how he could handle Catherine's dealing, and helping out the Bookhouse boys at the same time. While he was supposed to come off as clueless, he consistently showed that he was on top of things, esp. with Josie. So, what's the deal? I can only think that should some later revitalization of TP come about that both Jack Nance and Ms. Fenn want their contracts open. Too bad as I liked both characters! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since bank vaults often have time locks, just as the Black Lodge does, maybe the events at the bank parallel events at the Lodge. Here is one mapping from the characters at the bank to characters in the Black Lodge: A. Packard ------- W. Earle P. Martell ------- D. Cooper A. Horne ------- A. Blackburn (hmmm, why is Black in her name?) Old Man ------- SDC So assuming that corresponding individuals suffered the same fates, we can assume Andrew bought it, Pete is in pretty bad shape, and Audrey is pretty much okay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There will never be an answer to what happened with the bank explosion, but if there were, it could easily run like the cliffhanger resolutions in the old matinee serials (such as Republic Pictures "Zombies of the Stratosphere"), in which a sure-death calamity (like a car going over a cliff, the driver unconscious) is revealed in the next episode to be only part of what happened (driver actually wakes at the last second, throws himself clear). For example, episode 3001 could open with Pete's & Andrew's faces being briefly lit by a flashbulb attached (for some reason) to the bomb, before they turn and dash out, pausing to free Audrey with the bolt-cutters Pete had brought in case there was something hard to open inside the safe-deposit box. Cut to those three, along with the whole bank staff, exiting the building and running away across the parking lot. Medium shot as all stop, sheltering from the coming blast in the lee of an armored truck. Audrey asks, "Is everybody okay?" The group answers with murmured affirmatives. Dell says "I just wish I hadn't left my other glasses on the windowsill by the artificial rubber tree." Then the bank blows up. Would this be a narrative cheat? Sure, but it would also be a clever homage to the Golden Age of American Film. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remember what Annie Wilkes did in "Misery" when she found out the sequel to her movie caused a "cheat." (i.e., a plausible ending where a flashbulb goes off and every one has enough timeto escape from the bank. If Lynch indeed ever does this, he should stay out of places where it snows!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I seem to recall some talk awhile back that Sherrilyn Fenn was planning on leaving Twin Peaks to do some film work. I thought the case was that they were going to write her out in a way that would allow her to come back at a later point. Perhaps this was how it was going to be done - with her in a coma or somesuch (perhaps swaddled from head to toe in bandages) after the bank incident. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It occured to me that perhaps Audrey and Pete bit the dust for a purpose. Why would the writers build up the Audrey/Coop storyline at the beginning of the Peaks saga if not to have Audrey save Coop from the Black Lodge (not to mention its terrible black joe)? Why would the writers build up Pete's storyline after months of obscurity and turn him into a chess guru if not to have him help Audrey and Coop figure out a way out of the Black Lodge? I guess what I'm hoping for is an end to the incredibly boring Annie character Coop deserves someone with a brain and street smarts like Audrey. To hell with the age difference; it's not like he's old enough to be drinking decaffeinated coffee. ============================================================================== -- Bobby tells Shelly he wants to marry her. Heidi arrives for work. ============================================================================== *** Deja vu ============================================================================== Repeated dialogue. The entire scene in the RR Diner, with the german girl we haven't seen since the pilot movie, repeating the same damned thing ("couldn't jumpstart the old man?" etc...) Weird. And we see Mrs. Horne again, too... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Great of Lynch to bring back the old characters. The German waitress, Sylvia Horne, Leland (did anyone notice his hair changing color while talking to Cooper?), Maddy, Laura (my, can that girl scream!), LMFAP and Ronnette. Yea for not bringing back James! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ After Shelley makes her remark about ``...jump starting your old man'', Shelley and Bobby say, in chorus: ``AGAIN!'' This is not in the pilot (I checked). There seems to be a nice double entendre here: Shelley and Bobby teasing Heidi for being late one more time; and the writers winking at the audience and saying, ``Don't you feel a sense of deja vu at this scene?'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Right after the penultimate episode, I posted a list of things that I would like to see and not like to see. Most of them did come true. I was hoping to see Sarah Palmer, Laura, Maddy, the Giant, and LMFAP. My biggest disappointment in the show was that there was no Albert. Of course, there wasn't any logical reason for him to be in the episode, I was hoping he'd show up anyway, perhaps he'd feel compelled to be there from a dream or something. Thankfully, preliminary reports pertaining to _Twin Peaks: The Motion Picture_ indicate that Albert will be back. I thought it was a nice touch bringing back Ronette Pulaski, too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A friend pointed out to me that much of the last episode sort of answered or reprised elements from last season's finale: Last season, Nadine tried to commit suicide, leaving us with the question of whether she would live or die and with the possibility of Ed and Norma having a non-clandestine relationship. This season, Nadine, the old Nadine, finally returns, seemingly torpedoing Ed and Norma's plans to marry (not to mention Mike). Last season, Pete rushed into a burning building to save one Packard (Catherine) and we were left uncertain as to their fate; this year Pete accompanied another Packard (Andrew) to what seems like certain death. Last season, Audrey was in danger of discovery by her father, this season she is in danger of death. (Given the L shape of the vault, it's just possible that she was shielded from the full force of the blast. Maybe.) Last year Leo was shot by Hank---an even bigger bully than Leo---and his fate was uncertain; this season Leo was booby-trapped by Windom Earle---perhaps the biggest bully on the earthly plane in TP, and certainly in the same kind of domineering relation to Leo that Hank was---and is left hanging on by his teeth, literally. And, finally, last season ended with the climactic scene of Cooper getting shot, with the fade to black, and the body thump, leaving us wondering for his physical well-being; this season ends with the still more disturbing image of Coop confronting his Bob-self in the mirror, leaving us in deep worry about his psychic/spiritual well-being. [There's also the tantalizing scene of Major Briggs in the diner, receiving the message that Cooper is in the Black Lodge, which is a throw-away in a true finale, but a hint that the Major may play a role in Cooper's rescue (redemption?) in a continuing series.] It's one hell of a season finale; if only it could have had the patented TP ``...To Be Continued''. ============================================================================== + -- Leo still surviving ============================================================================== *** Leo ============================================================================== What will happen to Leo? The guy is left hanging by a string.. (bad pun) Were those tarantulas up there? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tarantulas don't usually bite people unless provoked. Leo may survive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How conscious is Leo? If fully, why doesn't he take advantage of the fact and free himself, either getting the appropriate keys while Windom's out or by brute strength? What happened to the madman from the first season? Kinda unexpected that even Leo would turn out to have a good side ("save Shelly...") at the end. Maybe love IS enough after all. =) By the way, Leo's been at Windom's hideaway for quite some time now -- he should have longer stubble to show for it. Unless Windom has been shaving him... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Of course, when he comes to after being stung by all those spiders, he'll either 1) return to the original Leo; 2) start showing a romantic interest in high school wrestling jocks; 3) look in the mirror and see Dale Cooper; 4) open a chic little Lebanese restaurant out in the woods; 5) wander the streets of Twin Peaks zapping himself with the Remote from Hell; 6) fart twice and die. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It has been mentioned before that Lynch is making fun of the public. This was never so clearly explained (at least to me) then through the use of the spiders above Leo. The viewing public are represented as the spiders in the cage, not being able to change their fate (i.e., not being able to affect changes in the show). The string represents twin peaks (the show) and how at this time it is being held on by a thread. Leo kinda represents the balance the show is in, i.e., what will happen in the future. It also represents a vision of the cliff hanger that Twin Peaks is known for. Those are my thoughts anyway. ============================================================================== -- Jacoby brings Sarah to Mr. and Mrs. Briggs. Sarah has a message for Garland: "I'm in the Black Lodge...with Dale Cooper. I'm waiting for you" ============================================================================== *** Sarah ============================================================================== Who "channeled" through Sarah to give a message to Major briggs and what was he supposed to do with it? We didn't see him for the rest of the show. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I noticed that the voice of Bob in Mrs. Palmer as she said to Briggs "I'm in the black lodge with Cooper" was exactly the same as the "power" voice in Dune. I thought that it was not Bob or Windom Earl (neither of which would make sense to be sending a message to the Major). Rather, I think it was Cooper saying "I'm in the black lodge with Windom Earle" - I definitely heard two parts to the name, and the second part was "er..." I had assumed it was Laura, saying she was in the Black Lodge with Cooper. Since most of Mrs. Palmer's visions, etc., seemed to be related to things happening to Laura (and at that point I don't think we had actually SEEN Laura yet) I just figured that a ghostly voice coming from Mrs. Palmer would be Laura's. Any other votes? Annie? The Dwarf? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Since Major Briggs APPARENTLY passed his test (facing the Black Lodge and reaching the White Lodge as he said previously that he believed this is what happened to him during his dissapearance?), he is the logical choice to go in after Cooper's good self (assuming BOB is in control of Cooper's evil doppleganger.). Suppose...maybe the Major is *just* as posessed as Coop... Anyone want to follow up on that idea? Perhaps the message Sarah Palmer delivered to him was one of "OK, time for you to begin Phase III of operation 'Life-Force-Sucking- Owls' - go after the Log Lady..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>The "voice that Sarah Palmer speaks" was that of Windom Earle. >What makes you so sure? Well, I'm hearing impaired. Not deaf, just hard of hearing enough that I need to use a Closed Caption Decoder to understand most of what's said on a TV. Twin Peaks did have closed captions. The people who actually type in the captions do so from a printed script of the show as part of the original video recording process. Sometimes when a character speaks, his/her voice will have an unusual aspect, and this will be noted on the captions, as "gasping" is used below, for example: (gasping)"We've got to get out of here" In this case, it said: (voice of Windom Earle)"I'm in the Black Lodge with Agent Cooper." That's where I'm coming from with my statement that Sarah's voice was that of Windom Earle's. One advantage of this is that I get (i.e., read) *every single* word of a TV show. If any of you folks have some segment on the tape where you can't figure out what was said because of background music or something, let me know and I'll watch my tape and check it out for you. What this *means* is something else. It certainly points out that WE had some power to inhabit other people in a manner similar to BOB. ============================================================================== -- Cooper and the little man from another place sitting in the red room. LMFAP: When you see me again, it won't be me. This is the waiting room. Would you like some coffee? Some of your friends are here. Laura: Hello Agent Cooper. {winks, snaps her fingers} I'll see you again in 25 years. Meanwhile... {presents her hands} Great Northern room service waiter: Hoo! Woo, woo, woo, woo {with hand in front of mouth--the "Indian noise"} Hallelujah! LMFAP: Hallelujah! GNRSW: Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. {sets down solid coffee for Cooper} Giant: One and the same. {LMFAP rubs his hands. Cooper picks up his coffee - it's liquid. When he's about to drink, it's solid. LMFAP continues rubbing his hands. The coffee's liquid. LMFAP continues rubbing his hands. The coffee's viscous.} LMFAP: Wow, Bob, wow. Fire walk with me. {Fire. A scream. Strobe effect. Cooper walks to the other room. Identical furniture but empty. Back to the original room.} LMFAP: Wrong way {Cooper goes back to to the other room. LMFAP babbles excitedly. Then:} LMFAP: Another friend. {Maddy enters wearing a black dress identical to Laura's. LMFAP continues to babble, ducks behind a chair.} Maddy: I'm Maddy. Watch out for my cousin. {can't see whether her eyes are white} {Cooper goes back to the original room. It's empty. Then:} LMFAP (shadow self): Doppelganger Laura (shadow self): {presenting hands} {angrily} Meanwhile {screams, climbs up on the chair} {Back to the other room. Empty, but Cooper is bleeding from his stomach. There's a trail of blood on the floor-- Cooper follows it back to the original room. Caroline and Cooper on the floor bleeding. No, it's Annie Annie gets up.} Cooper: Caroline? Annie? Annie? Annie? Annie? Annie? Annie? {Cooper goes back to the other room. Annie/Caroline is standing there, wearing the black dress from the pageant} Annie: Dale. I saw the face of the man who killed me. Cooper: Annie...the face of the man who killed you? Annie: It was my husband. Cooper: Annie? Annie: Who's Annie? It's me, it's me, it's me. Cooper: Caroline? {Annie changes to Caroline (shadow self), in Caroline's dress} Caroline (shadow self): You must be mistaken. I'm alive. {Laura (shadow self) screaming, then turns into Windom Earle.} {Annie, in pageant dress, appears off to the side, vanishes} Earle: Dale Cooper. If you give me your soul, I'll let Annie live. Cooper: I will. {Earle stabs Cooper. Fire. Rewind. BOB appears, grabs Earle} BOB: {to Earle} Be quiet. Be quiet. {to Cooper} You go. He is wrong. He can't ask for your soul. I will take his. {a spout of fire appears over Earle's head, and his head slumps forward} {Cooper's shadow self enters as Cooper leaves, crouches beside BOB, and laughs with him} {Cooper exits into the hallway} Leland (shadow self): I did not kill anybody. {Cooper's shadow self chases Cooper and catches up to him. BOB laughs.} Night -- Cooper and Annie are back -- Will tends to Cooper in his bed. Annie's at the hospital and will be okay. Cooper gets up, "I need to brush my teeth." In the bathroom, BOB has Cooper ram his head into the mirror. "How's Annie?!" [End of timeline] Discussion of the Black Lodge sequence is divided into the following topics: *** Annie *** Cooper at the mirror *** Doppelgangers *** Giant/Senor Droolcup *** Glastonberry Grove *** Inconsistencies *** Laura Palmer *** Pathetic theories *** Room configuration *** What it all means *** Windom Earle ============================================================================== *** Annie ============================================================================== A couple people have said that Annie was dopplegangized at the time she entered the circle of trees (they said, "Look closely at her eyes"). I did look closely at her eyes, and, to me, they look quite a bit different from the dopplegangers' eyes we see later in the BL. The dopplegangers' eyes are clearly glazed over to the point that the irises can't be seen; Annie's irises can still be seen after she enters the tree circle. I think that she has been enchanted or entranced, not dopplegangized. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Annie is kidnapped from the pagaent,, and a few scenes later we see Norma happily hanging out with Big Dumb Ed. Dont you think she would be a tad worried about her sister? Also Shelly didnt seem to worried about her. Dont tell me no one noticed she had disappeared?? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The words that Annie was reciting while WE was dragging her into the grove were not the 23rd Psalm, as suggested earlier, but the 141 Psalm (A Prayer for Preservation from Evil). The part I was able to identify matched the last verse from the King James version: "Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst I withal escape." However I couldn't make out all of what she was saying, so she may have quoted other passages too. ============================================================================== *** Cooper at the mirror ============================================================================== I went to see the finale at a friend's house in Beaverton, Oregon, about 190 miles south of the Double-R Diner. As you know, the finale featured many lights out, flashing lights, strobe lights, etc. scenes. Well, we got to the point of anti-Coop saying he needed to brush his teeth (about 3 minutes from the end) and BOOM!, a large explosion, and the neighborhood was plunged into darkness. Voices drift across the patio from elsewhere in the neighborhood, "It must be BOB!" After about 30 seconds, I begin to think it might very well be BOB, 'cause I am about to miss the ending of the whole series after watching it for two years. Well, the Major must have been looking out for us, because in about another 30 seconds, the power returned leaving us with the image of those two headbangers, BOB and anti-COOP, at the mirror. Maybe love (or the Bonneville Power Administration) is enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was kind of disappointed in the ending. Here is the great and evil Bob and the worst thing he can do is squeeze the tube of toothpaste from the middle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Cooper to have been trapped by BOB, it would mean that he still hasn't learned from his experience with Caroline, and also that he is weak. We've heard Hawk (perhaps an expert on spiritual strength) say that Cooper is strong and we've also learned from his experience with Audrey that Cooper can separate his logical thought from his love - perhaps if Cooper had confronted his "dweller on the threshold" instead of running in fear. Did Cooper end up failing because of what we saw as "fear" while in the Black Lodge? In addition to the dweller conflict, when Laura was screaming, he ran away and found himself bleeding-- was this a result of his fear? During this scene, the bleeding reminded me of "... it's not so bad as long as long as you can keep the fear from your mind..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weak! Smeak! Coop wasn't weak he sacrificed himself for Annie's life. Remember WE asking Coop if he would give him his soul for Annie's life. Coop without hesitating agreed. Only thing it was a trap. WE couldn't take Coop's soul, but BOB could. At that point Coop was trapped. He may have blundered, but I refuse to beleive he was weak. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Who thinks that 1) Coop's twin as bob got out and Coop is still trapped inside the lodge, or 2) bob has taken over Coop's body? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I noticed that, just before Coop and Annie re-appeared in Glastonbury Circle, one of the Coops caught the other one in one of the red rooms. I hope this meant the the Coop who reappeared is a conglomerate of the two, doing internal spritual battle for control. That would explain why Coop (the good one) smashes his head against the mirror on realizing that he is harboring Bob. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So did Cooper really let BOB in when he agreed to surrender his soul in return for Annie's life (even though BOB said WE couldn't make that exchange, he didn't say *he* couldn't!)? Or did the doppelganger Cooper merely overpower Dale and make it back to physical reality in his place? I wonder if TP would have taken this particular plot twist if Lynch et al hadn't needed a bang-up, shock ending for the series climax? If the show picks up again in some form, will Coop struggle from within against BOB, or is the good Coop still back in the Lodge? Will the good Coop only appear in visions and through owls? Will he really have to wait 20 or 25 years to escape? Will he age in the meantime? Aaaaggghhh... I don't want the show to be over!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I thought that the "...in 25 years..." quote referred to what we saw in the first dream-- Cooper was an old man, 25 years in the future sitting with the LMFAP and Laura. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As soon as Coop mentioned brushing his teeth, I thought bathroom,... mirror, BOB!... NO! I didn't read any of the Rolling Stone articles with the predictions until after 6/10. I'm sure that you too would have guessed what was going to happen even without having read the predictions. I think it was intentionally obvious. Lynch could have gotten Coop in front of a mirror in a much more subtle way, but instead used a rather obvious approach. The whole time Coop was walking to the bathroom and squeezing the toothpaste, I was saying to myself "No, not Coop. No...", yet was still shocked when he smashed his head against the mirror. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What about Cooper saying "I Will" to Windom Earle's request to him about trading his soul for Annie's life? Is THIS why Bob now has Cooper? Note that Bob popped right in at that point, but mentioned that Windom had overstepped his "authority"...Hmmmm...... Yes! As a netter noticed (try saying THAT five times fast!), WE did not have the authority but BoB DID! I think Coop really lost it when he *ran* from his darker side instead of confronting it. When it caught him, it overpowered him and replaced him in the real world. The combination of these two things ("I will" and running/being caught) caused Coop to fail the "test" By the way... I knew...i KNew....I KNEW!...Annie was going to get Coop in trouble. I KNEW IT !!!! COOP drop ANNIE!! (you should've done it along time ago bud) Now we have CooBob to deal with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What about Cooper saying "I Will" to Windom Earle's request to him about trading his soul for Annie's life? Is THIS why Bob now has Cooper? Note that Bob popped right in at that point, but mentioned that Windom had overstepped his "authority"...Hmmmm...... This may have been a test of Cooper's love for Annie-- I guess he "passed" this part? Although he failed otherwise. I think he "passed" this part by reacting with love rather than fear. Later, when he runs from doppelganger-Laura and his own doppelganger, he fails because he's reacting with fear. I think. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What about Cooper saying "I Will" to Windom Earle's request to him about trading his soul for Annie's life? Is THIS why Bob now has Cooper? Note that Bob popped right in at that point, but mentioned that Windom had overstepped his "authority"...Hmmmm...... I'd like to point out that Cooper didn't SELL his soul, he SACRIFICED it to save Annie. Pretty powerful stuff, that, at least in classic epic literature. That's why I believe it's not Cooper that Bob's possessing, but, as many have pointed out, the doppelganger, and it won't take much effort for Cooper to break free and put Bob back in the Black Lodge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMHO, Cooper and the BOB/Coop are one and the same. His double caught up with him in the Lodge. They are both in the bathroom brushing their teeth (well gee, kinda, sorta). The key will be to extract BOB/Coop from Cooper. I guess he has to wait 25 year until the Lodge is open again. (?) It's just too depressing to have to leave Twin Peaks thinking that there aren't any good guys. What a pessimistic view of the world! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Does BOB now control Cooper's soul? I think that Cooper assenting to take Annie's place granted BOB the authority to release Cooper's dark side. (I think that Coop's doppleganger did not appear until after this scene.) Cooper failed to defeat (or refute, disable or unconjure) his dark side (so far). I think that it is this dark side that has been released into the world and that the "good" Coop is still wandering the halls of the Lodge. This scenario scares me a little more. Cooper must have witnessed some pretty awful examples of human behavior as an Agent of the FBI. There must have been times when he wished he could go outside the law to punish a criminal. When his normal, good self is in control, such impluses are dismissed. But with the good interred in the Black Lodge the bad is free to act out all not only all his revenge impulses, but could recreate and re-enact many of the horrors he had witnessed professionally. Brrrrrrh. Kind of turns Cooper into a Hannibal Lector type, only scarier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I really enjoyed the (sigh) last episode last night. I had a slightly different take on the Cooper possession by Bob than has, so far, appeared in this group. I saw the whole Windom Earle arc revealed as a ruse by BOB to get Cooper to go into the Black Lodge. Cooper, not WE, was BOB's real target. After all, it was Cooper, not WE, who posed a genuine threat to BOB. BOB waited until Cooper surrendered his soul to WE, (a BOB minion) then dismissed WE and claimed the offered soul for himself. This was the permission that BOB needed to possess Coop. So Love doesn't conquer all.... However, I also don't see this as the end. I think that Cooper's soul is trapped inside the black lodge awaiting a rescue by a contingent of the Bookhouse Boys (Briggs, Harry, etc.). Also, Annie is (I think) still alive. She could be the one who frees Cooper. Earlier in the show when Cooper was dictating a memo to Diane he remarked that Annie (Love) had liberated him from his self imposed prison of solitude. And she did escape from meeting her own "dweller on the threshold" in the Black Lodge. Maybe she now possesses the strength and power to go back in and free Coop. Maybe Love does conquer all.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It just occurred to me. No, I'm lying. It occurred to me the first time I watched the last show (I've watched it 3 times since ... ) perhaps Special Agent Dale Cooper has been evil since the beginning. Perhaps he has been a host to BOB for longer that we think ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Those of you who are so upset that Bob possessed Coop, take heart, it may be only the doppleganger. Coop may still be in the lodge, because someone sent the message to Briggs through Sara Palmer. If all else fails, go back and watch "Darth Vader goes to heaven!" from the end of Star Wars III. Happy ending! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As for Coop's present situation. The LMFAP did say "doppleganger" before WE, BOB and the evil Coop appeared. My feeling is that Dale is trapped in the Black Lodge, while his doppleganger is free to roam the material plane. I think it will be up to the Major (and Annie?) to rescue him. (I also think Truman is not up to the task.) As for Annie, did she make it out of the BL? She didn't look to good laying next to Coop in the clearing. Perhaps she did die, and Truman lied to spare Coops feelings upon his recovery? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As for Coop's present situation. The LMFAP did say "doppleganger" before WE, BOB and the evil Coop appeared. My feeling is that Dale is trapped in the Black Lodge, while his doppleganger is free to roam the material plane. I think it will be up to the Major (and Annie?) to rescue him. (I also think Truman is not up to the task.) I agree that Coop is trapped in the Lodge and his doppleganger is roaming the material world. As for his rescue, I think that Albert is the likely choice (with the Major's help). If the way to overcome evil is through love, Albert will be the one to do it. Albert has said his philosophy of life is based on love (remember the "...Sheriff Truman, I love you." scene?). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In Western religions, evil always requires cooperation. In _The Exorcist_, little Linda Blair gets possessed because she plays with the Ouija board and opens the door to the Devil. That was terrifying because it presented the possibility that actions and not intentions could consititute cooperation. TP had the chance to explore the other possibility; namely that even a very good, strong and uncooperative man could lose his soul to an evil power. Unfortunately, Coop's saga in the Black Lodge was a bit murky, and it isn't clear at all what happened to allow Coop to be possessed by BOB. As other posters have pointed out, it looked like Coop did everything right. I don't even buy that running for the exit was the wrong thing. Coop had gotten what he'd come for - Annie's life. He wasn't running from BOB, just running out of the situation. So the question remains: How did Coop's evil doppelganger win out? And if Coop cannot stand up to BOB, then who can? It's a chilling thought. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Coop said "I have to brush my teeth," I knew what was up... yup, predictable but damn frightening. The way Coop reflexively 'attacked' Bob by butting his head into the mirror seemed to indicate that Coop himself (the same Coop who asked "How's Annie?" when he woke up, the human part of Coop that is still there even though Bob is sitting atop his soul) saw Bob in the mirror and knew who he was and what that meant. Is Coop now aware that he is being possessed by Bob? If he's aware of it, can he fight it? Seems to me that unless Bob is always dominant in Coop (which would most likely, well, be noticed around town ;-) ), when Coop's human side is in control of his body he has a chance to do something. So WILL HE???? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Perhaps that's it. BOB wants Cooper locked in the rubber room (as opposed to the red room), just as Cooper had gotten Windom sent to the mental ward years earlier. Divine irony, as BOB would see it... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A show of hands... how many paused at the bathroom door after watching the finale? "Mmmm... I don't think I need to brush my teeth tonight, nope, definitely not tonight...." Eeeek! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Three cheers to Daniel Mittleman, whose posting I quote in full: Fiona, I have no idea what it is you are looking for, but here are some ideas I had yesterday.. I have this idea for a final scene, but only sketchy details of what might come before it. Sketchy details: It seems to me that Windom Earle will manage to create a situation for Cooper where Earle has the ability to unleash all of the forces of the Black Lodge on the world. Doing so would cause untold death and destruction. Cooper has the ability to stop Earle, but because of the situation Earle has created, doing so was cost the life of Annie. In the climax Cooper decides to save the world, Annie is killed, Cooper is a hero, but is left inconsolable and despondent. Final scene: We are just inside the doorway of Cooper's room at the Great Northern. We see Cooper in a profile view sitting in a wooden chair at his desk/dresser staring blankly into the mirror in front of him (not wholly unlike the opening scene with Josie). The room is dark and warm and woody. The camera angle slowly moves towards Cooper circling around behind him. Very haunting TP music picks up in the background. As the camera comes around behind Cooper we can see his reflection in the mirror. It is Bob smiling and laughing back out at him. The picture fades to black. "Lynch/Frost" appears on the screen. This is all a brainstorm - additional comments and suggestions are welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most of the things I noticed during the finale have already been mentioned by the rest of you except for one (small) thing. Did anyone else besides me see Cooper's first line after waking up in his hotel room with Truman and Doc Hayward standing over him ("I wasn't sleeping!") as a message directly from David Lynch to the viewing audience that he wasn't going to cop out with a Wizard of Oz-like ending? As soon as I say Cooper in bed with Truman and Doc standing over him, I thought, "Oh, no! The whole thing's been a dream!". Then, as if on cue, Lynch seemed to be saying directly to me that, no, it wasn't a dream. ============================================================================== *** Doppelgangers ============================================================================== Alternatively, the Leland evil form existed as a seperate entity in the black Lodge and was obviously kin to the evil Dale form. Perhaps this is the Lodge's representation of possession by Bob. Hawk said that your spirit had to visit the Black Lodge and overcome your evil self before it could proceed to the White Lodge. Sounds like everyone has an evil self in the Black Lodge; you don't have to be possessed by BOB. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Watch out for my cousin" might have well have been a fortelling of what was to come, the doubles... the "dopplegangers", the opposites. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The MFAP said that he'd show up again as someone else -- who? What he said was closer to: ``When you see me again, it won't be me.'' I think that what he meant was that each successive apearance of the LMFAP was merely someone who looked like him: doppelgangers (und treppelgangers, usw). Note that this happens with Laura. The first Laura we see, who says she won't see Cooper for 25 years, has clear eyes, while Laura/Bob, has glazed eyes. This seems to be a distinguishing mark of the doppelgangers. Also, the only Leland we see has glazed eyes, and the anti-Cooper also has glazed eyes. Still, the whole XXX Lodge sequence leaves open the question of what happened to those who have died and exactly whose side the supernatural entities are playing on ---except for Bob, of course, who remains unchanging in his Bobhood. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Wow, BOB, wow!" Since no one has pointed out the obvious, I will: this is a palindrome that is also vocally palindromic, when spoken in the Lynchian double-reverse technique Only other one I can think of is "Madam, I'm Adam." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It's "mom, pop, mom" upside down. The twin-peak theme is expressed in the dual points of the W/M, and in the double W's of "wow", and in the double-wow's of the palindrome. Just as the double-W's of "wow" represent the twin peaks with the town of TP between them, the palindrome as a whole represents the twin "wow"s of the lodges with the mundane world between them--and Bob is in the place represented by the mundane world. The reversed-ground version of "mom, pop, mom" is "pop, mom, pop"--Donna's dilemma. And the two "pop"s are the "horns" (i.e., peaks) of the dilemma. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Doppelgangers. Coop's dark side escapes. As did Leland's (that's why the other Leland is in the lodge, and "didn't kill anyone")... Laura's light side escaped, leaving her dark side in the lodge. Sound somewhat right? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ * Doppelgangers. Coop's dark side escapes. As did Leland's (that's why the other Leland is in the lodge, and "didn't kill anyone")... Laura's light side escaped, leaving her dark side in the lodge. Sound somewhat right? We've known for some time that in order to reach the White Lodge, one must first travel through the Black Lodge, and in the process meet and overcome one's doppelganger. Coop is about 75% of the way there. Now, all he has to do is overcome his evil side, and he'll be in. I personally was kind of disappointed by Coop's actions in the Black Lodge. In order to defeat the evil, he needed to have overcome his fear and fought back with love, not just for Annie, but for life, the world, his friends, and his enemies. Remember, "Fear is the mindkiller." Instead, all Coop does is run back and forth between the two rooms. And he didn't overcome his fear. Of course, I would be afraid too if I had a doppelganger of Laura Palmer screeching at you. Yow! I don't think that the evil Laura or Leland or LMFAP were real. Remember, LMFAP said, "When you see me again, it will not be me." There seemed to be four entities in the Black Lodge with Coop. They are: Windom, Annie, BOB, and Coop's doppelganger. My theory is that the evil LMFAP was actually BOB (he walked and sounded similarly), Carolyne was probably Windom, evil Laura was probably Windom (using frame advance on a vcr, one can see Windom's face in between flashes of the strobe light when the evil Laura is coming at Coop), and Leland was probably BOB too. Illusion *is* one of evil's major weapons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Things to do while procrastinating at work: I looked up doppleganger in the Britannica, where it said (this is from a fried cortex) a doppleganger (which means "double goer") is a spiritual double that all humans and animals have. It is not a ghost, but an "apparition" or a "wraith". And if you happen to _see_ your doppleganger, it means your death is imminent. The moment good Coop turned around in the hallway and made eye contact with bad Coop was a moment of significance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This may already have been mentioned, but in the final episode of The Prisoner, "Fall Out", the hero (#6) meet his own evil doppleganger (#1). ============================================================================== *** Giant/Senor Droolcup ============================================================================== I didn't understand why the Giant/SDC were in the waiting room. I suppose that the waiting room was neutral territory for Black/White lodges? >From Major Briggs' discussion after returning from his disappearance, they (the Air Force?) were still looking for the White Lodge. This would mean that if the Giant were part of the White Lodge, then he shouldn't have been in the waiting room, right? If the Giant was previously helping Cooper and tried to stop him from encouraging Annie to enter Miss Twin Peaks, (..."this is all I'm permitted to say,"...) I would think that he was a "good guy." The Black and White Lodges must also be "one in the same" I guess-- coexisting in the same place/time (whatever that is)? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, there seem to be two strains of interpretation here about what the Giant's ``One and the same'' means: (1) Since we see the Waiter bring the coffee and the Giant go back, it is the Waiter and the Giant that are ``One and the same''. (This is what I took it to mean.) (2) Since the Giant says ``One and the same'' as he sits down beside the LMFAP he means that the two of them are ``One and the same''. I personally disfavor this, although I did think, when I saw the two of them sitting side by side that this answered Albert's question to Coop about the Giant: ``Any relation to the dwarf?'' Goddamn deictic statements where the speakers don't deict properly! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, there seem to be two strains of interpretation here about what the Giant's ``One and the same'' means: (1) Since we see the Waiter bring the coffee and the Giant go back, it is the Waiter and the Giant that are ``One and the same''. (This is > what I took it to mean.) > ... I would also like to believe the first, but my initial reaction was the opposite. When the Giant said that I immediately pictured the big and little figures in the petroglyph. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the BL, did Cooper's coffee turn to OIL ?? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Beverages, potions, whatever, they're important in many myths. When the coffee froze, it seemed a logical result of the freezing of time. But when it turned viscous, it could have been time picking up steam again -- or was it oil? The oil of the gods is _burnt_ -- as are the offerings to the gods. What would have happened if Coop had _drunk the oil?_ Or was it just pancake syrup? :) ============================================================================== *** Glastonberry Grove ============================================================================== According to the Access Guide, Glastonberry Grove has 12 Great Firs, not 12 Sycamore trees. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I can't believe I didn't find the important location on the petroglyph/map. Sitting right there next to the circle of trees is a sign that looks almost like a yin/yang symbol, though the black and white halves are not intertwined in this one. The Black Lodge and the White Lodge. It actually even looks sort of spatially correct for the two sides that Cooper kept running between; I wonder, now, if the show was consistent about one of those rooms belonging to the White Lodge and the other belonging to the Black Lodge? Guess I'll have to rewatch it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Sitting right there next to the circle of trees is a sign that looks almost > like a yin/yang symbol, though the black and white halves are not > intertwined in this one. The Black Lodge and the White Lodge. It actually > ... I can see how you interpreted the symbol this way, but doesn't it look more like a small well of water? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Glastonbury the legendary burial place of King Arthur who sought the Holy >> Grail aka the Cup of Christ (Arthur, the Once and Future King, who goes >> away but will return at the times of greatest need and peril -- yet more >> death and re-birth symbolism) > I'm angry that they dropped an extremely interesting plot line (KING ARTHUR > !!) they mentioned it and then * POOF * they dropped it. Maybe > spanning from England to Twin Peaks was too much? not for me. No, bringing in a King Arthur plot would have been a lame, unoriginal way of tying things up. TP didn't need something like that to make it work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why are they calling the Black Lodge/White Lodge Glastonbury? It's not an Indian name and it's certainly not a Tibetan name. It's Avalon. It's where King Authur, the once and future king, is buried. There really is a Glastonbury Isle and it's the legendary site of Avalon - just down the road from Camelot. Funny thing is that Glastonbury (and the King Authur tale itself) is a disguised story about a mythical fight for the soul of a Celtic people between Christianity and paganism (Marion Bradley, The Mists of Avalon). Not quite the same thing as good vs evil, but close. In the King Arthur tale, Arthur himself chooses neither Christianity nor paganism, he is neutral. When he is re-born (hence the title - the once and the future king) perhaps he will choose one or the other. (Witches, of course, hope he will choose paganism.) Glastonbury, in short, is paradise, a location for death and rebirth, reincarnation. Obviously, Lynch has a bad case of symbol diarrhea, but it's fun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maybe I am reading some of this in, but the finale seemed to be using a whole bunch of imagery borrowed from Arthurian legends and even Adonis myths. The presence of the 12 rainbow trout, the 12 sycamores, the name of the grove (supposedly the burial place of King Arthur), and the wound in Cooper's side are all elements of what someone has termed "fisher-king" archetypes as found in grail stories, the Golden Bough, etc. Supposedly what happens is that the knight, in this case Cooper, finds entrance into some separate place representing the psyche (?) and is there presented with 3 questions. He doesn't have to even answer them in most cases, just be a righteous guy, and he gets the grail which he then applies to the king's wound restoring the king and the land. Since Cooper becomes wounded I would guess that he is the "arthur" figure and that he is either going to have to restore himself (from inside the Black Lodge ?) or someone is going to have to do it for him. If Lynch holds true to arthurian legends it would be a child without a father, or maybe even a child Annie might have(?). It's been a while since I studied this stuff, but the imagery was obviously there. Re-read Catch-22 for another use of the Fisher-king archetype in a modern setting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Since Cooper becomes wounded I would guess that he >> is the "arthur" figure and that he is either going to have to >> restore himself (from inside the Black Lodge ?) or someone is going to >> have to do it for him. If Lynch holds true to arthurian legends it would >> be a child without a father, or maybe even a child Annie might have(?). >Actually, since the writers brought in King Arthur at this late date, >I would have to give that role to Windom Earle (in a twisted sort of >way). Caroline could be Guinevere and that would make Cooper be >Lancelot. I don't think Cooper wants to be King of anything; his >character is much better suited to the role of the knight of >exceptional ability, very close and loyal to the King, but at the same >time the secret lover of the Queen. Having killed off the first Queen >(Caroline), Windom Earle has to pursue Cooper and set up another Queen >for him to love, refusing to let go of that triangle relationship. Actually, if you continue this line of reasoning it would explain Coop's lack of success in the Black Lodge. Lancelot was unable to succeed in the quest for the Grail because of the impurity inherent in his consumated love for another man's wife. That is why the need for the Galahad and Percival figures in the Arthurian legends. Perhaps it is Albert's form of non sexual love that is needed to win through to the White Lodge and save everyone. In any case, I agree that to date the parallel's to the Arthurian legends are a little strained. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >before he can again encounter the Grail and restore the Fisher King >and the wasteland that the King's land has become. [Well--so maybe >Cooper SHOULD have asked what was in that cup of coffee. Maybe it >could have healed all those wounds that we kept seeing on people... >The Holy Grail as a cup of coffee? In Twin Peaks, it wouldn't >surprise me. Hmm...] AH YES, IT'S ALL CLEAR NOW... THE FISH IN THE COFFEEPOT... AND DON'T DONUTS COME IN BOXES OF TWELVE? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > A bunch of posts in the past few weeks here have made reference to the > myth of the Fisher King. What is this, and where does it come from? > > I'd been wondering about it since I saw it here, and have since stumbled > across another reference to it in the liner notes to a Sting album, which, > however, was not particularly informative. The Fisher King is a major figure in the legendry surrounding the Holy Grail, which is (by most interpretations) the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper, carried into Europe by Joseph of Arimathea. This cup appears in a vision to King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table and the knights decide they will go off on a quest to find the actual Grail. This is generally taken to be the first sign of the breakup of the Round Table. The full basic story can be read in Bulfinch's Mythology (almost certainly available at your college library). The interesting part about the story in Bulfinch is that the Grail was given over into a line of kings to protect it, but the requirement was that they live lives of perfect purity. This worked fine until one Grail King had impure thoughts about a female pilgrim whose robe loosened as she knelt before him. After this he was called "Le Roi Pescheur", or the Sinner King. Well, in French "Pescheur" for sinner, is very close in sound to "Pecheur" for fisherman, and so the name eventually became the Fisher King. There are many variants on this legend from different traditions. The elements that have generally shown up in later allusions (T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" springs to mind) center around the fact that the Fisher King is wounded in the "thigh" (a euphemism for saying that he's impotent) and at the same time his lands are unable to bear fruit. The people are starving. Fertility can only be restored by the arrival of a pure knight, who in different versions has different requirements made of him, and if this knight does what he's supposed to do, the Fisher King's wound will be healed (presumably by the Grail) and the land will come back to life. In the Parsifal legend, the knight fails on his first try and has to have a number of adventures before he can try again, but he is eventually successful. In the Galahad legend (which is quoted in Bulfinch), the pure knight Galahad has a fairly easy time of it, although his father Lancelot is not able to see the Grail because of his involvement with Queen Guenevere. Jessica Weston wrote a book in the 1920's called "From Ritual to Romance" in which she ties in the symbols of the Grail legend with ancient fertility rites mentioned in Fraser's "The Golden Bough". It is worth reading if you're interested in the theme of restoring energy to something that's spiritually or emotionally dying. I do remember reading somewhere that later scholarship has shown her theories to be wrong, but I don't know whether this was anthropological, literary, or mythological scholarship. I also don't know if there is a particular source which has succeeded it as the definitive thought-provoking book on the Grail Legend. I'm sure this is More Than You Ever Wanted to Know about the Fisher King, but perhaps it will clarify the Sting reference for you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ How quickly do sycamores grow? The ones in Glastonberry Grove seemed awfully small to me. Perhaps they are about 20 years old. This 20 year thing keeps recurring. Norma won Miss TP 20 years ago. I take it that Leland became LeBoBland in that time scale, and Coop meets Laura again in 25 years. All timed with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. Maybe every 20 years the circle is destroyed and it regrows. Hence the presence of the circle in the petroglyph, and the changing species of trees. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >How quickly do sycamores grow? The ones in Glastonberry Grove seemed Sycamores are very fast growing trees. Those in the Grove couldn't have been 20 years old - I would guess about 4-5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Was Glastonbury Grove the site of Bob's sudden appearance at the end of the penultimate episode? The puddle which reflected the red curtains did look like the 'well' in the center of the circle of trees. But Bob certainly seemed to be safe in the Black Lodge again for the final episode (well, *most* of the final episode... ;-) ). So why did Bob pop into the real world and then go back to the Lodge? Lynch ad-libs again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Funny how no one ever noticed the red curtains before... :-) (But they're silent... I KNEW Bob was in Nadine!) ============================================================================== *** Inconsistencies ============================================================================== Trivial, but interesting: when Coop enters the curtains initially, he's wearing an overcoat. When we then cut to the next scene (Coop entering the hallway), Coop has no overcoat on. Hmmm.... Did we miss a scene where he checked his coat? :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...So there you are, in the Black Lodge, with your trusty FBI-issue Smith & Wesson Model 1076 10mm pistol at your side, being pursued by your evil doppelganger. What do you do? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ...So there you are, in the Black Lodge, with your trusty FBI-issue > Smith & Wesson Model 1076 10mm pistol at your side, being pursued by > your evil doppelganger. What do you do? > Send Diane another tape... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> ...So there you are, in the Black Lodge, with your trusty FBI-issue >> Smith & Wesson Model 1076 10mm pistol at your side I must say, I've wondered the same thing myself. Why was Coop so dadgum spaced-out-looking during the whole BL scene? This guy is a professional FBI agent, fer crissakes, yet not once did he draw that 10mm, even when Windom Earle himself popped up in front of him. I half expected Coop to say, "You are under arrest for murder....you have a right to remain silent, if you do not choose...." But noooooooo, he stood there like a house by the side of the road. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > I must say, I've wondered the same thing myself. Why was Coop so dadgum > spaced-out-looking during the whole BL scene? This guy is a professional > FBI agent, fer crissakes, yet not once did he draw that 10mm, even when > Windom Earle himself popped up in front of him. I half expected Coop to > say, "You are under arrest for murder....you have a right to remain silent, > if you do not choose...." But noooooooo, he stood there like a house > by the side of the road. Under the laws of which country is Cooper going to arrest Windom Earle in the Black Lodge? Will Bob really agree to extradite him? And why should Cooper's attempt to use a weapon there be any more successful than Windom Earle's? Cooper was at least smart enough to know that the normal procedures wouldn't apply there, although he didn't seem to be able to figure out what would work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Who says he even HAD his pistol? He certainly seemed to lose his flashlight and overcoat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All throughout the finale, Cooper was so damn passive. The side of good really has done nothing throughout without evil being one step ahead of them all the way. Coop ignored the giant's warning; even when he realized that Windom was waiting on the outcome of the Miss Twin Peaks pageant, all he did after getting there was watch (and clap =) ). He was a model of in- action all the way through. If anything, Andy was the one who made the most progress -- the map, the revelation of the bonsai bug, etc. Coop was even passive inside the Lodge. I expected at least something from the man who was on top of everything not so long ago. The way things were, he was almost a bit player... it was Windom who made everything happen; Coop was just following and watching. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > So there you are, in the Black Lodge, with your trusty FBI-issue > Smith & Wesson Model 1076 10mm pistol at your side ... [and others have wondered why Cooper was so passive in the Red Rooms] It was Dale Cooper's nature to be an observer rather than a participant. The autobiography drives this home repeatedly, but it's also evident from the show. His love of observation certainly takes him into a lot of strange and interesting situations, but he is ultimately there as the passive viewer. The one motivation that seems to kick him into genuine action is a head to head confrontation with known evil. I suppose you could say that the evil in the Red Rooms should have spurred him to greater action, but the nature of the evil and all of the experiences in the Red Rooms (not all of it was evil) was unknown to Dale. And while those experiences would have been totally disorienting to most mortals, Dale lapsed into his observe-it-for-all-it's-worth mode, and probably dealt with it better than almost anyone else could have. At least that's my take on Dale's personality and the nature of his actions (or lack thereof) in the Lodge waiting rooms. ============================================================================== *** Laura Palmer ============================================================================== >Laura Palmer's hand symbol looked like a symbol, similar to the >pose in many Bhuddist paintings. Anyone know what it means? If my memory serves me correctly it's the classic possition taken by Shiva while doing his dance that destroys and thus remakes the world The fullfilment of the death and re-birth cycle. It's also symbolic of something that is in this world but not of this world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Laura Palmer's hand symbol looked like a symbol, similar to the > pose in many Bhuddist paintings. Anyone know what it means? Well, this may be too prosaic an explanation, but take a look at Madonna's ``Vogue'' video. ``Strike a pose'', indeed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Laura Palmer's hand symbol looked like a symbol, similar to the >pose in many Bhuddist paintings. Anyone know what it means? I thought it looked like Vanna White, on Wheel of Fortune. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >I thought it looked like Vanna White, on Wheel of Fortune. I was ready for a bottle of shampoo to materialize in her hands and she says "This is the shampoo I use !!" :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Laura's screaming scenes caused both cats to leave the TV room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Am I the only person who found Laura's screaming decidedly NOT scary? > It seemed completely unmotivated by extreme terror or even extreme > rage; just a device to have her step forward and try to scare Cooper. > Could someone who WAS scared perhaps describe for me what it was that > was so frightening for them in that moment. Perhaps my efforts to try > and figure out what was going on detached me from it emotionally to > the point where I missed the experience. Well, what got me going was not the screaming but the fact that she crawled over the love seat in the same way we'd seen Bob crawl over the sofa in the Palmer's living room. On first viewing, I interpreted the whole scene as ``Laura as Bob'', and the screaming/howling as Bob's screaming/howling. It was shocking to see ``Laura'' doing Bob's moves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Just an observation here-- I noticed that in the scene that begins with "Doppleganger," while the "evil Laura" is screaming, the faces of Laura and WE were alternately flashed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Laura Palmer - gets the Fay Wray award for 1991. Aside. Why was Maddy in the Black Lodge? She wasn't evil (see above). And if we're trotting out the tournament of dead people society, why not bring in Mr. Solitary Soul too? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to an exhibit of Tibetan religious art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, I will try to interpret Laura's hand gestures in the Waiting Room. Her right hand, with fingers pointing upwards, is a symbolic gesture meaning HAVE NO FEAR (!!!). Laura's horizontally pointing left hand is a symbol for CONTEMPLATION. I believe that her use of these gestures was an attempt to remind Coop of his training during the "lost years", as well as being direct messages in their own right. The purpose of the HAVE NO FEAR message is obvious, I think the CONTEMPLATION message means that Coop should face his upcoming ordeal with a calm and reflective mind. Thus, both messages also reinforce each other. Notice that the doppel-Laura directly attempts to counter these two messages by her "piercing" screaming - she is trying to pierce Coop's composure. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was playing with the freeze-frame... In the scene where Laura screams at Cooper and then runs up to him, and the strobe lights are going, her face is replaced in a few frames by the face of WE, lit up in a strange mellow orange light. I took this to mean that the Laura-doppel was some kind of creation by WE, designed expressly to induce fear in Cooper. The lodge magicians (even WE) can manipulate reality there, making coffee run at the wrong speed, maybe controlling doppels or creating confusing images. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Was that Laura reflected in the coffee cup in the end titles? Yes. Her reflection starts out unfocussed and becomes clearer. If you watch closely, you can see her wink. I had a frightening moment watching the image come up; while the image of was still sort of fuzzy, I thought it was Bob reflected in the cup, which would have really depressed me no end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Grin. I wonder how many thousands of people ran to their TV during the credits with their Head upside down. Yes. It was Laura. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The final credits: I've been on the edge of my seat before, but upside down in front of my TV? Whew! How many of you were with me? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > So Laura in a coffee cup. What the heck does *that* mean?! Not just any coffee cup; it's the coffee cup that Cooper set down on the table in the Waiting Room. (I suddenly realized that Laura would be right side up to Cooper.) And her image fades in slowly. And she winks (presumably, at Cooper). ============================================================================== *** Pathetic theories ============================================================================== The Black Lodge is the opposite of OZ! Consider these references: 1. Garland Briggs asks about JUDY GARLAND, who starred as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. 2. When Briggs emerges from the woods, he asks where the castle is. (Though this could have been a reference to the castle of the king of Romania!) 3. Near the black and white firepit portal stands Pete's truck, which has twelve RAINBOW trout. Thus the portal could be said to be over the rainbow. 4. The wizard used fire to strike fear into Dorothy and her friends. 5. Water was used to kill the wicked witch, just as the sprinklers removed Bob from Leland. 6. The colors RED and GREEN are opposites. The red traffic light is akin to the red room, the green light to peacefulness. The emerald city in the land of Oz was, of course, GREEN. 7. David Lynch used Oz references extensively in 'Wild at Heart'. 8. The promo for the return of TP to Thursdays on ABC had Coop acting as Dorothy in bed, surrounded by his (her) friends. This promo may have been more symbolic than we knew! Here's the answer to how Coop gets out of the Black Lodge: he clicks his heels together 3 times and repeats "There's no place like home." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What is the significance of the fact that the flashing lights on Cooper and Truman's police car were the same colors as Dr. Jacoby's eyeglasses? (Aside from this detail, everything seemed pretty straightforward.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hasn't anyone yet realized that the Lounge Lizard was the Log Lady's husband? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yes, I know that this is reaching, but what else do we have? The phrase "How's Annie?" is repeated so much in the end of the movie Finale that I feel that there may be some meaning hidden in it. I loaded up the phrase in my mind, and then played it backwards. You would never guess what came out..."In A While". Ok, so it comes out "Ina Wah", but if you say it really fast, it sounds like "In A While." Is Lynch trying to tell us to wait a while, and Peaks will be back? Probably not, but it was worth a shot. ============================================================================== *** Room configuration ============================================================================== The general concensus which I am receiving from the group, is that Lynch's depiction of the Black Lodge was disappointing. I can't disagree more! I found the maze of red curtains, disorienting, distressing, and just plain spooky! The atmosphere in the waiting room seemed quite oppressive. It had an evil/oily ambience which I though was entirely appropriate. (I had the same feeling watching Kubrick's "The Shining") I had no difficulty believing that this COULD be a vision of Hell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Red Room spoken in reverse sounds like "murder". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Although I haven't analyzed it scene by scene to the point others have in terms of drawing diagrams, etc., my gut feeling when watching Coop move from hallway to room and again was that there was only one hallway and one room, and that it was the things in the room and hallway that were changing, not that there were multiple rooms and hallways. As I say, this is a gut, emotional response only, not an analytical one. It just seemed to me that Coop was trapped in the same space the entire time, and that the only way he could leave was to win or lose the "Test of the Black Lodge" (as per Hawk). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I also liked the idea presented by one Netter that the corridor was a passage from the Black to the White Lodge. That somehow, the two rooms Coop kept (endlessly) passing between represented the Black and White Lodge The idea of good/evil being intertwined fits perfectly with the concept of yin/yang. Good and Evil cannot be seperated, without one, the other would not exist. There is Good and Evil is everyone (well..in BoB ???) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The white lodge and the black lodge are two faces to the same coin, ie there's only ONE lodge, but there are obviously two parts. (The floor I took as the giveaway: white and black mixed, spaced) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ there was only _ONE_ room. At first it looked like two, with the middle passage in between them. Then, near the end, when Coop starts wildly running about, he is going in a circle, with each entrance bringing him to the same room from different sides. Look more carefully at those last 15 minutes, people. Good and evil the same? or someone thought it would look cool? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I beg to differ. After it was all over my boyfriend brought out the old graph paper and we mapped the whole thing. Now I'm sorta fuzzy on it, cause after watching it for the 20th time I was getting somewhat burned out. But, here are his conclusions: (Any errors are mine, as he has 25 pages of maps and notes and I'm doing my best to decipher them from memory) Okay, one of the clues is the statue in the hallway. It's there for a while, and then it disappears. Alos, there is one room without furniture. So, we came to the conclusion there are 3 rooms and 2 hallways, one hallway with a statue, one without. Or, looking at this map, maybe there's three hallways. That's it! Okay. There's the ahllway into the waiting room, which has a statue in it. Then, there's another hallway (also with a statue) that leads to the room where Coop faced Bob and Shadow-Laura. Then, there's a third hallway without a statue that leads to the empty room. I think. But this was the basic idea. I think I'll shut up till he gets home and let him post and explain all his breakdowns etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >One little anomaly I noticed in the Black (/white?) Lodge scene last night: >After Cooper has gone from room to room a couple times, the statue which is >in the hallway dissapears. Any comments? Yes, a statue of _Venus._ Saturn and Jupiter are not alone in the current planetary conjuction -- even in the smoggy skies off Manhattan we can see that Venus is the brightest of the three... I took the Venus de Milo to be Annie, Coop's Venus, and when the statue disappeared, I feared the worst for her. Or was it just that this symbol of love had fled? Can anyone identify the statue in the waiting room? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >One little anomaly I noticed in the Black (/white?) Lodge scene last night: >After Cooper has gone from room to room a couple times, the statue which is >in the hallway dissapears. Any comments? Didn't Gordon say that Shelly resembled the Venus de Milo statue while talking to Coop in the RR Diner? It seems that there was alot of emphasis placed on Shelly...Leo tells The Major to "save Shelly", Gordon falls in love with her, Windom Earle reading poetry by Shelley...does anyone think that originally Shelly would have played a much larger role in the Black Lodge thing, if not for the time constraints placed on Lynch et al? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >One little anomaly I noticed in the Black (/white?) Lodge scene last night: > After Cooper has gone from room to room a couple times, the statue which is >in the hallway dissapears. Any comments? >-- On a second watching I kept track of this. If you take the statue as indicating WHICH room Cooper is in (no statue by the entrance to the first -- called the "Waiting Room" by the LMFAP -- and a statue by the entrance to the second room), then Cooper moves back and forth between the 1st and 2nd rooms several times.* Then... Laura reappears with glassy eyes and starts screaming. Flashes of Windom Earle's face are alternated with hers. I take this to mean that WE is now controlling what Cooper sees. After this scene, we never see the statue again, the logical conclusion being that either Cooper keeps entering the same room (the 1st) over and over again, or he is running between the 1st room and a doppelganger ("the wrong room") 1st room. *the only divergence from consistent spatial relationships is when Cooper looks in the 2nd room for the first time. The furniture is in the corner closest to him. Subsequently, it is in the far corner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *the only divergence from consistent spatial relationships is when Cooper looks in the 2nd room for the first time. The furniture is in the corner closest to him. Subsequently, it is in the far corner. It's more than this, though. The jagged tooth pattern on the floor of the hallway runs parallel to the ``rear'' wall. When Cooper first enters room 2, the pattern in the room is consistent with this. When he re-enters it the pattern is running parallel to the hallway, as if the room had been rotated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > On a second watching I kept track of this. If you take the statue as > indicating WHICH room Cooper is in (no statue by the entrance to the > first -- called the "Waiting Room" by the LMFAP -- and a statue by the > entrance to the second room), then Cooper moves back and forth between > the 1st and 2nd rooms several times.* > ... OK, maybe I REALLY need a life. But I replayed this scene and paid special attention to the zig-zag floor pattern. From room 1, looking at the statue, the central zig, plus both zigs closest to the two curtain walls point TOWARDS you. From room 2 (from the statue), obviously, they point away. Cooper moves absolutely consistently from room 1 to room 2, despite the fact that the statue has disappeared in the meanwhile, many times. However, there is a lapse. Coop meets BOB in Room 1, where BOB takes WE's soul. He leaves room 1 abruptly, just before anti-Cooper enters from the other side, laughs along with BOB, and then chases him. Coop runs up the hall the wrong way (he is now leaving room 2 and entering room 1 according to the floor, but not according to his previous whereabouts) and meets Leland in the hall, looks back, sees anti-Coop, etc. At that point, Coop runs THROUGH a room, out the other side, and all bets are off. (There may be a thesis in here somewhere.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >One little anomaly I noticed in the Black (/white?) Lodge scene last night: > After Cooper has gone from room to room a couple times, the statue which is >in the hallway dissapears. Any comments? I thought, while I was watching it, that there's a statue at *one* end of the hallway and not the other. I assumed it was put there in part to serve as a reference point so that we could tell which room was which. At some point, though, it seemed that things got totally turned around and inconsistent, sort of like the scene in "Yellow Submarine" where Our Heroes run in one hotel room door and then out of the door across the corridor. [In what follows, I'm calling the first of the red curtained rooms that Cooper enters, ``the waiting room'', just to have some name for it.] The first five times Cooper goes through the hallway, there is a statue at ``the far end'' (i.e. the end away from ``the waiting room'' or its current incarnation, and away from the camera). Moreover, Cooper is filmed fairly consistently: when he is moving away from ``the waiting room'' end, he is filmed from behind, moving toward the statue, away from the camera; when he is moving toward ``the waiting room'' end, he is filmed from the front, moving away from the statue, toward the camera. (This assumes there is only one statue in the hallway(s) with the statue.) When Cooper leaves the room where he starts to bleed from the stomach, which was the room away from ``the waiting room'' end, he is filmed, as usual, approaching the camera. But there is no statue behind him. The point of view then cuts to a position from behind Cooper and there is no statue in front of him, either. I take it that the different camera angle is meant to let us know that this is a hallway without a statue at either end. The hallway where Cooper meets Leland is also a hallway without a statue, since we see the hallway from Cooper and Doppel-Cooper's viewpoints, and there's no statue at either end. Also, I believe that the camera position is different in this scene, and is at what was formerly ``the far end'' of the hallway. Since this is where Cooper starts to run away from his Doppelganger, towards the room where he entered the XXX Lodge, this is probably a deliberate shift in camera point of view. I'm not completely certain of this, however. Up until Cooper encounters Caroline for the first time, we see him enter and exit each room he's in, and it's possible to chart his course. However, we don't see him leave the room where he meets Caroline; there is a cross-fade, to a shot of the camera panning up a hallway, with Cooper saying ``Annie'' over and over. At this point, it's not clear where the next room, where he encounters Windom Earle et al, is. In the climactic race with his Doppelganger, it looks like Cooper crosses two hallways and goes through a room. The last room of the chase seems to be the original ``waiting room''. If it is, the Doppelganger catches Cooper at the spot where Cooper entered the XXX Lodge (which makes sense, since ``Cooper'' then reappearsin Glastonbury Grove. Also, if I'm right about the orientation. The Doppelganger enters at a point diagonally opposite from where Cooper entered the XXX Lodge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I get the feeling that if he stepped out of one room for a second then stepped back in it, it would be totally different. i.e. I don't think you can map a place such as the Black Lodge, just as I doubt there is a map of heaven. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was under the impression that there were, in fact, two rooms that Coop was walking between, one the White Lodge and the other the Black Lodge. It looked like some of the folks Coop encountered only showed up in one and some only in the other. A definative list would be helpful, but it seemed that the dwarf, the giant, the bellhop, and Laura Palmer appeared only in the first room. Bob, Maddie, Windham Earle, and maybe Caroline and Annie, appeared only in the second. I've been trying to puzzle out which is the White Lodge and which the Black Lodge. I believe that the giant is a White Lodger and Windham should be a Black Lodger. What has me stumped is that the screaming Laura doesn't seem to be a White Lodge sorta character, but Bob *certainly* is a Black Lodger. Any ideas? I don't take the dwarf's statement that "This is the Waiting Room." to mean that it wasn't the lodge itself, as some seem to. Also, it sounded like both lodges have the same entrance, with love being the key to the White Lodge and fear to the Black Lodge. This contradicts the story Hawk told of having to pass through the Black Lodge in order to enter the White Lodge, but the Indian folklore may have gotten details like this wrong after centuries of retelling. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > And also Major Briggs description of the WL as a "shinning white mansion".. > of course that could NOT be the WL...or it may be his INTERPRETATION of > the WL. Perhaps the lodges look different to everyone. Coop, having had the dream of the Red Room, used it as the model for his Lodge-image (much as we often recycle bits of real places in our dreams). If so, the whole adventure would have looked very different to Windom Earl and to Annie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I think some of you may have been disappointed by the cheap set approach to the lodges. I think many were envisioning some kind of apocalyptic struggle between the forces of good and evil, sort of a Tolkienesque wizard/demon thing. Lynch portrayed the struggle as more of an internal one (Good Dale, Bad Dale), in which no one is completely white or black (lodge). You were expecting Cooper the Barbarian? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bob is an a building with many rooms all the same, surrounded by trees. Sounds like Mike's description of Bob's location for the past thirty years and of the black lodge too. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ About why it was that after the line "when you see me again, it won't be me", the next time we saw the LMFAP was when he said "Wrong Way": How do we know that wasn't the doppleganger? Did you see his eyes? It sounds like that would be the kind of trick the Dark Side would play. Coop obviously thought that that little man was the same one -- since he'd only just left the room and gone back -- so he listened to him. But this one led him to the Black Lodge... ============================================================================== *** What it all means ============================================================================== In the summary below I'm projecting a little that we don't have much evidence for yet concerning the White Lodge. It could turn out that only the Black Lodge and Twin Peaks are involved. What we saw at the end was a gateway to a twin universe; immediately behind the portal that offers entry is the Black Lodge, which is only a waiting room. Somewhere beyond it is ther rest of the Black Universe. Somewhere else is a White Universe, enterable through the White Lodge. Each of these has its own laws of physics, and some of these laws are opposites in each universe. Between these two is our universe, including the town of Twin Peaks, where gateways exist between the universes. The Black and White Universes may in fact be universes of souls. In any case every person has an identity in each universe. If a person in one universe finds a gateway and visits another universe, they can find a being there who is a "double" for themselves. They can also find doubles of numerous other people, and sometimes they may actually stumble on someone else from their own universe -- someone who might have wandered through a gateway, or who was forced through it (as in Annie being abducted). The "Black physics" and "White physics" of the opposed universes make one a home for evil beings, the other a home for good beings. Our universe, between the opposites, is a middle ground where the opposing laws of physics mix and compete. The competition is particularly strong in Twin Peaks, which has a known gateway to the Black Universe and probably also has a gateway to the White Universe. In the Black laws of physics time probably still runs forwards, but the combination of space and time is different. There are probably more than 3 spatial dimensions, and time might behave partly as a spatial dimension. It may be possible to visit an earlier time by walking to a different location in this multi-dimensional space. Maybe time is nonlinear -- distortions in either space or time could explain why voices sound strange to our perception. Laws of physics may be further distorted in a place such as the Black Lodge, at an interface between universes. There may be yet more mysteries beyon the Black Lodge. Apparently we of the Peaks Universe can gain entrance to the Black Universe (or at least the Black Lodge) by passing through the gateway. A being (soul?) in the Black Universe needs to physically merge with its double from the Peaks universe in the Black Lodge before being able to cross the gateway, as happened with Coop at the end. That leaves a question of identity: Only BOB visibly inhabits a human host while in this universe. Are the Black doubles manifestations of BOB? Or is BOB the "God" of the Black Universe, creator of the Black doubles for his own purposes? Or is there more to be revealed? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm beginning to get upset by the use of the word "doppleganger" for what Bob does. Bob posseses people, perhaps shifting their soul/essense/personality to the black lodge, but he uses (then discards) the actual body. In fact, Bob may simply pre-empt the personality of the user. Check Leland's behavior: He killed the fat frenchman (memory fails). A brutal act, but motivated by fatherly revenge, not Bob's kill-lust. Also, he killed the dude in a non-Bob like manner. This would indicate that Bob's possesion pre-empts the Leland personality, who has no memory of whats going on. I kind of see Leland's soul trapped in the Black Lodge, where Bob can extract information from him, so as to maintain the Leland act. However, when Bob leaves Leland's body, Leland claims to remember all the horrible things Bob did with his body ... perhaps Bob "clued him in" as a parting shot ... What goes on in the black lodge has its own set of rules: presumably the physical reality in the black lodge is a manifestation of the occupant's mental state (that is, it is a dream world). Having two Coopers there is just a way of viewing the internal battle within Coop as Bob takes possesion ... Bob has split off the evil in Cooper, and given it sufficient power that it appears a seperate entity. Alternate: the evil Cooper is just an image (like the images of Laura, Maddy & etc.) used to shake Cooper enough to allow Bob to get a mental foothold. Further more, whatever is going on is not a science: It defies the rational/spiritual approach (Cooper) and the manic/magic approach (Earle). Bob may be capable of many different approaches. Of course, in the final scene, it appears that Bob is showing off to Cooper: Staying hidden in the back of Cooper's mind until he is alone, then taking control slowly (slow enough for Coop to try and brain himself) as Coop realizes what is happening. Typical Lynch: not enough puzzle pieces to make any definate statement. However, I really doubt we'll see two Coops out in the real world. This could go anywhere, assuming there IS a followup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, so much for love being the answer- its not enough. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I was a little disappointed by the ending being as predicted (yes, it does seem ineveitable, but I was still disappointed) and I was a *lot* disappointed by the scene in the Black Lodge (my theory is that the White and Black lodges are actually the same place). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Someone remarked that entrance to the lodges was too easy. I thought that this was fairly well explained. Love and fear are the possible prices of admission. WE and Annie got in because of her fear (and he was inspiring it, perhaps). Coop because of his love for Annie. I agree with previous posters that neither Annie's fear nor Coop's love were particularly evident in the acting in this episode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So does the 25-years-in-the-future dream sequence (preview of the future) indicate that Cooper has defeated Bob with love and entered the White Lodge (White portion of the White/Black lodge) or that he has been defeated by fear and is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the Black Lodge with Bob, Laura, et. al.? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IMHO, I don't think the White Lodge appeared at all. What if all the manifestations (Little Man, etc.) were from the Black Lodge? What if this was all part of the grand scheme of the BL to get Coop there. A chess game in a chess game? Here is my theory: Using LP, the Black Lodge got Coop to TP. Then using Renault, they keep Coop there. Finally, by using WE, they got Coop into the Black Lodge. The BL would have a lot to gain by using the dark side of Coop, especially since he did not face it. Did the BL know that Coop would run when his dark side appeared? So now we have the good Coop trapped in BL and the bad Coop out in the world. Is the gate open only a specific time or until June? If it is open until Jun