Chris

Twin Peaks Rewatch 6: Cooper's Dreams

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Regarding the discussion at the beginning of the episode about the big band music that starts playing at the Great Northern (apologies if this is addressed again later, I haven't listened that far yet) I had assumed that, though the show did not make it explicit, Audrey put the music on to interrupt Joel's speech, since she has in the past done similar things (like driving out the Norwegians) and it seems in character. That said, the brief shot of her crying and watching Leland casts some doubt on that.

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Regarding the discussion at the beginning of the episode about the big band music that starts playing at the Great Northern (apologies if this is addressed again later, I haven't listened that far yet) I had assumed that, though the show did not make it explicit, Audrey put the music on to interrupt Joel's speech, since she has in the past done similar things (like driving out the Norwegians) and it seems in character. That said, the brief shot of her crying and watching Leland casts some doubt on that.

 

I like that reading because I think Audrey is a pretty confused kid despite her seeming confidence. She may have thought this would be a fun prank and then been genuinely upset when she saw the results. Her crying as she watches Leland is probably one of my favorite character moments in the first season.

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And here's a question for the newcomers here, who have not yet jumped to the next episode. What are you expecting to result from this week's cliffhanger?

 

I don't think I am expecting anything, the show has pretty consistently not done what I expect, or just gone off in an entirely different direction, that I've mostly stopped having expectations and just enjoying what comes.

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I found myself getting really drawn in when Ben seems to be stalling on the sawmill arson and I internally was wondering why and wondering if he was in cahoots with Josie, only to have it revealed that he was. Now I know how people who watch soap operas feel (and why they keep watching).

 

Leland is compelled to dance, like a marionette, and another breakdown quickly ensues. In another of TP's trademark quirky scenes, this causes a new-trend dance sequence. I suppose he invented breakdowndancing.

 

There's a lot about Laura and how she corrupts others, which leads me to wonder if her influence corrupted Audrey, or possibly vice-versa. Somehow, I don't find Bobby any more likeable even after learning that Laura was responsible for turning him into an asshat.

 

As for the cliffhanger, I expect Cooper to be a stand-up Mr. Rogers sort and gently but firmly insist that Audrey leave. It doesn't seem like the patronising way an older gentleman might compliment a little girl by way of teasing about dating her (which I've always found a little creepy), but more in that he's interested in the idea and the fantasy of the nubile and mischievous younger woman who's interested in him, but not in making it a reality. Who knows, though? I'm wrong about this series a lot, so he might just pull out some kama-sutra influenced Tibetan lovecraft on her.

 

Speaking of love:

I think it suffices to say, it will take a long time to digest.

 And I think because you said, "It suffices to say," and not, "Suffice it to say," that I want to bear your children.

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Yeah there is no way Cooper is going to take the Audrey-bait. I expect he'll chastely calm her down and listen to her, then sleep in a chair. Perhaps even let her help out with the investigating to make her feel better. Or if Audrey does make a sexy move, shut her down immediately and tell her to leave, thus crushing her hopes.

 

If he actually slept with her it'd pretty much ruin Cooper for me, I think. The whole dynamic between him and Audrey, and him and the town, would be completely changed. He's here to reveal the town's secrets, not start making more. I'm assuming he'd have to keep a relationship with Audrey secret, if not because of her age, then because of his official purpose here which seems compromised by taking advantage of a vulnerable townsperson.

 

As the episodes go on it's getting harder to keep in mind that it's only been what, 7 or 8 days since Laura was found? While it seems like a lot has happened, a lot of the show is us finding out things that have already been going on. Laura's death is still very fresh to everyone. (Although it does seem strange that the Icelanders got there so soon after the Norwegians left...maybe the show has skipped a day here and there? I got the impression that every morning has been seen on-screen, more or less tracking with the episodes.)

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Oh yeah and I wanted to note, regarding the cut from Bobby to the crow, I think it is very connected! A big theme of this episode is that Laura's influence is still out there "like a restless spirit" as James puts it. The crow represents Laura's influence on events: a) Bobby's corruption which is ongoing, B) guiding the Sheriff's boys to the cabin, also the automatically repeating record player, as well as c) the big band music out of nowhere at the party, though I admit this is a stretch. I think Audrey started the music, but it shows Laura's influence on Leland and the town as a whole is still strong.

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It's funny Jake felt like not much happened in this episode. To me it felt jam-packed with information and character moments. The amount of information we learn about Laura blew my mind.

 

There's a lot of plot advancement in this episode, but I kind of understand where Jake is coming from. Many of the events are follow-ups to previous episodes, the log lady, the pay-off for the joke, Leo etc. No major new characters are introduced and a lot of the episode feels like an explanation of previous events. Lots of stuff happens, but compared to the earlier episodes there are fewer completely new developments so it feels relatively uneventful. Bear in mind i'm a first time viewer and haven't seen the following episodes yet.

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I felt that Audrey's appearance in Cooper's bed was thematically tied to her spying on her father.

 

One assumes that she had some idea that her father was into bad stuff, but didn't really understand the whole of it. Now she's directly confronted with his infidelity and his plan to burn down the mill, all in one scene. I think that until this moment, a lot of her teenage rebellion was just that: flouting her father's instructions just because she could. As much as she was willing to manipulate him and ruin his business dealings, I think there was still actualy love there. It was more lashing out at parental neglect than actual hatred.

 

But seeing her father with Catherine brings that crashing down. She finds out what kind of person her father truly is. Turning to Cooper isn't really about sexual desire: while he is a handsome stranger, he's also clearly a strong, principled potential father-figure for her. As mentioned: in Twin Peaks, your affairs have affairs: Cooper is, probably, the only honest person she knows. I think showing up in Cooper's hotel room can be read as a direct response to seeing her father having sex with Catherine. There's a childlike element of "this is what adults do" as well as getting revenge on her father (if he can do that, then so can I).

 

Part of this is the question of: how "grown up" (by proxy, sexually experienced) is Audrey? I think not very. She's seems aloof from her classmates. Her poodle-skirt act is a signifier of her embodying the social and sexual mores from an earlier era, rather than the relatively wild and modern world of Laura and her friends. Audrey puts on an act that she's a strong, independent woman, but it truly is an act: she's really just a little girl (and engages in little-girl hijinks). 

 

No spoilers, but I think that her behavior later in the series bears out this interpretation.

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On Audrey and Cooper

 

The story goes that Lynch originally intended for these two characters to have some kind of relationship, but changed his mind after Kyle MacLachlan objected. MacLachlan felt that doing so would go against Cooper's character. If true, I'm glad Lynch was talked out of it because I think it would have lessened both characters and the show as a whole. I was never crazy about Heather Graham's character in the second season and her relationship with Cooper (she looks the exact same age as Audrey, especially in the Red Room scenes where she and Windam Earle's dead wife are together), but at least she is not supposed to be a high school senior dating a man in his 30s (?)

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Part of this is the question of: how "grown up" (by proxy, sexually experienced) is Audrey? I think not very. She's seems aloof from her classmates. Her poodle-skirt act is a signifier of her embodying the social and sexual mores from an earlier era, rather than the relatively wild and modern world of Laura and her friends. Audrey puts on an act that she's a strong, independent woman, but it truly is an act: she's really just a little girl (and engages in little-girl hijinks). 

 

No spoilers, but I think that her behavior later in the series bears out this interpretation.

 

I think this is an excellent rundown for Audrey. I agree. The highlighting of the poodle skirt from another era (anachronism) reminds me of Laura Dern's character's wardrobe in Blue Velvet. 

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Oh yeah and I wanted to note, regarding the cut from Bobby to the crow, I think it is very connected! A big theme of this episode is that Laura's influence is still out there "like a restless spirit" as James puts it. The crow represents Laura's influence on events: a) Bobby's corruption which is ongoing, B) guiding the Sheriff's boys to the cabin, also the automatically repeating record player, as well as c) the big band music out of nowhere at the party, though I admit this is a stretch. I think Audrey started the music, but it shows Laura's influence on Leland and the town as a whole is still strong.

 

I like the idea of exploring how Laura Palmer tended to corrupt the people she was "seeing." Bobby is the really great example. James is too dumb to corrupt, but I think there are a lot of examples of things like that: of how deeply she was able to touch people in both their emotions and their weaknesses. I think you are on the right track here and it something to look out for.

 

Haha, your name is turgid.

 

Just a quick note to remind people that the second Venus we see in the Waiting Room to the Black Lodge is the Venus de Milo who actually has an arm, though the arm is never displayed with her statue. The arm holds an apple which is called the Apple of Discord. Venus/Aphrodite won the Apple of Discord by basically setting into motion the Trojan War. So, Venus/Aphrodite is good at manipulating people is how that breaks down, I think. I believe it is one of the things that either the Black Lodge wants or is "making" by corrupting Laura Palmer through torments by BOB.

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About the Josie-Ben Horne meeting:

 

When Josie is sitting in the dark, it's incredibly obvious that it's Josie, right? Do people think that was intended as a reveal? To me, it seems like that scene is taking the piss on (what's the right preposition there? "on" makes it sound gross...) "surprising reveals" of that sort, the same way it often plays with soap opera convention.

 

Maybe that's just from a modern view that's expecting those kinds of post modern touches though. Do people think that's supported by the text?

 

I have a similar question about Tajimura's real identity. That's supposed to be obvious because it's a farce, right?

They don't credit Tajimura in the opening credits until after that reveal, which is a little hilarious. Casting spoilers.

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When Josie is sitting in the dark, it's incredibly obvious that it's Josie, right? Do people think that was intended as a reveal? To me, it seems like that scene is taking the piss on (what's the right preposition there? "on" makes it sound gross...) "surprising reveals" of that sort, the same way it often plays with soap opera convention.

 

Totally irrelevant, but I think it's "out of."

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Also, random things:

 

As people noted earlier, Ray Wise is the best. If you enjoy him (and who doesn't?), he played Satan on the TV show Reaper, and he is just Ray Wise-ing it up in every scene he's in, and it's great. He's got just the right amount of charm and menace in that role. Satan is the character he was born to play.

 

"You are a terrible person, seriously."

"That's my job, man."


 

 

 

I also found the ordering a coke thing to be hilarious, I think it's actually another Gilmore Girls thing. According to an interview (or commentary track or something), at some point in the early seasons of the show, apparently they got a lot of feedback that Rory was too skinny, and people thought she was anorexic, or glamorizing anorexia, or something. So, the way they solved that was they had her constantly be ordering or getting or talking about food. But, here's the thing, eating on a TV show is gross: you have to do so many takes, and it's messy and messes with the audio. So, she's constantly ordering food, but never eats any of it.

 

Meanwhile, in commentary tracks for the US The Office, the writers talked about how they thought it was hilarious when Rainn Wilson (Dwight) ate on screen. So, they started just writing excuses for him to be shoving stuff in his mouth whenever they could. (There's an episode where he's eating pancakes, forget when.)

 

After hearing those stories, it became kind of a hobby of mine: I always look out for how people interact with food on TV shows. Once you start seeing it, you can't NOT see it. They waste so much food!

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I agree with Wheeljack's thoughts about Audrey, I feel like it's no accident that those scenes came in the second half of an episode where she manipulated her father's employee in order to get a job at the perfume counter. She's acting like the assertive and dominant figure she thinks her father is, using it as a mask. But then later in the episode she gets a glimpse into who her father really is, and realises just how terrible he is, and it no longer feels like it's a game where she can tease or outplay him, leading to her vulnerable appearance in Cooper's room.

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I also found the ordering a coke thing to be hilarious, I think it's actually another Gilmore Girls thing. According to an interview (or commentary track or something), at some point in the early seasons of the show, apparently they got a lot of feedback that Rory was too skinny, and people thought she was anorexic, or glamorizing anorexia, or something. So, the way they solved that was they had her constantly be ordering or getting or talking about food. But, here's the thing, eating on a TV show is gross: you have to do so many takes, and it's messy and messes with the audio. So, she's constantly ordering food, but never eats any of it.

 

I rewatched the Gilmore Girls pilot last night and it has way more of a Twin Peaks vibe than the later seasons. (Let's just keep connecting this back to Gilmore Girls)

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I have a similar question about Tajimura's real identity. That's supposed to be obvious because it's a farce, right?

They don't credit Tajimura in the opening credits until after that reveal, which is a little hilarious. Casting spoilers.

 

Apparently Jack Nance was completely fooled in real life!

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On Audrey and Cooper

 

The story goes that Lynch originally intended for these two characters to have some kind of relationship, but changed his mind after Kyle MacLachlan objected. MacLachlan felt that doing so would go against Cooper's character. If true, I'm glad Lynch was talked out of it because I think it would have lessened both characters and the show as a whole. I was never crazy about Heather Graham's character in the second season and her relationship with Cooper (she looks the exact same age as Audrey, especially in the Red Room scenes where she and Windam Earle's dead wife are together), but at least she is not supposed to be a high school senior dating a man in his 30s (?)

 

Rumor has it, though, that MacLachlan's explanation was just an excuse and that the real reason was Lara Flynn Boyle, who was dating MacLachlan in real life. She was supposedly jealous of Sherilyn Fenn's screentime and chemistry with MacLachlan and pushed him to change the storyline. MacLachlan maintains the "she was too young" story to this day, and Boyle almost never talks about Twin Peaks at all, but apparently everybody else involved with the show believes that's what happened. Frost, Peyton, and particularly Fenn are quite vocal on the subject!

 

That said, I agree a full-on consummation would have felt weird. What's unfortunate is that they ended their interactions altogether when it was clear a romance wasn't going to happen. I think that was unnecessarily overboard (if MacLachlan asked for that much, it would be a dead giveaway he was just doing the girlfriend's bidding). They still could have had a connection/sexual tension. To have Cooper go to rescue Audrey in the finale, and then ask "How's Audrey?" in the end would have been even more of a gut punch. Although I don't really mind the Annie-Coop romance on its own terms; the awkwardness of it kind of works for me.

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Rumor has it, though, that MacLachlan's explanation was just an excuse and that the real reason was Lara Flynn Boyle, who was dating MacLachlan in real life. She was supposedly jealous of Sherilyn Fenn's screentime and chemistry with MacLachlan and pushed him to change the storyline. MacLachlan maintains the "she was too young" story to this day, and Boyle almost never talks about Twin Peaks at all, but apparently everybody else involved with the show believes that's what happened. Frost, Peyton, and particularly Fenn are quite vocal on the subject!

 

That said, I agree a full-on consummation would have felt weird. What's unfortunate is that they ended their interactions altogether when it was clear a romance wasn't going to happen. I think that was unnecessarily overboard (if MacLachlan asked for that much, it would be a dead giveaway he was just doing the girlfriend's bidding). They still could have had a connection/sexual tension. To have Cooper go to rescue Audrey in the finale, and then ask "How's Audrey?" in the end would have been even more of a gut punch. Although I don't really mind the Annie-Coop romance on its own terms; the awkwardness of it kind of works for me.

 

Woah, I didn't know any of that. Fascinating!

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On Audrey and Cooper

The story goes that Lynch originally intended for these two characters to have some kind of relationship, but changed his mind after Kyle MacLachlan objected. MacLachlan felt that doing so would go against Cooper's character. If true, I'm glad Lynch was talked out of it because I think it would have lessened both characters and the show as a whole. I was never crazy about Heather Graham's character in the second season and her relationship with Cooper (she looks the exact same age as Audrey, especially in the Red Room scenes where she and Windam Earle's dead wife are together), but at least she is not supposed to be a high school senior dating a man in his 30s (?)

I think Cooper is like 35 in the show.

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Spoilers (if any) relate to series 3 of twin peaks (all the way till the end of that)!

 

I had completely forgotten that it was a different nationality of people that invested in the ghostwood. 

 

We got the punchline for the Norwegian swede joke. It’s weird how Horne was dismissive but thought it would be a good gag for the Icelandic business men he was  courting (in an odd way he was basically broadcasting a prejudice back so his idea of good or funny was irrelevant I guess). 

 

Ben Horne also says something like “I’ve been to your country, it’s very beautiful, beautiful” which sounded so 2017 Donald trump it was spooky. 

 

Cooper’s weirdness with Margaret thawed a little bit but I still find it odd how his instinctive open mindedness seems to have a blind spot for Margaret. I did like how hawk has a bond with Margaret though (the way he tells the others to take the tea and biscuits). 

Spoiler

Especially touching as their relationship lasts to the end of her life :( 

 

It’s kind of interesting how much of cooper’s dream has a real world parallel. In this episode the red room of his dream is actually a symbol of the red curtained room in the real world. It’s weird how the dream morphs over time into a more literal space that exists in an alternate dimension. 

 

Good on Shelly taking on leo. 

 

Audrey has a fair bit of emotion in this episode and right next to each other. My feeling is that she wishes that the relationship with her dad was such that he’d go mad if she died. instead her relationship is so dead and distant she finds observing him all amorous comedic. Maybe this is in part what she is latching onto with cooper (a solid moral compassed (ish) older man). 

 

I was initially amazed that Jacoby had so much intuition about bobby but really he probably heard it on one of laura’s tapes and used it as a crowbar to get past bobbys defenders. 

 

Bobby becomes a lot more interesting. His infedility with Laura seems less being a jerk and more just trying to escape the black hole that is Laura. 

Spoiler

Her being a ball of gold and good sent to the world by the white seems like an intriguing in light of this.  However the theory that she’s a badness vacuum to lure in bob and mike et al. Feels more consistent with Laura’s internal darkness  and her struggle with it.  

 

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