Jake

Twin Peaks Rewatch 13: The Orchid's Curse

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It seems like starting around the first DVD release, Lynch and Frost began trying to consolidate and reclaim the rights to the entirety of twin peaks (as the pilot, main series, and movies, and deleted scenes from them were all tangled in their own weird knots of mixed, different owners) and probably helped contribute to the rise in peaks nostalgia by doing the incremental releases (original DVD release, gold box set, online streaming, complete mystery Blu Ray) as more and more things were brought back into their control. It makes me think they've wanted to do more twin peaks for a while, but didn't see the point if Twin Peaks as a complete work was legally spread to the wind.

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RE: Discussing the letter from the spoiler section, this is plot spoilers for both Twin Peaks/FWWM:

spoiler

 

Excellent post. A few thoughts:

 

1. I think the best way to view Bob in FWWM, and ultimately in Twin Peaks, is as a parasite. He's along for the ride but does not control Leland so much as feed off the fear and "the pleasures" he can encourage and witness in his host. Leland frequently denies responsibility, even in the most recent Palmer family interview Lynch conducted, but it always comes off as desperate and pathetic, especially after witnessing his acknowledgement in the film ("I always thought you knew it was me!"). The character artificially tries to slice of his dark side from the rest of him, but if Lynch, who had claimed to hate conscious messages, has a message (that "if" is rhetorical btw; he most certainly has messages whatever he claims or even thinks to the contrary) it is this: the evil is not outside, and cannot be sliced off, but is a part of us all. Only by acknowledging this can it be transcended; avoidance is absolutely the worst way to deal with it. I think this is what happens to Cooper in the finale as well.

 

2. You mentioned the spiritual views of the show - I think the Black/White Lodge is more Frost's doing, but that there is some significant overlap with Lynch's own spiritual beliefs (unsurprising, since Theosophy - Frost's influence - drew heavily on Hinduism - Lynch's influence). Where Lynch differs is that for him duality is a mask concealing a greater unity. This is true both in terms of evil - Bob, the Mystery Man in Lost Highway, the Creature Behind the Diner in Mulholland Drive are all displacements of the characters' own dark sides (as well as being representative of larger cosmic evil forces in which an individual can become enmeshed) - but also good, which Lynch views as the ultimate unity and reality. Interestingly, Lynch's spiritual practice/movement - Transcendental Meditation - holds that one can achieve bliss without suffering. His art tells a different story: that one has to plunge into the darkness and come through to the other side before achieving a greater awareness and joy.

 

3. Re: the cycle of abuse, it's definitely true that the "abusers = victims" convention can be misleading if handled poorly. I think if used not as an excuse/escape hatch, but rather acknowledgement of a specific situation (that is certainly NOT universal) it can still be important. My view is admittedly informed by not just the statistics showing that abusers are proportionately more likely to have been abused (which is not to say that the abused are likely to become abusers) but probably moreso the situation I'm most aware of IRL, in which the abuser was almost certainly abused as a child, told nobody (except, ironically, one of his own children whom he abused), and perpetuated this repression by refusing to take responsibility for what he later did to his own children.

 

4. All in all, a very stark, grim subject. And I don't think it necessarily needs to negate the owls/cherry pie/Cooper "fun" side of Twin Peaks although taken together it definitely seems to overwhelm that. It's taken me a while to understand/appreciate Lynch's conception of a universe that can contain both without contradicting itself - much like Judith Guest says in that TV appearance I posted: "good and evil exist in tandem, and one doesn't necessarily contradict the other." That said, Sheryl Lee has a great quote in that Reflections book: "It's really fun to talk about Twin Peaks and it was such a great show to be a part of. But ultimately it's about who killed this girl and wrapped her in plastic and was sexually abusing her. When you think of it like that, it's very sobering."

 

5. On that note, I think Lee's total commitment to Laura (which I consider, not as a Twin Peaks fan but as an avid film buff, to be one of the great performances in cinema history) is something that changed both the film FWWM was going to be, and also may have changed Lynch as a filmmaker. To a certain extent, it even changed the show itself since it was Lee's appearance in the picnic video that really brought Laura alive to Lynch and made him want to revisit her. It's worth noting, I think, that Lynch's bold exploration of abuse and reorientation of a popular entertainment around the experience of a female victim was achieved not out of a commitment to social/political causes (Lynch was a fairly apolitical Reagan Republican in '92) but devotion to and empathy for a particular character and viewpoint. I think there's a tendency today to privilege sociological/cultural readings of film/TV, over humanist/aesthetic analysis (certainly, auteurism isn't what it once was). But Twin Peaks, like most great art, achieves the universal through attention to the particular. The whole process of how this came about - how the conception of a playful murder mystery led to a devastating psychodrama - fascinates me and is one of the reasons I keep returning to this world and created the video series (thanks for recommending it, btw).

 

Ok, back to the owls/cherry pie...for now...

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Minor Ben Horne spoilers, I guess (I don't really think it's a spoiler)

I haven't seen that Ben/Jerry scene recently, but I never saw it as intending to suggest that Ben was abused. To me it reads a lot like Donna's scene with Harold in this episode. There are obviously many more problems with Donna's story of being a young girl fixated on older men because of the unfortunate realities in our society, but both stories are about a sexual innocence/promiscuity that can only exist when we're young and I find that I enjoy both scenes for that reason (to repeat: while also acknowledging that Donna's story has an undercurrent of all kind of nasty realities about what being a woman means). It seems like a stretch that we're supposed to read abuse into Ben's backstory, but maybe I will completely change my mind after seeing that episode again.

RE: Discussing the letter from the spoiler section, this is plot spoilers for both Twin Peaks/FWWM:

I've discussed the idea of Leland's involvement as both an abuser and being a potential abused person a bit in PMs with Lost in the Movies and I'll copy paste them here, because I both agree with the listener e-mail and also diverge from it in some ways.

 

I would also suggest watching Lost in the Movies synopsis series because it's basically what I used to write all this garbage out:

 

Them idolizing what is a really weird scene with the babysitter feels like might have been what set the stage later on for them specifically organizing a bordello with underage and very young women, specifically picked from their department store. It's not an uncommon thread that men who predate on young women, often started fantasizing or fetishizing a particular "older woman" when they were younger and remain fixated on that age and innocence. There's also an undercurrent, given Leland's own past, that maybe something traumatic happened with the babysitter as well. 

 

What's dismaying, and also conflicting of me, is that both Ben Horne and Leland are absolutely predators (and you did a really great job highlighting those moments) who potentially were also abused as kids or were involved in something bad in their past. Though with Leland, it sounds like he was a bad apple to start. The line about him having a hole where his conscience should be sounds like he was a vessel for Bob either way, versus the show's narrative that he was a potential abuse victim. But given the show's canon for Ben Horne, I wonder if he actually was or if it was something related to the babysitter that lead him to become an ultimate sleazeball later on in life.

 

The breakdown of Leland post-FWWM makes me realize how tautly Lynch drew the mechanics of how he was an actual abuser, even in the sway of Bob. You pointed this out really well, talking about how the incest was visually and aurally interpreted by the repetitive and scary features of a home. It's something I picked up on when I watched the show but didn't think much about until I watched FWWM. The fact that Leland's face often changed expression as it feels like Bob passed over him gives that sense that Leland WAS possessed but I feel like Bob wasn't just a driver for Leland's body, but rather the two worked in tandem - Bob was the devil on Leland's already incredibly corrupted shoulder. I have no doubt that Leland was chasing after legal age booty in Flesh World on his own, but became very frightened when he realized Laura was wrapped up in it too. Which is ironic, given that her behavior was seemingly inspired as a way to regain control after being a rape and molestation victim all those years. in that way, I feel like her murder was an escalation of the already abusive tendencies Bob/Leland exhibited - abusers typically escalate when they feel that their victim is acting out or against their wishes or beyond their control. So in that sad way, Laura's broken expressions of "bad behavior" is probably what lead to her death. 

 

It's so much sadder when you think about it. Leland is still at fault, however. The scene that really brought it home for me was that dinner scene. it's really innocuous but it's so electric with the unsaid, that this is a normally tense situation. Leland isn't being sexually aggressive but he's definitely being controlling, terrifying. Sarah Palmer's behavior is a typical disassociation and placater. It makes me wonder if she suffered before her daughter did.

 

I absolutely think that narratives that show an abuser also having abuse in their past are incredibly harmful, especially to real life victims - it DOES remove agency, etc. But I think what really gets codified in FWWM is that Leland's behavior is his as much as it is Bob's and that maybe he's emboldened as a man by the forces of Twin Peaks that seem to affect many of the other men in town to not confront his past or his own character flaws and instead turns into being a predator. It's a theory that also hooks into Ben Horne a bit, as I noted. I think LiTM's video series also talked a lot about how Lynch's personal religious beliefs factored heavily into what the Black/White Lodge stuff was supposed to "mean" in terms of the spirits. You could do an incredibly feminist read on Leland's potential abuse being turned inward as we don't allow male victims of rape or molestation the ability to accept what happened to them and potentially causes issues later on (which is actually a real thing.)

 

It's a complex issue and I think FWWM did a much better job of alluding to it, because I think Leland is actually a horrible person, in spite of what happened to him in his past.

 

As far the point where Ray Wise potentially playing Bob? I could see Laura becoming a helpful White Lodge spirit perhaps? I want to believe she gets a redemptive arc that was gestured at at the end of FWWM.

 

I have an admitted personal and political fixation on the abuse themes in this show as they have been really revelatory and definitely cathartic. 

 

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I like the idea of the two heists happening simultaneously, never noticed it before, but the show is called twin peaks. Double plots are just par for the course here. Also it doesn't surprise me that this was popular in Japan, surreal film and literature is huge there.

 

I certainly understand the thoughts and criticisms of the email-er, but i think its a far to literal minded interpretation of the show. What is bob? He is both a real (in the show) manifestation of the crime and he is a metaphor. If the show is successful then he should work on both levels. I think the article is spot on, I really don't think people were anywhere near as aware of the "cycle of violence" concept as they are today. I have more to say about all this but ill wait for the reveal episode

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I want to watch the version of Twin Peaks that just follows Hawk while he does normal police work.

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Minor Ben Horne spoilers, I guess (I don't really think it's a spoiler)

I haven't seen that Ben/Jerry scene recently, but I never saw it as intending to suggest that Ben was abused. To me it reads a lot like Donna's scene with Harold in this episode. There are obviously many more problems with Donna's story of being a young girl fixated on older men because of the unfortunate realities in our society, but both stories are about a sexual innocence/promiscuity that can only exist when we're young and I find that I enjoy both scenes for that reason (to repeat: while also acknowledging that Donna's story has an undercurrent of all kind of nasty realities about what being a woman means). It seems like a stretch that we're supposed to read abuse into Ben's backstory, but maybe I will completely change my mind after seeing that episode again.

RE: Ben Horne

I honestly don't know if he was abused, versus someone like Leland, but that scene definitely made me wonder if that is what made him interested in younger women/innocence. One Eyed Jack's was essentially an illegal bordello that trafficked young women presumably working a menial, potentially high school or college job into being sex workers. That's just not something you hatch out of the blue. But like I've said in other posts, it seems like Twin Peaks is rife with evil that takes the form of abusing young girls.

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Jake and Chris barely mentioned James's name this episode which was fine by me.  He was hilariously sidelined, serving as a straight man for Nadine's antics and got shot down by Maddie.

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I really liked this episode of the show, and this episode of the podcast.

 

My favorite little moment that nobody's mentioned yet: when Judge Sternwood and Cooper are having their drink, he asks "Cooper, how long you been here?" "Twelve days sir."

 

Puts things in perspective, doesn't it? It's been almost exactly 2 weeks since Laura's murder, and all this crazy stuff has happened.

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Oh yeah, I was trying to figure out where that was said. That makes it really funny in the podcast when they say that Audrey has been missing for weeks, when it's probably been 4-5 days. When Cooper asks Horne about Audrey, I believe he said that it's not uncommon for her to disappear for a couple nights a time, so figure that it was probably two days up until that point, then maybe another two as they've been arranging the ransom.

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Yeah, it occurred to me that every episode of this show is essentially one day. Only a few episodes from now is there a specific "Three days later" screen. Kinda crazy.

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I steamed ahead to finish season 1 and season 2 + movie after getting hooked in the first few episodes and was wondering if my waning interested in the early to mid part of season 2 was some issue specific to me, or if there was some consensus amongst the audience.

 

I'm suprised to see all the weariness towards early season 2. I still really enjoy it. On the other hand I dread having to watch the rest of the season 2. The second half is really tiresome, with a few gems here and there.

 

I really dislike the Earle plot-line. It is, to me, a good representative of tv writing at its worst. Earle is a nearly omniscient character with no intellect or agency beyond producing the next thing to dangle for the viewers. Part of it is, I admit, that it is easy for me to accept a supernatural explanation, however hand-waived, for silly things, whereas when similar things are supposedly done by a real (in the fiction) person, I won't buy it. But I guess I'll have opportunities to comment when we actually, unfortunately, get there.

 

Or perhaps I'll finally understand it.

 

RE: Discussing the letter from the spoiler section, this is plot spoilers for both Twin Peaks/FWWM:

It's so much sadder when you think about it. Leland is still at fault, however. The scene that really brought it home for me was that dinner scene. it's really innocuous but it's so electric with the unsaid, that this is a normally tense situation. Leland isn't being sexually aggressive but he's definitely being controlling, terrifying. Sarah Palmer's behavior is a typical disassociation and placater. It makes me wonder if she suffered before her daughter did.

I'm not sure how canon, or how far off-canon The Missing Pieces is, but the Leland household in FWWM is a truly bleak environment. I recently watched TMP, and it has this really funny and pretty touching dinner scene, where Leland, in one of his manic phases teaches Sarah and Laura Norwegian. And as opposed to every single other manic Leland scene, it doesn't go to a bad place at the end of it. It was kind of shocking to see such a warm moment for that poor family.

 

I absolutely think that narratives that show an abuser also having abuse in their past are incredibly harmful, especially to real life victims - it DOES remove agency, etc.

...

It's a complex issue and I think FWWM did a much better job of alluding to it, because I think Leland is actually a horrible person, in spite of what happened to him in his past.

This is a bit of a digression, but I disagree with that as a blanket statement. For real life victims, absolutely. But in general I find it hard to accept that any kind of narrative in and of itself should be considered harmful. Individual stories can treat the themes poorly or well, and in many different ways. The way Twin Peaks as a series alludes to Leland's childhood abuse is poor. But as you say with FWWM, the focus is very much more on who Leland is what his choices are and as a whole I think Leland/Bob relationship is very well depicted.

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Big spoiler

I'm not sure how canon, or how far off-canon The Missing Pieces is, but the Leland household in FWWM is a truly bleak environment. I recently watched TMP, and it has this really funny and pretty touching dinner scene, where Leland, in one of his manic phases teaches Sarah and Laura Norwegian. And as opposed to every single other manic Leland scene, it doesn't go to a bad place at the end of it. It was kind of shocking to see such a warm moment for that poor family.

And it makes the situation feel even more tragic than it already is. I really like the perspective the Missing Pieces brings to bear since we get a wider view of that whole week (and a sense of how Laura interacted with the community). But I also like that Lynch kept the intense focus of FWWM intact instead of diluting it with an expanded cut. In my opinion the scenes are great on their own and do bring something new to the larger Twin Peaks saga but the film itself doesn't need them.

I recently watched the movie for my video series and it's amazing how, every time, I get drawn into its world. By the final third, I've pretty much completely forgotten that I'm watching "the Twin Peaks movie" and the context of the series is far from my mind. I love the TV show, but I mean that as a compliment.

Word of warning to all first-time viewers on this thread, btw. Be really, really careful if you try to download FWWM rather than rent/borrow a disc. There are a lot of mislabeled files out there that are actually the deleted scenes and/or fanedits incorporating the deleted scenes into the movie. I keep running into people who think that they saw the actual film when they didn't.

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If you have Prime, it's really easy to get a copy of the FWWM dvd shipped to you but I think I'm the only person who doesn't own a blu-ray player.

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It's been awhile since I've perused these threads, so I don't know if people have discussed this. 

 

Every time guys on the cast are confused by Lynch's fascination/enjoyment of Badalamenti's music, I feel like we really need to go no further than Lynch's own discography to see why. He does on a rather frequent basis something analogous to what Badalamenti does to jazz/rockabilly/big band music to electronica and blues.  

 

In summation, Lynch seems to find creative fulfillment in very bizarre ways. 

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I'm always surprised to hear fans of the show say that they don't like the music. To me, Angelo's score for the series and movie is not only haunting and beautiful in it's own right, but also a vital component of making Twin Peaks work. The unique atmosphere of that world is inseparable from Badalamenti's music. I sincerely hope he'll be along for the ride when the show returns.

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GOOD LORD!!

 

Listening to this episode, when the name Ray Wise came up (for the one hundredth time in the show), something suddenly clicked in my head and I remembered that years ago I actually worked with him for two days on the set of Suitemates when I interned in Hollywood! Why didn't my brain remember that earlier? He has the most recognizable face and I had seen Twin Peaks at that time. I am an idiot.

 

(It was a corporate sponsored web series also starring Kevin Pollack. I worked on set design.)

 

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That's neat! Did you get to meet him at all?

 

I was finally able to listen to the podcast, and I have to say, you guys are making me reconsider my stance on Harold a little. I found him so glaringly creepy (who collects teenage girls' romantic memories for non-skeevy reasons?) that sympathy fell by the wayside, agoraphobia notwithstanding.

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'Meet' is a strong word, we were probably in the same lunch line at some point and I think I exchanged two words with him.

 

Now I'm sad Suitemates didn't have a coffin scene.

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On the "yogic healing" thing. I think there have been a few similar lines sprinkled throughout, referencing yoga or meditation, and I always assume they related to Lynch's advocacy of transcendental meditation.

 

http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/

 

Also, since the song came up again, I just want to say that I love it, and find it remarkable how it perfectly prefigured a fairly popular kind of music, aka The Raveonettes whole shtick. 

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Enjoying the podcast; thanks!  

 

One thing to be mindful of is the Twin Peaks timeline, whereby most episodes cover a single day.  For example, Audrey has not been to OEJ's for "weeks" - I believe the total time she was there amounts to 6 days (March 2nd - 8th). In fact Cooper and Truman devise a rescue plan three days after receiving the call from Ben Horne about her absence. Interestingly, Cooper has only been in town 11 days by this episode....

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Yep, I meant to mention that in the Orchid's Curse rewatch episode but totally forgot to say anything! I forgot to say anything this week, too! Oops. Cooper says the number of days in this episode even.

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On the "yogic healing" thing. I think there have been a few similar lines sprinkled throughout, referencing yoga or meditation, and I always assume they related to Lynch's advocacy of transcendental meditation.

 

http://www.davidlynchfoundation.org/

What the fuck is this? I ran it by my sort-of-Lynch-fan friend:

"It costs like thousands of dollars to be taught transcendental meditation. And they make you swear not to tell people how to do it. I think you can get in legal trouble if you divulge."

 

Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/transcendental-meditation-how-i-paid-2500-password-inner-peace

 

So Lynch is also some kind of shitty New Age snake oil salesman?

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I really really enjoyed this episode. 

 

I loved how donna was given so much room to breathe and be a bad ass (an she embodies new Donnaudrey perfectly when she starts talking). 

 

I love how suspicious cooper is when hawk comes in classic “im not looking at you please go away there’s nothing suspicious”. To which hawk’s response is air punch worthy. 

 

That cocktail looks vile. I want it. 

 

The way one one eyed jacks looks like the red room is really striking - the red curtains and the Venus de milo type statues this time. 

 

The actor who plays nadine is so good. I really dig her ott teenager routine and her innocence when she pulls off the fridge door. 

 

And coops whistle is now a duck whistle. Nice. 

 

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