UK TV just reran the first few episodes of Twin Peaks.
Great music, interesting clues.
But apparently they’re not giong to show the rest of it.
All I can remember from watching it years back is that Leland Palmer killed his daughter, the FBI guy was cool and there was a weird sequence (dream?).
Can a kind soul give me a reasonably detailed plot synopsis (or perhaps a website reference)?
Ta muchly.
I doubt David Lynch himself understood it enough to explain it.
IIRC, Leland was possessed by something or someone called “BOB” when he killed her, so he wasn’t “really” the killer.
Up next “The Prisoner” explained in three sentences!
Wasn´t Agent Cooper very fond of doughnuts ?
And coffee.
“This must be where pies go when they die”
I thought it was cherry pie.
And wasn’t the FBI guy David Duchovney as a trans-sexual?
Duchovney played Denise (formerly Dennis) Bryson. It was never clearly established whether Denise was a pre-op tranny, a post-op tranny or just a transvestite. Denise appeared in women’s clothes in every appearance save one, when she went undercover at Dead Dog farm as a drug dealer. My humble opinion is that Denise was a pre-op transsexual.
(paraphrased, from memory)
Dennis/Denise: Coop, how old was that girl?
Cooper: I didn’t think you were still interested in that sort of thing, Denise.
Dennis/Denise: I may dress like a woman, but I still put my pantyhose on one leg at a time, if you know what I mean.
Cooper: Not really.
Given the above, I believe Denise was a heterosexual transvestite male.
Aaaahh, Twin Peaks. I just got a new VCR after like a year, so I can finally rewatch all my tapes of this series.
Anyway, to answer your basic question:
It’s unclear exactly what BOB was, but he seemed to be some sort of evil spirit that lived in the Black Lodge. BOB was able to possess people; he went into Leland Palmer when he was just a boy.
When he was an adult, Leland (under BOB’s influence) got into some questionble sexual activities. He (on a semi-regular basis, at least) had sex with Teresa Banks, a woman and part-time prostitue in another town. On one occasion, Teresa got some friends, one of whom was Laura Palmer, to participate with her. IIRC, Leland left when he saw Laura, but he believed (probably incorrectly) that Laura recognized him. Eventually, this lead to Teresa’s murder at Leland’s hands.
Leland also tortured Laura throughout her childhood (emotionally, probably also sexually), although she was never able to recognize him (seeing BOB instead of her father). BOB and and his ilk from the Black Lodge wanted Laura for themselves (like they had Leland, maybe for other reasons, too), but she kept refusing. This struggle scarred her, which is what led her to drugs and prositution, but she continued to stave off BOB. Eventually, she realized that she would have to give in or he would kill her. And she decided death was better than becoming BOB’s creature.
One night, Laura and Ronnette Pulaski went with Leo and Jacques up to the woods. Laura probably knew that this was the night she would die. After Leo and Jacques had knocked themselves out with booze, Leland/BOB took the girls to the abandoned train car, raped and beat them both, and killed Laura. Leland/BOB would later kill again; when he saw Laura’s cousin Maddie Ferguson (also played by Sheryl Lee) dressed as Laura, he decided to kill her too. (Leland himself also killed Jacques Renault; it’s unclear whether this was BOB covering his tracks or actually Leland, who believed at the time that Jacques really was the killer.)
When Cooper was called in, he used various unconventional techniques to pinpoint the killer. He began to learn about BOB, but still did not know who BOB was. Eventually, he capitulated to Sherrif Harry Truman’s demand that he arrest Ben Horne, to whom the evidence was pointing. (Including a line in Laura’s diary indicating that he might be BOB.) Cooper agreed, but then he had a mystic vision in which he realized that Leland was the killer. When Leland was arrested, he (as BOB) confessed. Then he bashed his head into the wall hard enough to kill himself and, as Leland lay dying, BOB left, leaving Leland with the knowledge of what he had done.
That was about a third of the way through the second season; the show lost some steam afterwards. Cooper was accused of stealing drugs being used by the RCMP (The Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in a drug sting, but he was eventually exonerated. (Note the Mod Squad reunion when Clarence Williams III goes to eat at Peggy Lipton’s diner during one of these episodes.) The bulk of the season was taken up with the hunt for Wyndam Earle. Earle was Cooper’s original partner who had gone insane, killing the woman they were trying to protect (his wife and Cooper’s girlfriend, Caroline Earle). Earle eventually managed to enter the Black Lodge with Cooper’s new girlfriend, Annie Blackburn (a pre-Boogie Nights Heather Graham). There are many differing interpretations of the ending, but the most plausible seems to be that Earle was devoured by the Lodgers and Cooper was possessed by BOB when his courage failed him.
I’ve often wished of writing a Twin Peaks reunion. I can’t imagine Kyle MacLachlan would be interested any more, but it’d be neat to see what happened to Cooper, et al, 20 years later. (The end, of course, would have to be Harry and Albert realizing that BOB had been living in Cooper all these years, having killed Annie and committed lots of other mayhem, and what they’d do about it.)
Hope that helps,
–Cliffy
A friend’s interpretation of Twin Peaks was that everything happening in it was in Cooper’s schizophrenic dream. Kind of simplistic but it worked for him.
My interpretation had BOB as an evil spirit that possessed those willing to take him. Similar to how the “devil” possessed Brother Fagan or whatever his name was from the Exorcist. It had the interesting murder mystery to around with it and the surreal parts just to drive you off the trail and instill doubt. I will have to get around to rewatching it.
A Demon Plaything
Out of the playground, finally.
Plot synopsis? Heh. For which characters?
Leland = BOB
BOB = evil spirit
BOB killed Laura. BOB almost killed Dr Jacobi when he was pursuing a Laura-lookalike, Maddy (laura’s cousin). BOB killed Maddy. Cooper and Truman staged a fake arrest with Ben Horne in order to shove Leland in the cell at the last moment. BOB killed Leland by forcing him to bash his own head up against the wall (very disturbing episode, IMO).
BOB out of the picture for some time. None of the evil stuff really comes into play until the last few episodes when Windam Earl returns in order to find the Black Lodge, the mystical place where BOB comes from. Last episode leaves Cooper stranded in Black Lodge (he was unable to face his doppelganger and never made it through to the White Lodge) while Coop’s doppelganger makes it out with Annie (Coop’s new love).
Movie covers the Laura tale well enough, with some interesting inconsistencies, and explains jack shit. Great movie, very disturbing ending.
[comic book guy]Best television series ever.[/comic book guy]
Can’t wait until they get the collection out on DVD. My tapes are worn to shit. 
(yes, I know the friggin pilot won’t be on the collection)
Best way to be scared is to watch the last two episodes and then the movie all in a row. They creep me out big time.
Wow, sounds a lot like Stephen King´s “Talisman/Black House” to me.
If you replace “Black House” with Black Lodge, Doppelgaenger with “Twinner” and Agent Cooper with Jack Sawyer.
This was one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever seen, TV or movies.
BTW, the pilot IS available as a Region 0 DVD from Hong Kong. I recently ordered it and it looks great! It is a legit DVD, not a VCD (video CD) as are many popular movies from the Far East. It was issued by Catalyst Logic and Republic Pictures (#RPB 00017).
That is so weird that you say that, the entire time I was reading Black House, I pictured the grown up Jack Sawyer looking like Agent Cooper, and having that same quirky Kyle McLaughlin-esque delivery.
it’s out on DVD. I just saw it on sale in a catalog. If I get any money for Christmas I’m ordering it.
Thanks to everyone for your help.
I didn’t see all the episodes first time around, so this thread has been most enjoyable and informative. 
D’oh! And someone already told me about that region 0 DVD. Maybe now I’ll remember 
Otto, I see a release date of December 12th. Probably taking pre-orders.
God, can’t wait…
LOL, haven’t read Black House yet, but when I do I’ll have a hard time unseeing Coop.
I agree. That and the end of FWWM are the peak of disturbance. It gives me shivers to think about it, sometimes. 