Didja Know?

 

Fire Walk With Me is a Twin Peaks film by David Lynch that was released about a year after the TV series ended. The story is mostly a prequel to the series, telling of, first, the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks in Deer Meadow, Washington in 1988, then of the last week of Laura Palmer's life in Twin Peaks one year later. There is a brief element of the film that could be considered a follow-up to the final episode of the TV series, Episode 29: "Beyond Life and Death". The deleted scenes from the film, Missing Pieces, also feature some follow-ups to that episode.

 

Many critics, and even Twin Peaks fans, did not respond favorably to the film upon its premiere, mostly due to its dark, disturbing tone throughout, with almost none of the quirky humor and characters with which the TV series balanced its darker elements. The Deer Meadow scenes at the beginning of the film, featuring the Teresa Banks murder investigation do have light, quirky moments, but once we head into Twin Peaks, Laura's dark story leaves little room for them. The deleted scenes feature many of the quirkier characters and humor, but it was probably wise to cut them, as they would have interfered with the telling of the main story. Some fans revised their opinions of the film in the following years, forgiving its lack of the warmness of the TV series and acknowledging it as the masterpiece it is when viewed in its own light. This includes myself, having been sorely disappointed with the film when I saw it on opening night in 1992; being a Peaks freak, however, I bought it when it was released on laser disc anyway, and found myself putting the pieces of the mystery together until after a couple additional viewings, it became one of my favorite films of all time.

 

Actor Kyle McLachlan initially did not want to reprise his role as Agent Cooper for the film. The script was then rewritten so that McLachlan would not have to spend so much time shooting, putting the majority of the Teresa Banks investigation on Agent Chet Desmond (Chris Isaak) instead, leaving Cooper with just a couple of scenes at FBI headquarters and the red room scenes. (Note that Chester Desmond's initials C.D. are the opposite of Dale Cooper's!)

 

Actress Lara Flynn Boyle chose not to return at all as her character Donna Hayward. The role was recast with Moira Kelly playing the part.

 

Mrs. Tremond's grandson, Pierre, is played by Jonathan J. Leppell here. In the character's TV series appearances, he was played by David Lynch's son, Austin.

 

Most of the film covers the last week of Laura Palmer's life, beginning on Thursday, February 16 and ending with her death on Thursday, February 23 (1989). But it seems that one of those days is missing from the film, as just three days are depicted from Sunday to Thursday. I'm not sure which day of the week is the missing one, but it must be the day that Laura had her second dream about Cooper (the one seen from Cooper's viewpoint in Episode 2: "Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer") since it is not mentioned or seen in the film. The fan magazine Wrapped in Plastic #1 speculates the missing day is Tuesday.

 

Characters appearing or mentioned in this film

 

Leland Palmer

Teresa Banks

Gordon Cole

FBI secretary (Diane?)

Agent Chester Desmond

Agent Gene (last name unrevealed)

Agent Sam Stanley

Lil

Deputy Cliff Howard

Secretary at Deer Meadow sheriff's station (unnamed)

Sheriff Cable

Jack (associated with Hap's Diner)

Irene

Carl Rodd

Millie (resident of Fat Trout Trailer Park)

Curious woman (at Teresa's trailer in Fat Trout Trailer Park)

Old woman (resident at Fat Trout Trailer Park)

Agent Dale Cooper

Agent Phillip Jeffries

Agent Albert Rosenfield

Judy (mentioned only)

Jumping man

Man From Another Place

BOB

Woodsman

Mrs. Tremond/Chalfont

Pierre Tremond/Chalfont

Diane (mentioned only)

Laura Palmer

Donna Hayward

Mike Nelson

Bobby Briggs

James Hurley

Sarah Palmer

Harold Smith

Shelly Johnson

Norma Jennings

Heidi

Annie Blackburn

Caroline Earle (mentioned only, Annie wears her dress in Laura's dream)

Leo Johnson

Jacques Renault

Log Lady

Buck

Tommy

Ronette Pulaski

One-Armed Man

Mike

The Angel

 

 

Didja Notice?

 

The film opens during the murder of Teresa Banks on February 9, 1988 (as the murder is stated to have occurred in Episode 8A: "May the Giant Be With You", though The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper gives the date of her murder as occurring in January of 1988; the Teresa Banks investigation portrayed here is also quite different from that in the Cooper autobiography, chiefly in that Agent Chester Desmond is the primary investigator with Cooper not involved except very peripherally in Philadelphia).

 

The opening shot of the film is of a snowy screen of a television set suddenly chopped into sparks and parts by an axe during the murder of Teresa Banks. The smashing of the TV set may be symbolically saying that this film is not going to be the same as the TV series...this film is rated R for a reason, after all.

 

FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole asks his secretary to get him Special Agent Chester Desmond when learning of the Teresa Banks murder in Deer Meadow, WA. Is there any particular reason he assigns Desmond to the case? Is Desmond the most experienced in the so-called Blue Rose cases? Is it for his particular modus operandi? Does Gordon prefer him over Agent Cooper? 

 

Who is the secretary Gordon speaks to? Could it be the elusive Diane? I would imagine Diane acts as secretary to more than just Cooper. A different secretary brings Gordon coffee a minute later. Either or neither could be Diane.

 

Agent Desmond receives Gordon's call while wrapping up a case in Fargo, North Dakota. In the scene, Desmond and two other agents are arresting two young women and a man next to a school bus full of screaming, frightened children. It's not explained within the film, but the script implies the bus driver was using the school bus to transport prostitutes around town while also driving the local children to and from school.

 

The license plate on the school bus is a proper North Dakota plate of the time.

 

Notice that when Agent Desmond's car phone rings, the horn also goes off, to let him know the phone is ringing inside.

 

Agent Desmond's car in Fargo is a 1978 Ford Fairmont. In Deer Meadow, he is driving a 1982 Plymouth Gran Fury; it seems likely this car is an actual FBI vehicle, as it has twin-mounted spotlights on the hood, just ahead of the driver's and passenger's doors (although the car phone in the Fairmont also leans it towards being an FBI vehicle and not just a rental or personal car).

 

Notice that Desmond lowers the power antenna on the car while talking to Gordon on the phone, seemingly in an attempt to dull the volume of Gordon's voice! Doesn't the phone have volume control?

 

The plane Agent Desmond arrives in in Portland, Oregon is a Ryan Navion A model.

 

The plane sitting behind Gordon and Sam as they wait for Desmond is a Cessna 150.

 

Gordon introduces Desmond to Agent Sam Stanley, saying Sam has joined them from Spokane. This implies that Sam is stationed in Spokane.

 

The plane Lil is standing next to as Gordon "introduces" her is a Piper PA-18 Super Cub.

 

The code of Lil's movements, expressions, clothing, etc. is probably Gordon's way of passing information that won't be understood by others (due to his loud voice, which is easily overheard). Possibly, Lil's bizarre presence and Desmond's explanation of the codes she presents to Sam later on may be a hint to the film viewer by Lynch that one must pay attention to other codes and clues throughout the film.   

 

Lil was wearing a blue rose pinned to her dress. After explaining all the rest of Lil's coded message to Sam, Desmond says of the blue rose, "...I can't tell you about that." Later, Cooper remarks that the Teresa Banks murder investigation was "one of Cole's Blue Rose cases." So, what is the significance of the blue rose as a symbol? A rose of a blue color is one that is not found in nature due to certain genetic elements of the genus Rosa. White roses have been dyed blue throughout the history of human civilization and portrayed as symbols of love and prosperity or even royalty. In art and literature, the blue rose often symbolizes a quest for the unattainable, the impossible, or a mystery; these appellations may apply to Gordon's Blue Rose cases as well. Also, a rose in general has been used as a symbol of secrecy historically.     25 years later, when Season Three of the series was finally made, Albert tells the story of the origin of the Blue Rose cases in 1975 and a dying woman who muttered "I'm like the blue rose," before dying and vanishing in front of Agents Cole and Jeffries, all suggesting the Blue Rose cases are those involving a person's double, or tulpa (see Part 14: "We Are Like the Dreamer").     Some possible inspirations for the use of the term "blue rose" by David Lynch are:
Rudyard Kipling's poem "Blue Roses":   Roses red and roses white Plucked I for my love's delight. She would none of all my posies-- Bade me gather her blue roses. Half the world I wandered through, Seeking where such flowers grew; Half the world unto my quest Answered me with laugh and jest. Home I came at wintertide, But my silly love had died, Seeking with her latest breath Roses from the arms of Death. It may be beyond the grave She shall find what she would have. Mine was but an idle quest-- Roses white and red are best.	The 1944 Tennessee Williams memory play The Glass Menagerie, in which a young woman (named Laura!) who is afflicted with pleurosis, a respiratory disorder, whispers the disease's name to her old school crush, and he mishears it as "blue roses". An interesting side-note is that the play opens with the narrator, Laura's brother, Tom, introducing the scenario to the audience and cautioning that because the play is based on his memory, what they see may not be precisely what happened. Might this have been an influence on Lynch when he wrote a line of dialog in his 1997 film Lost Highway for the character Fred Madison, "I like to remember things my own way[...]not necessarily the way they happened." Another interesting note is that Piper Laurie (Catherine Martell on Twin Peaks) told interviewer Scott Ryan in a Q&A in issue #7 of The Blue Rose magazine that she played Laura in a (1965) production of The Glass Menagerie! (The Blue Rose is a Twin Peaks fan magazine of review and commentary, similar to the old Wrapped in Plastic; in fact, one of the managing editors is John Thorne, co-editor of Wrapped in Plastic. You can subscribe to The Blue Rose at www.bluerosemag.com).

 

Notice that the blue rose pinned to Lil's dress appears to be plastic.

 

Notice that the town of Deer Meadow seems to be almost the opposite of Twin Peaks in many ways:

In The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper and Episode 0B: "Northwest Passage", Deer Meadow is said to be in the southwest corner of Washington; Twin Peaks is in the northeast corner according to Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town, placing them in opposing corners. (However, this film and The Secret History of Twin Peaks imply the two town are much closer together.) The names of the towns have almost opposing nouns in them, "peak" is a high point in a mountain range, "meadow" is a flatland of grass. The sheriff's station in Deer Meadow is resentful of FBI presence, the sheriff and deputy are mean, and the secretary is bitchy...unlike their counterparts in Twin Peaks. The painting hanging in the lobby of the Deer Meadow sheriff's station is of a buck; the painting hanging in the lobby of the Twin Peaks sheriff's station is of a tall tree. Hap's Diner in Deer Meadow is run-down and run by a caustic elderly woman with stained teeth (Irene), whereas the RR Diner in Twin Peaks is classy and run by the attractive and helpful Norma.

 

Sheriff Cable refers to Agent Desmond as a "J. Edgar". This is a slang term sometimes used for an FBI agent. It refers to J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI from 1935-1972.

 

At 13:23 on the Blu-ray, Desmond looks at a framed newspaper clipping on Sheriff Cable's wall with the headline "Cable Bends Steel". Only the headline and photo accompanying the article are visible to us, but the actual prop article is viewable at the Twin Peaks Props website; the article is mostly just words arranged into nonsense.

 

The clock seen in the Deer Meadow morgue at 14:04 on the Blu-ray is a General Electric. The scale seen in the morgue is a Chatillon.

 

Why does Hap's Diner have a neon sign of a crying clown as it's logo outside? Seems like a less than optimistic way of advertising a restaurant!

 

At 17:18 on the Blu-ray, notice that Jack's name badge at Hap's Diner is imprinted with "Say Hello to Jack", but the "hello" is crossed out and, written above it, is "goodbye".

 

    At Hap's Diner, Jack tells Desmond and Sam about Irene, who works behind the counter, and that "her name is Irene and it is night. Don't take it any further than that. There's nothin' good about it." He is likely referring to the 1908 American folk song "Goodnight, Irene" and the fact that the Irene who works there presumably does not appreciate wisecracks about her name in relation to the song. Notice that Desmond smirks as if he gets the reference, but Sam seems slightly confused. It is interesting to note, the song includes references to suicide and the verse "I'll see you in my dreams".

 

At 17:37 on the Blu-ray, a man is working on fixing a lamp at Hap's Diner. The strobing light effect as he tries to fix it may be an indication that BOB or another spirit of the Black Lodge is near, interfering with the electricity.

 

At 18:05 on the Blu-ray, notice that there is a log with a couple of chainsaws stuck in it behind Irene at the counter. I guess it's a decoration!

 

A seemingly confused older man in Hap's Diner asks Agent Desmond if he's talking about "that little girl that got murdered" and goes on to tell him, "I know shit from shinola." The colloquialism "shit from shinola" derives from a reference to the shoe polish company Shinola which existed from 1903-1960.

 

A woman speaking French is sitting with the confused older man. She says, "La nuit est le bon moment." This is French for "Nightime is the right time."

 

At 21:21 on the Blu-ray, a note written in marker directly on the mobile home door of Carl Rodd, the manager of Fat Trout Trailer Park, reads "DO NOT EVER DISTURB BEFORE 9 A.M......EVER". Several notes pinned to his door appear to be addressed to "Rod" rather than "Rodd" or "Carl". One of these notes appears to read, "My cat is gone, Millie." Other notes read: "My fridge does not stay cold" with an unreadable signature; "I'm moving out, Sam."; "My trailer has a leak. Fix it by tomorrow." 

 

At 23:08 on the Blu-ray, the photo of Teresa Banks which Desmond is looking at has somewhat of the appearance of her having one green eye (right) and one blue (left). A difference in coloring between the eyes is known as heterochromia. It is interesting to note that Agent Phillip Jeffries also has two different colored eyes (due to actor David Bowie having been injured in his left eye as a teen). Is there a significance in the two characters having different colored eyes? Is it a sign of contact with the Black Lodge? Her eyes seem to both be the same color in the earlier morgue scene, but it's hard to say. Here, Desmond is looking closely at the photo, and the camera pauses on the eyes, so it's possible he noticed the eye colors too. Some Indian legends say that people born with different colored eyes are able to see into heaven and Earth at the same time. Another myth says that such people can see both angels and demons.    Later, notice that when the Man From Another Place holds up the ring in Laura's memory of the dream, it is obscuring his right eye, almost as if the round, green centerpiece of the ring is standing in for his iris. And then, Laura remembers that she saw Teresa wearing the same ring and, in her flashback memory, Teresa's hand moves across her face such that the ring passes directly over her right eye; it's hard to tell if her eye changes color after the ring passes over it or not.    In Episode 20: "Checkmate", the corpse left behind in Sheriff Truman's office by Windom Earle had one green eye (the left) and one clouded-over eye.    During Phillip Jeffries' recollection of the room above the "convenience store", recall that the Man From Another Place talks of the Formica table, saying, "Green is its color." Is there any connection to the green eyes and green centerpiece in the ring?

 

At 23:13 on the Blu-ray, the car behind Carl as he brings coffee from his trailer to Desmond and Sam is a 1972 Dodge Charger. Is it Carl's car?

 

Why is Carl wearing a robe? He appears to be fully clothed underneath, in flannel shirt and jeans! I suppose he's just wearing it for warmth.

 

The old woman who appears outside the door of Teresa's trailer at 24:04 on the Blu-ray looks like David Lynch in disguise and many fans think it is. The role is credited to Ingrid Brucato, who seems to be a real person, according to a brief interview (with photos) with her on Glastonberry.com.

 

Who is the old woman who appears outside the door of Teresa's trailer? Why does she hold an ice pack to her head? How was she injured? It seems throughout this moment and shortly after that something is happening: we hear the whooping sound that the Man From Another Place later makes for Cooper; we see electrical lines running to and from a pole; Carl looks frightened/nervous, saying "I've already gone places. I just want to stay where I am."; Desmond has a look on his face as if he senses something. What places has Carl gone to? The Black Lodge in his dreams?

 

The FBI morgue truck seen at 25:47 on the Blu-ray is a 1991 Ford Econoline E-350.

 

Desmond returns to the Fat Trout trailer park, apparently inquiring with Carl about Deputy Cliff Howard's trailer there. Odd that his trailer should happen to be at the same park as Teresa's. This may suggest that he knew her and had sold her drugs, which may be why Howard and Sheriff Cable have been so uncooperative and even resistant to the FBI investigation, trying to cover up the involvement of local law enforcement in the drug trade.

 

When Desmond reaches under one of the trailers at the park (the Chalfont trailer?) to pick up the ring, the screen freezes on the image and fades out. The original script at this point in the scene reads, "As he reaches out and touches it, he disappears."

 

The bell seen in Philadelphia at 29:21 on the Blu-ray is the Liberty Bell, an iconic symbol of American independence, now housed at the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia. A picture of the bell is also seen hanging in the FBI office in the next shot.

 

The portrait hanging on the wall in the Philadelphia FBI building at 29:23 on the Blu-ray is probably J. Edgar Hoover (it's a bit too far away to make out clearly).

 

Cooper's hair is styled a bit differently here than it was in episodes of the TV series, but then these events take place a year before those of the series. At the end of the film, Cooper's scene with Laura in the red room has him with his TV hairstyle, which may indicate it is the good Cooper who is trapped in the Lodge at the end of the series (Episode 29: "Beyond Life and Death").

 

Gordon has an old paperback book sitting on his desk, but we never get a good look at its cover. Maybe it's The Devil's Guard!

 

Cooper seems to know that something is going to happen today, for he comes to Gordon saying, "Gordon, it's 10:10 a.m. on February 16th. I was worried about today because of the dream I told you about." This day, Phillip Jeffries is seen for the first time in years and Agent Desmond disappears in Deer Meadow.

 

When Agent Jeffries unexpectedly shows up at the FBI office in Philadelphia, Gordon introduces him to Cooper with, "Cooper, meet the long lost Phillip Jeffries. You may have heard of him from the academy." This would seem to suggest that Jefferies has been missing many years considering Cooper graduated from the FBI Academy in 1977, according to The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper. But here in the film, Gordon says to Jeffries, "...you've been gone for damn near two years." Possibly the two year figure is correct and Gordon's remark about Cooper hearing about him at the academy may mean that Jeffries had had a reputation as an outstanding trainee or agent at the time. The Secret History of Twin Peaks reveals that Cole and Jefferies went through FBI training at Quantico together and graduated as the top two in their class in 1968.

 

Jeffries appears to have blood or a bruise on his lower lip.

 

Jeffries tells the three agents around him he's not going to talk about Judy, "...we're gonna keep her out of it." But then he does mention her several times!

 

Jeffries looks at Cooper strangely and then points at him, asking the others, "Who do you think that is there?" It's possible he's seen Cooper in the future (or a dream) as BOB (as suggested by the presence of Cooper's doppelganger in Twin Peaks at the end of Episode 29: "Beyond Life and Death").

 

The film introduces the term "garmonbozia", depicted as creamed corn, representative of pain and suffering that the residents of the Black Lodge consume as a food (or possibly drug). The word does not seem to be derived from any actual words in any known language.

 

At 31:52 on the Blu-ray, there are four different types of bowls sitting on the Formica table, each containing garmonbozia.

 

When he suddenly disappears from the FBI office, Jeffries seems to have traveled via electricity, as we are shown jerky images of electrical wires strung along poles. According to the Occult Glossary, a 1933 compendium of Oriental and Theosophical terms by Gottfried de Purucker, "cosmic electricity" (the Tibetan fohat or Sanskrit daivıprakriti), understanding that "the essence of electricity is indeed consciousness...it is the incessantly active, ever-moving, impelling or urging force in nature, from the beginning of the evolution of a universe or of a solar system to its end...the passing of one phase of manifested existence to another phase, whether this manifested existence be a solar system or a planetary chain or a globe or human being or, indeed, any entity."

 

The words "Let's Rock" are written in red cursive on the windshield of Desmond's car after he disappears. The Man From Another Place said this phrase to Cooper in his dream in Episode 2: "Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer". But who wrote it on the windshield? Is it written in blood, paint, lipstick? Did the FBI do a forensic workup on the writing to see what it is written with or if the cursive writing matched Desmond's or anyone else's handwriting?

 

Cooper states that Teresa's body was found on the banks of Wind River. This is an actual river in the southwest part of Washington. It is a tributary of the Columbia River, which is the river that runs past Twin Peaks according to the map in Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town. It is also interesting to note that the name Wind River refers to two recurring motifs in Twin Peaks, wind and water.

 

As Cooper records his final thoughts to Diane about the Teresa Banks case, he says he thinks the letter found under Teresa's fingernail suggests her killer will strike again, "...but like the song goes, who knows where or when." The song he refers to is "Where or When" from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical play Babes in Arms. The song is about the concept of déjà vu and the lyrics describe quite well aspects of the Twin Peaks universe:

 

"When you're awake, the things you think
Come from the dream you dream
Thought has wings, and lots of things
Are seldom what they seem

Sometimes you think you've lived before
All that you live to day
Things you do come back to you
As though they knew the way

Oh the tricks your mind can play

It seems we stood and talked like this before.
We looked at each other in the same way then.
But I can't remember where or when...

The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore
The smile you are smiling you were smiling then,
But I can't remember where or when...

Some things that happen for the first time
Seem to be happening again.

And though it seems like we have met before,
And laughed before, and loved before,
But who knows where or when..."

 

As in the pilot episode of the series, Bobby drives a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda here. In other episodes of the TV series he drove a 1981 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. 

 

It seems odd that as Laura and Donna are walking to school and talking to Bobby and Mike in Bobby's car, that Bobby doesn't offer them a ride. The Missing Pieces deleted scenes reveals that the boys do offer the girls a ride, but Laura says they prefer to walk today.

 

The high school trophy case seen at 40:13 on the Blu-ray is completely different from the one seen in episodes of the TV series. The school hallways and lockers are also different.
Trophy case in TV series	Trophy case in FWWM

 

Laura tells James she's "...gone. Long gone, like a turkey in the corn." The phrase "turkey in the corn" is used in a number of American folk songs. It's an out-of-date phrase, but Laura might know it because her father is such a fan of singing and dancing. There is a song with the actual title of "Long Gone Like a Turkey Through the Corn" about an escaped black slave in the pre-Civil War United States.

 

James tells Laura she's not a turkey because a turkey "is one of the dumbest birds around." Turkeys have a reputation in America for being dumb, but it's more myth than fact.

 

When Bobby starts walking backwards and dancing in the schoolyard after talking to Laura, notice that the other students passing by also start dancing and moving awkwardly as they walk. Is Bobby unconsciously projecting his feelings to others around him? It seems to effect only the people already outside; those exiting from the school building walk normally.

 

When Donna asks Laura, "Do you think that if you were falling in space that you would slow down after a while or go faster and faster?" and Laura answers, "Faster and faster," the whooping sound of the Man From Another Place is heard.

 

The Palmer house exterior seen here is different than the one seen in episodes of the TV series. The interior of the house also appears different in many respects, including Laura's room. The house number seen here is 708. In Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town, the house appears to be on Frost Avenue, so the house would be 708 Frost Avenue.

 

The title page of Laura's diary is written slightly differently here than that seen in the TV series. Obviously a new prop was used.

 

At 46:32 on the Blu-ray, we see the bedpost tops on Laura's bed that allegedly unscrew to allow her to hide small items inside the posts (as mentioned by Maddy in Episode 5: "Cooper's Dreams").

 

At 47:23 on the Blu-ray, Laura's pack of cigarettes appears to be Camel brand.

 

As Laura flips through her diary, a couple of pages are somewhat legible but don't impart anything of much interest. The phrases used don't seem to match up with any of the entries in the published Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.

 

The car Laura drives in the movie is a 1956 Buick Roadmaster Riviera.

 

Harold Smith's cabin looks quite a bit different here from the one seen in the TV series. 

 

When Laura tells Harold about BOB, she says "Fire walk with me" at the end and her face turns ghostly white and her lips, black. It's possible she briefly allowed BOB to possess her by saying that phrase. As I speculated in the study of Episode 29: "Beyond Life and Death", the phrase "fire walk with me" may be symbolic of inviting BOB inside oneself (if BOB or another spirit is represented by fire)..."Fire, walk with me=BOB, walk with me."    Leland has the the same white face and black lips as he enters Glastonbury Grove after having killed his daughter near the end of the movie.    The make-up effects on her face here are similar, but not quite the same as those seen on Windom Earle for a brief moment in Episode 28: "Miss Twin Peaks".

 

Laura asks Harold to hide her secret diary for her because BOB doesn't know about him. But she is seen to have written about Harold in the diary (in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer), so it would actually seem likely that BOB does know. Plus, if she was briefly possessed by BOB in the scene discussed above when she said "Fire walk with me", he may even have seen Harold through her eyes at that moment.

 

At 50:50 on the Blu-ray, one of the books visible on the shelf in Harold's cabin is Night Falls on the City, a 1967 novel about life under Nazi rule in Vienna, Austria by British author Sarah Gainham (1915-1999).

 

The interior of the RR Diner looks quite a bit different than it does in the TV series. The production probably shot inside the actual location of the Mar T Cafe (which served as exterior shots of the RR) at the time.

 

Norma's hairstyle is much shorter here than it should be (as seen in the TV series). If actress Peggy Lipton had changed her hairstyle by the time of the movie, I wonder why the production didn't just use a long wig on her?

 

The film suggests that it was normally Heidi who assisted Laura with the Meals on Wheels deliveries. This might explain why we see Heidi so infrequently at the RR on the TV series. She might have inherited the logistics/delivery of the Meals on Wheels program after the death of Laura.

 

Why does Heidi have a bloody nose here?

 

When Heidi is unable to assist Laura deliver Meals on Wheels due to a bloody nose, Shelly seems reluctant to help when Norma asks her. Possibly this is because Shelly is having an affair with Laura's boyfriend, Bobby (as seen in the TV series).

 

At 53:11 on the Blu-ray, you can just barely see Mrs. Tremond and her grandson walking up the street in the distance before Laura sees them about 25 seconds later.

 

At 56:59 on the Blu-ray, as Leland walks out of his house, the neighbor's house is seen to have an orange delivery box for the Everett, WA Herald newspaper.

 

At 57:09 on the Blu-ray, Leland's car appears to be the same 1975 Chevrolet Caprice Classic convertible he drove in the TV series, but the license plate is different! Here, it is 759-EAK. In the series it was 710-YEP.

 

The car parked in front of Leland's on the street in front of his house is a 1979 Fiat Brava Station Wagon.

 

At 58:49 on the Blu-ray, Leland examines Laura's "filthy hands" and claims to spy dirt way under the fingernail of the ring finger of her left hand. This is the hand under which he will plant the letter R after he kills her several days from now.

 

At 1:02:22 on the Blu-ray, notice that there is a tiny owl engraved as part of the lamp next to Sarah in her and Leland's bedroom.

 

Does anyone have any comment on the angel painting in Laura's room? And why does the angel disappear from the painting later on? Presumably, the missing angel is related to Laura's comment earlier in the film about falling faster and faster and finally bursting into flame "and the angels wouldn't help you...because they've all gone away." It may also relate to Laura later telling James, "Your Laura disappeared."

 

It is interesting to note that in the dream world, the dwarf tells Cooper, "I am the arm," implying he is the arm that Mike removed from Philip Gerard to rid himself of the tattoo. And the script of the movie refers to the dwarf as "the Man From Another Place (Mike)" during Agent Jeffries' description of the meeting above the convenience store! So, it would seem that the dwarf is Mike! Also, the whooping sound the dwarf makes is heard when the One-Armed Man approaches Leland and Laura on the highway into town later in the film.

 

In Laura's dream, Cooper tells Laura not to take the ring. The ring seems to be a symbol of death (in Laura's case, and also brings death to several individuals in The Secret History of Twin Peaks), forcing BOB to kill her at the train car later, so it seems as if Cooper is trying to change the past by getting Laura to not accept the ring, preventing her death (and, presumably, preventing his investigation of her murder, thus preventing him from meeting Annie and, further, preventing Annie from being taken to the Black Lodge by Windom Earle in the TV series, thus saving her).

 

At 1:06:51 on the Blu-ray, Laura holds her left arm, as it has gone numb, just as Irene described happened with Teresa a year earlier.

 

When Annie appears in Laura's bed in her dream, notice that she is wearing Caroline's dress, as seen in Episode 29: "Beyond Life and Death". Annie also seems to be trying to either prevent Cooper from entering the Black Lodge or saving him from it, by telling Laura to write in her diary that the good Dale is in the Lodge and he can't leave.

 

The motorcycle James rides appears to be the same one he rode in the TV series, a 1978 Harley-Davidson FLH 80 Electra Glide.

 

The Johnson's kitchen is less decorated here than it was in the TV series.

 

Notice that the kitchen floor in the Johnson home looks dirty as Leo shows Shelly how to properly scrub it. This combined with the incomplete walls and torn wallpaper may suggest that they have only recently purchased the house as a fixer-upper.

 

Donna asks Laura, where are the cookies (Laura's parents), and Laura responds, "You mean Fred and Ginger?" with Donna nodding and saying, "Dancing." "Fred and Ginger" is a reference to Fred Astaire (1899-1987) and Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), actors and dancers famously known for their romantic musical films in the 1930s.

 

The Log Lady gives Laura a warning before she enters the Roadhouse. According to The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Laura met the Log Lady previously, and had a conversation with her, on November 10, 1985.

 

The singer at the Roadhouse is Julee Cruise.

 

At 1:14:34 on the Blu-ray, a faded out sign for Leinenkugel is seen in the Roadhouse as Laura enters. This is a reference to Leinenkugel beer. At 1:16:34, a neon sign for Rainier beer is seen. These are rare references to a real beer in Twin Peaks; other beer signs are generic versions made to look similar to the branding of actual beers. Empty Rainier beer bottles are seen scattered among hundreds of cigarette butts on the floor of Partyland in a later scene.

 

In the Roadhouse, Buck slides a fifty dollar bill to Laura and says he wants to go around the world, but she tells him, "This ain't gonna get you to Walla-Walla." Walla-Walla is a city in Washington.

 

The script refers to the night club Laura, Donna, Buck, and Tommy go to in Canada as Partyland.

 

When Laura bumps into a stoned Ronette Pulaski at Partyland, she says to Ronette, "I haven't seen you since I was thrown out of One-Eyed Jacks," and Ronette slurs, "What else did we do together?" and then, "I remember." Ronette may be referring to a lesbian encounter which they are inferred to have had together in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. The diary also reveals that Laura was fired from One-Eyed Jacks after humiliating Blackie (the house matron) in a sexual encounter.

 

After Buck slips some kind of drug into Donna's beer, the stoned Donna picks up Laura's discarded blouse and Tommy ties it around her waist. Donna then starts acting completely uninhibited, kissing Tommy passionately and winding up with her own top off while he kisses her body. Laura has to rescue her from the night of debauchery and tells her never to wear her stuff. It seems as if Donna absorbed some of Laura's unrestrained sexuality by the wearing of her clothing. In a few episodes of the TV series, Donna wears Laura's sunglasses and starts smoking and behaving in an uncharacteristically forward manner with James.

 

When Mike (the One-Armed Man) starts following Leland and Laura into town, Laura asks her father if the engine's on fire because she smells something burning. This must be the "scorched engine oil" smell that accompanies a spirit possession as reported by Dr. Jacoby in Episode 8B: "Answers in Dreams".

 

The One-Armed Man is driving a Toyota Hilux pickup truck with a Chinook camper over the bed.

 

During the encounter at the stop light, the One-Armed Man is wearing the Owl Cave ring.

 

During the confrontation at the stop light, it's clear Mike knows that Leland is BOB. So why doesn't he ever tell Cooper that in the TV series?

 

The automobile service station Leland pulls his car into after the encounter with the One-Armed Man is Mo's Motor. Northwest Custom Cycle is seen next to it (a business in Snoqualmie, WA).

 

The car with the hood up being worked on at Mo's Motor is a 1959 Chevrolet Biscayne.

 

At 1:33:22 on the Blu-ray, we see that Teresa Banks also had a personal ad in Flesh World, just as Laura and Ronette did in the TV series.

 

In a flashback, Leland says that Teresa looks just like his Laura, but she doesn't really.

 

Laura says that the One-Armed Man who harassed them at the stop light looked familiar. In Episode 13: "Demons", Mike tells Cooper that BOB was once his familiar, a supernatural entity, often seen in the form of an animal, who assists a sorcerer or witch with the practicing of magic.

 

A Coca-Cola dispenser is seen at the motel at 1:34:59 on the Blu-ray in Leland's memory of seeing Laura with Ronette in Teresa's motel room.

 

The movie suggests that Teresa Banks was killed by Leland/BOB because she was blackmailing him, having realized his identity as Laura's father when he backed out of a hook-up with Teresa and her two friends, Laura and Ronette.

 

Laura's decoy diary is not of the same design as the one seen in Episode 0B: "Northwest Passage". There is also nothing written in it on the February 5 page, while there is in the aforementioned TV episode. The entry on the February 6 page has the 1989 date written "DAY ONE" written in it, but there is also an entry for this date in 1988, a year earlier, indicating she's had this "second diary" for at least that long (unless she wrote it that way to throw any unauthorized readers of the diary off the track that it was new to her).

 

At 1:38:12 on the Blu-ray, notice that the panning night shot of smoke from the mill stack is flowing in reverse. Is there a significance in this (like time flowing in reverse)? Or is it just an editing anomaly because Lynch or the film editor decided they wanted the pan to go from right-to-left instead of the way it was shot, left-to-right?

 

The man who comes to meet Bobby and Laura in the woods for the drug deal is Deputy Cliff Howard, seen as part of the Deer Meadow Sheriff's Department during the Teresa Banks murder investigation conducted by Agents Desmond and Stanley. It seems that he knows Jacques.

 

    Why does Cliff suddenly pull a gun on Bobby and Laura? Bobby then pulls his gun and shoots him in self-defense, killing him. It's never explained, but there is a deleted scene that would have been later in the film where Bobby discovers the next day that the bag of cocaine that Cliff brought to sell them was just baby laxative. This may indicate that Cliff intended to take their money and leave them nothing, possibly also killing them first.

   This scene explains the story behind who it was that Bobby killed, as James remarks Laura had told him (in Episode 0B: "Northwest Passage"). This version of the drug deal and who Bobby killed is very different from the one presented in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.

 

Cliff has wavy dirty-blonde hair, but when Bobby takes his third shot at him, hitting him in the back of the head, his hair is gray! It's a fake head, rigged to explode from the gunshot, but why the gray hair? Did the practical effects department run out of wavy blonde wigs?

 

As Bobby starts trying to cover up Cliff's body with dirt to hide it, the stoned Laura says, "Bobby, you killed Mike," referring to Bobby's high school buddy, Mike Nelson (the two men do look somewhat similar). He shakes her, telling her to shut up, it's not Mike. But then he turns back to the body and looks at it with a somewhat perplexed expression and says, "Is this Mike?" This may be another indication of an empathic nature in Bobby, as he seems to be absorbing Laura's stoned impression that the body is Mike.

 

At 1:47:14 on the Blu-ray, Leland turns on the ceiling fan above the stairway and, hearing the sound of it whirring from her bedroom, Laura looks startled and concerned. It may be that Leland/BOB is in the habit of turning on that ceiling fan before molesting her, accounting for why the fan is something of a recurring image in the Palmer house in early episodes of the TV series. Perhaps the whirring sound and the fan's air currents somewhat diminish the sounds coming from Laura's bedroom so that the drugged Sarah doesn't know what exactly has been happening all these years.

 

    At 1:47:20 on the Blu-ray, Sarah has fallen asleep (presumably from a drug in the milk Leland gave her earlier) while reading How to Speak German by Malone. As far as I can tell, this is a fictitious book.

    Is there any particular reason Sarah would want to learn to speak German? A deleted scene from the film has Leland asking his wife and daughter to learn a Norwegian phrase because of the coming visit of Norwegian investors for Ben Horne's Ghostwood Estates project, but nothing about German.

 

Sarah partially awakens, groggily, seeing a white horse materialize in her bedroom. She also sees a white horse later just before Maddy's murder in Episode 14: "Lonely Souls". In the Bible's Book of Revelation, the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death, is said to ride a pale horse; her husband, Leland, is death, to her daughter Laura and, later, her niece Maddy. Possibly, the horse is also representative of her own role in the deaths of her daughter and niece, as she seemingly refuses to consciously acknowledge what has been happening for years with her husband.

 

At 1:49:31 on the Blu-ray, a pillow is visible between Laura's legs, acting as a buffer between actors Sheryl Lee and Frank Silva during the terrifying rape scene in her bed.

 

At 1:51:51 on the Blu-ray, the clock seen on the wall in Laura's classroom is a Standard brand.

 

At 1:53:33 on the Blu-ray, a miniature Jack Daniel's bottle is seen on Laura's bed. She drinks it after snorting the cocaine.

 

At 1:53:47 on the Blu-ray, Laura receives a phone call from James. This must be the call her mother reports hearing when she is questioned about her daughter's whereabouts by Sheriff Truman the next day in Episode 0A: "Wrapped in Plastic". However, in Episode 16: "Arbitrary Law", Truman and Cooper discover that the call to Laura was placed from Ben Horne's office...we never see that call here.

 

During her meeting with James in the night, Laura looks behind him and suddenly screams loudly. What did she see?

 

The tears that were under Laura's eyelids suddenly disappear at 1:57:46 on the Blu-ray.

 

At 1:59:28 on the Blu-ray, the license plate of James' motorcycle is seen to be 7481D2, with expiration tags of November 1989.

 

Jacques' cabin in the woods is different from the one seen in Episode 5: "Cooper's Dreams".

 

As Jacques exits the cabin to relieve himself, Leland clobbers and kicks him, then hits him over the head with a bottle. This is the incident that Jacques thought, in his drunken state, was a fight with Leo as described in Episode 7: "The Last Evening".

 

The angel that appears to Ronette in the train car does something to sever the rope that binds her arms behind her back, but the ends of the rope are still tied around her wrists. The angel must have also freed Laura's arms, as she is able to pick up the ring tossed into the car by the One-Armed Man and put it on her finger, but we also see that there is no rope around her wrists, just the scars of where the bindings chafed her skin.

 

How was Ronette able to have a flashback of BOB killing Laura Episode 8B: "Answers in Dreams" when it is shown here that Leland/BOB shoved her out of the train car before Laura was killed?

 

During the murder of Laura scene here, BOB is depicted wearing a full denim jacket (as seen in most of his other appearances). But in the same murder scene as presented in Episode 8B: "Answers in Dreams", he is wearing a denim jacket with the sleeves cut off.

 

The murder scene shows mostly Leland in the role of killer, whereas the same scene in Episode 8B: "Answers in Dreams" shows only BOB doing the killing.

 

The music that plays during Laura's death is Requiem No. 2 - Agnus Dei, by Italian composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842).

 

At 2:05:42 on the Blu-ray, Leland has a large blood stain on his shirt, underneath his coat. It doesn't seem it could be Laura's blood or it would be splattered on the coat as well. Is it Leland's own blood? Did he wound himself? Did BOB wound him? BOB takes the blood away from him in the Waiting Room shortly after.

 

At 2:07:34 on the Blu-ray, the Dwarf (the Man from Another Place) touches the One-Armed Man on his left shoulder, where his arm is missing, indicating, as the Dwarf told Cooper earlier, that he is the arm. The Dwarf and the One-Armed Man then speak the same words simultaneously, indicating they are the same person speaking. He/they want their garmonbozia (pain and suffering), presumably wanting back what was stolen from them above the convenience store by BOB.

 

At 2:08:35 on the Blu-ray, the monkey whispers, "Judy." It's hard to hear, turn your speakers up for this one.

 

At 2:08:41 on the Blu-ray, the hand moving the plastic away from Laura's corpse is Sheriff Truman's from Episode 0A: "Wrapped in Plastic".

 

    As the film ends, Laura is in the Waiting Room and sees the angel; she begins to smile and nod, as if it were speaking her, but we don't hear anything besides music. Agent Cooper, standing next to her with his hand on her shoulder, has a slight smile on his face, as if happy for her. Then, what seem to be tears of joy stream down Laura's face, she begins to laugh (silently), even outright chortling as if she's just been let in on the greatest joke ever. Maybe she has.

   This moment also seems to be touched on in "Palmer Family Interview".

 

Unanswered Questions

 

At Hap's Diner, Irene mentions that Teresa Banks' left arm (on which she wore the Owl Cave ring on her ring finger) went numb for three days shortly before her death. What is the significance of this?

 

How did Teresa get the ring?

 

Why does Agent Desmond vanish after reaching for the ring?

 

Why doesn't Ronette tell Cooper or the sheriff's department what she knows about Teresa Banks, Leo, Jacques, and BOB/Leland after she comes out of her coma during the events of the TV series?

 

    Who is Judy? In Episode 28: "Miss Twin Peaks", a drugged Major Briggs confuses his own first name, Garland, with Judy Garland (1922-1969), an American actress and singer, best known for her portrayal of Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz; David Lynch is known to be a fan of the film. But might Briggs' remark about Judy Garland mean he knows who the mysterious Judy mentioned here is? In that scene in the TV episode, he seems to try to tell Cooper some things, but in his drugged state they come out as odd phrases like "The King of Romania was unable to attend," possibly his attempt to tell Cooper that he (Cooper) is the "king" in Windom Earle's plot for revenge, having seen the king playing card with Cooper's face pasted on it pinned to the wall of Earle's cabin; and he later says, "Protect the queen," referring to the queen playing cards he saw representing the winner of the Miss Twin Peaks contest, whom Earle intended to kill.

   According to the article "Between Two Worlds: Josie's Fate" at the Twin Peaks Archive, an early draft of the film's script mentioned Judy's sister, which co-writer Robert Engles said would have been revealed to be Josie Packard if sequel films had been made! It is interesting to note that, in the Missing Pieces deleted scenes from the film, Jefferies tells Gordon, Albert, and Cooper that he was "in Seattle at Judy's" and we know that Josie was frequently visiting Seattle during the course of the TV series; maybe she was visiting her sister? Or maybe Josie was masquerading as this Judy person?

 

What happened to Deputy Cliff's Howard's body, left out in the woods after Bobby shoots him? There is no mention in the movie or the TV series of such a body being found.

 

Why does Leland/BOB leave Ronette alive?

 

Has the "demon" called Mike really turned to the good side as suggested in the TV series? Or is that just a front he presents to Cooper, actually wanting to regain the garmonbozia (pain and suffering) stolen from him by BOB, as suggested in this film?

 

Memorable Dialog

 

no.wav

get me Agent Chester Desmond.wav

Oregon.wav

he's got his own M.O.wav

I can't tell you about that.wav

you can start that fresh pot of coffee.wav

27,000 dollars.wav

Irene is her name and it is night.wav

are you talking about that little girl that got murdered?.wav

I know shit from shinola.wav

more popular than uncle's day in a whorehouse.wav

Good Morning America.wav

Indian whooping sound.wav

I've already gone places.wav

meet the long lost Phillip Jeffries.wav

I'm not gonna talk about Judy.wav

suffered some bumps on the ol' noggin.wav

garmonbozia.wav

we live inside a dream.wav

electricity.wav

I was having a bad dream.wav

God damn, these people are confusing.wav

this case gives me a strange feeling.wav

one of Cole's Blue Rose cases.wav

that really narrows it down.wav

how do you know what she likes?.wav

I am the arm.wav

don't take the ring.wav

my name is Annie.wav

if I had a nickel.wav

I am as blank as a fart.wav

the party twins.wav

life is full of mysteries.wav

even Donna doesn't know me.wav

your Laura disappeared.wav 

 

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