Twin Peaks Episode 3 (Season 2) question

April 11, 2008 2:16 PM

What happens in the first scene of episode three of the second season of Twin Peaks, if you can tell me without "giving away" what happens later?

It opens in on an empty hospital bed and the girl that wandered away from Laura Palmer's murder is running around the room. Agent Cooper and the mean other FBI guy come in and the mean guy says "this is dye" to the (very blue) IV. Agent Cooper finds a (new?) letter under the girl's fingernail. They allude to the fact that someone was in her room but it's not clear what actually happened to the girl -- was she attacked? Is she hurt? Or did she have a vision and just freaked out? After that quick scene nothing is mentioned about it for the rest of the episode. I haven't watched past it yet so if it's explained later just tell me that.

Is the intended meaning that the spirit of the set designer dude Bob or whatever is able to physically manifest real things and all of a sudden everyone is just OK with that? Or did someone physically assault the girl and they just don't know how it happened?

posted by neustile to media & arts (10 comments total)

Just keep watching and you'll figure it out.
posted by greta simone at 2:21 PM on April 11

Yes.
posted by Benjamin Nushmutt at 2:32 PM on April 11

To be clear, I've been 'spoiled' enough to know what Bob turns out to be-- but it doesn't help with that scene. To make my question a bit more concrete: was Ronnete physically harmed in the hospital room or did she just have a vision like Maddy did in the previous episode?
posted by neustile at 2:35 PM on April 11

I think you'll find that one of the central themes in the show is that there is no line between the fantastic and the reality we see around us every day. While my personal belief is that on a practical level, the person in the room is [a certain "real" character], it really doesn't matter to Lynch. We are all imbued with these spirits, and we all have a little Bob in us (and a little Cooper, and a little Laura--though they're real in the show, they're spirits, in a way, to the audience). Hell, I've got a little Andy in me.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:44 PM on April 11

Moral of the story: don't ask questions. They will only serve to further confuse you.
posted by greta simone at 2:48 PM on April 11

Also, be prepared for some/many/most of the questions you may have to never be answered.
posted by togdon at 3:18 PM on April 11

Neustile, is there a specific reason you want to know now? Maybe then we could help you out. Once you see the whole series you'll understand why everyone is being so cagey about their answers. Well, that and as togdon said - many of our questions never do get answered. I'm sure that tickles David Lynch to this day.
posted by chihiro at 5:04 PM on April 11

The scene made me feel like I had missed something previously. It opens the episode as if it were a continuation of something that happened previously, and there was no exposition about what happened (and not in the "they don't know either" usual way that TP operates under.) It seemed like an important event in the series and I was confused enough to ask!

I totally get that the show leaves a lot of things unanswered, but this felt different -- maybe because it's the first time I can think of that all the characters knew what happened but the audience doesn't. So I got a distinct feel of "I'm missing something" rather than the normal "Oh, that's weird."
posted by neustile at 7:04 AM on April 12

Okay. In the episode before, during Cooper's dream, there was a short sequence of Ronette in the hospital bed crying, and there was a hand. Cooper was also dreaming about BOB and Sarah Palmer coming down the stairs from Laura's room. Then Audrey called and he woke up. It seems that Harry probably called Cooper after that when Ronette began freaking out -- if I had to guess I would say that the deputy who is trying to hold Ronette down with the nurse probably alerted Sheriff Truman, who then called Cooper and Albert. Having just had a dream about BOB and seeing Ronette in his dream, Cooper knew that BOB had visited and he knew to look for the "calling card." I didn't have time to watch the whole thing, but I seem to remember Cooper saying something about BOB coming back to finish off Ronette -- especially since he now knows she can identify him. Apologies if this is in any way a spoiler, and I hope it helps!
posted by chihiro at 9:11 AM on April 12

Whoops, missed a comma there -- didn't mean to imply that BOB and Sarah Palmer were coming down the stairs together.
posted by chihiro at 9:18 AM on April 12