Subject: Re: Conjectures and Questions
From: bmay@yoda.chips.com (bmay)
Date: 1990-05-24, 18:33
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks
Reply-to: bmay@yoda.UUCP (Brad May)

In article <0aKyOly00WBLI0voUc@andrew.cmu.edu> bl0r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Barton Lipman) writes:
> >Perhaps I'm wrong, but a few things seem obvious after the
> >"cliffhanger" last night:
> >
> >1.  Agent Cooper is alive.  It's not obvious which cheap trick will be
> >used to justify this -- probably a bullet proof vest.  Reasoning:  The
> >show is a goner without him.

Close-up of Cooper's chest, three shots, no blood...  I don't see anything 
"cheap" about Cooper wearing a vest while undercover on a murder case.

> >2.  Jacques is probably dead.

And Leo.  And Bernard.  If any of them are the killers, Cooper will spend
the next season listening to tapes of Laura and a myna bird. ==> The killer
is someone else (Leland or a "Flesh World" reader).

> >Conjectures:
> >
> >1.  The man who beat up Jacoby is the same man who shot Cooper.  At
> >least, the clothing looked the same.  

We saw the full body of Jacoby's attacker.  (After one viewing) he looked
too heavy set to be Bobby; he looked more like Leland to me than any other 
character.  One problem: why would Leland bring a ski mask if he were just 
following Madeleine around?

We never see the full body of Cooper's attacker.  I'm not a gun expert, but
the gun looked very distinctive, not at all like Shelly's or Catherine's.
Also, look at the shooter's hand.  It looked small to me, like a woman's,
and was gloved, which people have noted is often used to hide gender.  Last,
Cooper appeared to recognize the person at the door.

My guess is Josie.  Think of the conversation with Hank: "You want a lot
for your money; I want a lot for my time."  I take this to mean his time in
jail is a big sacrifice for $90,000 and he wants Josie to do something for
him to make up the "difference".  That is to kill Cooper, who he is afraid
will figure it out and send him back to jail. Hank also says (not verbatim)
"Now what if you discover that there are circumstances [an FBI agent nosing
around on another case] that could result in ... 20 years being snatched
away from you."  He must really have something on Josie to blackmail her
into killing somebody!

> >Finally, a question: [...] if all Ben wants is the land, why does he
> >need to conspire with Josie in some elaborate plot to get it?
> >If she's willing to do all this, why wouldn't she just sell it
> >to him? 

Ben wants the land for housing developments; the mill has no value to him.
The mill looks to be very large and worth many $millions.  Ben told
Catherine that Josie hasn't accepted his price.  I think they are conspiring
so Josie can get the insurance money for the mill *and* Ben's money for
the land.

Ben had Catherine thinking they were torching the mill to make it look like
Josie was commiting insurance fraud.  *Really* he and Josie are conspiring 
to get the insurance company to pay Josie for the mill, to "sweeten" the
deal for Josie (Ben pays for the land, Insurance pays for the mill).  

Ben told Leo to make it *look* like arson.  For Josie to get the
insurance money, the arson must be blamed on someone else.  Who do they
intend to frame, and how?  My only guess is they frame Catherine, by making
it look like she has been extorting money from the mill (proved by showing
the two sets of books) and make it look like she set the blaze to hide the
evidence.  To this end, they call Catherine just before the blaze is set,
and tell her the books are hidden in the mill; they know she will go there
to look for it (in the very room fire investigators will discover the fire
started).  This will establishe her presence at the scene.   Then they go 
to the police and say "Look what we found!  She was extorting money!  
Musta set the fire to hide the evidence!"  If Catherine happens to die in
the fire, so much the better--she can't defend herself.

If this is how it went down, Leo blew it when he decided to burn up Shelly
too.  Shelly can testify Catherine didn't set the fire.  Leo didn't know Ben
was going to call Catherine and have her show up at the arson scene!
-- Internet: bmay@chips.com | "I can't understand a word you're saying-- Phonenet: 408-434-0601 x4550 | you've got a thing in your mouth"