Subject: So this is Twin Peaks...
From: jeff@ics.uci.edu (Jeffrey Gordon Erickson)
Date: 1990-10-02, 20:57
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In <1990Oct1.184651.11855@morrow.stanford.edu> andy@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Andy Michael USGS Guest) writes:

> >Personally I think Lynch has blown it a bit with the premier.  Not for
> >us true believers, but for any new viewers.  Are there any new viewers
> >out there that were able to follow the premier?

Well.  I'm a new viewer.  All I knew going in was more or less what Laura
Palmer's corpse looked like and that no one knew who killed her.

I don't know much more now, but I'm not complaining.

A few questions inevitably come to mind.  Veteran Peakers may be able to
answer some or all of them -- I don't really care.

* Who the hell is this guy Cooper who doesn't even break a sweat with a
  bullet in his gut and a couple of broken ribs?  "Just put it on the
  table" indeed!  

* What's with the old man?  There's a guy bleeding on the floor!  WAKE UP!
  Obviously this is not a normal universe, or perhaps it's just incredibly
  INTENSE in its normality.

* Why does the giant wear a bow tie?  (Note: not "Who's the giant?" or
  "What's the giant?")  Why did he wait during the second visit to "turn
  on the light" over Cooper's bed?  Was he checking to make sure Cooper
  was asleep?  WAS Cooper dreaming after all?

* What goes in TP hospital food? ("It's got raisins in it.  You *like*
  raisins!" -- Better off Dead)  Is this (about to be) some sort of
  recurring joke?

* Was the streak that what's-her-name saw run across the carpet blood?
  Was it a shadow?  Was it scorched carpet?  Was it just some Nameless
  Evil Entity that she recognized from Elsewhere?  Was it, for example,
  Spilled Hospital Food?

* Does eat oats, and deers eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy.  A kid'll
  eat ivy too.  Wouldn't you?

* Who's the log lady?  What kind of wood is it?

* Is the one-armed man REALLY selling SHOES??  In a sheriff's office?
  Why shoes, and not, say, apple pie?  Coffee?  Heroin?  Hospital Food?
  Owls Which Are Not What They Seem Unless You Are Wearing A Bow Tie?

* What was that poem about Laura supposed to mean?  It SOUNDS significant,
  but I suspect it's a red herring.

* Why does the killer have more than one voice?  Sounds like the standard
  Possessed Dude Laughing sound effect.  Or was that just an artifact of
  the dream/vision we saw him in?

* Several of you refer to the killer as "BOB".  Any relation to J. R. "Bob"
  Dobbs?  Or perhaps Krusty the Clown's arch-nemesis Sideshow Bob?

I don't expect to get answers to all these questions.  Hell, I don't expect
to get answers to ANY of these questions.  I don't give a flying fuck at a
rolling donut who killed Laura Palmer, but I'm still going to watch the
next episode.  If I tried to follow the plot at this stage, I'd drive myself
crazy enough to cut off an arm and sell shoes.  I'm just going to sit back,
have a beer, turn the VCR on and the brain off, and ENJOY.

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Jeff Erickson          | Diane killed Laura Palmer.
UC Irvine ICS Dept.    |
jeff@ics.uci.edu       | These are my opinions.  MINE, MINE, MINE!
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