Subject: Re: Leland/BOB
From: mouse@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Date: 1990-11-19, 13:38
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

I read that many netters have expressed disappointment with the 
11/17 episode of TP.  In particular, some have called the pacing
dull and slow, compared to the previous week.  The incident of
the Ben and Jerry flashback with dancer-with-flashlight has been
used as an example of this.  Others have expressed puzzlement 
about the relationship between Leland and BOB during the events
after the murder of Maddy.  

First, concerning the pacing, I have to agree that it was _slower_,
but I was not disturbed by this.  After the intense emotional climate 
of the 11/10 program, I liked the slower rhythm.  It gave me a chance
to delve into the feelings of the events as they continued to unfold.

We have a return to the use of comedy for dramatic effect.  After
the intensity of Maddie last week, I particularly enjoyed Lucy and
her older sister.  Watching the two gave me lots of clues about Lucy 
and her family background.  We can see who her role model has been.
We also see Lucy at the moment in her life when she questions and 
rejects her role model, the instant when Lucy learns that her mentor
has feet of clay, so to speak.

I'm probably in a minority here, but I did not think the 2 minute
sequence of dancing-girl-with-flashlight was too long (though I
don't think I would have wanted it any longer - it was about right
for me).  It was so soft-focus, in a series of stop-images, like
watching a slide show from anyone's memory, with a sense of nostal-
gia in the period music, and the syncopated blending of music,
picture-changes, and movement, especially the movement of the light
and the silhouette of the figure from all the dreams of our youth.
(And the _round_ orb of the flash light - like the old bouncing
ball in singalong music.)  And it was such a _relief_ after the
sharp and intense scenes of the murder of Maddie the week before.
I liked it. After last week, we (and the characters, too) are perhaps 
feeling the downside of murder: guilt, depression, strung-out tensions,
emotional fatigue.  If this episode were as intensely paced as the last
one, I might become as much of an emotion-junkie as BOB.  

Now, concerning Leland, who now displays such inappropriate and 
scary glee and euphoria. That in itself is frightening, for it shows
us either that Leland is a psychopathic killer experiencing the flow
of release and relief after his compulsive behavior has caused him 
to murder Maddie, or, even worse, that _BOB_ is experiencing a great 
rush of pleasure from his leeching of vicarious emotional pleasure from 
Leland.  By this I mean that BOB inhabits Leland for the rich emotional 
feeding experiences which Leland provides for BOB.  Leland might be a 
host, but he might well be an involuntary host.  And the relationship 
might well have started, from/in Leland's youth and naivete.  Leland 
appears to have a love of music, films, singing, dancing, etc., all 
activities which thrive in a rich and fertile imagination.  BOB could 
easily have obtained a toehold via Leland's youthful fantasies, and 
then, having next established control over Leland, become a monster,
a junkie who feeds on Leland's emotional life.  When that life gets 
thin, then BOB drives Leland to perform more and more acts which will 
yield BOB the emotional highs on which he feeds.     

Even further about Leland and BOB, it seems to me that there is
a powerful struggle going on inside Leland.  Whether BOB is some sort
of dark psychotic side of Leland's own personality, or whether BOB
is a malevolent spirit inhabiting Leland's body (on a more or less
regular basis), is not clear to me.  Last week as we saw Leland/BOB
chasing Maddie with murderous intent, there seemed to be moments in the
struggle when it looked like Leland himself, was trying to help
Maddie.  At one point in the struggle, he almost threw her in the
direction of the living room door and yelled at her to leave (at
least I think that's what I saw), only to have BOB take ascendance
again and catch Maddie and drag her back in a final and fatal struggle.
Why would Leland do that - unless he wanted Maddie to escape, unless
he wanted thwart BOB, unless he wanted to be caught so that BOB
would no longer be able to use him as an emotional vehicle, or 
unless it is Leland's cry for help to control the dark forces
inside him.

The scene in the Great Northern: Leland was dancing and singing, 
Cooper arrives and gives him the news that Ben killed Laura, then 
Leland leaves the room through the arch.  The camera follows Leland
out.  We see his shoulders bent and shaking, hear sounds like grief.
Then we pan around and see that Leland is not crying in memory of
Laura, but is instead filled with joy and glee.  Then we see Cooper
pause in his departure in the other room, and follow Leland.  Agent
Cooper mistakes the laughter for grief, and commisserates with Le-
land.  Cooper leaves, and BOB is triumphant as he two-steps off
"stage left."  This scene made me want to go back and view all the
TP tapes in the past to try and determine Leland's previous pattern
of euphoric outbursts and what they could mean.

The scene on the road by the golf course:  After having clubbed
a policeman, Leland is singing and larking back and forth from lane
to lane.  He almost runs into Cooper's car.  Then comes the strange
conversation in which Leland opens the trunk/golfbag with the body
of Maddie inside, removes a golf club to show to Cooper, gets inter-
rupted, and he is left in a strange stance somewhere between a golf
swing and a club.  Certainly, it reveals the confidence of the suc-
cessful killer which Leland/BOB has become.  From Leland's perspective,
he might well _want_ to be caught.  And from BOB's side, he might
not really care if Leland is caught or not.  After all, he can always
find another host to feed on, and Leland would be left holding the
golf bag, so to speak.

Whether that appetite is a compulsive need within Leland's psyche,
or whether it is the insatiable thirst of vampirism, or whether it
is a restless spirit who remains bonded to the emotional sensationalism
of the flesh, or whether it is a demonic entity who feeds as much on 
Leland's soul as on his emotions, BOB is the voracious appetite which is
never sated.  

Nancy


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