Subject: Can BOB change hosts? (Re: Uncle Leland)
From: kumasawa@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Ice)
Date: 1990-11-28, 19:45
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

csu@alembic.acs.com (Dave Mack) writes:
> >Please cite the evidence suggesting that BOB *can't* change hosts.

Uh, since nothing on the show has suggested that BOB, or other spirit-dudes,
*can* change hosts, the people claiming that BOB *can* are the ones that
have to support their theory.

But, let's see what this side of the fence can rake up.  MIKE mentions that
BOB has been in TP for forty years, and Leland has mentioned seeing BOB as a
child.  MIKE also said "BOB requires a human host," not "BOB requires human
hosts."  We've only seen BOB in Leland, and we've only seen MIKE in the OAM.
MIKE admits to the OAM being his only host, suggesting a similar relationship
must exist between Leland and BOB.  Leland's just-so-happening to have the
rubber gloves, X-Acto knife, and Flesh World letter is too much to swallow.
Also, the show wants to leave open the possibility that BOB isn't a spirit
at all, but a separate psychically-active personality of Leland's.  Finally,
that there is nothing else in the show to suggest that BOB *can* change
hosts, we have no reason, 'cept stubborness, to think otherwise.  Use Occam's
Razor.  There must be other indicators, but memory isn't a perfect database.

> >(I'm not saying there isn't any - I missed one episode, the one where
> >MIKE is revealed.)

???  You mean the one with Gordon Cole (David Lynch)?

> >As far as I know, the only reason to suspect that Leland has been BOB for a
> >long time is the assertion in the diary [...]

Forget the diary.  The role it played in the series was minimal, and there's
some dispute as to whether everything written in the diary is supposed to
have really been likewise written within the diary on the show.

> >(I don't regard Leland's assertion that he knew BOB when he was a child as
> >meaningful, since the statement may have come from BOB himself to mislead
> >Truman and Cooper. You think BOB can't lie?)

Sure, BOB can lie.  We've witnessed it.  Even if he's lying, the statement
still points to a longstanding relationship with Leland!  No one else.

> >On the other hand, the diary strongly suggests that Laura was BOB -

Forget the diary.  You shouldn't base a position regarding the show on the
diary.  That's like basing a position on the Euroversion.  We know there are
differences in both cases.  Maybe you could conclude that BOB can change
hosts in the context of the diary, but the show is a different entity.

- Carl Johnson