Subject: Feminist episode
From: alternat@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Ann Hodgins)
Date: 1990-12-10, 18:51
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

Wondering why I enjoyed the latest episode so very much I
realized that it was an extremely, subtly pro-woman episode.
 
It began with Sarah rejecting drugs so that she could face
her life with all of herself.  And later she is shown with
other women, the doctor's wife and Audrey, drawing strength
from them.
Stories of abused children often feature a mother disabled
by drugs, in real life usually alcohol or prescription drugs, 
such as valium and sleeping pills. Trusted males, doctors
and psychiatrists,  pushed pills on to a generation of women 
who trusted them as Sarah trusted Leland.
 
It was nice to see a more enlightened psychiatrist, Jacobi,
helping Nadine's recovery.  And it was great to see how flexible
and tolerant her husband Is with her. Again the story of a 
generation of women is hidden between those lines.  Nadine is
just a very extreme example of a common mistake: leaving highschool
to make an impulsive marriage, finding herself dead ended in an
empty life.  This bizarre and comic plot line has a serious basis,
which is the need to re-live critical points in a life in
order to repair and correct them.  There is a book of psychology
called "It is never to late to have a happy childhood" meaning that
in some respects it is possible to relive and correct
past losses. In the same way it is never too late
to have a happy adolescence, as Nadine will show.
 
Audrey showed a lot of strength this episode. Her handling of
Cooper was very strong yet loving and her connection with Bobby was
a subversion of standard imagery: she was a strong little red riding
hood (note the basket) totally in control of the big bad wolf (Bobby).
 
And last but not least, Lucy, totally subverting the standard image of
the abandoned and unwanted unwed mother. Standing up on a pedestal 
bringing the new light  to her two ardent suitors below
her. Well, need I say more.