Subject: All this HST/BOB talk.
From: asnyder@artorg.hmc.psu.edu (Alan J. Snyder)
Date: 1991-02-25, 09:33
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

I think that a few important points have been missed here...

First, remember that the dying Leland repeatedly referred to "them."  "They made me kill that girl," etc.  BOB is not alone.

Second, Windham Earle knows an awful lot, doesn't he?  So does BOB (his nasty reference to Pittsburgh).  I suspect that Windham Earle and BOB get the same newsfeed.

Third, this is the first time that the white light preceded BOB.  In the past, it announced or was produced by the giant.  I would conclude for now that the white light represents a connection with any of one or more spiritual domains.

This suggests an evil force (and a good force as well) having multiple actors in the world.  I took BOB to simply be gloating.  BOB thinks all of this pain and death is really neat, and enjoys the fact that Coop is saddened and baffled by it.  But BOB is not necessarily directly responsible in this case.

Josie's willingness to kill to avoid Eckard suggests an extraordinary evil in him (we figure for starters that he was highly abusive, possible sexually).  There are similarities between Leland and Eckard: both abused women they appear to have truly loved.  In both cases, the women were driven to do evil themselves (though I admit Laura hurt herself more and Josie seemed driven mainly by self-preservation.

I see two strong possibilities:  BOB is one of many evil spirits (despite what Mike his ex-partner thought), indicating that Leland was accurate when he used "they" -or- BOB is the "face" of evil - merely representative of its presence, indicating that Leland was crazy, heard voices, etc.

Alan

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asnyder@ernie.artorg.hmc.psu.edu