Subject: Re: More on THE MOVIE... (and blood types)
From: larryy@Apple.COM (Larry Yaeger)
Date: 1991-08-28, 22:49
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

Regarding Leland vs. Ben as Laura's father and murderer:

* Yes, Laura did write in her diary that one day she would tell the world
about Ben Horne.  But that entry was right around the time she spent her
first and only weekend at One-Eyed Jack's.  We know that Ben liked to visit
all the "new girls", and Ben admitted sleeping with Laura to Audrey.
Undoubtedly, Laura learned from her time at OEJ that Ben was its owner,
and this, I believe, is what she was considering telling to the world.
The fact that Ben Horne was not the model citizen he purported to be is
supposed to be a shock to the locals, because they don't know about all
the evil scheming that we, as the audience of TP, have been privy to.
I surely would have liked to see the moment when Ben first discovered
that Laura was the new girl de joure!

* Yes, Ben did say he loved Laura.  But so did everyone in town.  This was
a very Lynchian, running thread throughout TP.  Everyone loved Laura, and
this was the first thing that came to the lips of almost everyone accused
of murdering her.  Bobby says it to Cooper in frustration over being
questioned and accused; Dr. Jacoby also says it to Cooper once he has
been revealed to have the half-heart charm; and Ben says it to Audrey when
she questions him about murdering Laura.  This doesn't really imply that he
was her father.  Other signs of his affection for Laura are given, but
don't require, IMHO, any interpretation other than further expressions of
his love for her.  Remember that Ben felt that he had lost Audrey years
ago... Laura may have seemed like the daughter he wished he had.

* As others have pointed out, Ben had Catherine as an alibi for the night
of Laura's death - this was a major story element, with Catherine using
her advantage in this to wrest ownership of the Packard Sawmill and the
Ghostwood Estates from Ben's hands while he was in jail, which led to
his mental breakdown.

* Also as others have pointed out, Leland's blood type was used to tie
him to the murder through the "Fire walk with me" note.  This was clearly
intended to show Leland as the murderer.  However, they did have a
continuity error, as Rocky (I think) was trying to remember.
Basically, if I remember correctly, an early show (2005?) told us that
Jacque Renaud's blood type was AB-.  Later (in 2008?), however, Cooper
remarks that the blood on the blood-stained rag found by Hawk and on
the "Fire walk with me" note were both AB-, and that this was a rare
blood type, and known *not* to be the type of Leo, Jacques, Laura, or
Ronette.  Oops!
 
* Finally... granted it's been a long time now since I read the Secret
Diary, so I can't quote specifics, but it seemed pretty clear that Leland
was implicated as the person molesting Laura.  I think Lynch wanted us to
have to face the horror of parental molestation of children.  And the
book brought out this particular aspect of Laura's troubles more directly
and forcefully than the TV series (possibly because it was too delicate
a subject to broach on network TV).

Ah well.  Everyone's entitled to their own opinions of course, but I think
that trying to make Ben into Laura's father and murderer is reading too
much into limited clues, and ignoring some pretty big clues to the
contrary.  Just my HO, though.
-- -larryy@apple.com "You wouldn't recognize a *subtle plan* if it painted itself purple, and danced naked upon a harpsichord, singing, 'Subtle Plans are Here Again'." - Edmund Blackadder