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Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2018 12:16 pm
by Cappy
Mr. C's phone call with the not-Phillip Jeffries voice in Ep. 2 is one of the most elusive parts of The Return. I was guessing that maybe the voice was Sarah Palmer / The Experiment / Mother / Judy, due to the New York reference, but after re-watching Lost Highway recently, I'm beginning to suspect this phone call might be like the "Dick Laurent is dead" message that Fred Madison hears early in the film.

At the end of Lost Highway, Fred returns to his home to leave the message "Dick Laurent is dead" that he heard early in the film. This causes me to suspect that Mr. C's conversation with a mysterious stranger might in fact be an interaction with some future version of himself. There isn't much evidence to support this, Cooper himself is in New York at one point, and as seemingly incorporates Mr. C into a version of himself in ep. 18, he would know when his doppelganger was in Buckhorn, and when he had met with Maj. Briggs.

I don't know what to do with the line about being with BOB again, but Mr. C being unable to recognize his own voice on the phone would play into the theme of a fractured Cooper struggling to realize himself.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:40 am
by Saturn's child
I really like this idea Cappy! As you said, Cooper did appear briefly in the glass box, missing Mr C (& everyone else). I also think the Judy / Sarah interpretation fits -- & I can hear how that's very plausibly Grace's modulated voice -- but it's nice to think through this interpretation too.

"You're late"
"I missed you in New York, but I see you're still in Buckhorn."
"You met with Major Garland Briggs."
"Actually, I just called to say goodbye."
"You're going back in tomorrow and I will be with Bob again."

Interesting 5 lines. Again, Judy makes sense, but what version of Cooper could be calling? I guess some post-18 Coop looking back on the timeline? The voice doesn't actually say it wants to be with Bob, only that it is what will happen. So someone with knowledge of future events perhaps. In saying that, post-18 Coop could also have reasons to want to be with Bob, maybe to draw him away from Laura in his timeline meddling. As you said, it's a nice train of thought because it raises the whole 'Cooper trying to recognise the elements of his self' type thing.
I do love the mystery of this phonecall. & I love when multiple explanations can exist simultaneously. Two birds with one stone.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:04 am
by eyeboogers
A future version of Cooper (or a future version of any character) would probably know that Mr.C didn't end up going back in to the lodge as planned. That being said, I am also not convinced that the voice is Grace Zabriskie modulated. Did anyone ever record and play around with those lines of dialogue?

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:05 am
by Mr. Strawberry
Saturn's child wrote:"You're going back in tomorrow and I will be with Bob again."
Why would the person say that if they had knowledge of future events though? Mr. C goes back in roughly two weeks later, and not on the following day.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 10:26 am
by eyeboogers
I pitch shifted the lines a bit. Does it sound like anyone we know?

https://soundcloud.com/mortenhammershoe ... es/s-FjbmY

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 4:50 pm
by mtwentz
eyeboogers wrote:I pitch shifted the lines a bit. Does it sound like anyone we know?

https://soundcloud.com/mortenhammershoe ... es/s-FjbmY
Windom Earle :-)?

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 2018 7:34 pm
by Mr. Jackpots
Great thoughts Cappy.

I think an obvious candidate for the Jefferies imposter would be Mike. In particular, BOB'S familar MIKE. Or LMFAP. Mike's arm.

I liked the evolution of the arm. I can't help wonder had MJA been involved what would we have seen him doing? I could totally see him dancing on top of the slot machines at the Silver Mustang for example.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 11:48 am
by eyeboogers
To my ears, there is a bit of a southern accent sneaking into the last few lines (making it less likely that this voice was computer generated in the first place). Does anyone else hear such?

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:36 pm
by Cappy
I really want to say that the phone voice sounds like Sarah's distorted voice in ep. 29 of the original series, but they are worlds apart.

I wonder why the impostor feels the need to pose as Phillip Jeffries. Like, what significance does that have? To Ray Monroe, Phillip Jeffries is just some random name.

In keeping with the original Lost Highway connection idea, I wonder if Phillip Jeffries functions as a sort of Mystery Man type figure. Like if the Mystery Man is this sort of mechanism that allows Fred Madison to wrap his head around his own truth, then maybe Phillip Jeffries provides a similar function for Dale Cooper?

- Jeffries enables him to time travel back to 1989
- Jeffries' random appearance at the FBI office in 88/89 gave Coop a lot of information about the spirit world
- Jeffries gave coordinates to Mr. C, which led to his demise and re-integration into Cooper (or just electrocuted Richard, depending on your theory)
- Cooper repeats Jeffries' "we live inside a dream" quote after defeating BOB and Mr. C

Jeffries appears to be a flesh and blood human before Cooper fractures, but he later is some sort of disembodied mist emanating from (what is most certainly not) a tea kettle when Cooper's soul is fractured. He is still the most mist-thing after Cooper is whole again though, so there might not be anything to that.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 8:31 pm
by N. Needleman
The voice in episode 29 is Windom Earle, IIRC.

I think the voice on the call with Mr. C sounds like and is Grace/Sarah/Judy, but that's very subjective.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 2:35 am
by eyeboogers
N. Needleman wrote:The voice in episode 29 is Windom Earle, IIRC.

I think the voice on the call with Mr. C sounds like and is Grace/Sarah/Judy, but that's very subjective.
What makes you think the ep.29 voice is Windom speaking through Sara? Of course Windom is having out in the lodge at the time and I could see a point in Windom communicating to Mayor Briggs if the Jeffries/Judy(as Josie's sister/Earle Buenas Aires storyline had solidified. On the other hand, I always assumed that the voice could be Leland or Laura - someone with a direct connection to Laura.

I also think the Jeffries imposter pitch-shifted sounds a bit like Zabriskie's speech pattern/accent - and I was of the opinion that the voice was not JUDY/Sara until now.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 4:09 am
by N. Needleman
IIRC, it was always intended to be Earle taunting Briggs ("I'm waiting for you") and has also been indicated in transcripts as him. But I believe the word on it being him originally came from the production staff - it was a teaser for the intended Season 3 in which Briggs and co. go save Cooper. It also sounds exactly like Kenneth Welsh's reverse speech voice.

And yes, I know Lynch and BOB dispose of Earle in the same episode. I am not suggesting it was intended to tease Earle continuing - something Peyton/Engels may have wanted but Lynch apparently didn't. IMO it is simply the short-term villain's taunt to his foe, which would have spurred Briggs and co. to action in the original S3 regardless of if Earle turned out to be there to greet them.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 6:07 am
by Cappy
This is just me, but I always took "I'm in the Black Lodge with Cooper" and "I'm waiting for you" to be spoken by two distinct entities. "I'm waiting for you" is definitely Windom, but the preceding Sarah statement always felt a little bit different to me.

In a way, it might not make sense for either WIndom or JUDY to tip Maj. Briggs off to what is happening, but maybe it was just a villainous gloat.

The slowness of "I'm in the Black Lodge with Cooper" is reminiscent of the Giant/Fireman, who was actually in the Black Lodge in ep. 29, and working with Maj. Briggs at various points during Peaks. Why choose Sarah to speak through though, especially if his arch-rival was occupying her at the time? Is Sarah just generally susceptible to the influence of the Spirit World?

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 8:46 am
by N. Needleman
Cappy wrote:Why choose Sarah to speak through though, especially if his arch-rival was occupying her at the time? Is Sarah just generally susceptible to the influence of the Spirit World?
That was always my impression, yes.

I think it was Earle, but I'm open to the first line being someone else - Judy (JUDY? I've also pondered capitalizing it) would be cool. Then again, I suspect she wasn't there; I was under the impression Judy had been gestating in Sarah slowly since childhood (and presumably not taking direct control until well after 1989 and the events of the original series). Maybe just an aspect of Judy is in Sarah? - maybe the full being is what manifests in NYC. Again, this is all up to our personal interpretations of the events of Season 3.

Re: Phillip Jeffries imposter / Lost Highway connection?

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2018 10:20 am
by Mr. Reindeer
Whatever the original intentions were, I think it’s highly likely that when L/F rewatched E29 together while writing S3, they formed some new ideas about that moment that may not have had anything to do with whatever DKL was thinking in 1991 when he conceived it. For instance, it seems likely to me that that scene was the germ of the idea that Sarah could be “inhabited” in the new series. I agree with Needleman that the thing inside Sarah is a piece of Judy or an offspring, not her full being.

A theory no one has mentioned, which would tie in with the OP’s theory about the “Jeffries” voice, is that it’s actually Cooper’s doppelganger communicating through Sarah in E29. After all, he is the one who most needs Briggs, to get his coordinates, and the one who (seemingly maybe) ultimately is responsible for Briggs’s death. If it is Judy speaking through Sarah (which seems most obvious to me, which doesn’t necessarily translate to “correct”), her motivation might be to take Garland off the playing field and rob Mr. C of a resource. But as Needleman said, it all comes down to one’s interpretation of the murky S3 mythology.

I do like the OP’s idea about the “Jeffries” voice. It’s not my personal interpretation at the moment, but it ties TP:TR further into the fractured-identity storytelling device DKL has been fascinated with since LH (arguably, since Hotel Room).