World of Blue - Archived Forum 2007-2022

I wonder if ANYONE guessed Bob was an inhabiting spirit before ep. 13?

Bob was all over the Laura Palmer secret diary. I remember thinking he was other-worldly and maybe some kind of demon or a figment of her imagination. When Leland said his name was Robertson and told Cooper and Truman that he remembered him from Pearl Lake, I think I thought, oh, maybe he is real.

I should have put the two together, but, I didn't. I do remember thinking, how odd Leland didn't recognize him when Hawk was sketching him in his own damn living room, but, then I thought, oh, maybe a flaw in the writing. I think they said Jaques was AB negative and then he wasn't AB negative also.

I thought BOb would end up being a local Satanic cult leader and Laura was the sacrifice. But the Pearl Lakes story was a tip-off- a real live human Bob would be dead or in a nursing home.

I remember Lynch saying he didnt like science fiction much as a genre after Dune, and based on Blue Velvet, seemed like he was on the noir/thriller path in 1990, especially partnering with the show runner from Hill Street Blues. I had thought the pilot and much of season 1 was so straightforward, and Blue Velvet had been so devoid of supernaturalism, that the little touches like Sarah's vision and the dream sequence were as quirky as the show was willing to go. Bob being a cult leader, satanist, seemed plausible.

I remember watching the scene with the Giant in season 2 premiere, and thinking, hmm, this is starting to really go towards supernatural/sci fi. The scene where Major Briggs starts talking about UFO's and Cooper's name being transmitted through space I remember taking me aback. I remember the mainstream audience thought the show jumped the shark, but since I liked sci fi, I thought it was cool. I think it's in the same episode that Bob appears to Maddy crawling over the sofa, and I thought ok, he's an apparition/ space alien maybe, who knows.

When Leland said he recognized him from Pearl Lake, I thought maybe he recognized him being a bit younger, and that Bob was maybe 20 something when he threw matches at young Leland. I didnt even want to entertain the idea Leland could be the killer. The funeral scene where he jumps on the coffin, and where he talks about grief after the Renault arrest, "it's more than grief", I thought was profoundly touching. I was a little upset when he turned out to be the killer. I thought at the time, it diminished some of the grief scenes. Having lost loved ones in real life, and never seeing grief depicted that realistically on tv, I remember thinking, oh bummer. 30 years later, ive gotten used to it. But when I think back to the night that ep aired, I remember being saddened.

I don't think the scenes with the grieving Leland gets less profound after the reveal. For one, he might have suppressed all the memories of the murder/abuse (due to him being possessed). He could also have remembered all of his actions, though the way he behaved doesn't need to come off as fake in this case either. The way I see it, the overwhelming grieving he's showing could actually be explained/understood by him remembering the brutal things he'd done to his own daughter.

bob_wooler wrote:I don't think the scenes with the grieving Leland gets less profound after the reveal. For one, he might have suppressed all the memories of the murder/abuse (due to him being possessed). He could also have remembered all of his actions, though the way he behaved doesn't need to come off as fake in this case either. The way I see it, the overwhelming grieving he's showing could actually be explained/understood by him remembering the brutal things he'd done to his own daughter.

It's very common for an abuser to have conflicting emotions; to be abusive, then to regret the abuse afterward. So it can be either one: Leland is completely an amnesiac when it comes to his abuse, or him being aware but feeling remorse for his actions.

bob_wooler wrote:I don't think the scenes with the grieving Leland gets less profound after the reveal. For one, he might have suppressed all the memories of the murder/abuse (due to him being possessed). He could also have remembered all of his actions, though the way he behaved doesn't need to come off as fake in this case either. The way I see it, the overwhelming grieving he's showing could actually be explained/understood by him remembering the brutal things he'd done to his own daughter.

I'm at peace with it now, 30 years later. but it was a bit of a bummer in that moment in 1990. i also thought he couldnt be the killer, because i thought his killing of Jaques was the act of a grieving father.

though in retrospect, you could add to it, that Jaques knew stuff about a blackmail plot and so forth.

LateReg wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:17 am My uncle recently directed me to some poll that was done back during the time the show aired. I think it might have been done via whatever message boards existed back then. Before the reveal of the killer, only 2% voted Leland. I will try to find the link he sent me, but it was via text and I'm not sure if I still have it.

Did you ever find this? Would be interesting to see the results from back then. I dimly recall seeing something similar once, maybe in a TV Guide or other magazine, some type of memorabilia when I was collecting that stuff.

Jonah wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:33 pm

LateReg wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:17 am My uncle recently directed me to some poll that was done back during the time the show aired. I think it might have been done via whatever message boards existed back then. Before the reveal of the killer, only 2% voted Leland. I will try to find the link he sent me, but it was via text and I'm not sure if I still have it.

Did you ever find this? Would be interesting to see the results from back then. I dimly recall seeing something similar once, maybe in a TV Guide or other magazine, some type of memorabilia when I was collecting that stuff.

I'm not 100% sure this is what my Uncle had sent me (he sent what he did to an old phone that I know longer have), but I google searched and found this on Reddit. It's probably the same, but I can't be certain. The poll took place after only the third episode, but its still very interesting.

https://www.reddit.com/r/twinpeaks/comm ... he_airing/

That poll is a screenshot from The Donahue Show.

LateReg wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:27 am

Jonah wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 9:33 pm

LateReg wrote: ↑Fri Oct 11, 2019 8:17 am My uncle recently directed me to some poll that was done back during the time the show aired. I think it might have been done via whatever message boards existed back then. Before the reveal of the killer, only 2% voted Leland. I will try to find the link he sent me, but it was via text and I'm not sure if I still have it.

Did you ever find this? Would be interesting to see the results from back then. I dimly recall seeing something similar once, maybe in a TV Guide or other magazine, some type of memorabilia when I was collecting that stuff.

I'm not 100% sure this is what my Uncle had sent me (he sent what he did to an old phone that I know longer have), but I google searched and found this on Reddit. It's probably the same, but I can't be certain. The poll took place after only the third episode, but its still very interesting.

https://www.reddit.com/r/twinpeaks/comm ... he_airing/

Thanks for that. Oh wait - now I think I remember where I saw this poll, it wasn't in TV Guide or another magazine, it was on Donahoe! (Thread with full video clips here: http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2659)

Jerry Horne wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:36 am That poll is a screenshot from The Donahue Show.

Ha! Was just posting that at the same time as you!

Jonah wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:37 am

Jerry Horne wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:36 am That poll is a screenshot from The Donahue Show.

Ha! Was just posting that at the same time as you!

Ohhhh, haha. Weirdly, I now believe that it is almost certainly what my uncle had initially sent me, because Donahue is unearthing my memory. BUT...how could I have mistaken the poll for a vintage internet thing when Donahue is so much wilder a possbility? Although I'm now thinking that Donahue is a separate thing that I remember from the cast being on the show (that happened, right??), and this other poll still exists. But like the song goes, who knows where, or when?

mtwentz wrote: ↑Sun Oct 27, 2019 12:26 pm I wonder if ANYONE guessed Bob was an inhabiting spirit before ep. 13?

Recently a friend of mine started the series, right after Leland murdered Maddie she asked me if BOB would ultimately inhabit Cooper. I dismissed the notion as foolish, to keep at least some of the surprise intact.

LateReg wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:48 am
Ohhhh, haha. Weirdly, I now believe that it is almost certainly what my uncle had initially sent me, because Donahue is unearthing my memory. BUT...how could I have mistaken the poll for a vintage internet thing when Donahue is so much wilder a possbility? Although I'm now thinking that Donahue is a separate thing that I remember from the cast being on the show (that happened, right??), and this other poll still exists. But like the song goes, who knows where, or when?

I imagine the only Internet fan presence way back then would have been on Usenet (alt.tv.twin-peaks, I believe). I remember Mark talking in an interview about how his assistant (or someone) would print out stacks of pages for him of fans discussing the show. I wonder if anyone here was on the old Usenet group way way back in 1990-91?

As an aside, it makes me sad that Usenet posts from that era seem to have totally disappeared from the Net. Google had them archived for awhile (albeit in somewhat messy/not-user-friendly fashion), but that seems to have disappeared now.