The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[Harry S. Truman]

Someone wrote "It is possible that any part in Season 1 or Season 2 could be written off as dream sequences. Although this would be fairly insulting to fans. "

I think the easiest answer is that the entirety of season 2 was a dream, except for perhaps the senior droolcup/Giant sequence with Coop at the start of Season 2. After that, perhaps Coop is having a detailed dream while he sits in a prolonged coma healing from the bullet wound. The vast majority of the information in the book about the town that is inconsistent with the tv series came from season 2.

I don't like that explanation, but it would make sense. EDIT - for example, Ed explains the Nadine backstory in the first episode of season 2. We don't see Annie or Norma's mom and dad until season 2. Albert tells Cooper about Windom Earle "flying the coop" in the second episode of season 2. We don't hear about Thomas Eckart until season 2 and that's when Josie's backstory is detailed.

Yeah, I've suspected for a while that the show's creators might 'remould' the series into something closer to their original concept. Plenty of season two got put together without the oversight of Lynch and Frost and I wouldn't blame them for wanting to give the first couple of seasons' storylines a 'haircut' and work with the material they want. Of course, if Annie was a character in a dream of Cooper's, that means Laura was sharing his dream in FWWM.

Also, Jefferies' time travelling could be an issue? Since Jefferies presumably returned to the place from which he came in the Missing Pieces, he would no longer be missing and the future timeline in which we saw him with Dale, Albert and Gordon would be defunct. Could season two be in the timeline where Jefferies is missing and the book and season three in the timeline where Jefferies returned?

God, what a horrible, borderline undigestible hodgepodge it will be, if S 3 will indeed play out that way. That reads more like something that some third-rate movie school sophmore student would've dreamt up in his fanboy fantasies than a work that a renowned artist like David Lynch would put his name under.

That is your opinion. I hope much of season three is like this.

[eyeboogers]

That is not just "opinion". Talented writers don't resort to "but it was all just a dream" scenarios and we can be 100% sure that Frost would not allow such a gigantic cop-out happen. He knows his craft and we should be in for a well crafted thought out plot.

[Mordeen]

That is not just "opinion". Talented writers don't resort to "but it was all just a dream" scenarios. . .

Like that talentless hack, Shakespeare. Heh.

-Mordeen

[Ghoul]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

[Mr. Reindeer]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

While I generally agree with this, it's worth noting that Lynch has consistently listed The Wizard of Oz as one of his absolute favorite films.

And also that most of Mulholland Drive ends up being an (extremely elaborate, psychologically brilliant) "it was all a dream" scenario.

The exact scenario you described (using a "dream" explanation to retcon a season of the show Dallas-style) is the kind of soap opera BS TP loved to mock, and certainly isn't something I'd necessarily like to see. But Lynch can make even the worst-sounding ideas brilliant (try describing the plot of Eraserhead to someone who's never seen the film).

[laughingpinecone]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

While I generally agree with this, it's worth noting that Lynch has consistently listed The Wizard of Oz as one of his absolute favorite films.

And also that most of Mulholland Drive ends up being an (extremely elaborate, psychologically brilliant) "it was all a dream" scenario.

The exact scenario you described (using a "dream" explanation to retcon a season of the show Dallas-style) is the kind of soap opera BS TP loved to mock, and certainly isn't something I'd necessarily like to see. But Lynch can make even the worst-sounding ideas brilliant (try describing the plot of Eraserhead to someone who's never seen the film).

Agreed in full. I would add that Lynch has already filled a whole bingo card of bad fanfiction tropes and made most of them look great

I guess the rationale, for me, is that the dream should be used as its own plot device for its own narrative reasons. Like in MD!
Conversely, using it in an ongoing work to signify "Eeeh, you know what, guys, just kidding, we take these developments back" is despicably lazy.

Personally, I think Frost is setting up a more nuanced and meaningful framework (while effectively taking a few of those developments back, more or less). But it's impossible to say for sure for now, we'll see in a few months which readings hold up and which don't.

[Mordeen]

It's kinda funny in the sense that all of this and none of it are the framework for Season 3, ever moreso that this thread has devolved from the book so heavily.

Just be prepared to be shocked. Expectations or assumptions are fun but they are likely to be dashed by what you are actually shown.

-Mordeen

[Gabriel]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

And yet we've had Black Lodge dreams, giant dreams, fugue states in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. The solution to Laura's murder storyline was in a dream.

I mentioned before how parts of the book remind me of Picnic at Hanging Rock (book and film.) And that film opened with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe:

'Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?'

[laughingpinecone]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

And yet we've had Black Lodge dreams, giant dreams, fugue states in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. The solution to Laura's murder storyline was in a dream.

I mentioned before how parts of the book remind me of Picnic at Hanging Rock (book and film.) And that film opened with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe:

'Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?'

...and as the late Phillip Jeffries would like to remind us...

[Ghoul]

Twin Peaks is - or at least should be - more than Shakespeare.
Seriously, of all the lazy retcons out there, "it was all just a dream" schtik has to be right down there with the laziest.

And yet we've had Black Lodge dreams, giant dreams, fugue states in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. The solution to Laura's murder storyline was in a dream.

I mentioned before how parts of the book remind me of Picnic at Hanging Rock (book and film.) And that film opened with a quote from Edgar Allan Poe:

'Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?'

Don't get me wrong - I've got nothing against dreams being used as a plot prop, or as a means to propel the story forward, and the ones you mention in relation to TP (giant, Black Lodge etc.) are perfect examples of that. The Sopranos is another perfect example of dreams being used as a great storytelling tool.
But there's a world of difference between using dreams in the above-described manner and simply saying that "everything that went on before is/was a dream", just 'cause you're too lazy or inept to think of a valid manner in which to continue the story, so you have to start again from scratch. Surely you can see that.
Moreover, would any of you really re-watch season two again if you'd be told by season three that it was all just a dream??? For me, Twin Peaks as we know it would loose about 90 % of its charms.

[Gabriel]

Don't get me wrong - I've got nothing against dreams being used as a plot prop, or as a means to propel the story forward, and the ones you mention in relation to TP (giant, Black Lodge etc.) are perfect examples of that. The Sopranos is another perfect example of dreams being used as a great storytelling tool.
But there's a world of difference between using dreams in the above-described manner and simply saying that "everything that went on before is/was a dream", just 'cause you're too lazy or inept to think of a valid manner in which to continue the story, so you have to start again from scratch. Surely you can see that.
Moreover, would any of you really re-watch season two again if you'd be told by season three that it was all just a dream??? For me, Twin Peaks as we know it would loose about 90 % of its charms.

Agreed. I don't think it'll be quite the level of the notorious Dallas plot reset, but I suspect season two could become a series as seen by 'unreliable narrator' – as indeed could the book.

It appears as if the 'broad strokes' of season two are in there, but the specifics might be changed – almost like two paintings which look identical at a distance, yet, close up, have very different details.

Anyway, we'll see when the show comes out. It's great to have a book creating such fevered discussion.

[Gabriel]

...and as the late Phillip Jeffries would like to remind us...

Exactamundo! I wonder if Phillip Jeffries is actually 'late' or just delayed!

[laughingpinecone]

Agreed. I don't think it'll be quite the level of the notorious Dallas plot reset, but I suspect season two could become a series as seen by 'unreliable narrator' – as indeed could the book.

It appears as if the 'broad strokes' of season two are in there, but the specifics might be changed – almost like two paintings which look identical at a distance, yet, close up, have very different details.

Anyway, we'll see when the show comes out. It's great to have a book creating such fevered discussion.

I think that is an accurate description of what's going on (imho), but for all of canon. Sure, the few plotlines that are getting rewritten in a way that looks eerily like a signed apology (I'm mostly thinking about Audrey here) are condensed in late s2 because, as most of us agree, late s2.
But inconsistencies of the same kind span through the entire series, movie, other books. Laura's age contradicts the pilot. Josie's new background goes against a few early scenes already. Ed and Nadine's background comes from the Frost-penned, Lynch-directed ep8. Carl Rodd's sudden Twin Peaks citizenship negates the movie. Sam imploding soon after FWWM contradicts the pilot. If the Palmers only recently-ish moved in from Seattle because of Ben's business, maybe Leland's summers at the Pearl Lakes never happened in this version of the events. Etc.
And it's not different from the breadth of the old contradictions that already existed before this book came out, like Maddy knowing or not knowing Donna since they were kids, the Palmers' house being different in show and movie, the show itself being set in 1989 or 1990 depending on where you look, etc etc you know the score.
To me, TSHOTP looks like a very deliberate blurring of details that says that the broad strokes are what matters, while the conflicting details are all valid at once. To me, the result is a unique story that is enriched by this plurality, which meshes very well with Lynch's signature brand of surrealism.

[secretlettermkr]

And yet we've had Black Lodge dreams, giant dreams, fugue states in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr.

Mulholland drive os NOT a fugue.... and Lost Highway.............. PKD

[LurkerAtTheThreshold]

And yet we've had Black Lodge dreams, giant dreams, fugue states in Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr.

Mulholland drive os NOT a fugue.... and Lost Highway.............. PKD

....and yet..... Cooper as fugue/ delusional schizophrenic misinterpreting the events of series 2 would play out really well imo




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It's interesting reading older theories about the owl ring, prior to TSHOTP

http://www.twinpeaksgazette.com/article ... 4.cfm.html

I have to say, the ring seemed really perinant to the mystery, but it does seem so grandiose now, going back in history, it really is very Lord of the Rings. Like maybe it will turn out that gollum killed Laura Palmer