Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

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Louisahoo
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Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Louisahoo »

After reading through several threads over the last few hours, A thought occurred to me: I completely forgotten about Teresa banks.

When Cooper asked Jeffries to send him back to the night Laura was killed and the intersection of sparkwood and 21, that means that everything before The night Laura Palmer was killed still happened right? Desmond was still sent as a member of the blue rose task force to investigate the murder of Teresa Banks with agent Stanley. He disappeared after going for the ring on the mound of dirt and Cooper went to deer Meadow in search of him.

All of the terrible events described in Laura Palmer's diary since the age of 12 happened. For that matter, Bob is still in Twin Peaks for approximately 40 years, having possessed Leland as a child. Leland / Bob was still responsible for the murder of Teresa Banks. When Cooper is sent back to the night Laura was killed, we still see a possessed face of Leland Palmer staring out through the window of the Palmer house as she and James Drive away on his motorcycle.

So any notion that Cooper never made it out west, even with changes to the timeline, don't seem accurate to me. The really interesting questions seem to be if Laura did not die, or was erased and sent to some other reality, what did that mean for the Leland/Bob relationship? Without Laura to torment, does Bob want to be inside of Leland anymore? I realize these are very literal questions when it is probable that all of these events and happenings should be interpreted in a much less literal way. Anyway, just interested on everyone's thoughts regarding all of the events that happened prior to the night Laura was killed. Did they still happen? If Laura was transported to some other dimension or reality as a result of Cooper's interference, are the palmers even in Twin Peaks? Good that explain the different people in the house? Did they ever have a daughter? Is Sara Palmer's maiden name Page and did she ever Get married Leland at all? Just so many questions!
writersblock
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

On the face of it, I guess you could wonder why he didn't go back and save Theresa, thus saving Chester also.

I guess the difference is that they were gone - not part of the story.

Cooper keeps seeing Laura in dreams after she died, etc and within the Lodge. She's the central part of the whole thing. As a consequence, poor Theresa Banks is just left to rot.

Which is strange because, from what we know about the ring - surely she should have been in the Lodge (along with Desmond)

Laura now means so much more than a teenage girl who was murdered... she probably meant more from the second we started to associate the show with the iconic image of her as the homecoming queen - and her dead body.

I guess trying to save Laura is a lot more meta than doing anything else to the timeline. It breaks the back of the whole show.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
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Pinky
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Pinky »

if there was a fourth season, i'd have Coop and Carrie in a cold open, replaying the scene where the car lights are behind them, then we cut to Chris Isaak at the wheel of the car, dressed like a fifties gumshoe with a look of grim intent on his face...
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

writersblock wrote:
Mr. Reindeer wrote:I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
Hmm I dunno. Mightn't Leland have still killed Laura regardless of whether or not Teresa died?
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Jasper
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Jasper »

I believe that Cooper and Laura are linked on a spiritual level, but I don't support the suggestion that Cooper is "obsessed" with saving Laura.

I don't think that we should lose sight of the fact that Laura seems to possess a special quality which likely makes her particularly well-suited to facing Judy (who may or may not be possessing Sarah).

I believe that Cooper was sent on a profoundly difficult mission, and that the things that he's done have been necessary to defeat Judy. When we last see Cooper he's having a rather difficult time, and I think that this is the case because becoming disoriented and lost are particular dangers associated with the mission. At the end of part 18, as Cooper begins to falter, "Carrie" suddenly becomes active (possibly due to Cooper's question about the year being a trigger that makes her realize that she's in some sort of unreal situation). It's unclear if Laura's apparent awakening defeats Judy, or merely means that Laura is awake or partially awake to being Laura Palmer (or at least being connected to Laura Palmer). Does this awakening destroy the Odessa-verse? If it does, what happens to the Laura and Cooper we see there? Maybe someday we'll find out.

In any case, I think that Cooper has been doing what he's been doing because Laura is needed, and it may be that her death by BOB/Leland threw a wrench into the works. I'm not convinced that the classic TP timeline is destroyed, but something may have happened in some nearly identical timeline in order to somehow leave us with a living Laura in some kind of place. (Is that sufficiently vague? :lol: ) What was the Log Lady saying to Hawk about watching for "that one" appearing on the mountain, under the moon? She'd previously said that Laura is the one. Will Laura appear alive in the classic Twin Peaks timeline, where she's also truly dead, and where Sarah is in that house, possessed? Is this what's necessary to defeat Judy? Maybe that's the only way that Laura can walk back into the lodge, and perhaps never have been torn away.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Jasper wrote:Maybe that's the only way that Laura can walk back into the lodge, and perhaps never have been torn away.
Hmmm. I don't necessrily agree with your theory, but I'm intrigued by this. So, time in the Lodge being nonlinear, perhaps the Fireman doesn't "create" the Laura orb in Part 8 upon Judy's entrance into the world. Perhaps he instead recalls her into active duty, tearing her from the Lodge and sending her to some version of Earth as Carrie, a sleeper agent who needs to be reactivated.

In fact, if Carrie was born in 1945, she would be Sheryl Lee's current approximate age in the '80s! Is it possible that the Carrie-world takes place in 1989? (I know there was some discussion of when these scenes might take place due to Coop's "What year is it?" line, and some analysis regarding the TV in the motel room which I think was 1980s era? I can't remember the specifics and can't find it now.)
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Agent Sam Stanley
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Agent Sam Stanley »

writersblock wrote:
Mr. Reindeer wrote:I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
How so? BOB had been abusing Laura thru Leland since she was 12, long before Teresa ever came into the picture. I don't see how saving Teresa affects Laura's murder in any way.
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:
writersblock wrote:
Mr. Reindeer wrote:I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
Hmm I dunno. Mightn't Leland have still killed Laura regardless of whether or not Teresa died?
Yeah but if he went that far back he could have stopped that too... He knew who the killer was, after all.
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

Agent Sam Stanley wrote:
writersblock wrote:
Mr. Reindeer wrote:I guess Laura was the more personal mission for Dale. Teresa was Desmond's investigation, Dale spent about a day doing a cursory follow-up, more interested in Chet's disappearance than the actual murder, whereas he spent over a month falling in love with the townspeople of TP. Saving Laura is as much about saving the town and sparing his friends their grief as it is about saving a girl he never met. In a way, she symbolizes the purity of the town to him.

BTW, per Mark's book, Sarah's maiden name is Novack.
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
How so? BOB had been abusing Laura thru Leland since she was 12, long before Teresa ever came into the picture. I don't see how saving Teresa affects Laura's murder in any way.
Because he can solve the mystery before the murder occurs. Save Theresa, stop Leland, tell Chet! Done!
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Agent Sam Stanley
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Agent Sam Stanley »

writersblock wrote:
Agent Sam Stanley wrote:
writersblock wrote:
Yeah but save Theresa = Save Chet = Save Laura

Three birds, one stone ;-)
How so? BOB had been abusing Laura thru Leland since she was 12, long before Teresa ever came into the picture. I don't see how saving Teresa affects Laura's murder in any way.
Because he can solve the mystery before the murder occurs. Save Theresa, stop Leland, tell Chet! Done!
If by "solve the mystery" you mean arrest Leland on sight, that could work, assuming Cooper still has his FBI badge and gun. And I doubt there would be any FBI involvement if Teresa is not killed. So yes, Teresa would be spared, Leland would be locked in a Deer Meadow cell and consequently Chet wouldn't be sent to DM.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I've never really been clear on why the FBI was involved in Teresa's case to begin with, other than Gordon presumably recognizing a Blue Rose case. But I imagine he would still need some pretense of jurisdiction.
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

Agent Sam Stanley wrote:
writersblock wrote:
Agent Sam Stanley wrote:
How so? BOB had been abusing Laura thru Leland since she was 12, long before Teresa ever came into the picture. I don't see how saving Teresa affects Laura's murder in any way.
Because he can solve the mystery before the murder occurs. Save Theresa, stop Leland, tell Chet! Done!
If by "solve the mystery" you mean arrest Leland on sight, that could work, assuming Cooper still has his FBI badge and gun. And I doubt there would be any FBI involvement if Teresa is not killed. So yes, Teresa would be spared, Leland would be locked in a Deer Meadow cell and consequently Chet wouldn't be sent to DM.
I know it's way too simple for Lynch but in the real world (ha) I think that would work :-)
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Re: Theresa Banks, timelines, and more

Post by writersblock »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:I've never really been clear on why the FBI was involved in Teresa's case to begin with, other than Gordon presumably recognizing a Blue Rose case. But I imagine he would still need some pretense of jurisdiction.
Maybe that's the real reason the Deer Meadow Sheriff Department were so pissy with them :-)
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