Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Moderators: Brad D, Annie, Jonah, BookhouseBoyBob, Ross, Jerry Horne

User avatar
bowisneski
RR Diner Member
Posts: 239
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:51 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by bowisneski »

After finishing Season 3, I went back and re-read this and these passages all popped out at me as interesting given where Season 3 left off
DCDeath1.png
DCDeath1.png (63.9 KiB) Viewed 19560 times
DCFailure.png
DCFailure.png (47.66 KiB) Viewed 19560 times
DCFReturn.png
DCFReturn.png (196.28 KiB) Viewed 19560 times
DCGoodEvil.png
DCGoodEvil.png (21.65 KiB) Viewed 19560 times
DCOldMan.png
DCOldMan.png (48.17 KiB) Viewed 19560 times
User avatar
Mr. Reindeer
Lodge Member
Posts: 3680
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Great finds! MLMT definitely spends a lot of time setting up Cooper's dark side and obsession with control/rescuing women which pays off in S3, particularly Part 18. The material with the old chess-playing man on the island is wonderfully creepy.

FWIW, here's an excerpt from a post I made back in a January speculating how the book might hint at Dale's S3 development:
The passage that particularly caught my eye is on page 132. During a hostage situation, Dale takes a life for the first time, and is wracked with guilt about it afterward. However, his description of the event is rather odd: "My written report states that he was ordered to freeze and drop his weapon. He did not." This very deliberate phrasing seems like Dale (probably unconsciously) admitting that he jumped the gun and shot the suspect without giving proper warning. It's a small thing, but it might subtley hint at a deeply-repressed proclivity toward violence that Dale tries to overcompensate for with his extremely compassionate nature (similar to the passage earlier in the book where Dale shoots a crow and then feels guilty and can't remember why he did it).
User avatar
bowisneski
RR Diner Member
Posts: 239
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:51 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by bowisneski »

There are a lot of great snippet finds like that in there too! There were multiple more about questioning whether or not good could defeat evil, and all of the supernatural and ring related things mentioned earlier in the thread. I feel like the excerpt you posted really ties in to and works with
Spoiler:
the Ike the Spike incident and the scene in Judy's diner
Whether or not they were building towards anything remotely like they got, Season 3 felt like it really built on the character established in the first two seasons and ML,MT. It's great when stuff that was written as tie in in 1990 resonates with and feels true to a sequel in 2017. Especially when both of the men involved claim to not have really revisited the main show, let alone this stuff.
User avatar
Novalis
RR Diner Member
Posts: 431
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 3:18 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by Novalis »

bowisneski wrote:There are a lot of great snippet finds like that in there too! There were multiple more about questioning whether or not good could defeat evil, and all of the supernatural and ring related things mentioned earlier in the thread. I feel like the excerpt you posted really ties in to and works with
Spoiler:
the Ike the Spike incident and the scene in Judy's diner
Whether or not they were building towards anything remotely like they got, Season 3 felt like it really built on the character established in the first two seasons and ML,MT. It's great when stuff that was written as tie in in 1990 resonates with and feels true to a sequel in 2017. Especially when both of the men involved claim to not have really revisited the main show, let alone this stuff.
Yes, I like the way season 3 / The Return has been faithful not just to the spirit of the TV series but also to the spirit of other projects like Scott's, Mark's and Jennifer's. This is the case even when these side projects allegedly haven't been read; something of their atmospherics have been incorporated into the new material. It has deepened and enriched the whole experience for me.
As a matter of fact, 'Chalfont' was the name of the people that rented this space before. Two Chalfonts. Weird, huh?
claaa7
Great Northern Member
Posts: 715
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:47 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by claaa7 »

some interesting finds in here! i still need to finnish this book as the only way i have of reading it is on the computer which i don't like at all, but it seems like i need to do that asap..

i saw a quote from Mark Frost on the making of this book where he said that he gave his brother an outline for the book and that Scott then fleshed that out into the book.. i think it was from an online Q&A, pretty recently.
User avatar
laughingpinecone
Great Northern Member
Posts: 725
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:45 am
Location: D'ni
Contact:

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by laughingpinecone »

There's also this!
scott frost on mlmt.PNG
scott frost on mlmt.PNG (202.18 KiB) Viewed 19500 times
Scott Frost shares the asparagus anecdote but I imagine they must've talked about what makes that character tick during that morning... between Lynch's input and Mark Frost's outline, it's not surprising that MLMT would be in line with TPTR's view of Dale Cooper!
] The gathered are known by their faces of stone.
User avatar
Mr. Reindeer
Lodge Member
Posts: 3680
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

laughingpinecone wrote:There's also this!
scott frost on mlmt.PNG
Scott Frost shares the asparagus anecdote but I imagine they must've talked about what makes that character tick during that morning... between Lynch's input and Mark Frost's outline, it's not surprising that MLMT would be in line with TPTR's view of Dale Cooper!
WOW! Do you know where I can find the rest of that interview? There's a ton of great info in those couple of paragraphs!

Can't believe DKL actually sat down with Scott, or that they spent the money to send him "on location" to Philly and Quantico. Too cool! Also had no idea he wrote the Cooper tape. Roger Rees definitely could pass for Kyle's brother. Now I can picture what Emmet looks like! I love the explanation for how Scott crammed the brother into the story. :lol:
User avatar
laughingpinecone
Great Northern Member
Posts: 725
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:45 am
Location: D'ni
Contact:

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by laughingpinecone »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:
laughingpinecone wrote:There's also this!
scott frost on mlmt.PNG
Scott Frost shares the asparagus anecdote but I imagine they must've talked about what makes that character tick during that morning... between Lynch's input and Mark Frost's outline, it's not surprising that MLMT would be in line with TPTR's view of Dale Cooper!
WOW! Do you know where I can find the rest of that interview? There's a ton of great info in those couple of paragraphs!

Can't believe DKL actually sat down with Scott, or that they spent the money to send him "on location" to Philly and Quantico. Too cool! Also had no idea he wrote the Cooper tape. Roger Rees definitely could pass for Kyle's brother. Now I can picture what Emmet looks like! I love the explanation for how Scott crammed the brother into the story. :lol:
I'm sorry, all I remember is that it was a very old... panel? that someone unearthed, and I'm almost sure the link came from dugpa. Maybe a forum search for "Scott Frost" will turn up something? I have a bad habit of hoarding quotes via screencap instead of copypasting along with the source url like a civilized human being :oops:

And right? They were so dedicated during those months, always going the extra mile for these things... sending Scott Frost to Quantico ties for "most extra" with hiring an actual astrologer to retroengineer the characters' birth dates :lol:
] The gathered are known by their faces of stone.
User avatar
bowisneski
RR Diner Member
Posts: 239
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:51 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by bowisneski »

It is from Wrapped In Plastic #73 (March, 2005)

I believe the whole archive is on the web archive, but I'm not sure if a link can be shared or not.
claaa7
Great Northern Member
Posts: 715
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:47 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by claaa7 »

Finally read the entire thing on a 2 hour train ride and it certainly has it moments, but its the weakest of the official fiction books imo. Out of the Frosts and J. Lynch i definitiely like Scotts voice the least and i think Cooper comes off to much like a bumbling kid who have no clue about much for large parts of the book. Of course its about his evolution from boy to man but even in the latter parts he doesnt come off as too bright imo.

It starts picking up with the Windom Earle, Caroline and Theresa Banks storylines and theres some cool foreshadowing in the parts quoted by bowiski above. What i found most intriguing was the introduction of Deer Meadow and the way Sheriff Cable was described. Considering this is based on an outline by Mark Frost it gives more credence to the theory that some parts of FWWM was based around original ideas conceived by L&F that wasnt used in the OG series. I bet the original script to the film that centered on Coop in Deer Meadow had more similarities to these entries in the book.

Overall 2/5 but glad to have read it
User avatar
Mr. Reindeer
Lodge Member
Posts: 3680
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Mark recently mentioned this book in an interview as the beginnings of the exploration of Dale’s dark side which continued in S3, particularly Part 18. Something I haven’t seen mentioned before: in the book, Dale sees his first dead body when his grandmother dies....while making cherry pie (3/08/68). This is a pretty interesting linkage between Dale’s dark and light sides. One of his favorite things in life SHOULD probably have negative associations for him. Wonder what to make of this.
User avatar
Mr. Reindeer
Lodge Member
Posts: 3680
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Another interesting tidbit: Cooper’s last words to his first love Marie before she dies are, “Sure thing.” Is it a coincidence that he later tells Shelly, “Nothing is a sure thing”?

Also, Dale’s dad gets remarried in Vegas (and Dale is booted from the casino for card counting, told never to come back).
User avatar
bowisneski
RR Diner Member
Posts: 239
Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2016 11:51 am

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by bowisneski »

I would love to know more about the production of that book and how much it inspired Frost's entire view of the new series. I mean, we now have Frost mentioning it in two different interviews how important it was to him in establishing the psychology of Cooper and his "white knight syndrome". Could Season 3 have been less dark if it weren't for what was setup in ML,MT? We'll probably never know, but it's great to know that it was used by Frost guiding the new season. Plus the Vegas thing. We know ML,MT mentions Vegas and a green jacket, so I wonder if those things just dovetailed for Frost wanting to explore Vegas, or if they inspired it and the economic collapse solidified it.

You point out two great things Mr. Reindeer, and with the pie one I think it's interesting the Scott either took it in that direction or that that might've came up in the pre-writing discussions. Associating one the things that the pop culture around the series is obsessed with with something so dark it a great way to expand upon the darkness that dwells within Cooper. I really would love to see some of the original ideas that Frost had about Season 3 from back then.

With Shelly I would guess that, if it was intentional, it's something that Scott picked up on and decided to include.
User avatar
kitty666cats
RR Diner Member
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 4:38 pm

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by kitty666cats »

In the Reddit AMA today Frost mentioned that this book may have an unreliable narrator. Assuming he is referring to Diane's Tulpa 8)
User avatar
laughingpinecone
Great Northern Member
Posts: 725
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2016 6:45 am
Location: D'ni
Contact:

Re: Thoughts on 'The Autobiography of F.B.I Special Agent Dale C

Post by laughingpinecone »

I'm leaning toward Diane proper! MLMT always felt like a file compiled after Coop's disappearance, and it would be odd to wait 4-5 years to do so?

Coop himself also probably qualifies as unreliable narrator. Diane (either) is an added unreliable editor :mrgreen:
] The gathered are known by their faces of stone.
Post Reply