The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[Soolsma]

I've never heard of Norma's maiden name except for Lindstrom, which I read just today on the TP wiki

Anyone did?

[LonelySoul]

Wasn't Ilsa the name of Norma's grandmother, the RR Diner founder's wife?

Maybe Coop was a bit inaccurate with his records, yeah I know...Coop of all people

I don't know... maybe all these inconsistencies do in fact indicate an alternate timeline

I took a peek at the "leaked" photo of the Double R Diner menu. It says it opened in 1938 to founder and owner Marty Lindstrom and mentions who I presume is his wife, Ilsa Lindstrom.

Are we assuming these are Norma's grandparents?

Norma's postcard to "Mom and Dad" aka Mr. and Mrs. Lindstrom is written in 1969.

Wasn't her mother's name Vivian Smythe? That would be a massive continuity error if Ilsa is actually Norma's mother. But Norma's maiden name also seems to be a continuity error as "Lindstrom," no?

And didn't her mom say something to the effect of "This is just not a good restaurant" in season two?

Someone give me a reasonable theory on all of this!

Okay, so unless I'm confused again, maybe this isn't a problem? We have:

Marty and Ilsa(?) as Norma's grandparents.

Vivian Somethingorother as Norma's mother.

Norma and Annie as Norma's children.

So Vivian's name might not have changes to Ilsa, we're just talking about her mother's name instead?

[rjpierson]

My father and my aunt and uncle called their grandparents "mom" and "dad". So maybe Norma is the same way. Also, maybe the Lindstroms are her paternal grandparents and her mother Vivian remarried and so has a different last name than Norma's maiden name.

[Sid]

Marty & Ilsa Lindstrom are married
Their son xxx Lindstrom marries Vivian Smythe
Their daughter is Norma Lindstrom
Vivian gets divorced, marries xxx Blackburn
Their daughter is Annie Blackburn
After divorcing xxx Blackburn, Vivian changes her name back to Smythe until she marries Niles

Do you remember how many surnames Alexis from Dynasty had?
Morell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan

[Ross]

But I believe the book is saying Ilsa is her Mother, correct? Or no?

[Soolsma]

Nope sorry, Ilsa is her mother, I quote:

Her mom came back to work at the diner afterward, and Norma loved working side by side with her --especially with Hank's long and frequent absences-- but Ilsa never got over losing Marty. The prospect of grandchildren helped sustain her, but Ilsa's health declined and she passed suddenly one night in her sleep in 1984.

[Sid]

Nope sorry, Ilsa is her mother, I quote:

Her mom came back to work at the diner afterward, and Norma loved working side by side with her --especially with Hank's long and frequent absences-- but Ilsa never got over losing Marty. The prospect of grandchildren helped sustain her, but Ilsa's health declined and she passed suddenly one night in her sleep in 1984.

You're sure?
To me it looks like grandpa Lindstrom died, Vivian took care of Ilsa before returning to work at the diner with Norma. But Ilsa never recovered from her loss and died in 1984.

[Ross]

Nope sorry, Ilsa is her mother, I quote:

Her mom came back to work at the diner afterward, and Norma loved working side by side with her --especially with Hank's long and frequent absences-- but Ilsa never got over losing Marty. The prospect of grandchildren helped sustain her, but Ilsa's health declined and she passed suddenly one night in her sleep in 1984.

Ugh. Sigh...

[Soolsma]

So who's gonna ask Frost? I might have tried if I was on twitter.

> Sid

I'm pretty sure, it also literally says Norma's dad died in 1978.

[Andrea]

So I'm a little over halfway through the book, and another inconsistency with the series has come up which is so extreme that I really can't imagine it was a simple oversight. I'll further obscure it as best I can, seeing as how the book isn't officially out yet:

In a section (purported to have been written by Coop during his "time off" post-Leland's death), Norma's mother is mentioned to be named "Ilsa" and to have died in 1984.

Something very fishy is going on here.

Hi Speedbeatz.. since you're halfway thorugh the book (or beyond now I wonder, inconsistencies apart, what's your opinion about it?
Is it an engaging read? do you think it's a worth and substantial addition to the canon and the mystery?? I have this secret fear that it might be bland and ultimately ineffective... ahah

[speedbeatz]

I'm closer to 3/4 finished now. I know this is the spoiler thread, but be warned that I'm about to (vaguely) summarize what the book is like!

Aside from the previously-discussed Nadine issue, I haven't encountered anything else directly at odds with the show.
Interestingly, Nadine's missing eye is still said to have come from Ed accidentally shooting it out in a hunting accident, just not while on their honeymoon.
The bulk of the book (including, from some skimming, the pages I haven't gotten to yet) concerns a single broad topic approached from a number of angles, with a 80-ish page diversion in the middle to discuss the backstory of some characters we're familiar with. The last 50 or so pages seem like they connect back with the existing Peaks story as well.
Since I haven't finished yet, I don't know what the upshot of the archivist's investigation into this topic is, so I can't quite pass judgement on what I think of the book as a whole, or what impact it has on the show.
I will say, though, that it's a very entertaining read, especially if you take the time to look into the real historical events that are being fictionalized and co-opted into the Twin Peaks world. It's great how much of it seems like something directly out of Peaks, and ends up being only slightly-altered accounts of actual events.
The visual design is extremely well done as well, it does a great job of making the whole thing seem authentic. There are one or two instances where they use (what I presume are) stills from the show within the book, and if you think about it too hard it doesn't actually make sense for those images to exist as photographs inside a dossier, but personally I'm content to not worry about that, since it's not like they can de-age the actors 25 years.

[Andrea]

I'm closer to 3/4 finished now. I know this is the spoiler thread, but be warned that I'm about to (vaguely) summarize what the book is like!

Aside from the previously-discussed Nadine issue, I haven't encountered anything else directly at odds with the show.
Interestingly, Nadine's missing eye is still said to have come from Ed accidentally shooting it out in a hunting accident, just not while on their honeymoon.
The bulk of the book (including, from some skimming, the pages I haven't gotten to yet) concerns a single broad topic approached from a number of angles, with a 80-ish page diversion in the middle to discuss the backstory of some characters we're familiar with. The last 50 or so pages seem like they connect back with the existing Peaks story as well.
Since I haven't finished yet, I don't know what the upshot of the archivist's investigation into this topic is, so I can't quite pass judgement on what I think of the book as a whole, or what impact it has on the show.
I will say, though, that it's a very entertaining read, especially if you take the time to look into the real historical events that are being fictionalized and co-opted into the Twin Peaks world. It's great how much of it seems like something directly out of Peaks, and ends up being only slightly-altered accounts of actual events.
The visual design is extremely well done as well, it does a great job of making the whole thing seem authentic. There are one or two instances where they use (what I presume are) stills from the show within the book, and if you think about it too hard it doesn't actually make sense for those images to exist as photographs inside a dossier, but personally I'm content to not worry about that, since it's not like they can de-age the actors 25 years.

thanks a lot Speedbeatz.. I feel kinda comforted now

[Ross]

In light of the way different history of Norma, and Heather not returning, I'm really curious to see if Annie is even mentioned in the book. Perhaps she's no longer Norma's sister?

[Mr. Reindeer]

So who's gonna ask Frost? I might have tried if I was on twitter.

> Sid

I'm pretty sure, it also literally says Norma's dad died in 1978.

The quote sure makes it sound like Ilsa is the mom, not the grandmother. If Ilsa were Norma's grandma, the reference to "the prospect of grandchildren" would make zero sense - Grandma would already have at least one grandkid, Norma, far more than a "prospect."

On the one hand, this is pretty discouraging to a somewhat OCD continuity nut like myself. The joy of this book to me was to dig deeper into the stories and lives of the characters, strengethening the reality of this universe, not to ruin my suspension of disbelief by muddying continuity needlessly.

Still, it's comforting that SpeedBeatz is 3/4 into the book and hasn't found any discrepancies outside of this Norma weirdness and the Ed/Nadine thing we already knew about. Maybe the retcon will only center around the Norma-Ed-Nadine area of the TP universe (possibly to service some storyline involving those characters in the book or the new season).

I hope someone who finishes the book will let us know if there's an in-universe explanation (or even a hint at an explanation) for these changes. I don't necessarily need or even want to know WHAT the explanation is, if any - I just want to temper my expectations accordingly.

[The Man]

I hope someone who finishes the book will let us know if there's an in-universe explanation (or even a hint at an explanation) for these changes. I don't necessarily need or even want to know WHAT the explanation is, if any - I just want to temper my expectations accordingly.

I haven't really read this thread very well nor do l intend to as it's a spoiler thread but:

[COP OUT Alert]

We know that Agent Jefferys was time travelling. He accused Cooper of being COOPER. In fact, in FWWM, Cooper even saw COOPER. This is all way before the fact of Cooper becoming COOPER at the end of Ser. 2.

Even more tenuous: Cooper rescues Laura Palmer at the end of FWWM. I'd say it all happened on the same night that LAURA said "See you in 25 years" at the end of Ser. 2. So ... with FWWM released in 1992, 25 years from that is 2017, even though 25 years from "See you in 25 years" is also 2016 because Ser. 2 ended in 1991.

What l mean is, time is being altered. So, perhaps little things may go awry, fine details about people's lives may change. Still, l think l'm clutching at straws with this explanation as Frost would have made it clear if it were so. I hope somebody gets his views on the matter (l must admit l'm only really concerned with silver screen).