The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[Hester Prynne]

Long time fan of TP, first time poster

At the end of the book when Major Briggs recounts the events surrounding Milford's death, I noticed some inconsistencies. Initially MB says he found a tape Milford left for him on his desk the day after he died and that they scattered his ashes in accordance with Milford's will. A number of pages later after MB recounts his disappearance in the woods, he states when he came back that he discovered Milford had died three days earlier and that he did NOT leave a will, and they scattered his ashes in the woods at Dwayne's suggestion. I might be reading it wrong because I have been jumping around a lot in the book, but did anyone else notice this, too, and what are your thoughts?

[N. Needleman]

I think the book is just too immense, detailed and vibrant a work for me to get too hung up on the continuity errors, of which there are many (and again, this is all too typical for TP tie-in material). I think it's a blast.

Do I wish they'd checked those errors against the show? Ohhhh, yes. But I take the show as canon over the problem bits, just as I always have.

[Soolsma]

So seeing Frost obviously did his homework on Douglas, I'd guess he probably re-watched episode 17, the first episode Douglas appeared in, the episode also has Vivian in it. I'm pretty much convinced the discrepancies are largely intentional.

When we start assembling a full list of the continuity errors and which episodes they contradict we can probably deduce whether the change was intentional or not, by checking the same episodes for details that do match up.

Needleman: Yeah, I'm with you there. The thing is I'm just super curious why or how.

[Mr. Reindeer]

So seeing Frost obviously did his homework on Douglas, I'd guess he probably re-watched episode 17, the first episode Douglas appeared in, the episode also has Vivian in it. I'm pretty much convinced the discrepancies are largely intentional.

I don't know about that. If I were Mark and simply wanted to refresh my memory on Dougie, I'd just fast forward to the scenes with him in them, not sit there watching the whole episode.

(I mean, more accurately, if I were Mark, I would have rewatched the entire series both before and after writing the book / new season and taken extensive notes....but that's me.)

[bowisneski]

For those who want to avoid possible continuity gaffes, but still want to get all the great lore and intertwining with real history, my suggestion would be to just skip pages 155-233 of the US edition.

If it turns out they're not gaffes, you can read the section later.

Despite the possible gaffes, I'd still suggest reading the whole thing. But for those who know it would ruin their enjoyment, just skip the section.

[Ross]

For those who want to avoid possible continuity gaffes, but still want to get all the great lore and intertwining with real history, my suggestion would be to just skip pages 155-233 of the US edition.

If it turns out they're not gaffes, you can read the section later.

Despite the possible gaffes, I'd still suggest reading the whole thing. But for those who know it would ruin their enjoyment, just skip the section.

Pretty much true. Although 155-168 may only go against some things in the Access Guide, which doesn't bother me. But things go astray after that. There's also some glitches in the Teresa and Laura sections later though. Nothing huge.

[Mr. Reindeer]

For those who want to avoid possible continuity gaffes, but still want to get all the great lore and intertwining with real history, my suggestion would be to just skip pages 155-233 of the US edition.

If it turns out they're not gaffes, you can read the section later.

Despite the possible gaffes, I'd still suggest reading the whole thing. But for those who know it would ruin their enjoyment, just skip the section.

Pretty much true. Although 155-168 may only go against some things in the Access Guide, which doesn't bother me. But things go astray after that. There's also some glitches in the Teresa and Laura sections later though. Nothing huge.

Another in-book gaffe: Dougie Milford bought the TP Post after Robert Jacoby died in 1969, but R. Jacoby is still plugging away writing a very verbose ode to Margaret in 1986.

As someone very annoyed by the continuity gaffes, I would still recommend that people read the middle section of the book -- the characterizations of many favorites (especially Ed and Jacoby) are great, despite the inconsistencies. However, Bowisneski is absolutely right: most of the big issues are in that section, and one could skip over it without missing any relevant info to the rest of the book. In fact, I sort of wonder why it's even there (obviously, I get why Frost included it -- but from an in-world perspective, it has next to nothing to do with the Archivist's purposes).

[Shazbot]

1/3 of the way through it and it's great. I love the blend of reality and Twin Peaks. Dougie being a Man in Black is hilarious to me.

[Ross]

Briggs also says he delivered the "Cooper Cooper Cooper" message (ep 9) and went on his trip with coop (ep 17) on the same day!

[Shazbot]

The answer, obviously, is that Major Briggs wrote this book in the same way Norm MacDonald wrote his 'memoir.' Fudge the details and make shit up for shits and giggles. He was trying to make himself laugh.

[bowisneski]

I love that after Lana left town she apparently dated "a bizarrely coifed real estate mogul"

And, after some reflection, the only two continuity errors thatd bother me are the Jacoby document stating that his plan was to have Ben enact the surrender at Appomatox and Cooper having written the Andrew Packard file(though nothing specific in the file bothered me, just that Cooper seemed to have more knowledge than he should have. I know Big Eds story is retconned in there but, because I don't think it takes away from the emotionality of Eds story, I find that easily explained as not wanting to share the true extent of the story with a newcomer to town, so he sort of abridged and fudges it.).

But those are minuscule to me compared to my overall enjoyment. Any and all date issues I'm able to easily gloss over.

My favorite section by far was the final one that begins on page 303. Specifically 315-359. It feels like there is just so much heart in that section. The paper story about Maragret, and the notes Jacoby wrote in Hawaii really touched me. Proving that despite all the wonderful mythology, the characters are the true heart of what keeps me interested in Twin Peaks and has me excited for it to return.

It'll probably take another read through or two before I can have a full discussion on the contents of the book though.

[bowisneski]

Oh, and did anyone else notice that the photo on page 118-119 is of the Hanford nuclear facility, yet it is cited at the beginning as "Photograph of the smoke plume from the Tillamook Burn as seen from an aircraft, in August 1933" which is this photo http://offbeatoregon.com/assets-2014/14 ... r-1800.jpg that is found nowhere in the book. Not sure of any significance this could have but I thought it was interesting.

[Soolsma]

Briggs also says he delivered the "Cooper Cooper Cooper" message (ep 9) and went on his trip with coop (ep 17) on the same day!

:/

[N. Needleman]

I think the latter half is excellent. Just be aware it has any number of continuity gaffes and act accordingly. There's wonderful character and mythology stuff regardless of the errors.

[mtwentz]

I think the latter half is excellent. Just be aware it has any number of continuity gaffes and act accordingly. There's wonderful character and mythology stuff regardless of the errors.

We don't know that they are 'errors'- they may be intentional.