SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

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FlyingSquirrel
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by FlyingSquirrel »

Hmm. Maybe Briggs had already picked his own successor just like Milford had done with him?

Though I'm also increasingly perplexed by the tone and content of Tammy's notes in terms of how the dossier's discovery could fit with what we see in TP:TR. She comes across as someone who doesn't know a whole lot about Cooper, and towards the end, she has a list of agents - Cole, Jeffries, Desmond, Earle, Stanley, Cooper, and Rosenfield - and observes that all of them except Cole and Rosenfield met with unpleasant fates and seems to wonder what they had in common. But she knows as of a couple episodes ago that, aside from Earle and Stanley, all of them were Blue Rose agents, so why doesn't she even mention that in her notes?

Maybe I could accept that she was given the dossier and made all her notes at some point during the earlier episodes of TP:TR, and it was just never mentioned on-screen, but she also says that she's on some sort of administrative leave at the end, so that doesn't really fit either.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by Manwith »

FlyingSquirrel wrote:Hmm. Maybe Briggs had already picked his own successor just like Milford had done with him?

Though I'm also increasingly perplexed by the tone and content of Tammy's notes in terms of how the dossier's discovery could fit with what we see in TP:TR. She comes across as someone who doesn't know a whole lot about Cooper, and towards the end, she has a list of agents - Cole, Jeffries, Desmond, Earle, Stanley, Cooper, and Rosenfield - and observes that all of them except Cole and Rosenfield met with unpleasant fates and seems to wonder what they had in common. But she knows as of a couple episodes ago that, aside from Earle and Stanley, all of them were Blue Rose agents, so why doesn't she even mention that in her notes?

Maybe I could accept that she was given the dossier and made all her notes at some point during the earlier episodes of TP:TR, and it was just never mentioned on-screen, but she also says that she's on some sort of administrative leave at the end, so that doesn't really fit either.
Could the dossier investigation have taken place before the TV show? I'm not the kind of person that pays attention to internal dates and timelines, so I'm not clear on that.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by sylvia_north »

The dates are a bit wacky. I haven't seen the Timeline thread here updated lately. Last I compared, the dossier came before the events in the show.

I guess there's evidence TR could be 2014 or 2016, or both. 8/4/16 is when the dossier is dated, it was found 7/17/16

http://twinpeaksgazette.com/2017/07/26/ ... he-return/ - suggests mobius strip theory
http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/discuss/t ... ear-is-it/ an inconclusive discussion thread with some interesting observations
People on this board have noticed recycled costumes in different parts

From Twin Peaks wikia Timeline entry:

Twin Peaks (2017)

The current dating scheme originates from dialogue in Part 9, which indicates that the date in Twin Peaks, South Dakota, and Las Vegas is September 29. As the events surrounding Dale Cooper in Las Vegas have covered only a few consecutive days, this allows for a reasonable extrapolation of each episode to a particular date. In Part 3, the date of Cooper's car crash is "9/22," although this may be an oversight.

The year is not stated. If William Hastings' interrogation on a Saturday (Part 1) is taken to be five days before September 29, this would point to 2016 as the real September 24, 2016 was a Saturday. The Search for the Zone website indicates that Hastings last updated the blog in November 2015.

It is unclear to what degree the events taking place in and around Twin Peaks are concurrent with those involving Dale Cooper and the doppelganger, or even other Twin Peaks-set scenes. For example, the Great Northern Hotel key mailed by Jade in Part 5 arrives in town at some point during Part 7, which (if set contemporaneously) would require a transit time of less than a day. Andy Brennan's watch in Part 7 shows that the date is the 10th, possibly September 10 or October 10.
Too Old to Die Young > TP S03
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FlyingSquirrel
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by FlyingSquirrel »

I guess that makes a little more sense, i.e. the dossier review taking place before the series. Though if that's the case, we still don't know where the crime scene was where it turned up. And Tammy doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that their investigation of Cooper's reappearance touches on a number of individuals and events that are mentioned in the dossier. She even asks who Jeffries is towards the end of Part 4, but she should know who he is if she's already reviewed the dossier.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by Manwith »

FlyingSquirrel wrote:I guess that makes a little more sense, i.e. the dossier review taking place before the series. Though if that's the case, we still don't know where the crime scene was where it turned up. And Tammy doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that their investigation of Cooper's reappearance touches on a number of individuals and events that are mentioned in the dossier. She even asks who Jeffries is towards the end of Part 4, but she should know who he is if she's already reviewed the dossier.
I'm guessing the explanation for Tammy not mentioning it in the TV show is pretty mundane: the scripts for Twin Peaks: The Return were written before the Mark Frost book. Lynch and Frost wouldn't have known to reference a book Frost probably hadn't planned yet. When the scripts for the show were written, it was for a pitch, and they had no idea if the show would be greenlighted and filmed. I doubt planning for a tie in novel was on their minds.

The other thing is only a small percentage of viewers are going to read the tie in novel, so the show works better if its completely stand alone.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by FlyingSquirrel »

Manwith wrote:
FlyingSquirrel wrote:I guess that makes a little more sense, i.e. the dossier review taking place before the series. Though if that's the case, we still don't know where the crime scene was where it turned up. And Tammy doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that their investigation of Cooper's reappearance touches on a number of individuals and events that are mentioned in the dossier. She even asks who Jeffries is towards the end of Part 4, but she should know who he is if she's already reviewed the dossier.
I'm guessing the explanation for Tammy not mentioning it in the TV show is pretty mundane: the scripts for Twin Peaks: The Return were written before the Mark Frost book. Lynch and Frost wouldn't have known to reference a book Frost probably hadn't planned yet. When the scripts for the show were written, it was for a pitch, and they had no idea if the show would be greenlighted and filmed. I doubt planning for a tie in novel was on their minds.

The other thing is only a small percentage of viewers are going to read the tie in novel, so the show works better if its completely stand alone.
You may well be right, and I'm not one of those people who demands absolute 100% consistency when it comes to continuity. (Hell, I'm an X-Files fan too, so I'm well-practiced at shrugging off minor discrepancies like this.) I'm just not sure why Frost has her mention Jeffries in the book in that case, since he'd have known that they already wrote her as not knowing who he is.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by FlyingSquirrel »

Manwith wrote:
FlyingSquirrel wrote:I guess that makes a little more sense, i.e. the dossier review taking place before the series. Though if that's the case, we still don't know where the crime scene was where it turned up. And Tammy doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that their investigation of Cooper's reappearance touches on a number of individuals and events that are mentioned in the dossier. She even asks who Jeffries is towards the end of Part 4, but she should know who he is if she's already reviewed the dossier.
I'm guessing the explanation for Tammy not mentioning it in the TV show is pretty mundane: the scripts for Twin Peaks: The Return were written before the Mark Frost book. Lynch and Frost wouldn't have known to reference a book Frost probably hadn't planned yet. When the scripts for the show were written, it was for a pitch, and they had no idea if the show would be greenlighted and filmed. I doubt planning for a tie in novel was on their minds.

The other thing is only a small percentage of viewers are going to read the tie in novel, so the show works better if its completely stand alone.
You may well be right, and I'm not one of those people who demands absolute 100% consistency when it comes to continuity. (Hell, I'm an X-Files fan too, so I'm well-practiced at shrugging off minor discrepancies like this.) I'm just not sure why Frost has her mention Jeffries in the book in that case, since he'd have known that they already wrote her as not knowing who he is.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Not an inconsistency, per se, but it's interesting how the book presents the US government as sinister and enmeshed in coverups (in the manner of much conspiracy fiction), but the show doesn't take this tack at all, presenting what we've seen of the military and FBI with the same '50s-style straightforwardness of the original show (right down to the delightfully sincere fist-pump moment, "I am the FBI"). True, we've mostly focused on the truth-seeking Blue Rose group...but even there, the book presented Gordon as a bit more of a puppetmaster and the unit overall as a deep-cover shadow organization, involved in their own coverups, implied to be continuing the work of the Freemasons, and founded by the likely-murderous Dougie Milford. On the show, they seem more like the X-Files, a merry band whose well-meaning explorations into the paranormal are at a high level of clearance to be sure, but there's nothing in the show to indicate that they are hiding or working against the upper tiers of the Bureau or the military.

I get the sense that a lot of TSHoTP was stuff that Mark was interested on exploring in the show, but DKL exercised his veto power. (Don't get me wrong, I think plenty of Mark survived into the show, and I would hope that he exercised his veto power equally in the partnership.)
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by windh »

Uhm... sorry, I might be out of my head completely. But why does it say (as written by the Archivist) that Lana was married to DOUGLAS Milford?

Wasn't it Dwayne...?


Once again, I apologize if I'm a total moron.
/windh
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by mtwentz »

windh wrote:Uhm... sorry, I might be out of my head completely. But why does it say (as written by the Archivist) that Lana was married to DOUGLAS Milford?

Wasn't it Dwayne...?


Once again, I apologize if I'm a total moron.
She married Douglas, who later died of a heart attack after a night of lovemaking- then was accused by Dwayne of being a 'witch' and killing Dougie. Later, Lana seduced Dwayne and promised to marry him if she won Miss Twin Peaks.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by FlyingSquirrel »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:Not an inconsistency, per se, but it's interesting how the book presents the US government as sinister and enmeshed in coverups (in the manner of much conspiracy fiction), but the show doesn't take this tack at all, presenting what we've seen of the military and FBI with the same '50s-style straightforwardness of the original show (right down to the delightfully sincere fist-pump moment, "I am the FBI"). True, we've mostly focused on the truth-seeking Blue Rose group...but even there, the book presented Gordon as a bit more of a puppetmaster and the unit overall as a deep-cover shadow organization, involved in their own coverups, implied to be continuing the work of the Freemasons, and founded by the likely-murderous Dougie Milford. On the show, they seem more like the X-Files, a merry band whose well-meaning explorations into the paranormal are at a high level of clearance to be sure, but there's nothing in the show to indicate that they are hiding or working against the upper tiers of the Bureau or the military.

I get the sense that a lot of TSHoTP was stuff that Mark was interested on exploring in the show, but DKL exercised his veto power. (Don't get me wrong, I think plenty of Mark survived into the show, and I would hope that he exercised his veto power equally in the partnership.)
I didn't necessarily see the book as implying anything unpleasant about Gordon himself. About Milford, yes, but the fact that he handed off to Briggs indicates that not everyone involved in Blue Rose investigations and/or the military part of this operation is necessarily ethically slippery. (Briggs certainly isn't, on the show or in the book.) To the extent that Gordon keeps secrets, I suspect that it's partly to avoid endangering his own agents, given that, as noted by both Tammy (in the book) and Albert (in The Return), many of them seem to have disappeared or otherwise had something nasty happen to them after they started investigating. I'd agree that it is a somewhat different tone from the show in terms of how the government is portrayed. Though it seems like the *official* government only has a very limited grasp on the situation anyway, given the role played by Nixon.

I actually think X-Files is a better example of a story where the heroes *are* working against the upper tiers of the Bureau and the military. Mulder and Scully have a few allies on the inside, but the rest of the Bureau and the military are often at best well-meaning dupes who have been tricked into protecting the conspiracy. They never had the sort of institutional support that the Blue Rose team seems to have.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by windh »

mtwentz wrote:
windh wrote:Uhm... sorry, I might be out of my head completely. But why does it say (as written by the Archivist) that Lana was married to DOUGLAS Milford?

Wasn't it Dwayne...?


Once again, I apologize if I'm a total moron.
She married Douglas, who later died of a heart attack after a night of lovemaking- then was accused by Dwayne of being a 'witch' and killing Dougie. Later, Lana seduced Dwayne and promised to marry him if she won Miss Twin Peaks.


Ah, got it. Thanks. That really didn't come through to me in the book.


Btw, I love how every Douglas from now on also will be a Dougie. :D
/windh
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by AgentEcho »

It took until the finale but we finally got a clue why there were so many intentional discrepancies in the dossier. Not sure what the implication is. Is the dossier from the world of Richard, Linda and Carrie? Laura still dies but one of the discrepancies was her age at death. I can't recall if the date of her death is mentioned though.

Cooper didn't seem to save Laura from her overall situation. She's still in a home with a murderous predator who is intent on killing her and we're given no indication he changed that, so Laura is still in danger.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by Trudy Chelgren »

So the grid pattern on the cover of the book, what was that supposed to be? I remember Frost making cryptic "you'll see" kind of remarks about that. Of all the weird, sometimes annoying inconsistencies between the show and the book, (and I know they weren't working together as such) that one bothers me the most, along with not actually seeing the dossier recovered.

One of my biggest questions about the show was "how come Gordon knows so much about everything, but seemingly nothing as well?" He knew Phillip Jeffries "didn't exist anymore", and not in a normal way. Does that mean he went to the Convenience Store? Did steam/bell Jeffries somehow contact Gordon? That would have been a fucked up conversation; "Hi Gordon, just checkin in, btw im now inside a big, slippery bell that makes steam bubbles pretty cool huh". With The Return and The Secret History together, it's clear that Gordon knows a lot more than Tammy, and maybe a lot more than anyone, but gives the investigation to her because "she has the stuff". So why does Gordon seem perplexed by everything all the time? He's having to figure things out as he goes. He has some strange, premonition-type moments, (knowing Diane is coming down the hall, Laura's face in the doorway) but he's also totally clueless, as to Jeffries and Cooper's (Mr C's) contact, demonstrated in the 'blue conversation' with Albert. Why was Tammy wearing a wire such a problem? Did he fear it being hacked or something? If he truly trusted her, why would he not let her in? This is probably more about the show than the book, but nevertheless.
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Re: SPOILERS: Inconsistencies in the Secret History of Twin Peaks

Post by DoppelBocker »

Just a thought I wanted to add concerning grey aliens that we see in this book yet not so much in the series.

Common Conspiracy Theories Seem to all have the following tenets concerning grey aliens I find interesting just from various readings I've done on the subject unrelated to Twin Peaks (no I'm not saying they're real by any means just interesting to read about):
*Grey Aliens are age defying unchanging watchers. They simply watch and follow an unchanging agenda specifically interested in humanity as a whole.

*They are without a vessel hence need a body (a soulless biological construct perhaps cloned that may represent humans as a species millions of years from now). Unlike the common bug-eyed beings depicted in cartoons, they look like the re-created Roswell photos like some fetus all grown up and lifeless looking even perhaps when apparently alive. These bodies are simply a vessel for a fallen angel? to project themselves into the physical realm.


*The ships are simply energy signatures and not actual ships. Antigravitational aircraft is something they're trying to guide humans into creating for some reason perhaps with a promise of crossing over or something like that...

*Their level of consciousness is self-aware yet they seem to be locked into a defined purpose or pattern of behavior that they can't deviate from; poor imitation is all that they can muster (they tend to look absolutely ridiculous if try and dress up or display anything aesthetically pleasing sort of like a terrifying bad cosplay at a Halloween store).

*They're very cold and unfeeling; perhaps telepathic abilities make them think together in a hive like manner. Everything is closed off and circuitous and they're locked into the path in which their souls have been confined to (there is no metamorphosis of the soul that can be done after death guided by a light towards a higher path as they perhaps all live in shadow after becoming fallen spirits or angels).
According to religious doctrine, the human soul can ascend and become closer to God than even the good angels after death if the soul ascends after death. Hence, fallen angels have become transfixed by this being that they live in shadow with no hope yet perhaps no regret as this same path they'd choose again and again unchanging perhaps as that's how their consciousness operates.

*Masters of manipulation always will be a step ahead of humanity and in the periphery with full control over how they're perceived through knowing how information is compiled, how media works, how people's perception works, and simply how humanity works. Their akashic like record of knowledge is never lost either so is a pool that's always there to be perceived all at once by these beings.







Judy perhaps may be seen as containing some of the qualities underlying the notion of Greys in a thematic sense:
*Judy perhaps is numerous (like the greys) yet in the show is depicted as one entity.

*Judy is a representation of reality undone (signified through the experiment). Spewing out eggs (moths) that utilize multiple hosts for this one entity (Judy is many) on earth. Restless demonic spirits are released from the bottomless pit per Revelations or other religious texts perhaps too in an end of times scenario (Bob a representation of the Bob whose briefly mentioned at the beginning of Secret History perhaps).

*Many wonder what advancements or what developments in humanity need to occur for a doomsday scenario to go into motion if in fact religious texts aren't just made up cultural infusions to keep people on the straight and narrow through life. As the atomic bomb creates the potential for much chaos so perhaps too would it create a disturbance at the quantum level.

*We all know time travel into the past is human consciousness driven. Into the future however, some think is a possibility inside the limits of known physics. Is there a quantum direction beyond this? In a physical sense probably not. In a spiritual sense, a oneness connected to all points outside the bounds of reality and the quantum level as we know it perhaps could be unbound by the confines of time. The stars in the distant sky we see the light from thousands of years ago, whose to say there's not an underlying firmament behind reality as we know it? Oneness is the end of a spiritual pathway through the sky according to the vedas or other ancient religions saying we can become one while the Bible teaches of course we are separate after the fall of man and need the lord to guide us under the purview of His Oneness since only via guidance from God can our souls have any hope according to the Christian religion.

*The notion of the Dreamer I'm thinking derives from some of the Eastern religions but seems meshed in a way with Western thought; Cooper's on a spiritual path towards ascending after his ties to earth have seemingly left but instead becomes like a lost soul (ghost) hooked to something on earth that he must get through which is not surprising seeing how he left earth in a very unnatural way at the end of Season 2 getting displaced and now trying to come to terms with what must be done or can be done.

*Earth=a lost highway purgatory realm occupied by Judy; reality as a perpetual lost echo of temporal displacement and unseen possibility. A scratching sound on the monogram I think is an audible cue for this on the series.
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