Mr. Reindeer wrote:
And the painting they give her in FWWM prominently features a door which Laura walks through. Whose home is the room with the flowered wallpaper, I wonder?
I assume that the space with the flowered wallpaper in FWWM is the same as the dark realm Mr. C visits above the convenience store in S3. And MIKE claims that he and BOB lived in that place during Cooper's dream in the original series ("a convenience store -- we lived above it"). Maybe I'm looking too literally at some of the information though.
Last night I rewatched the initial Tremonds scene where they encounter Donna. I was hoping that the set design might yield some interesting clues or insight into the Tremonds' nature, but there wasn't much there. That space resembles a guest room that is never/rarely used and doubles as some sort of storage area -- the chair that Pierre sits in blocks a dresser. There are a bunch of framed portraits and paintings on the wall, but it's too hard to make them out. Creamed corn as a motif is introduced in this scene, but beyond that and the Tremonds themselves, not much else is established.
Looking beyond what's on screen for a moment, it's interesting to think about the conceptual development of the Tremonds. Mrs. Tremond begins as a bedridden meals on wheels recipient with a kooky grandson, then was some mystical illusion had by Donna, then she is walking around in FWWM with the spirit world characters. Then she is in S3 as potentially three different characters (Alice Tremond, Junkie Mom, Bosomy Woman). I wonder if during the Tremonds first appearance there was any thought about making them spirits along the lines of BOB and the Giant? Just with her being bedridden it seems like Lynch/Frost might have initially conceived of her as a 'real world' character, but with ties to otherworldly-ness similar to someone like the Log Lady. And given how rushed and hastily thrown together episode 16 always feels, there is no telling where the genesis of the replacement Tremond lies. It could've been Lynch's idea all along, or a case of Frost/Peyton/Engels trying to fit one of Lynch's spontaneous inspirations into an overall coherent narrative. Or just maybe Frances Bay was busy filming something else that week -- she seemed to be constantly working most of her professional life.
I don't know, but when I watch their first appearance, I don't see much of what the Tremonds later became. But then again, I guess we could say that about a lot of things on this show.