The Secret History of Twin Peaks

[Mr. Jackpots]

I don't really see the point of releasing a book before the new season that isn't canon (yes, I know there's the cash grab aspect of it, but I'd like to think that something written by Mark Frost, the co-creater of the series and co-writer of the show, would have some relevance). The incongruities seem blatantly intentional. Some of them seem to serve no other purpose than calling attention to the incongruities.

We'll know more after seeing the whole season 3, but at a minimum it's far too early to dismiss the book as non-canon or irrelevant.

I also think the continuity / incongruity issues are intentional. They especially draw attention to the mystery of "How's Annie?", we now find ourselves asking "Where's Annie?"

Although we have been told virtually nothing about SE3. One thing we have been told is that the events in FWWM are very important in regards to the new season. And Annie did appear briefly in the film. In a small but important role.

I think Annie may be pretty central to the narrative of the new season even if can't expect Heather graham to appear.

Also, I'm probably wrong. Trying to predict what will happen next in a Lynch production is pretty difficult.

[kitty666cats]

Is it ever explicitly stated that Annie and Norma have the same father? Norma's mother isn't on her first husband when we are introduced to her, for all we know she's had several. That could explain the Blackburn/Lindstrom thing...?

[Mr. Jackpots]

I don't think there's anything definitive out there when it comes to knowing the parentage of Norma and Annie. If anything, the little evidence we have is suggestive of different Fathers.

[Mr. Reindeer]

While I generally lean more toward Team "Mark Screwed Up" than Team "Intentional Intricate Plan" when it comes to the discrepancies in TSHoTP, one thing particularly stood out to me in my preseries reread. Mark went out of his way to include the dramatic 1968 season of the Twin Peaks High School football team from the Access Guide -- keeping the year and most of the members of the team the same (including Toad!) but changing the outcome of the final game and the season, keeping the name of the opposing team (Kettle Falls Cougars) and the silly name of the TP coach (Bobo Hobson) but changing the well-established name of the TP team, and keeping the plot point of the outcome being determined by someone dramatically running the wrong way but changing the circumstances and the identity of the runner (Hawk in the AG, Hank in TSH -- note that their names are only one letter off from one another, but now I'm definitely getting too conspiratorial).

I really cannot understand why Mark would go out of his way to include this obscure, tangential plot point, remaining true to some pointless details while dramatically changing the much more important broader strokes. More than anything else anyone has pointed to, this seems to me to indicate that alternate realities will be involved in the new season, because it seems SO deliberate, whereas most of the other inconsistencies just seem careless. In this case, Mark obviously looked very closely at the source material and made precise, deliberate changes.

It's also worth noting that the act of "running backwards" could tie in to time running backwards -- and remember the planned plot point Robert Engels revealed way back when of Truman driving a truck backwards to reach Cooper (not something I necessarily want to see done in the new S3, but perhaps indicative of Mark's mindset).

EDIT: Evidently I misremembered Mark having Hank run the wrong way -- he simply drops the ball.

[Snailhead]

I would have loved to see Lynch direct Ontkean driving a truck backwards in Twin Peaks.

[Cappy]

While I generally lean more toward Team "Mark Screwed Up" than Team "Intentional Intricate Plan" when it comes to the discrepancies in TSHoTP, one thing particularly stood out to me in my preseries reread. Mark went out of his way to include the dramatic 1968 season of the Twin Peaks High School football team from the Access Guide -- keeping the year and most of the members of the team the same (including Toad!) but changing the outcome of the final game and the season, keeping the name of the opposing team (Kettle Falls Cougars) and the silly name of the TP coach (Bobo Hobson) but changing the well-established name of the TP team, and keeping the plot point of the outcome being determined by someone dramatically running the wrong way but changing the circumstances and the identity of the runner (Hawk in the AG, Hank in TSH -- note that their names are only one letter off from one another, but now I'm definitely getting too conspiratorial).

Yeah, that really jumped out at me. I love the reference to that bit from the Access Guide. If there are two differing Twin Peaks, or two different versions of Twin Peaks, could this football game be the point of divergence, the moment where the two worlds splinter apart? Did Hank's throwing the game somehow set a series of events in place that changed the way Ed and Nadine got together, and caused Annie to never be born? Not to mention the other discrepancies?

[Cappy]

I would have loved to see Lynch direct Ontkean driving a truck backwards in Twin Peaks.

I thought I read somewhere that he'd be driving the truck directly into the Black Lodge to save Cooper... The mental image I have of Sheriff Truman backing a truck through the red curtains and knocking over the furniture while the Man From Another Place scurries across the chevron floor is priceless.

[Agent Sam Stanley]

I would have loved to see Lynch direct Ontkean driving a truck backwards in Twin Peaks.

I thought I read somewhere that he'd be driving the truck directly into the Black Lodge to save Cooper... The mental image I have of Sheriff Truman backing a truck through the red curtains and knocking over the furniture while the Man From Another Place scurries across the chevron floor is priceless.

LOL, thanks, that gave me a good laugh

[wpc77]

While I generally lean more toward Team "Mark Screwed Up" than Team "Intentional Intricate Plan" when it comes to the discrepancies in TSHoTP, one thing particularly stood out to me in my preseries reread. Mark went out of his way to include the dramatic 1968 season of the Twin Peaks High School football team from the Access Guide -- keeping the year and most of the members of the team the same (including Toad!) but changing the outcome of the final game and the season, keeping the name of the opposing team (Kettle Falls Cougars) and the silly name of the TP coach (Bobo Hobson) but changing the well-established name of the TP team, and keeping the plot point of the outcome being determined by someone dramatically running the wrong way but changing the circumstances and the identity of the runner (Hawk in the AG, Hank in TSH -- note that their names are only one letter off from one another, but now I'm definitely getting too conspiratorial).

I really cannot understand why Mark would go out of his way to include this obscure, tangential plot point, remaining true to some pointless details while dramatically changing the much more important broader strokes. More than anything else anyone has pointed to, this seems to me to indicate that alternate realities will be involved in the new season, because it seems SO deliberate, whereas most of the other inconsistencies just seem careless. In this case, Mark obviously looked very closely at the source material and made precise, deliberate changes.

It's also worth noting that the act of "running backwards" could tie in to time running backwards -- and remember the planned plot point Robert Engels revealed way back when of Truman driving a truck backwards to reach Cooper (not something I necessarily want to see done in the new S3, but perhaps indicative of Mark's mindset).

EDIT: Evidently I misremembered Mark having Hank run the wrong way -- he simply drops the ball.

Very good points. And imagine if in S3 Laura never died, since there's an alternative reality. That she and Coop interact in the "real world". And that she's the new killer. Laura having a doppleganger in the lodge in the last episode of S2 could link to this idea - gives the "meanwhile" phrase that she belts out while screaming at coop, a whole new twist. Perhaps in another dimension she let Bob take the reigns.

[Cappy]

Very good points. And imagine if in S3 Laura never died, since there's an alternative reality. That she and Coop interact in the "real world". And that she's the new killer. Laura having a doppleganger in the lodge in the last episode of S2 could link to this idea - gives the "meanwhile" phrase that she belts out while screaming at coop, a whole new twist. Perhaps in another dimension she let Bob take the reigns.

It's really interesting to imagine Laura actually taking Coop's advice in FWWM, and refusing to put on the ring, therefor allowing herself to be taken by BOB.

I feel like the first season was alluding to Laura being Maddie in disguise, thereby suggesting Maddie was dead and Laura was still walking around. We know that didn't end up being the case, but during my first viewing I strongly suspected that Laura herself was behind everything. There was one scene in particular, where Maddie just somehow knew about a secret hiding place that Laura had in her room, where she stored a tape from Jacoby, that struck me as funny. Not to mention all of the sexual tension between Maddie and James. Maybe Laura faked her death and was going to leave and start a new life, but ultimately found herself drawn back into Twin Peaks and unable to leave. Of course, that wasn't what happened though.

[Snailhead]

If S3 somehow features Laura having succumbed to BOB, that would be quite a meaty role for Sheryl Lee, so I'm ok with that possibility.

[LurkerAtTheThreshold]

Very good points. And imagine if in S3 Laura never died, since there's an alternative reality. That she and Coop interact in the "real world". And that she's the new killer. Laura having a doppleganger in the lodge in the last episode of S2 could link to this idea - gives the "meanwhile" phrase that she belts out while screaming at coop, a whole new twist. Perhaps in another dimension she let Bob take the reigns.

It's really interesting to imagine Laura actually taking Coop's advice in FWWM, and refusing to put on the ring, therefor allowing herself to be taken by BOB.

I feel like the first season was alluding to Laura being Maddie in disguise, thereby suggesting Maddie was dead and Laura was still walking around. We know that didn't end up being the case, but during my first viewing I strongly suspected that Laura herself was behind everything. There was one scene in particular, where Maddie just somehow knew about a secret hiding place that Laura had in her room, where she stored a tape from Jacoby, that struck me as funny. Not to mention all of the sexual tension between Maddie and James. Maybe Laura faked her death and was going to leave and start a new life, but ultimately found herself drawn back into Twin Peaks and unable to leave. Of course, that wasn't what happened though.

That would never have made sense, given Laura's dead body is one of the first things we see in the series

[dronerstone]

Well I feel we'll get our answers with season 3, but Laura faking her death is pretty unlikely - there were 2 corpses, there was a funeral, etc. Of course anything is possible, but while the idea is intriguing, I consider it highly improbable.

Parallel realities and traveling/jumping from one to another is, in my opinion, the better option.

Just think of Philip Jeffries. There's something to being in more than one place at the same time, mysteriously disappearing for years at a time and stuff like that, that would fit to a T with Lynch's usual style.

[Manwith]

Here's my random ass theory on the continuity errors:

Gordon Cole altered the archive before giving it to Special Agent Tamara Preston.

Why would he do this?

Suppose Annie never woke up from the coma, but emerged from the lodge pregnant?

Could her child be old enough to be a rookie FBI agent who is being gently introduced to the mysteries of Twin Peaks before she's ready to learn the whole truth? It's possible my theory is too "Star Wars" ish.

[Snailhead]

LOL if Laura had just faked her death all along, at this point that would completely ruin the integrity of the series...