Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show. (SPOILERS)

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MaiTaiRob
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Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show. (SPOILERS)

Post by MaiTaiRob »

So, I've been thinking.

In the original run, Lucy wasn't the brightest bulb in the box but she wasn't a blithering idiot either. For example, she was smart enough to transcribe Mike & Bobby talking about James.

Now, things seem ...off. I don't buy that Lucy went from quirky-but-capable to "abject idiot" in the last 25 years. I think her character is delivering clues about duality.

A: She seems suspicious - not just confused - when someone asks for Sheriff Truman, and we get a couple of minutes of her telling us how people have to be extremely specific about which Truman they want to see. Now, I'm firmly in the camp that thinks Harry will return, so this could be confirmation bias, but her speech made me even more certain that another shoe was going to drop in regards to the "former" Sheriff. What could have been a throw away line was very, very, pointed - and you don't put a gun in act one if it isn't going to show up in act 3. ...Maybe he's protecting Annie, or he's BOB-infected and strapped to a chair in the basement. I dunno, but something is definitely up and Lucy is letting us know.

B: Lucy does another duality moment when she can't figure out how Truman could be "here" if she was just talking to him on the phone. Cell phones have been around for a long time. I had a cell phone as far back as 88. It was not a mysterious tech even during the run of the original series. It's less so now, especially when there's a room full of computers and comms gear just ten feet from Lucy's desk. Considering that the show is rife with dopplegangers and people being two places at once, I'd say this isn't just cell-phone lunacy, it's again pointing to something. It's doing it through Lynchian comic relief, but he doesn't waste what he films. I don't buy that this is just some throwaway moment.

C: The blurring effect when she flies back out of her chair is oddly similar to the way people get "yanked" away into or out of the Red Room.

D: Lynch/Frost know we're going to scrutinize every frame of this show for clues, and the Brennan family photo is so fake that I don't think it's an accident. I'm no digital artist, and I could do better photoshop ion 10 mins.

E: I believe Lynch and Frost have an affection for Lucy's character, and I don't buy the idea that they'd lobotomize her without reason.

Thoughts?

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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Jerry Horne »

I kind of like that Harry could be off somewhere protecting Annie.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Talalay »

I think you are definitely onto something... Lucy has always been quirky but nobodies fool... she seems like a parody of herself in this new season and it is not sitting right with me at all.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by ThumbsUp »

Yeah. I actually thought she's veering toward dementia or something, as Andy makes it sound like her cell phone confusion is somewhat new and increasingly frequent. Personally, I don't see any real reason or need to assign some sort of sadness or tragedy or darkness to Andy and Lucy; they're fine as comic reliefs and I think it'd feel forced to make them otherwise. (This applies to that Wally theory floating around too.)

I do like the idea of her hinting toward a development with Harry, though.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by sylvia_north »

In the words of Hawk, seeing new Kimmy and Andy like this "was like taking a hike to your favorite spot and finding a hole where the lake used to be."

Theories

1) Andy, Lucy and Wally are inhabited by lodge aliens to serve as spies or to otherwise impede progress at the station because they're reminding me of Senor Droolcup- who might not have been senile after all, just mentally gone from being a vessel. :P

2) Maybe they were adbucted and lobotomized or were brain damaged by lead or arsenic poisoning and their subsequent vacuousness caused the gravity of Twin Peaks to collapse on itself into a black hole that opened a wormhole into a parallel universe. :wink:
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Elad Repooc »

Well, I read a theory that Wally is an actor hired to replace their real son who died. This would explain the pretentiousness of Wally's scene. It would also explain why Frank Truman responds to Wally the way he does, just staring at him, being polite, but then walking away shaking his head. There's no genuine friendliness there like there would be if he was Andy and Lucy's real son who Frank had seen grow up. It's like Frank's stood there thinking, "I have to go along with this ridiculous charade just so Lucy doesn't freak out."

It's possible Lucy had a breakdown after their son died, and the only way for her to cope is to pretend it's the past. This would explain why there is a whole new section to the Sheriff station, with extra staff and a switchboard, which she seems to be not be involved with. It's possible that Lucy has only recently returned to work after a long absence due to a mental breakdown, and they let her pretend she's managing the old Sheriff station even though they've been coping just fine without her.

This would also explain Wally's comment that his parents can now use his old room and move on...

Fake son, fake Sheriff station, just to stop Lucy freaking out. This might explain why she freaks out when something happens that doesn't fit that pretense.

Hey, I've just thought of something! Remember at the end of Part 2 when Shelley says that James was in a bike accident? What if James was giving young Wally a ride on the back of his bike when the accident happened? James survived but Wally died?

This could tie in with why the fake Wally is shown as a biker. Maybe the young real Wally idolized biker James and wanted to be like him. It's not so far fetched that James would be like a kind of uncle figure to Wally. James's uncle is Big Ed, who is friends with the Sheriff and deputies. It's totally plausible that James would be friendly with Wally while he's growing up. Maybe he even looked after Wally a lot when Lucy and Andy were busy working. James is having fun with Wally one day when it goes wrong...
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by douglasb »

The 'effect' when she fell backwards was so poor, it was like those movies from the 70s/80s when they had to speed the film up when they realised the car chase they just shot was boring.

My instinct is that maybe this is how Lynch sees the characters. Remember in the Euro pilot when Andy is playing with a bat & ball? Perhaps Lynch sees them as 'simpler' rather than just kooky. I think it's a somewhat meaner portrayal either way.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by N. Needleman »

Lucy isn't demented or ailing. Lynch is just being super-goofy. He's always had a pretty broad sense of humor.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by sylvia_north »

douglasb wrote:The 'effect' when she fell backwards was so poor
Same effect as when Nadine lifts the fridge door up here, which is think was creepy especially with the sound design. In other words, stylistic choice in the fall. Absurd and not right in a good way.


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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by wxray »

N. Needleman wrote:Lucy isn't demented or ailing. Lynch is just being super-goofy. He's always had a pretty broad sense of humor.
Bingo.

I saw the whole thing as: "It is Lucy's turn to be an idiot." What, we had 5 minutes of Andy walking around in a stupor after he launched the loose board into his head, and everyone just watched. It was absurd, but now is a beloved scene.

This was Lucy's turn.

It is also a slight "F.U." to the fans who kept asking if Twin Peaks was going to be modernized, or would it be stuck in a 90s version of the 50s. "You know, will there be cell phones?"

One could imagine, DKL: "That's fuckin' bullshit, I'll give you yer cellphone and shove it down your throat!" In the words of Mr. Eddy, DKL basically took the cellphone, stuck it up our ass so far he was able to shoot our brains out with it.
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Re: RE: Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Panapaok »

N. Needleman wrote:Lucy isn't demented or ailing. Lynch is just being super-goofy. He's always had a pretty broad sense of humor.
Yup, agreed. Especially with Andy & Lucy, Lynch had always portrayed them in a goofier way than usual (Andy getting hit by the plank of wood for example). It's a hit or miss for me, I liked the chocolate bunny scene, I didn't like the cell phone scene. YMMV.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by AnotherBlueRoseCase »

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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Metamorphia »

Oh of course he hasn't, calm down. Deary me.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by Calderon »

N. Needleman wrote:Lucy isn't demented or ailing. Lynch is just being super-goofy. He's always had a pretty broad sense of humor.
If that is the case call me disappointed. But as of now I also think that their extremely odd behavior is on purpose.
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Re: Theory: Lucy is not a blithering idiot. ...She's giving us clues about the duality that permeates the show.

Post by wxray »

AnotherBlueRoseCase wrote:
wxray wrote:
N. Needleman wrote:Lucy isn't demented or ailing. Lynch is just being super-goofy. He's always had a pretty broad sense of humor.
Bingo.

I saw the whole thing as: "It is Lucy's turn to be an idiot." What, we had 5 minutes of Andy walking around in a stupor after he launched the loose board into his head, and everyone just watched. It was absurd, but now is a beloved scene.

This was Lucy's turn.

It is also a slight "F.U." to the fans who kept asking if Twin Peaks was going to be modernized, or would it be stuck in a 90s version of the 50s. "You know, will there be cell phones?"

DKL: "That's fuckin' bullshit, I'll give you yer cellphone and shove it down your throat!" In the words of Mr. Eddy, DKL basically took the cellphone, stuck it up our ass so far he was able to shoot our brains out with it.
If anything like that went through Lynch's head he's an arsehole and/or in need of anger management therapy and possibly more serious psychiatric help. Or at the very least a clip around the ear and sent to bed with no supper or Playstation.

One of the sadnesses about Lynch is his failure to grow up as an artist. A man in his seventies doing anything within a mile of what you say is pathetic.

"How DARE they wonder if there'll be cellphones in The Return..."

Dearie me.
I edited my post to be clear it wasn't a quote, but just projection on my part. So, be mad at me! Relax, just goofing around. I'm likely the one needing help.

However, you have to admit there was an awful lot of "will there be cellphones" conversations. I saw this in multiple sources, and I think it comes from the fact that DKL loves old time phones in all his movies. Heck, even in Twin Peaks, Darya has an old time phone she gets called on. On top of that Lucy has always been switchboard obsessed. So, people were asking if things would be modernized.

We got our answer:

- For Lucy: no. She's stuck in 70s technology. There's no hope.
- For Twin Peaks: hell yes. They have a competent 9-1-1 call center in the Sheriff's office, and they know all the lingo and have the latest in technology. The sheriff himself uses the latest, even of our quaint old receptionist is clueless.
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