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Troubling Abstractions
Part 0 - S3e4 (latter half)
Version 1.0
“Troubling Abstractions”
Part 0
This mini-essay picks up right after the end of Wally’s monologue.
THE JONES’
In pausing playback to get a time stamp for my notes, I noticed that the Jones’ home is the only one with a blue roof – everyone else that we can see has a pale red roof. The steps leading up to their door are unique as well, resembling ripples or waves. This visual motif appears in other places too, such as the curving highway over the desert, or the river that leads to a waterfall, and the chevrons on the Red Room floor.
The three principle colors appeared here: CooperDougie had BLUE pajamas, RED bed sheets, and his suit was vibrant GREEN.
DougieCooper accessed the Red Room in the expected way; disassociation. Lou Ming wrote that when MIKE said “you were tricked,” he may have been addressing Mr. C through their hazy shared consciousness; by bringing his counterpart from the Mauve zone in an empty, blank state, Mr. C can’t use their connection to further his plans.
The 90-Degree Turns motif is in this scene as well. As soon as MIKE said “one of you must die,” CooperDougie rotated 90 degrees towards the door, and another 90 degrees in bending over and clutching himself. Janey-E entered the room and spun him another 180 degrees to face the hall, and another 90 degrees when she shoved him into the bathroom at the end of it.
Lou Ming wrote that these 90 degree sequences are a re-staging of Cooper’s leaving the Red Rooms, so let’s try applying that:
- Cooper makes a series of 90 degree turns → CooperDougie makes a series of 90 degree turns
- Cooper pushed and redirected by the Arm’s Doppelganger as it screams at him → DougieCooper is pushed around and redirected by Janey-E as she yells at him
I suspect that there’s a connection here between the vomited Garmonbozia when Cooper escapes the Mauve zone and the confused shouting as CooperDougie urinates, but I’m not quite there.
The number 2 appeared here, with wordplay; Janey-E said that CooperDougie’s clothes were suddenly two sizes too big.
The bars motif appeared throughout this scene, from the blinds in the bathroom to the kitchen windows to the lines on Sonny’s shirt.
I initially suspected that this breakfast was a re-staging of the “Dirty Fingernails” scene, with CooperDougie acting as a sponge for the negativity there, but the characters’ positions (literal and otherwise) don’t match up. Sonny and Sarah’s clothes had a slight resemblance.
I found it very interesting how the “I heart MOM” mug was framed as Janey-E busied herself in the kitchen, never sitting down to eat herself.
There’s something else here, but I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe more will be revealed later.
BUCKHORN POLICE STATION
We can see the three principle colors again in this very short scene – blue desktop, green details on the fingerprints, red warning.
INSIDE YANKTON FEDERAL PRISON
The scapegoating/splitting motif appeared here.
- A car accident occurred. Mr. C threw up. It was a horrible smell.
The patrolmen arrived as one unit, but were split. The patrolman that smelled it was sent away to the hospital, while one who didn’t was forced to stay with the abandoned car. Recall that horrible smells, such as the burning engine oil, are a "gateway" to the forbidden knowledge, and that cars are a symbol for bodies while the driver of the car is a symbol for consciousness.
- Broken down and translated further:
A traumatizing thing occurred. The bodily fluids of the father figure broke one unit into two people. More specifically, the horrible burning engine oil smell of that bodily fluid is linked to Laura Palmer's repressed knowledge - IT'S YOUR FATHER! - and this broke one unit into two people. The one who smelled the engine-oil-vomit became connected to that knowledge and was sent away as the Knowing Scapegoat, and the other was made to stay, ignorant, with an empty car ("dead body") as the Dead Ignorant Scapegoat.
Splitting, abstraction, and repetition.
Moving on – we were shown that Mr. C’s Penitentiary Number is 75425, which breaks down to 5. 5 is a recurring number in this particular episode.
In one of the creepiest, most atmospheric scenes from the entire show, let’s take a look at the dialogue between Mr. C and the FBI agents:
- This is the only scene in “The Return” where Mr. C talks with this demonic voice pitch and repeats himself so much.
- More wordplay and the number 2 here: Gordon repeats Mr. C’s statement about missing time together, too. The number also appears in that Mr. C can only be held for two more days.
- Mr. C claimed that he was working with Philip Jeffries and leaving messages to let him know it was “safe.” He was (badly) pretending to be Dale Cooper when he said this, and so we know part of Dale Cooper’s mission: make it safe for Jeffries, the knowledge that was repressed in the Hayward’s living room, to come out of hiding.
OUTSIDE THE PRISON, IN BLUE
This scene is vividly cast in blue, so let’s review what blue seems to mean: blue roses, the blue box car, and the blue lips on Laura Palmer’s non-existent corpse are a tell that we’re looking at something manufactured, unreal, and artificial.
If Tammy Preston is a stand in for Laura Palmer and/or a test version of Carrie Page, whatever is said here must evidently be shielded from these more conscious/surfacing parts of her awareness.
The conversation here is a reference or re-staging of the conversation in the Pink Room of FWWM. The blue hue may be a callback to the camera’s panning over a blue light bulb as Ronette enters the scene. Perhaps there’s an inversion intended here: Ronette glides into the room from nowhere, but Tammy is already there and is asked to leave.
- Theresa Banks called Jacques, wanting to know what the girls’ fathers looked like. Theresa Banks was looking to figure out Leland's identity. Jacques never spoke to Leland. It’s not clear how much time passed between the phone call and her murder, but FWWM itself takes place over a period of seven days. “She called me.”
- Jeffries called Albert, claiming that Cooper was in trouble and needing the identity of the Colombian. Albert never spoke to Cooper. After seven days, the Colombian was killed. “He called me.”
If you haven’t seen David Lynch’s “Memory Marathon,” I highly recommend it. It’s a very short film about blocked recollections and working around them, and I think it’s very relevant to Gordon Cole’s behavior in this scene.
This discussion of identity caused Gordon to say Albert’s name 3 times, triggering a strange frequency that came and went. Recall – 3 is the number of pictures that you must line up to recieve a jackpot, it's the number of Laura Palmer’s personas that must be realigned so that she can remember the truth.
In raising questions of identity and trying to understand what happened to the Father Figure, it seems that Gordon Cole was on the verge of recovering that terrible knowledge and repressed memory - but he does not fully understand this recollection, and as Laura Palmer's Bad Transformer, he was easily disoriented and derailed by the scraping of shoes on the pavement.
THE ROADHOUSE
This group is Au Revoir Simone, performing the song “Lark.” These are the full lyrics, courtesy of the music database at Genius.com
So
So long
So long ago
There wasn't anyone out there I thought I needed to know
But no more
When I find the day leave my mind in the evening just as the day before
I saw the window was open
The cool air
I don't know what you saw there
Don't know what you saw in me
Sometimes I want to be enough for you
Don't ask
Know that it's understood
There's not enough of me
I saw that something was broken
I've crossed the line
I'll point you to a better time
A safer place to be
Sometimes I want to be enough for you
Don't ask
Know that it's done no good
Sometimes I want to be enough for you
Don't ask
Know that it's done no good
The band members were standing in a triangle and styled to resemble Ronette, Laura, and Tammy Preston (in that order.) With Ronette and Tammy having been tied together by the Pink Room references in the previous scene, it follows that they’re on opposite but equal sides here in this representation.
This short closing scene is only music. There is no dialogue or further exposition.