Troubling Abstractions
Part 8 - S3e8
Version 1.0

“Troubling Abstractions”
Part 8

Many people have described this episode as “the origin of BOB,” and I think there is something to that. If we peel away the abstractions, the sequence we are shown is something like this:
Leland raped Laura (White Sands) → Laura develops mental illness and/or begins prostitution (The Convenience Store) → Laura has urges to dissociate (The Experimental Model) and starts inventing ways to escape (the vomit) → Her Highest Mind (The Fireman) sees that her psyche can’t handle this burden and hides the truth from her awareness (Dido) with the Twin Peaks Dream (The Golden Orb) → Her desires to escape “hatch” and plunge her entire dreamscape into dissociation, unconsciousness

This episode also focused on the Woodsmen quite a bit. They are black angels of negativity, saving Laura from her pain by silencing and crushing all cognitive dissonance so that her delusions are unchallenged.

INSIDE A CAR, SD | 0

We concluded the previous episode with Mr. C blackmailing his way out of prison and riding away with Ray – and this scene may have been a re-staging of Laura Palmer discovering Leland on top of her and spiraling further into delusion. 2 reflections of bright street lights passed between them before Mr. C took out his phone, and it’s a strange one. Let’s take a closer look:

• Blue background, all buttons black.
• Mr. C claims that there are 3 tracking devices on the car.
• A button with “C” in green. He taps this and it vanishes.
• A button with “FIRE” in red, with a blue arrow on each side as if there were multiple options to scroll through. He taps it and it vanishes.
• A button that says D ( . ) X in green, with the shape in the middle resembling a target, a bullseye, or The Thing That You Don’t Ever Want To Know About. He taps it and it vanishes.
• A white bar, like a search bar, with a black arrow on the right side only. This is what he uses to record the semi-truck’s license plate: DEGWW 8

Ray knows time-space coordinates that Mr. C wants, to find Phillip Jeffries and/or Judy, but Ray won’t give them away for free.

• Ray knows how to find Jeffries/Judy → Ray knows where the find The Secret Knowledge and has some awareness of it, as we’ll see in his call to Jeffries
• Ray demands money → Ray is a double agent working for the healing/positive forces → Ray knows that only money/jackpot winnings can free the truth in a way that Laura Palmer’s mind won’t reject and disappear someone

Mr. C was displeased by this request, but he didn’t respond or acquiesce. On the road, 2 lanes became 1 as the brainwave imagery appeared in its curves, and in the ripple of streetlights on it. Between the chevrons (Red Room Chevrons?) on the caution signs, 2 red lights glowed menacingly.
When Ray shot Mr. C, he did it 2 times, and there was an odd stuttering effect when he did it. He aimed for a 3rd shot, but was prevented by the appearance of the Woodsmen. 2 did not become 3 – Carrie Page/Odessa Laura has not been created yet.

By the end of “The Return,” we will see Mr. C die one more time and BOB twice – but now is not the time. The stars are not aligned and the co-ordinates are wrong. Laura Palmer is not ready to “kill BOB” and understand what truly happened to her, so flashing lights appear as he reeling mind twists itself around, rationalizing and justifying her delusions, summoning the Woodsmen and “resurrecting” her belief in BOB.
The Woodsmen danced as if in ritual, smearing blood from the gunshot wound all over Mr. C’s face until he could barely be recognized – is it a re-enactment of the end of Seasons 1 and 2 at the same time? Cooper lying out on the floor and his face covered in blood after smashing the mirror, respectively. The Woodsmen slid the BOB Orb back into his body like a grotesque un-birthing, and all Ray could do was bellow like a terrified animal.

A few quick notes on the BOB Orb itself:

• It never appears in Seasons 1, 2, or “FWWM.” This almost certainly has no in-universe explanation, it’s a means of portraying BOB following the death of actor Frank Silva.
• The Orb bears a resemblance to the cores of nuclear weapons. BOB is the core, Leland is the shell carrying it.
• It’s another reminder that BOB is linked with the color black.

The Split happened again here:

• A traumatic event occurs → Ray kills Mr. C / the Woodsmen arrive
• One character is unconscious and ignorant, as the Dead Scapegoat → Mr. C is dead/unconscious
• One character flees, and they alone know what happened, as the Living Scapegoat → Ray is the only one who saw them/it
• HOWEVER, unlike most other examples of Fleeing Scapegoats, Ray is working directly with Philip Jeffries. Remember: Jeffries is an abstraction of the last moment in Laura Palmer’s life where she knew exactly what was happening to her and almost spoke up about it. Jeffries knows The Secret, so Ray is able to partially comprehend what he saw and communicate with him about it.

The moon being half-lit could be a reference to one half of Laura being “enlightened” while the other half is still in the dark – is Janey-E the only version of Blue Laura that knows the truth? It could be a symbol of Ray’s half-understanding of what he just saw; he saw “something” in “Cooper” and he knows that it’s important, but he doesn’t fully comprehend it. The clouds that sweep in and cover the moon could easily be the Log Lady’s “what will be in the darkness that remains?”

THE ROADHOUSE | 13

This is my favorite performance scene in the series.
This is Nine Inch Nails’ “She’s Gone Away,” a song that was written specifically for this show. These are the lyrics, courtesy of The Unofficial Twin Peaks Wiki.

You dig in places, till your fingers bleed
Spread the infection, where you spill your seed
I can't remember what she came here for
I can't remember much of anything anymore

She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away
She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away
Away
Away

A little mouth opened up inside
Yeah, I was watching on the day she died
We keep licking while the skin turns black
Cut along the length, but you can't get the feeling back

She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away
She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away
She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away
She's gone, she's gone, she's gone away

Away
Away
Away
Away

(Are you still here?)
Mr. C, alone and soaked in blood, sat up and stared blearily into nothing before we faded into this black-and-white overhead view. Does this suggest that we’re looking into his mind, or his recollections?
The zoom in to the Trinity mushroom cloud recalls the zoom into Laura’s head in the intro.

---

The rest of the episode is like a short art film. It may be a more interpretative and “spiritual” piece of work than is typical for this show.
I’m not a knowledgeable person on things like spirituality or philosophy! I recommend reading “Our Collective Transcendence” for more of these insights on this episode. (Direct Link) (Archive)

White Sands, NM | 16

This portion of Episode 8 begins with a view of the Trinity nuclear weapons test. In “Find Laura,” nuclear explosions are an abstraction of Leland’s sexual abuse. But why Trinity, specifically? Trinity was the first such explosion in the history of the planet – perhaps this is an abstraction of the very first incidence of abuse, or an abstraction of the Primal Scene (i.e the first time Laura had a clear, adult understanding of what was being done to her and by who.)

The camera zoomed into the crown of the mushroom cloud, and we were shown something like atoms and debris clashing violently between fiery explosions and flashing lightning. This debris resembled swarming insects, and perhaps this is where the Black Dot, Black Orb, and/or frogmoth imagery originated.

THE CONVENIENCE STORE | 21

We were shown the door opening and closing as if serving unseen customers until the fog and flashing lights started to roll in, stuttering at first. Only after that did the Woodsmen appear. Some theorize that the Woodsmen represent the customers that Laura would have serviced as a prostitute.
In every other context, the Woodsmen are acting as purveyors and protectors of negativity/delusion, and perhaps they’re doing the same here – abstractions of the first stirs of mental illness, precursors, preparing Laura for a complete dissociative break from reality.
As the store seemed to be rattled by an unseen explosion, we were shown four lights in and out of focus – one for each gas pump and one at the corners of the roof. Is this related to the idea of four Lauras?

• Black/Nighttime/Bad/Doppelganger Laura – possibly the shadow self integrated by “The Return,” see Section IX of “Find Laura 101”
• White/Daytime/Good Laura – possibly integrated by “The Return”
• Blue/Dead/Ignorant Laura – the dead scapegoat
• Red/Hidden/Knowing Laura – the living scapegoat

Suddenly, we seemed to fall through a black hole or pass through a black tunnel, and this brought us to a strange being that seems to be the Experimental Model from S3e1. I make this judgment based on visual similarities, a possible thematic connection, and the consideration that having TWO faceless breasted menacing humanoid entities with separate purposes and minimal screentime would clutter the narrative.

THE EXPERIMENTAL MODEL | timestamp

Let’s look at the Experimental Model in this context.

• All in black-and-white: the first nuke detonates → the lights flash, the store fills with smoke and busy Woodsmen, the camera shakes → we pass through a black hole → we find the Experimental Model with its arms bent back → with female-sounding coughs and grunts, it vomits diseased corn/fertility and the BOB Orb into existence

What happens if we dissect this?

• In Laura’s experience of memory: Laura Palmer is raped and this destroys her “nuclear family” unit → her mind desperately tries to make sense of it and rationalize what’s happening to her → Laura first learned to dissociate through bondage (→ thus it is abstracted into a faceless, voiceless woman with her arms bent back) → her dissociative disorder creates BOB and seeds her consciousness with denial

Remember also that the Experimental Model seems to be awakened by or drawn to sexual activity; sex causes Laura to start dissociating.
We zoomed into a golden blob that became drops like blood raining onto the camera. This may be an abstraction of the golden orb that is created for Senorita Dido. In other words, it may be an abstraction of the Twin Peaks Dream itself, which begins through and cannot exist without Laura Palmer’s bloody murder by penetration.

THE MAUVE ZONE | 25

Here, we finally get a good look at this place from the outside: a massive electrical transformer with a black triangle and a single black rectangular window that we use to enter. Inside, another transformer in the parlor with Senorita Dido.
Who is Senorita Dido? Lou Ming suggested that she was a stand-in for Laura herself. She blinked as if trying to clear her head, swaying to the music. She is not Red Room Laura because she never sees the nuclear explosion – she only ever sees BOB and what the Fireman makes for her. As the alarm sounded, the Fireman walked out from behind it. This was another iteration of the Red Rooms Journey/Lost Highway Corner shots that we’ve been catching.
The Fireman stopped to stare directly into the camera/audience, and what he saw concerned him greatly. Is this another version of MIKE telling us about “The Gifted And The Damned” in Season 2? David Lynch was not involved in that episode, and so it is not relevant to the method/structure of “Find Laura.”
What is relevant is the idea that the camera is a part of Laura herself. It’s our only means of exploring her dreamscape. The Fireman’s concern is for Laura Palmer. He goes upstairs after this, into a strange movie theater where Dr. Amp’s hat heads one of the doorframes.

THE THEATER OF THE MIND | timestamp

On screen: the Fireman watched the same sequence that we have, until the point that the BOB Orb emerged from the vomit. He froze the screen on that point and started floating. Perhaps he’s taking the Dead Laura position in the train car – supine, limbs rigid? When did Dr. Amp’s doorways appear exactly? As Dido approached, backlit, the lights flashed. Blurb about Dr. Amp’s doorways and placentas. As soon as Dido touched hands with her shadow, the golden light started to come from The Fireman’s head. The lights flashed as the glow took on a uterine shape, then birthed the golden orb.
Lou Ming wrote that this orb is the Twin Peaks Dream itself. It contains the famous homecoming photo from Seasons 1 and 2 – the photo that seemed to “overwrite” the photo from “FWWM” in the same way her internal world “overwrote” reality to protect her from the painful truth about her father. It’s also one of the very few things that’s in color, an idea that we’re evaluating as a sign of delusions and magical thinking (as compared to the black-and-white that is “Laura’s experience of memory.”) Senorita Dido released the orb with a kiss, and perhaps this is intended to recall the kiss in the Red Rooms, the kiss that came with a whispered truth.

The orb flew down to Earth, and from there we were taken to...

NEW MEXICO AUGUST 5 1956

I find it very interesting that this location was never given a a name. There were no signs and no dialogue giving context. When people refer to this area as White Sands, they are understandably making an assumption.
Some numerology on the time skip: 4038 days becomes 6, 11 (2) years and 20 days becomes 3. The frog-bug emerged from the seeds of diseased fertility that was vomited from the Experimental Model. Brainwaves appeared here in the rippled sand. The moon was covered by black clouds again, but it was full this time. The gas station superficially resembles the Convenience Store, but it has the same emphasized four lights. The young couple discuss a song, but we never hear it. The heads up penny will be abstracted into the Abraham Lincoln impersonator that floats down from the sky – is this the painting we saw in Gordon Cole’s office? The penny is worth one cent, and head undestroyed – maybe it is good luck. The Woodsman approached the car to the “diary tearing” sound and flashing lights. This is the first man-woman pairing that will be menaced by him, though they escape unharmed. How many Woodsmen arrived? How many times did he ask for a light? Brainwaves appeared again in the dirt road they were walking on, as well as the one to the station. Is the radio station similar to the transformer-palace in the Mauve Zone? There’s an Arch at its front door, with two lights and the door between them. Has he come to destroy the knoweldge that it represents? The time on the clock said 10:16 – this becomes 8. In total we see 2 heads crushed and the entire town in a coma. This is the water, and this is the well, drink full, and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes,
and the dark within.
The white horse is one of the very few symbols with a meaning that is almost universally agreed upon by “Twin Peaks” enthusiasts.

• ”White Horse” is a slang term for cocaine.
• White Laura is the “good” Laura that volunteers, gets straight-As and dates a football player – this Laura ignores the dark truths about her life.
• ”FWWM”: the horse appears as Sarah Palmer reluctantly drinks the drugged milk and ignores the sexual abuse in her own home.
• Season 2: the horse appears as Sarah Palmer is made unconscious and unable to stop Maddie’s murder.
• ”The Return”: the horse appears
• And here: the closing of one’s eyes is compared to a horse bending its head to drink and “descend” into unconsciousness.

As with “got a light?”, repetition seems to be important. Blurb about the girl being the only one to be infested / after a moment of innocent sexuality As the Abraham Woodsman left the radio station, there was a flash of light and he walked into the dark to the sound of neighing horses. The girl in her bed, the sole person to be infested by a frogmoth, can only sleep. Her eyes twitched and rolled, showing us that she’s dreaming to the sound of an ominous wind.

The delusions have been created and sent into Laura’s world. The seeds of denial have hatched and all dissenting voices put to sleep. This the origin story of the Twin Peaks Dream itself, told through the heaviest layers of abstraction and symbolism.