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Twin Peaks
Episode 9:
"Coma"
TV episode
Written by Harley Peyton
Directed by David Lynch
Original air date: October 6, 1990
Page last updated 1/6/2022
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Cooper receives bad news about his
former partner and the Giant returns; Ronette awakens from her
coma; the log gives Major Briggs some advice; Maddy has another,
more frightening, vision.
Read the episode transcription at Glastonberry.net
Didja Know?
For the titles of the Twin Peaks TV episodes, I have taken
the unique approach of using both the episode numbers, which were
the only titles given the scripts by series creators David Lynch and
Mark Frost, and the translated German titles of the episodes that
were assigned when the series aired in that country. Frequent
readers of PopApostle know I like the aesthetic of actual episode
titles, but I also wanted to honor the simple numbering used by
Lynch and Frost, hence the expanded titles presented in these
studies.
Notes from the Log Lady intros
When cable channel
Bravo
obtained the rights to air reruns of Twin Peaks
in 1993, David Lynch directed all-new introductions to each
episode featuring the Log Lady, portrayed by original
actress Catherine E. Coulson. These intros also appear as
options on the DVD and Blu-ray collections of the series.
The scene looks the same as the intro for
Episode 8A:
"May the Giant Be With You", but the
burlap sack on the table has changed shape and is a little
closer to her. And notice that the edge of the teapot handle
is just barely peeking out on the right-hand side of the
screen.
The first two paragraphs of the Log Lady's remarks refer to
the similarity of things on all scales. The orbits of
planets around stars and moons around planets (macro) in a
star system look like the orbits of electrons around the
nucleus (protons and neutrons) of an atom (micro). As above,
so below. The human body is made up of atoms. Might the star
systems make up the body of a bigger being (the universe)?
What we do and think and feel affects the atoms inside us
and what the atoms inside us do affects us and our thoughts
and feelings. If we ourselves are part of a larger atom
inside a bigger being, do our actions, thoughts, and
feelings effect the universal being? Does that bigger,
universal being affect us?
The Log Lady asks, "What really is creamed corn? Is it a
symbol for something else?" In
Fire Walk With Me,
creamed corn is a physical symbol in our world for
garmonbozia...pain and sorrow which some denizens of the
Black Lodge feed upon. In this episode, Mrs. Tremond's
grandson performs a magic trick in which he makes creamed
corn disappear from his grandmother's plate.
"As above, so below. The human being finds himself, or
herself, in
the middle. There is as much space outside the human,
proportionately,
as inside.
"Stars, moons, and planets remind us of protons, neutrons,
and
electrons. Is there a bigger being walking with all the
stars
within? Does our thinking affect what goes on outside us,
and
what goes on inside us? I think it does.
"Where does creamed corn figure into the workings of the
universe?
What really is creamed corn? Is it a symbol for
something else?"
what is creamed corn?.wav
Didja Notice?
This episode opens on the morning of Saturday, March 4, 1989 and
ends that night.
At breakfast in the Timber Room with Albert, Cooper refers
to Tibet as the Land of Snow. This is a common nickname in
the region for the country of Tibet.
Cooper goes on to say that Buddhism arrived in Tibet in the
5th Century AD. This is more-or-less correct, though there
is some dispute as to the actual century that should be
considered the beginning of Tibetan Buddhism. He goes on to
say, "The first Tibetan king to be touched by the Dharma was
King Hathatha Rignamputsan. He and succeeding kings were
collectively known as the Happy Generations. Now some
historians place them in the Water Snake Year, 213 AD.
Others in the year of the water ox 173 AD." He must be
speaking of King Thothori
Nyantsen, for he and his successors were known as the
happy generations (and some even the very happy
generations!). His descriptions of 213 and 173 AD as "water snake
year" and "water ox year" are correct on the Chinese
calendar.
Albert tells Cooper he performed the autopsy on Jacques
Renault and lists the man's stomach contents as "beer cans,
a Maryland license plate, half a bicycle tire, a goat and a
small wooden puppet, goes by the name of Pinocchio." He is
making a joke by comparing the obese Jacques to a shark or
whale, both known for the strange objects that have been
found in their stomachs when caught, killed, and cut open.
The reference to the puppet called Pinocchio is to the 1883
children's' novel Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, in
which the living puppet is swallowed by a whale.
This episode is the first mention in the TV series of Agent Cooper's former
partner, Windom Earle, when Albert informs him that the
former agent has escaped what sounds like an asylum he was
placed in (as also stated in
The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special
Agent Dale Cooper). Earle goes on to become a major presence in the
second half of the season.
At 5:44 on the Blu-ray, Mrs. Tremond is seen to live in unit
#1 in the same complex of cabins Harold Smith (#2) lives in.
Mrs. Tremond's grandson, Pierre, is played by Austin Jack
Lynch, David Lynch's son.
Mrs. Tremond tells Donna that her grandson is studying
magic, and he seems to make the creamed corn on the plate
disappear and appear in his hands, then disappear again. If
he is studying magic, then he is a magician. Recall the poem
spoken by the One-Armed Man in Cooper's dream in
Episode 2:
"Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer"
and it's reference to a magician:
Through the darkness of future past,
the magician longs to see,
one chance out between two worlds...fire,
walk with me.
As Donna is about to leave the Tremond residence, Pierre
says, "J’ai une ame solitaire." This roughly translates
from French to
"I am a lonely soul." In
Episode 14:
"Lonely Souls",
Harold Smith leaves the same phrase on his suicide note.
What connection, if any, there is between Harold and Pierre
is unknown; it may be that Pierre is quoting something
Harold has said or thinks about himself.
Cooper shows Ronette police sketches of Leo and BOB. But why
a sketch of Leo? Shouldn't the sheriff's office have a
photograph of him on file? After all, he does already have a
criminal record.
Based on the colored bars visible on the right-hand side of
the package, the bag of marshmallows held up by Ben at 16:20
on the Blu-ray appears to be
Kraft brand Jet-Puffed Marshmallows.
At the RR Diner, Major Briggs keeps looking at the door.
Seemingly, he is looking at Andy making a mess of the tape
as he posts the one-sheet "Have You Seen This Man?" sketch
of BOB on the door. But maybe he is actually sensing that
someone important is about to walk in. And shortly, in walks the Log
Lady, who gives Briggs a message from the log to "deliver the
message".
At 19:36 on the Blu-ray, notice that Lucy wears a ring that
only goes down to her second knuckle on the middle finger of
her left hand.
Andy tells Lucy he volunteered when the
Tacoma sperm bank was looking for donors. "It's my civic
duty and I like whales." Andy seems to be confusing sperm
whales as having something to do with human sperm!
At 21:40 on the Blu-ray, notice that a small football trophy
sits on Sheriff Truman's desk.
Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town reveals that
Truman was one of Twin Peaks High School's star football
players in his youth.
The Secret History of Twin Peaks also touches on
the team.
What looks to be an
Apple
Macintosh computer is seen on a table to the right in
the scene above in Truman's office. In
Episode 10:
"The Man Behind Glass", an identical one is seen
behind Lucy at the reception desk.
At 21:46 on the Blu-ray, notice that a couple of fishing
poles are leaning up in the corner of Truman's office.
Although we don't see the signature, if you watch closely as
Hank signs his weekly parole sheet, it looks like he just
signs an "H."!
Unless he somehow knew from some other agency, Cooper seems
to sense that Harry and Hank used to be friends.
Truman reveals that Hank used to be a Bookhouse Boy.
At 24:07 on the Blu-ray, Jerry is flapping Josie's insurance
policy as if it were a bird with wings.
During their brief phone conversation with Einar, Ben and
Jerry say a few Icelandic words, blis and kor
die blesser. I've been unable to translate these.
At 27:07 on the Blu-ray, we can see that Jerry is wearing a
very large and unusual pin on the lapel of his jacket. What
is it?

At 28:54 on the Blu-ray, Lucy receives a phone call at the
sheriff's station. We don't hear the person on the other
end, but from Lucy's words we know they are asking to speak
to Sheriff Truman but they won't give their name. Lucy says
she can't connect the caller to the sheriff unless they give
their name. Finally, Lucy has to hang up on the caller. Who
was it? What did they want with Sheriff Truman? It's never
answered in the episode or subsequent episodes. My best
guess would be that it was Jonathan, the Chinese man
representing Thomas Eckhardt with Josie, who seems to have
some concerns about her relationship with the sheriff in
later episodes, so he might have been calling to warn him
away from her.
The September 9, 2015 episode of the
Twin Peaks
Unwrapped podcast has the hosts speculating the the
mysterious caller is the mysterious unnamed man who breaks
into the calls with Lucy at the sheriff's station in the
audio recordings of the 1-900 hotline messages fans of the
series could call into during the first half of the second
season when the episodes originally aired in 1990.
Battis tells Audrey that Laura had only worked at One-Eyed
Jacks for one weekend. She was thrown out for using drugs.
At 33:02 on the Blu-ray, some typical Twin Peaks
music plays over the scene (the piece called "Audrey's
Dance" on the season one Twin Peaks album) and,
seconds later, we realize it is music playing on the car
radio when Shelly changes the station to something else! The
music she changes it to is called "Drug Deal Blues" on the
season two album.
In the scene above, Bobby mentions they're in his dad's
Continental. This refers to the Lincoln Continental luxury
car model made by
Ford Motor Company.
At 36:13 on the Blu-ray, notice that the door of Cooper's
hotel room has a deadbolt lock visible on it, but the door
handle itself does not have a latch!

Major Briggs tells Cooper that part of his many duties
is the maintenance of deep space monitors aimed at galaxies
beyond our own. These would normally be very large radio
telescopes, like the ones at the Very Large Array on the
Plains of San Augustin, New Mexico or the giant radio
telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. So, where are the radio
telescopes maintained by Major Briggs? Are they in the
vicinity of Twin Peaks? If so, wouldn't they be noticeable
to the local population? Perhaps it is at the Unguin Field
Observatory, mentioned in a heavily redacted letter that
appears in
Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town.
The Secret
History of Twin Peaks reveals that the main
facility for this secret project is located on Blue Pine
Mountain, but are the radio telescope dishes located there
as well? |
 |
At 42:25 on the Blu-ray, notice that a picture or mirror is
hanging in the hallway of the Hayward home, but there's
nothing but a gray panel in it! Maybe it's supposed to
represent a mirror from a distance, but it doesn't look like
a real one in this relatively close shot.

As BOB climbs over the couch in the Hayward living room in
Maddy's vision, the flower vase on the coffee table changes
its rotational position a few times as the shots cut back
and forth.
At 44:14 on the Blu-ray, notice that a man's hand sticks in
from the right of frame as Ronette lies writhing on her
hospital bed. And as the shot blurs out just a few seconds
later, it looks like two hands are seen. They are presumably
BOB's (Leland's?) as they place the letter "B" under her
fingernail, as discovered in the following episode,
Episode 10:
"The Man Behind Glass". But
how would Leland have been able to get into Ronette's
hospital room if she was supposedly under guard at the time?
Did BOB possess one of the guards or nurses to do the deed?
And why does BOB place a letter under the fingernail of a
girl he hasn't killed? Is it meant to lure Cooper closer?
In Cooper's vision during the Giant's visit, the image of an
owl appears over the face of BOB. The vision of BOB is the
one of him hiding at the foot of Laura's bed that Sarah
Palmer had in
Episode 1:
"Traces to Nowhere". The owl superimposition
presumably represents that BOB is one of the owls, as in the
Giant's warning, "The owls are not what they seem."
At the end of the episode, Audrey phones Cooper's room from
One-Eyed Jacks, telling him she's going to come home now.
Notice she is back to wearing her "Twin Peaks" clothes of
sweater, skirt, and saddle shoes.
Memorable Dialog
stomach
contents.wav
Windom
Earle.wav
flew the
coop.wav
do
you see creamed corn.wav
I requested no creamed corn.wav
Jai
une ame solitaire.wav
my log has something to tell you.wav
deliver
the message.wav
I'm sterile.wav
is this
real.wav
former
partner.wav
deep
space monitors.wav
space
garbage.wav
the owls are not what they seem.wav
Cooper-Cooper-Cooper.wav
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