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 the 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.

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yet there are those who
open many eyes. Eyes are the mirror of the soul, someone has said.
So we look closely at the eyes to see the nature of the soul.

"Sometimes when we see the eyes...those horrible times when we see
the eyes, eyes that...that have no soul...then we know a darkness,
then we wonder: where is the beauty? There is none if the eyes
are soulless."

 

Didja Notice?

 

This episode opens on the night of Wednesday March 1, 1989, almost immediately after the end of Episode 5: "Cooper's Dreams". But most of the episode takes place on Thursday, March 2.

 

Lucy refers to her maternity doctor on the phone as Dr. Stonacheck.

 

As Cooper walks in the door of the Sheriff's office, he is tooting on the whistle he whittled back in Episode 0B: "Northwest Passage".

 

As Cooper walks into the interview room where Waldo the myna bird is being held, Dr. Hayward is reading from a book, that appears to be an Encyclopedia Britannica volume, about the species, referring to it as Gracula religiosa or "the common hill myna". The information he reads about the myna from the book is accurate. Notice that Waldo is being held in a square cage, not the round cage he was in when they found him at Jacques' cabin in Episode 5: "Cooper's Dreams". Maybe the original cage has been placed in a storage room as evidence from a crime scene?

 

Cooper passes on the honor of feeding Waldo, saying he does not like birds. Why is that? Does he have a sense about them, like the owls' connection to the Black Lodge? Some other birds like ravens and crows have mythological connections to the dead or the spirit world. Cooper's September 1, 1968 entry in The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper, may explain why he does not like birds when he describes an attack by a bird in Simms' Hardware store, and the 14-year old even says, "I do not like birds," the exact phrase he uses in regards to Waldo in this episode. Notice also that Cooper keeps his distance from Waldo's cage while he's in the room with it.

 

The Washington license plate of Leo's big rig is 84B96-F.

 

At 8:12 on the Blu-ray, notice that an odd painting of someone who may be a mountain man is seen hanging next to the Johnsons' front door. In The Secret History of Twin Peaks, the historical figure known as Liver-Eating Johnson, a mountain man who aided the U.S. Army in the campaign against the Nez Perce tribe in the 1870s, plays a fairly large role. Could it be that Liver-Eating Johnson is Leo's great-great-grandfather?!

 

Donna is wearing another sweater slightly suggestive of the Owl Cave hieroglyphs.

 

The tape player that Donna, James, and Maddy use to listen to Laura's tape is a Realistic, a brand of audio and video products manufactured by Radio Shack and sold in their stores.

 

On the most recent audio tape, Laura addresses Dr. Jacoby by saying, "What's up, doc?" We also heard her use this phrase on a tape in Episode 1: "Traces to Nowhere". The phrase was originally popularized by Bugs Bunny in cartoons produced by Warner Brothers.

 

On Audrey's first day at the perfume counter at Horne's Department Store, notice at 13:41 on the Blu-ray that they are apparently offering Invitation to Love themed perfume! The show's logo and a cardboard stand-up of the Emerald character are seen.

 

Emory Battis' office is apparently next to the shoe department, as the shelves outside his door are filled with shoe and boot boxes. Sage, Red Wing, and Nocona brand boxes are the only identifiable ones seen.

 

At 15:12 on the Blu-ray, a civic award certificate of some kind is seen hanging on the wall of Battis' office.

 

Somehow, Audrey manages to hide and go unnoticed in a closet in Battis' office even though she is smoking a cigarette the entire time! Anyone who's been around lit cigarettes knows they stink and the smoke-tobacco odor would be quickly noticed!

 

The perfume counter girl whom Battis invites to work at One-Eyed Jacks is named Jenny.

 

Battis gives Jenny a small crystal unicorn, telling her it is an ancient symbol of purity. This is true. 

 

Audrey thumbs through Battis' notebook and finds the first names of girls, with dates and heart symbols written in. These are presumably girls at One-Eyed Jacks, as Ronette's name is on page three. However, Laura's name is not there at all. Notice also that the dates are all late March and onward 1989-1990, and it's only March 2, 1989 at this point in the story! I suppose the date of Laura's death had not yet been nailed down when the episode was shot. Jenny's is the most recent name, with a date of 2/25/90.

 

At 20:57 on the Blu-ray, it looks like the number Audrey writes down for Black Rose (Blackie) is 613-2637. She doesn't write down an area code, but since Blackie and One-Eyed Jacks are both in British Columbia, Canada, the number may be in area code 250, which has the prefix 613 in the city of Prince George (though it lies about 500 miles north of the Twin Peaks area).

 

At 16:23 on the Blu-ray, the RR Diner's Stock Pot Soup of the day is Very Vegetable.

 

At 20:30 on the Blu-ray, separate photos of a boy and girl are seen on the end table next to the couch in the Hurley house. Since Ed and Nadine don't have children that we know of, it seems these are likely to be pictures of Ed and Nadine themselves.

 

At 20:32 on the Blu-ray, notice that Nadine begins looking at her wrists just before Ed walks in. It may be an indication that she is contemplating suicide by slashing her wrists. In the next episode, Episode 7: "The Last Evening", she does attempt suicide (by overdosing on tranquilizers).

 

Pete remarks that he just got one of his prize fish back from Tim and Tom's Taxidermy. An ad for Tim and Tom's Taxidermy appears on pages 58-61 of Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town.

 

Before heading to One-Eyed Jacks, Cooper asks Ed if he likes to gamble. Ed says he went to Reno once. Reno is a city in Nevada, famous for its casinos.

 

Cooper and Truman have put together a cover package for Cooper and Big Ed that they are high-rolling oral surgeons from the Tri-Cities. In past episodes, we have heard of Twin Peaks existing in the tri-county area (speculated to be the Stevens, Pend Oreille, and Spokane counties area often referred to as the tri-counties of Washington's northeast corner). The Tri-Cities in Washington, on the other hand, are in the southeast corner of the state, being Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland.

 

At 28:21 on the Blu-ray, we can see that the life insurance policy that has been clandestinely taken out on Catherine is for $1,000,000, payable to Josie Packard upon the event of Catherine's death.

 

Cooper uses a voice-activated tape recorder (not his usual dictating recorder) to record anything Waldo might say, in the hopes that the bird will reveal something about what happened in Jacques' cabin and who was there. This Waldo does, mentioning "Laura" and incriminating Leo by saying his name along with the phrase "hurting me". But myna birds normally only pick up human words by repetition over a prolonged period of time, not just because they heard it once or twice on some random day!

 

As Cooper and Big Ed walk into One-Eyed Jacks, notice in the background what looks like a fireplace converted into an aquarium! We get a closer look at in in Episode 7: "The Last Evening", as Cooper and Jacques sit down for drinks, but there doesn't appear to be any fish in it, just burbling water.

 

Blackie remarks that Big Ed looks like a cop and Cooper steps in, jokingly saying, "I'm the cop." This diffuses a potential situation, considering they are both undercover. Ironically, of course, Cooper is the cop!

 

Blackie remarks to Cooper that he looks like Cary Grant. Cary Grant (1904-1986) was a popular film actor and leading man from the 1930s-1960s. Coop does look like a young Cary Grant in his tux!

 

Cooper tells Blackie he and Ed are "Barney and Fred". Presumably this is a reference to the next-door neighbors and best friends Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble on the animated sitcom The Flintstones that ran 1960-1966.

 

At 37:09 on the Blu-ray, notice that the Icelanders are singing "99 Bottles of Beer" in Icelandic. "99 Bottles of Beer" is a popular drinking song in the U.S. and Canada, based on the British song "Ten Green Bottles". Ben, with mock enthusiasm, tells them "You simply have got to teach me some of these incredible songs."

 

Jerry is wearing a couple of pins on his clothing as he talks with Ben in his office. A pin on his cap appears to be a jet plane. The broach at his neck is in the shape of Cupid.

 

In a misguided attempt to aid Agent Cooper's investigation of Laura Palmer's murder, Audrey applies for work as a prostitute at One-Eyed Jacks under the pseudonym of Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is the adulteress protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter. Blackie soon reveals she recognized the alias immediately, having read the book in high school just like Audrey did.

 

The girl who escorts Audrey to her audience with Blackie is the new girl who appeared in Episode 2: "Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer".

 

"Hester's" resume includes work at the Maple House, Vancouver (a bed-and-breakfast), Roy's in Chicago (a restaurant), and the Calgary Stampede (a rodeo and event center). She goes on to mention the Lost Dude Ranch in Calgary; this appears to be a fictitious brothel.

 

Blackie has a dog named Big Amos.

 

This episode includes the famous scene in which Audrey ties a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue. This has been a parlor trick performed (usually by women) for the past century or more. Some say the trick is generally performed by having a pre-knotted stem already hidden in the mouth, though you can now find numerous instructional web pages and diagrams that allegedly show you how to do it for real (I haven't tried!).

 

The dealers in the One-Eyed Jacks casino wear a pair of dice in their bowties.

 

Cooper seems to be winning handily at blackjack in the casino. He tells Ed that if he can count to ten, he can also win at blackjack. It seems likely that Cooper is using a form of card counting to increase his odds of winning. In The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper, we learn that he learned card counting from his uncle, Al Cooper.

 

Notice that Ed makes the finger-to-temple symbol of the Bookhouse Boys to Cooper when Jacques steps in as the new dealer at the blackjack table.

 

The car driven by Donna for the meeting at Easter Park appears to be a Chevrolet Cavalier wagon.

 

Why does Maddie wait in Easter Park for James and Donna to pay a visit to Dr. Jacoby's office? Couldn't they all three have gone there in Donna's car?

 

As Dr. Jacoby watches Invitation to Love, we see on his TV screen that Jade is handed a drink by Montana, who says, "Jade, here’s to old times. Should old acquaintance be forgot." Dr. Jacoby is holding a drink as he watches, then receives a phone call from "Laura"...an old acquaintance thought dead! The quote is also based on a line from the 1788 Scottish song "Auld Lang Syne" by Robert Burns, "Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon."

 

At 42:31 on the Blu-ray, a stack of National Geographic magazines can be seen next to Jacoby's desk.

 

Notice that Jacoby answers his phone, "Aloha." Jacoby seems to be obsessed with Hawaii throughout the series, and the Twin Peaks trading card set and The Secret History of Twin Peaks states he grew up in the island state.

 

Dr. Jacoby's office door has lettering on it reading, "Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, Ph.D., M.D., Individual and Family Counseling, A.M.A. A.P.A." Ph.D. stands for Doctor of Philosophy, M.D. stands for Doctor of Medicine, A.M.A. stands for American Medical Association and A.P.A. stands for American Psychiatric Association.

 

As Jacoby pushes the video tape into his VCR at 43:44 on the Blu-ray, a book on the shelf below is visible as being The Making of the Modern Mind. This is a 1926 book by American philosopher John Herman Randall, Jr.

 

The newspaper being held up to the camera by the ersatz Laura appears to have a title beginning with "Valley"; the second word is obscured by her hand, but may be "Recorder". Supposedly, the Twin Peaks local newspaper is the Twin Peaks Gazette (though The Secret History of Twin Peaks has it as the Twin Peaks Post at this point in the timeline).

 

"Laura" tells Jacoby to meet her at Sparkwood and Twenty-one. This is the same location where James told Donna that Laura leaped off his bike and ran away in the middle of the night on the night of her murder (also seen in Fire Walk With Me).

 

Jacoby reviews the "Laura" video tape and recognizes a corner of the gazebo at Easter Park, surmising that she is not actually going to meet him at Sparkwood and Twenty-one. According to the town map in Twin Peaks: An Access Guide to the Town, the gazebo and park are located at Falls Avenue and Twenty-one.

 

Memorable Dialog

 

two malts and some fries.wav

Laura had a lot of secrets.wav

not convenient.wav

hey, Waldo.wav

I don't like birds.wav

what's up doc.wav

I feel like I'm going to dream tonight.wav

give yourself a present.wav

nothin' like a great cup of black coffee.wav

don't you give up.wav

Leo, no.wav

you look like a cop.wav

I'd sure like to get a look under your hood.wav

blackjack is not my game.wav 

 

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