FIRE WALK WITH JERKY ~ EP. 4: THE ONE-ARMED MAN

We begin with a shot of the Palmer house, a beautiful, shrubby slice of Americana if ever there was one. In the living room, we see that Deputy Andy is displaying a previously undisclosed skill: forensic artistry. He is helping Sarah to visualize her psychic vision of Bob. 

For a brief, disturbing moment, Bob and Laura share screen time, both in the form of reasonable facsimiles (school yearbook photo, police sketch).

Sheriff Truman obviously finds Maddy’s resemblance to Laura to be disturbing, as do so many other Twin Peaks residents.

For her part, Maddy seems, as with all things, somewhat oblivious.

Leland seems more together than usual, at least enough to be snide and condescending about Sarah’s visions about the necklace.  We already know her vision of a stranger retrieving Laura’s half-locket from a hole in the ground is accurate, which means that, as far as Twin Peaks reality goes, Sarah has some pretty substantial psychic powers.

Donna, having been present for the hiding of said locket, must realize that this is true.

A return to the soap opera Invitation to Love…

It begins with a necklace, carrying over from Sarah describing her vision...

...and continues with an obviously satirical take on the usual sort of soap opera business.

Lucy is watching, rapt.

When Sheriff Truman asks Lucy what’s going on, she replies with the following monologue:

“Thanks to Jade, Jared decided not to kill himself, and he’s changed his will, leaving the towers to Jade instead of Emerald, but Emerald found out about it, and how she’s trying to seduce Chet give her the new will so that she can destroy it. Montana’s planning to kill Jared at midnight so the towers will belong to Emerald and Montana, but I think she’s going to double cross it and he doesn’t know it yet. Poor Chet!”

I have a sneaking suspicion this throwaway bit of comic relief might actually reveal some important element of the Twin Peaks plot, if examined with sufficient scrutiny. I will keep it in mind as I continue with my summaries.

Lucy and Andy are having issues.

She is not happy with Andy, and Andy does not know why.

Meanwhile, in a Sheriff's Department conference room, Agent Cooper is interrogating Dr Jacoby... but not before the latter has a bit of fun regaling the former with a parlor trick.

It's an old Vaudeville trick.

Cooper tolerates it, for a while.

There's not much that Dr Jacoby is willing to spill about his relationship with Laura, citing doctor/patient privilege. When asked about whether any of Laura's problems were sexual, Jacoby parrots the Freudian line that ALL of society's problems are rooted in sex... which could be viewed as an important interpretive key for the series, which is most definitely, for better or for worse, steeped in a Freudian worldview.

Upon spotting Cooper's map of Tibet, Dr Jacoby reveals that he is also fascinated by "the East", but only so far as Hawaii.

Before announcing his intentions to pay a "pilgrimage" to Pebble Beach, Dr Jacoby reluctantly confesses that Laura "had secrets, and around those secrets she built a fortress". Jacoby believes that his life's single greatest failure was not being able to penetrate that fortress.

He bids Cooper and Sheriff Truman "Hang loose, Howies!", apparently a traditional Hawaiian farewell, properly spelled "Haoles". Probably just some character color with no greater meaning than what appears on the surface. Oh, and he's apparently wearing 3D glasses.

Cooper and Truman field a call from Cooper’s supervisor, FBI station chief Gordon Cole, voiced by none other than David Lynch himself.

Albert’s been doing great forensic work, but he wants Truman’s badge. Cooper tells Cole to forget that noise.

Cooper has got Sheriff Truman's back, that much is obvious.

One of the things that's turning out to be one of the more pleasant and entertaining elements of Twin Peaks, in my opinion, is the beautiful portrayal of small town male bonding, particularly among the Sheriff's office employees, the Book House Boys, and Agent Cooper.

Andy comes in with the sketch of Bob.

Cooper recognizes the image of Bob from his own dream, or psychic vision from the Red Room. He also reveals the reason why he didn’t go to the Palmers’ house for this exercise was because he didn’t want to influence Sarah’s memories, as he is “a strong sender”.

The series continues to make use of "real world" conspiracy theories and "legitimate" paranormal topics, such as Remote Viewing, which played an important role in the Pentagon’s "psychic spy" program as described in Jon Ronson's non-fiction book, The Men Who Stare at Goats. The script even uses traditional RV terms ("senders" versus "receivers" messing with "the signal").

Meanwhile, Hawk has found the One Armed Man, also from the Red Room dream. He's holed up at a rundown motel of sorts, where we also find...

...none other than Josie Packard...

...who is apparently staking out...

..her scheming sister in law, Catherine Martell, who is shacked up...

...with none other than Ben Horne.

The two are going over their scheme to burn the Packard saw mill to the ground.

Meanwhile, the law arrives to confront the One Armed Man.

Andy drops his gun and it goes off, freaking everybody out and literally making Cooper do a 180 spin. The noise alerts Ben.

The assembled lawmen burst into the One Armed Man's room.

They find him appearing to attempt entry into a standalone closet of some sort.

He's freshly showered.

 

Ben decides that this is as good a time as any to give "Little Elvis" a bath.

He literally has a little ceramic Elvis, like one of the knickknacks Big Ed's one-eyed wife Nadine might have... although it doesn't appear to be deformed in any noticeable way.

As Ben gathers up his things and heads for the bathroom, Catherine notices something fall from his pocket.

Is it a coin?

No, not a coin, but a 1000 dollar poker chip from One Eyed Jack's.

It's the same kind of chip a fragment of which found its way into poor Laura's stomach before she died (the part with the letter "J"). Not that Catherine has any way of knowing about that.

Despite his creepy looks and the fact that his exact doppelganger appeared in Cooper's dream vision, the One Armed Man (a definite and obvious nod to the classic TV series The Fugutive, which itself was loosely based on a real-life crime) actually seems pretty much on the up and up. He lost his arm in an automobile accident, and now he sells shoes.

From their questions, Cooper and Truman discover that the One Armed Man (from hereon out called "Mike") does indeed know a man named Bob... his best friend, Bob Lydecker, "the best darn veterinarian in these parts." The reason why Mike has been visiting the hospital where Ronette is being cared for is because he's visiting Bob, who is in a coma after being assaulted at a bar on the outskirts of town.

Oh, and the tattoo that used to be on the arm that Mike lost in that accident? It said… “MOM!”

Hawk reveals that Josie Packard was already staked out there before they arrived. Oops!

Twin Peaks high school girl’s bathroom features literal twin peaks motif.

Audrey and Donna share some naughty bad girl chat in the washroom.

Audrey is cooking up a scheme to find out who killed Laura, and wants to enlist Donna to help. They figure One Eyed Jack’s, the perfume counter, and Dr Jacoby are key puzzle pieces to check out.

Norma shows up at the prison where her formerly mentioned but as yet unseen felon husband Hank is about to have a parole hearing.

Hank's lawyer informs Norma that whether Hank gets out or stays put basically depends on her testimony. No pressure, right?

And it's the man of the hour.

Norma and Hank have a brief reunion before Hank’s parole hearing.

Then the hearing takes place.

It's short and sweet, and the tribune seem singularly unimpressed.

As he sprawls on the pin, Hank fidgets with a white domino piece with black dots; double three.

Next to Bob Lydecker's veterinary clinic, there is an Indian Head Gas Station and One Stop convenience store. Cooper remembers the line from his dream about how Bob and Mike lived above a convenience store ("I mean it like it sounds, the way it is").

Cooper gets Andy to fetch some twine from the One Stop, to see if it matches with the samples Albert has uncovered from Laura's corpse.

The sign above Bob Lydecker’s Veterinary Clinic reads: "Aid to the Beast Incarnate"... and it's in quotation marks. This is pretty blatant stuff, here. It's literally a sign declaring that within this building, the seeker will find one who provides assistance to the earthly manifestation of the beast.

Not a beast, mind you... but THE beast. Indeed, perhaps the Great Beast? Or maybe even the Beast of Revelation?

As long as we're unraveling this thread, it behooves me to point out that in Revelation 17, the Beast is accompanied by the Scarlet Woman. And what do we see, right there, sitting on the steps of Lydecker's Veterinary Clinic, but a young girl wearing a bright red autumn jacket!

I mean, sure, she doesn't have MYSTERY BABYLON MOTHER OF HARLOTS etched across her forehead, but it's a start!

Cooper has a rather hilarious encounter with a llama (connection to Tibet?).

Kudos to the cast and crew for keeping it together long enough to get a usable take out of this!

Cooper’s got it in his head that the bird that pecked at Laura is a client of the Leidecker Veterinary Clinic, and gets the receptionist to turn over all documentation. What kind of flowers are those on her desk? They almost look like tiny roses.

Bobby and Shelly go about their cheating ways in Leo's half-finished, ramshackle abode.

Shelly reveals the bloody shirt she found in Leo's laundry the day after Laura's murder to Bobby.

Bobby is wearing a purple shirt with gold lettering that reads, on the back, Family 4 Plus 1, and on the front, over the breast pocket, the word "Dick". 

Bobby lies about not being involved in Leo’s drug running, also trying to make it appear as though he has nothing to do with Laura’s drug taking. His constant scheming is a wonder to behold.

Shelly then reveals to Bobby that she's gotten a gun.

Then, in a typically "noir" bit of business, she begins making sexy time poses with it.

After Andy's mishap of dropping his gun and having it fire accidentally on the job, Cooper and Truman decide that a bit of shooting range time is in order.

 

But what’s with that snowman in storage in the basement?

The scenes of male bonding are particularly strong here...

...as in when Cooper urges Andy to keep his chin up after a particularly poor display of marksmanship.

In contrast, Hawk, Cooper and Truman put on a reassuringly competent performance.

Although Cooper's "in the zone" look is a tad creepier than Truman's.

And putting four through the eyes to create this grouping... well, that's just showing off, Hawk's “Nice pattern” comment notwithstanding.

Speaking of Hawk, the poem he wrote to Diane Shapiro, PhD Brandeis, is particularly nice.

One woman can make you fly like an eagle

Another can give you the strength of a lion

But only one in the cycle of life

Can fill your heart with wonder 

And the wisdom that you have known a singular joy.

A target creates the image of a human shadow over Cooper’s right shoulder when he begins talking about the fact that, while he was never married, he knew someone who helped him understand commitment and taught him the pain of a broken heart. Not sure about the significance, but the idea that you're being followed by a shadow version of yourself is an intriguing one that crosses religious and traditional boundaries, and is sometimes referred to as the Third Man Syndrome.

Shelly shows up at work and talks down Leo to Norma. They’ve both got thug trouble. “Two men apiece, and no idea what to do with the four of them.”

Meanwhile, Maddy meets James Hurley for the first time, and he, like everyone else, seems smitten.

The Great Northwest’s antler chandelier isn’t as impressive as the one at One Eyed Jacks’, but it’s up there.

Audrey puts on a pretty convincing show by engaging in some emotional manipulation to convince her father, Ben, that she wants to be involved in the family business. 

In fact, she puts on such a convincing show that it manages to win him over.

Hey, wait a minute… were Audrey and Laura better friends than we have been led to believe? And why is that pic on Ben’s desk?

“WALDO!” A shout-out to Where’s Waldo? Andy finds a Mynah Bird named Waldo just as they’re looking for a Mynah Bird. And guess who owns Waldo? None other than bartender and drug runner Jaques Renault!

Meanwhile, the FBI faxes over Albert's discovery that the plastic letter "J" found in Laura's stomach comes from a poker chip. Another connection to Renault, as that family runs One Eyed Jack's across the border in Canada!

It would be foolish not to jump on this information considering that these two connections were made almost simultaneously, according to Cooper.  So they decide to pay a visit to Jaques Renault’s apartment... 

...sneaking up, being sure not to drop any guns this time...

...but Bobby is there. He beats a hasty retreat after having left Leo’s bloody shirt.

Ben meets with Leo. And HANK is involved?!

Bernard Renault’s corpse is there.

Ben wants Leo to burn down the mill.

Donna and James go to retrieve the necklace they hid, but of course we know that Dr Jacoby currently has it hidden in a coconut.

By the way, it is becoming increasingly clear that Donna is not a nice person, what with her constantly asking people to keep what they discover about Laura's past and murder a secret. Why would she do this if she didn't have ulterior motives? What is she trying to keep from being revealed?

A large Great Horned Owl hoots from high above them, watching their every move. The owl, of course, is a symbol rich in history and esoteric meaning in almost every culture, down throughout the entire history of mankind. This website lists the specific species of Great Horned Owl as being the "Revealer of Secrets", but it seems a tad too "New Agey" and syncretistic for my tastes.

Josie’s got a gun rack made from goat knuckles, too.

Josie makes a sandiwich for Pete.

After Pete goes to bed with his sandwich, Josie opens her mail, only to discover...

...a hand drawn sketch of a white domino slab with six black dots on it; the same kind of domino Hank was fidgeting with at his parole hearing.

Suddenly the air is filled with menace. The camera tilts into Dutch angles and fang baring beasts foreshadow danger and doom. 

Then, suddenly, Josie receives a suspiciously well-timed call.

Hank sucks creepily on a domino. Yuck. 

In Summary: Hank seems like a bit of a deus ex machina bad guy, doesn't he? I mean, for someone to show up this late in the game to have his fingers stuck into so many different pies, and all before even hitting the town after being in jail for years? It will be interesting to see if Lynch and Frost can pull this off.