Fire Walk With Me: The Film Which Could Play into Twin Peaks’ Third Season

Image Source: Highlight Hollywood

25 years after its initial cancellation, the cult classic 90’s TV series Twin Peaks is returning with its third season, causing frantic speculation on just what Mark Frost and David Lynch will be doing this time around.

All we know for certain is that the third season takes place 25 years after the murder of Laura Palmer and disappearance of Dale Cooper. There are some other clues and details about the plot inside the Mark Frost-written book The Secret History of Twin Peaks, which I’m not going to digress into here. If you’re a Twin Peaks fan, I absolutely recommend you pick up that book because it’s extremely cool (and would probably look great on a coffee table).

Other than that, in true David Lynch style, both he and Mark Frost have remained quiet and vague about anything else we might see in the rejuvenated Twin Peaks. Except, maybe we aren’t entirely clueless on what we could be expecting to see. What if the clues are there, and they’ve been there since 1992? If you haven’t picked up on what I’m talking about yet, I’m talking about Fire Walk with Me, the oft-maligned and utterly hated prequel (sort of sequel) to Twin Peaks.

Twin Peaks
Image Source:
The Athena Cinema

As much as people may not like the David Lynch prequel, Fire Walk with Me is still an important film. It’s important to the mythos and world of Twin Peaks, and it’s important in understanding the characters that inhabit the town. It could very well be (actually, it more than likely will be) important to the events that take place in the third season, and I’ll explain how.

Within Fire Walk with Me there are a series of plot points and events that hint towards certain elements or ideas, which may or may not be prevalent in the third season. I say may or may not because some of these ideas rely on scenes that were cut from the theatrical release of the film, and therefore may not be considered canon or Frost and Lynch will do something complete different. With that said, I do recommend that if you are going to watch Fire Walk with Me, you pick up the Missing Pieces edition, which contains over an hour’s worth of deleted and alternate scenes.

 

Phillip Jeffries may play a bigger role

After David Bowie’s unfortunate passing in January of 2016, we won’t be seeing Special Agent Jeffries in person during the 18-episode series, but that doesn’t mean we won’t hear about him. There’s still a lot of mystery behind the character and the circumstance of his disappearance three years before the advent of Cooper’s investigation into the death of Laura Palmer. But I’m willing to bet that it has something to do with a similar murder, the owl cave ring and the Black Lodge. The short David Bowie cameo left us wondering: What exactly was all that about? Season 3 would be a perfect time to answer that question.

 

Dale’s possession by Bob could explain his disappearance

Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks
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Aint It Cool News

I’m expecting this to play a part in explaining just what happened to Agent Cooper 25 years ago, it’s the most obvious explanation David Lynch could give us. We know for a fact that Dale is possessed by Bob, and that- to quote Annie from Fire Walk with Me, “The good Dale is trapped in the lodge”. I don’t think this idea will simply be tossed away, so I think it’s safe to say that this will play into the disappearance of Dale.

 

We’ll finally understand what “Garmonbozia” means?

Remember that strange word the arm says during that strange sequence with David Bowie? The one with all the static and weird imagery and cryptic language? Well, the definition provided by Lynch explains its meaning as “pain and suffering” that is consumed. Now, that on its own just gives as more questions and doesn’t explain anything. But consider the other comments made throughout the show. We’ve been told that “Bob feeds on fear”, could that mean that garmonbozia (pain and suffering of others) is what sustains the inhabitants of the Black Lodge? Also, why on earth is it represented by creamed corn?

 

We’ll learn how the owl cave ring works

Twin Peaks
Image Source:
Nerdist

One thing that’s always irked me is the owl cave ring and why it only seems to make certain people disappear. Chester Desmond went missing after touching it, presumably Phillip Jeffries had the same fate. But there’s a scene (a deleted one) where a nurse steals the ring from Annie while she’s in hospital, and nothing happens. What I want to know is why it’s so temperamental. I guess it could just be a continuity error, but I honestly don’t think David Lynch would make such a silly mistake.

Of course this is all speculation on my part. There is still a lot I don’t quite get about Fire Walk with Me. Maybe none of this will be in the new season, maybe I’m downright wrong about all of this, but hey, it’s at the very least fun to think about. We’ll find out if I’m right or not in May, when Twin Peaks finally airs after all this time.

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