I understand Freddie's function. What I don't understand is why he even exists, from a writing standpoint. I mean why create a new character and pay an actor to play him to do that? He is with James most of the time. It's not like James is doing much outside of singing his song again. James didn't need Freddie to get arrested for fighting. Why not just have James do what Freddie does?
I'm not sure if I understand Freddie's function - well, apart from being a cartoon Cockney 'this is my destiny' character who is completely ridiculous. Except he is...
I think Freddie's function, and by that I mean just the green glove, is that something supernatural is required to ultimately defeat BOB. Bob could be driven out of whoever he possesses, but once that happens there isn't much a human being can do to stop him. He could try to enter someone else or return to the Black Lodge but not be stoped by a human alone.
Mark Frost wrote the Fantastic Four movies. Maybe it was a nod to those?
Overall I think it was to add scope to how elaborate the Fireman's plan to destroy BOB was. A piece of the trap sneaked in from far away.
On another level I think he represents the dream element as a "good" counterpart to Freddy Krueger. Weaponized glove. We all live inside a dream. Even his red hair and green glove reflect the green and red striped sweater that the horror character wears.
So many movie references in season 3, just like how the old series was full of TV references.
I think they rolled a lot of typical Twin Peaks elements into one character with Freddie.
They managed to pack Supernatural, Weird, Improbable, Cheesy and Comedy, with a side order of "Token Brit", even though he wasn't.
I really, really wish American TV shows would use accents other than Cockney or Generic South for their Brit characters, though. Not that anyone over there would be able to understand Geordie, mind you. Nowt wrong with a Northerner or Brummie, or even Scouse, for that matter.
I think Freddie's function, and by that I mean just the green glove, is that something supernatural is required to ultimately defeat BOB.
Surprised they didn't just reactivate Nadine. Add the golden shovel and you'd have a good excuse for the Dr. Amp arc.
I think I'd have enjoyed that much, much more. (envisions super-strength Nadine whacking Bob-ball with a golden shovel)
I didn't dislike Freddie but an entirely new character wasn't needed.
I think Freddie's function, and by that I mean just the green glove, is that something supernatural is required to ultimately defeat BOB.
Surprised they didn't just reactivate Nadine. Add the golden shovel and you'd have a good excuse for the Dr. Amp arc.
Now I can't take this image out of my mind:
Nadine beating the crap out of BOB's orb with a golden shovel while Dr Amp screams non-stop:
"Dig yourself out of the shit!"
Heeeeeelllllllp!!!
I suspect it has something to do with the many references to England throughout the series (both old and new), and most specifically the nod to the Arthurian Legends: Glastonbury, Lancelot, the mention of King Arthur and England by Pete, etc.
That doesn't answer your question of course, but I think the answer involves those things.
The color green is significant too. Note Mr C sat in a green chair in Truman's office and later Laura leaves her home with a green bag.
I think Freddie's function, and by that I mean just the green glove, is that something supernatural is required to ultimately defeat BOB.
Surprised they didn't just reactivate Nadine. Add the golden shovel and you'd have a good excuse for the Dr. Amp arc.
This is brilliant. Plus it makes her giving up ED seem less like wrapping up old junk.
What Freddie embodies is the link between contingency and necessity. BOB "must" be defeated, of course, yet there is absolutely no way to fulfill this mandate directly. Freddie is the element that no one expects or can plan for that arrives "out of the blue" and waits for the moment that will confer upon it a purpose, a "destiny." It is self-mocking dream logic at its finest, and despite the ludicrous kitschiness of the scene, wherein long-standing demands of Twin Peaks fandom are simultaneously met and thwarted, on a formal level it is eminently "realistic." Anything in our lives that is truly great and leaves a lasting impression on us is something that at first seems inexplicable or accidental; only in time do we realize that what we experienced as "contingent" was the quiet unfolding of what would come to be "necessary."
I saw the whole concept of Freddie battling Bob and defeating him like it's a video game boss fight an intentional subversion of the whole concept of a climactic confrontation between good an evil. Put the whole thing into words. What would you have thought if I'd dropped this spoiler on you before the start of the series: Bob will be defeated when a Beatles quoting cockney caricature wearing a green gardening glove that gives his fist the power of an enormous pie driver punches a screaming Bob bubble into oblivion. It's utterly absurd, as is the idea of Bad Coop being shot by Lucy after teasing a confrontation between the two Coopers all season long.
I think Lynch and Frost had something different in mind and gave us what we were all expecting as quickly as possible (after a really long build up) and in the most silly way imaginable.
And really, in the end, was evil defeated? Bob essentially passed the baton to Judy as the central symbol of evil and there's a strong suggestion that Evil Coop was absorbed back into Coop's personality.
Giving us the big showdown we expected complete with an absurd (and ultimately meaningless) comic book/video game destruction of the central villain was priming us for getting the rug pulled out from under us.
'You don't have to understand. You just have to believe.'
This is what Freddie personifies.
Wow! look at the floor! Awesome. Thanks!
Fire walk with