Did anyone notice that James laughed as if he enjoyed it when Freddie punched opened the cell door which hit Chad? This is in contrast to how he reacted after Chuck and his friend attacked him for talking with Renee: after this incident, James seemed genuinely concerned about the welfare of Chuck and his friend, even asking Hawk if they were alright after getting locked up in prison. What happened that James changed here?
James was 'shaken' by Freddie's story, as if he was asking himself, why didnt I stop going to the pub and get to meet the fireman, help others, etc.? After this, James went down to the furnace/boiler room, the place where one 'firewalks', where he checked on the fire/electricity, the dreamer and dreams behind their actions, finding 'Judy'/negativity, etc., then later that night went up to Renee in front of her husband, even accidentally said he liked Renee.
Now that James has seen what Freddie can do, and was thinking that he could use that, or 'why Freddie and why not me?', etc., now how has James integrated Freddie's violent abilities and his ability to 'stand up for himself' into himself? James seemed to laugh at it when Freddie hurt Chad pretty seriously.... What sort of firewalking did James do down in that boiler room, in order to integrate that sort of toughness 'behind it all', or at least not worrying about his enemies, and he needs this to realize his dreams, rather than leaving town(the same thing Cooper needed, who was watching James and Laura from the woods, something like Agent Cooper being James' 'woodsmen'). The situation here seems similar to what happened with Agent Cooper, who tried to be genuine, like James tried to be(also the naive belief in the town as the ideal community, dreams harmed, etc.) and since all of this seems pretty new to James judging on how he reacted to Chuck, will James 'split' like Cooper did originally? We will have to wait until the next season......
I don't think it was sadistic.
No different from the laugh/cheer much of the audience gave when the obnoxious Chad was prevented from killing Andy in cold blood by a green-handed-super-punch.
I don't think it was sadistic.
No different from the laugh/cheer much of the audience gave when the obnoxious Chad was prevented from killing Andy in cold blood by a green-handed-super-punch.
Definitely agree that Freddie was in the right here, and I am am with you on Chad, but James did laugh at a deadly situation and someone getting seriously hurt, making it sadistic laugh; and with that entire 'glove' story that shook James, and what he has been through in relation to Freddie and the glove, I cant help but suspect the significance of the laugh in relation to what happened down in that boiler room when James went to check the furnaces/fire....its not exactly characteristic of James to laugh at such a thing....
James couldn't have gotten into the boiler room because he didn't have the key to room 318.
Hey Murat,
I thought James was just sharing our cathartic cheer, too. But I admire how you connect threads together in your mind, usually by adding some speculation. Hell, you could be totally right, why not?
@edwin:
James not having access to the locked door via key is no more a disqualifier than Cooper opening a mechanical/service area door with a guest room key. It's Lynch, after all.
James must have been able to access those furnaces, since he is a guard there and charged with checking them, the Great Northern needs to be able to access those furnaces and would not have left them inaccessible for 25 years. Cooper entering those same furnaces with his old room key from 1989-90 I think is just the link to him personally, with him returning to himself from his split after his failure 25 years ago.
James was not cheering, but first he looked very angry staring down Chad, then after Freddie hit Chad, James burst out into a moment of laughing. It may seem, emotion/feeling wise, that James is just there to share with the audience who wants to see Chad's reign of 'bro cynicism' stopped, but James is not part of an audience, but fully in the world of Twin Peaks as a character, so I think that laugh must have a significance within that world, relating to it, etc., rather than us as an audience, who are just given an inside peek into that world.
I think he was laughing at us the audience because we had to listen to his damn song again this season ?
I think he was laughing at the thought that Lynch , after 3 seasons and a movie, used One Punch Man to defeat BOB. I know I was laughing. So stupid.
I think he was laughing at the thought that Lynch , after 3 seasons and a movie, used One Punch Man to defeat BOB. I know I was laughing. So stupid.
From what I have been reading here, it was supposed to be a way to integrate superhero movie ideas, thus maybe it is bringing some relevance for the contemporary audience? But if you look at what the 'superhero solution', the factual solution of defeating a 'bad guy', everything is alright and guaranteed, etc., what does this bring in episode 18? It is a complete failure and we have to return to the core of the horror of Twin Peaks, completing the return and beginning proper Twin Peaks......So there is room here for Twin Peaks itself to be skeptical towards the 'superhero' aspect of it all, as if defeating BOB would solve all the problems, etc. Its not that simple here as good 'superheros' defeating 'bad guy', world saved, etc....
Freddie stopping BOB also draws another connection between Cooper and James, since Freddie has now stepped in to save both Cooper and James, who were being attacked and on the ground, in situations they did not seem to be able to deal with. Notice when BOB leaves Mr. C, he goes right for Agent Cooper, who seems defenseless, gets knocked down, then BOB's face inside the sphere begins to split, as he is about to merge with Agent Cooper; and it is here that I think it is shown how Agent Cooper/Dougie was the one 'calling' for BOB again, loved 'viva las vegas', etc, had to be 'in' with 'mother nature' no matter what, no matter if its criminal, etc. If it was not for Freddie, Cooper would never have gotten to the boiler room and the 'return' to himself 25 years ago, what happened there, etc., what trapped him in the red room and 'split' him in the world, instead the same thing would have started all over again, with BOB, etc.
Freddie highlights a need of both James and Cooper(the old Cooper before the return), who were all too ready to accept the town of Twin Peaks as a guaranteed ideal community and assume the best in everyone, etc., while Freddie knows who is a 'jobsworth', that going to the pub along with the local friends is a waste of time, standing up for himself, not just going along like Dougie with 'mother nature', but instead has the 'gardening' instrument to deal with it, etc. Freddie is sort of what James and Cooper needed to integrate into themselves, just like Gordon Cole needs the skeptical Albert. Without doing this Agent Cooper's 'skeptical' part ran off into the extreme of the automatic Mr. C, since it was something he could not integrate into himself, the idea that his dreams may not be realized there in Twin Peaks, that the horror which happened there is part of the town/life there itself and not some apparition that can be done away with easily by getting rid of a 'bad guy', etc. Cooper got it back together, Mr. C is 'barred up' and now Cooper has that skepticism which made him question his own 'factual' solution of saving Laura; now he is bringing Laura back to deal with the problems he was trying to hide her from, he is disturbing the entire situation he created with the 'superhero solution', negating it. Cooper now is skeptical, knows something was not right, as it should be, like Sara Palmer did. After meeting 'Judy', confronting it, the gamble, the negativity, etc., the lack of a guarantee(is the oil hot enough to set off the bullets, where will the bullets go, etc., we dont know, just stand away and move on, etc., deal with truck drivers and get back to the core mystery, etc., dont think nature will take care of itself, etc.). Cooper is now able to have that 'Mr. C element' without being the automatic BOB, who just runs on natural momentum of pain, follow 'mother nature' in its 'natural disaster', violence, etc. But James, its still a question what has happened here, how did he deal with this problem? That laugh leaves it up for question.......
Maybe it was sitting in that jail cell and looking at Naido all night, maybe reminding James of the result of what 'Chads and Chucks' did to Laura, that finally made him stop worrying about 'Chads and Chucks'. After all, later on in Truman's office, James was consoling Naido, and watching over her, much as he did with Laura.... Overnight, James went from being concerned about Chuck and his friend, to laughing sadistically at a situation where Andy was nearly killed and Chad was seriously injured. What is going on here, maybe James is remembering what he went through because of people like that, what they did to Laura, etc., and its really not appropriate for him to care about them? Or maybe the pain of remembering it all, brought back by witnessing Naido, is making him out for enjoying revenge? Maybe the drunk/Billy fingering his wound was not only representing Chad, but also some pain inside of James bubbling over the surface, appearing as the sadistic laugh?
Also, James' angry stare right before Freddie punched the cell door was reminiscent of his stare at Bobby and Mike when all three of them were locked up in the Twin Peaks jail in the original series, and Bobby and Mike were barking at James. Later, at Laura's funeral, James attacked Bobby after letting out a 'pained noise', thereby stopping Bobby from exposing the town for Laura's tragedy....
Fire walk with