Heyo all. New to the forum though have been avidly reading for some time. Will try my best not to come across as crazy. 😉 This will include another "sync" experiment - though these have supposedly been debunked. 

430

Lots of people have been speculating about the meaning of 430 – we seem to get some sort of answer in episode 18 when Diane and Coop drive to a spot 430miles (?) from where (?) and enter a new dimension a la Lost Highway. But there may be another answer instead / as well.

I had already speculated a serious link between episode 18 and 8. The main reason was that I interpreted Philip Jeffries big floating smoke ring 8 as a simple message to the audience to look again at episode 8 or remember episode 8. It is also noteworthy that many of the “its all somebody’s dream” theories hold up very well until you try and incorporate episode 8 – then they collapse. Episode 8 is so singularly alien to the entire series, or anything we’ve watched connected with twin peaks at all. It could well act as a key to the entire twin peaks universe.

I was on the google maps yesterday looking at different Twin Peaks related places. I noticed Odessa wasny far off of White Sands nearby where the Nuke test happened. With the Google Maps ruler, the distance between the Trinity Test Site monument (epicentre of bomb site – birth of Bob etc) and the centre of Odessa is pretty much spot on 430km. Perhaps a happy coincidence?  In Odessa we find “Carrie Page,” and Judys diner. I don’t think Odessa was chosen at random.

The events in Odessa and afterwards seem to take place in some sort of alternate dimension – where Cooper is Richard and Diane is Linda and Laura is Carrie. But what year is it? And what might the relationship between Carrie and the cast of episode 8 be? (in geographical terms Odessa is the closest we get to the events in 8)

My Prayer

The song “My Prayer” by the platters also demonstrates the link between both episodes. We hear it through two scenes, the first in 1956 White Sands NM in episode 8, the second in (what year is it?) motel where Diane and Coop have the most uncomfortable sex ever seen on TV. Just before Cooper heads down to Odessa Tx. The song was number 1 in 1956 (I think it hit number 1 the day after the Gotta Light events in White Sands). One of the singers in The Platters – who can be heard on this song – is called David Lynch. In episode 8 when the song is playing Gotta Light Lincoln is crushing someones skull with his hand. In episode 18 as the song plays – Diane is on top of cooper disturbingly squishing his face in an obvious call back to 8.

Even including the bizarre sequence of events in the final two episodes, 8 stands out as a singularly disjointed episode. It also stands out as one of the greatest hours of TV in history, in terms of the photography, sound design and sense of horror. There will be people writing their film studies thesis on this episode. It’s the episode I keep coming back to again and again. We were even given a two week break after the episode, as if to highlight its uniqueness.

If, as I suspect, episode 8 acts as a “key” to unlock the structure of the twin peaks mythology / cosmology then I want to know who the little girl featured in 8 really is. Is this the story about the little girl who lives down the lane. Is it?

NOTE:

1. I don’t think that “cracking the code” of TP will unravel the entire mystery – or even necessarily tell us any details that we don’t already know – that’s not really how Mark Frost or David Lynch operate. But, a coherent synthesis of the events in ep8 and 18 could however reveal some sort of structure / pattern to the events in the entire S03 which will enable us to more fully interpret the larger themes of identity, disassociation, abuse etc – that is to say it could answer questions like “what year is it?” or “who is the dreamer?” (is the dreamer the little girl who lives down the lane?).

SYNCING 8 and 18

TP OPENING CREDITS

In 18 we open with Mr C (coopers doppelganger) in the red room in flames. In 8 we also open with Mr C in the car with Ray discussing where they are going etc. Mike destroys Mr C and creates a new Dougie whilst Ray and C and chatting. 

As Laura and cooper are walking through woods in 1989 in 18, in 8 Mr C and Ray are talking about coordinates. In episode 18, Laura disappears and screams.

In episode 8 as Mr C says “Lets get off this highway” Cooper miraculously arrives seated in red room in 18 and MIKE is there who says, “is it future or is it past?”

After Ray gets out to go for a leak in 8, Cooper is taken to “The arm” in 18 who asks “Is this the story of the little girl who lives down the lane? Is it?” while Mr C loads his gun. 

Ray shoots Mr C in 8 just as Laura whispers in Coopers ear (he looks perturbed) then she screams her piercing scream again as things start to seriously freaky around Mr C’s body. 

As the woodsmen come in to help Mr C in 8, Cooper meets Leland in 18 who says “find Laura.” Cooper then goes to exit the Red Room at Glastonbury Grove (presumably to find Laura?) and sees Diane standing there. 
As Cooper meets Diane in 18 and she says “is it really you” – it is synced perfectly with a close up in 8 of BOB coming out of Mr C. As she is saying this the woodsmen in 8 lift up (dead) Mr C’s head and turn it directly towards the camera (something I didn’t notice upon first watching 8). Almost in answer to her question. 

As Diane and Cooper being their “roadtrip” in 18, in 8 we fade out of the Mr C scene to Ray in the car on the phone to Philip Jeffries at the same time as Cooper and Diane are talking about what will happen to them in the car. 
“Almost exactly 430 miles” says cooper in 18 just as as 9 inch nails are introduced (with distorted guitar sound) in 8. As Cooper then says “Exactly 430 miles” in 18 the drum beat comes in in 8.

The syncing of these two scenes, the Cooper and Diane 430 scene with the nine inch nails song seems too perfect to be coincidence. The entire Cooper Diane scene seems edited to fit with the song. 

The particular distorted electrical guitar sound used in 9 inch nails song in 8 corresponds EXACTLY to the shots of the pylon (which in shape resemble Mother / Experiment glyph) in 18 at the 430 mark. EVERY time it cuts to the pylon in 18, we hear that sound in 8. 

The 9 inch nails song continues for the whole “crossover” scene of Cooper and Diane repeatedly returning to the pylon shot and sound then ends as they reach the motel. As the car pulls into the motel in 18, in 8, the song ends and Mr C wakes up, rejuvenated. 

NOW IN BOTH EPISODES 8 and 18 THERE IS A TOTAL BREAK IN CONTINUITY.

In episode 8 the screen changes to black and white with “july 16th 1945 – 5.29am” – the car stops and is switched off in episode 18. Could be same time of night in episode 18 as its dark and there is no staff on at the motel. It has already been established that Cooper and Diane are in the south Western united states as there is desert sands at the 4.30 mark and the wind up pretty close to Odessa (which is 430km – not miles) from Trinity Nuclear site. 

As Cooper gets out of the car at the motel in 18 we get the countdown to the nuclear detonation in 8 – the bomb explodes (with the beginning of the music Threnody for the victims of Horishima) as he goes to get the Motel key and Diane sees her Doppelganger/ Tulpa (??) Everything changes from this point. 
At the moment they enter the door of the Motel room in 18, we “enter” the nuclear bomb in 8 – that is to say, the camera hits the nuclear blast and we get the sort of abstract Stargate sequence. 

Threnody for the victims of Horishima plays during the horribly creepy sex scene in part 18 interspersed with My Prayer. The sex scene more resembles a horror scene with this music. With the two in sync it almost seems like Diane is conjuring the “convenience store” in 8 into existence. 

The scene changes in both at once.

The next morning as Cooper / Richard reads out the letter from Diane who now believes herself to be Linda, in 8 we cut perfectly from the distorted noise and imagery of the nuke etc to silence for Mother / Experiment floating in a black void and birthing Bob. In perfect sync the letter Diane left is read aloud by Cooper as we get the birth of Bob. 

After the letter and BOB scene, we briefly cut back to scary threnody music and scenes inside the nuke in 8 as Cooper leaves the Motel in 18 and notices that it, and his car have changed.
The scene changes in both at once.

When Cooper reaches “Judy’s” diner in 18, we cut from nuke scene in 8 and are introduced to the Giants Castle / white lodge (?) in the middle of what looks like a purple sea. As the camera approaches the castle in 8 cooper approaches the diner in 18 and enters. 

When Cooper goes tackles the cowboy hatted creeps in the diner and puts the guns in hot oil in 18, the “alarm” is going off in the giants castle – the giant takes a while to look with concern directly into camera (as if watching a screen) as Cooper is putting the guns in the oil and addressing the waitress. This is odd because I can imagine the viewer watching the screen with the same concerned look as Cooper does this – it is a very un-Cooper thing to do. The Judy’s diner scene matches with the strange gramophone music in the giants castle – which again changes the entire feel of the scene. 

As Cooper goes to leave Judys diner in 18, the giant leaves gramophone room to go to his “cinema” upstairs in 8. 

While the giant is watching the Birth of Bob on his cinema screen in 8, Cooper is approaching Carrie Page’s house in Odessa. 

As the giant levitates to begin “creating” Laura Palmer in 8, Cooper arrives at Carrie’s door in 18. The music in 8 changes to the ethereal “bright” music for the birth / creation of Laura Palmer. As this is happening, in 18, Cooper is telling Carrie Page he thinks she is Laura Palmer and she should come with him and he needs to take her home. Again it changes the whole mood of the scene in 18 as the music gives it an uplifting hopeful air. 

As senorita Dido kisses and sends the Laura Palmer orb off to earth in 8, Cooper/Richard, and Carrie Page begin their journey to Twin Peaks in 18. 
During the very long car ride to twin peaks in 18, we witness the egg at white sands in 1956 hatch with the little frog bug coming out of it. The sounds of the egg hatching in 8 sync with Carrie’s nervousness in 18, where she looks behind and says “are we being followed” – almost like she can hear episode 8 – check it out, its really creepy. 

As Carrie drifts off to sleep in 18, she says “In those days I was too young to know any better” – just as in 8 we cut to the teenage lovebirds.
As they exit the Valero gas station in 18, the woodsmen come into existence in 8. (convenience store - gas station link?) Then as we cut to the couple in the car at night approaching the woodsmen in 8, we are back in the car with Carrie and Cooper at night en route to Twin Peaks. 

As they arrive in Twin Peaks in episode 18, the teenage lovebirds in 8 approach the girls house. “Thanks for walking me home” says the young girl in 8 as in 18 they approach the Palmer residence but Carrie / Laura recognises nothing. 

The Little girl in 8 arrives back in her house at the moment they arrive at the Palmer household in 18. Her opening and closing her front door matches Coopers car door opening and closing – the sounds match up. 
As the Abraham Lincoln woodsman (Gotta Light) in 8 gets to the radio station in white sands and “My Prayer” begins (if watched in sync, My Prayer occurs twice) – Cooper and Carrie get to the door in 18 and knock.

Gotta Light crushes the receptionists head in 8 as they chat with the woman who occupies the Palmer household in 18. The camera back and forth between Cooper + Carrie and the woman in the Palmer house seems to match the back and forth between the woodsman and the DJ.
As the woodsman chants his “This is the water this is the well, drink full and descend,” speech over the radio in 8, Cooper and Carrie descend the steps slowly from the Palmer household in 18. The director takes his time with this scene. 

As the bug approaches the house of the little girl in 8, Cooper asks what year it is in 18.

AT THE EXACT MOMENT the bug enters the little girls mouth in 8, in 18 Carrie Page / Laura Palmer lets out her bone chilling scream – I kid you not, the exact moment. As the bug crawls towards her mouth, we hear Sarah Palmer in the distance calling “Laura” then as the bug crawls in her mouth, Carrie lets out the scream, the house blacks out and episode 18 ends. 

As we cut to the credits in 18, overlaid onto the footage of laura whispering in coopers ear, in 8 we return to the woodsman for another round of “this is the water”, some brief skull crushing, and then the ominous sound of the (presumably white) horse. At the exact moment the credits end in 18, they begin in 8 and are overlaid on the footage of the little girl sleeping. She frowns and has eye movement as if she is dreaming.