Around the dinner table, the conversation was lively. Thank you but for now, the forum has been archived.
Well, sure. But even then you'd think that Truman would go and check out why Hawk is ripping up a bathroom stall door. Though in the next scene, we see with Hawk and Truman and they are going through the diary pages . . .
There's just something about those scenes with Chad that are head scratchers. Take a scene I think is from episode 9 . . . Bobby, Truman and Hawk just return from Mrs Bringgs with a mysterious object left by the Major. Chad is eating in the conference room and is shooed away by the trio. Only to find they didn't need to come into the conference room anyway. Bobby took them back outside to blow open the container and retrieve the message. So why have the scene with the three of them walking into the conference room to begin with? Apparently so we could see Chad (and their treatment of him I suppose). But again, why?
There's Something About Chad.
Chad is not simply a 'bad guy', nor an ordinary 'truck driver'; rather, his distortion that bothers the town elders with 'creamed corn that they asked not to be there', or 'pigeons that spread disease and mess up the place', is more complicated and developed and provides some interesting cuts/jumps to other points in Twin Peaks season 3. Words and slight differences matter a lot here. Chad rejects the insane pressure of Truman's wife on him and cuts out the pressure to 'support the troops'(a pressure which makes people 'swallow a lot', sacrifice a lot for something you are not allowed to think about or question, like 'supporting the troops', who could be against that but terrorist enemies, etc, then blackmailing the public into accepting never-ending war from the US and patriot act suspension of rights, digital control, etc.). Truman's wife embodies the insane social pressure crushing Twin Peaks, herself traumatized and stuck in it; and this is also embodied by the insane pressure on Kriskol having to sell blood in order to live as a pensioner, and the cops, Becky/Norma/Shelly/Bobby putting on Steven which culminates in his social destruction, destruction of his marriage, and suicide. When Chad makes fun of the soldier who committed suicide, he sees the key of the antagonism in the society and his distortion cuts out the pressure, at least the common American ideology here which allows people to live and ignore a lot. This is also a key to why Chad has such disdain for Twin Peaks and easily betrays it, because they themselves have thrown the town away and given up in face of that pressure, much like the resigned sherrif Truman, who 'just gets used to it', with kids committing suicide becomes a norm(Denny Craig is not the Laura Palmer level of tragedy) and dreams of days past, locking himself up in nostalgia and his close knit group, while denying the new generation(Chad and Jessie) entry into his group(the disdain, patronizing attitude, and disgust Truman, Hawk, and Bobby show to Chad and Jessie) .
Crucially, at this moment of distortion when Chad intervenes to reject Truman's wife pressure and take a conflictual stance, Chad says here 'its a free world', unlike the 'truck you' truck driver that Sarah Palmer kills at the bar who said 'its a free cuntry'. The 'truck you' truck driver gives into the sexual pressure embodied by Sarah Palmer and seeks to conquer her by force, he sees himself and 'his cuntry' as exclusive and is willing to rape(maybe kill) for it(a scene also embodying the tragedy of Laura Palmer). The 'truck you' truck driver wants to take for himself and shift the burden/debt along, much like the social rules which shift social destruction and debt onto certain members in order that some are happy for a while longer, while Twin Peaks as a whole is being pressured, 'economically depressed', drugs moving in, death of youth common, to benefit larger players, like the drug dealer 'Red', or the money man Walter trying to get money from the 'magic' Twin Peaks and Norma's diner creates, and then compromise Twin Peaks, Norma's pies, what makes it special will get onto market, money taken out, and debt dumped on the dying community(here that would be the increase in prices Walter tried to sell to Norma, to bleed the community dry, to 'squeeze and squeeze', when they are already going down the tubes economically). Chad's rejection of the pressure allows him to sit back, relax, enjoy the day, and think about who his real enemies are, who is really to blame for his own exclusion and the social problems he sees in the crazy drunk, and why he sees Richard, who also rejects the order to enjoy and sell yourself at the roadhouse by making fun of the 'smoking babies', who are later seen as prostitutes, selling themselves under the pressure. Richard is no 'truck you' either, nor a rapist, like the, pro America, 'support the troops' truck driver: Richard rejects the pressure outright, rather than giving into it and asserting his right to it by force like the 'truck you' on Sarah Palmer(much like a country asserting its right to global domination, essentially the dangerous game going on now opened up by the 'war on terror' and 'support the troops'); and Richard rejects this pressure to give in to the grandeur of the 'roadhouse ritual', scolds the girls, although cruelly, and moves along to his own business. Richard never meant to kill that child, and did not murder that child, since this requires a will/intent to kill, this was a negligent killing caused when Richard was in a state of extreme trauma, of his world being destroyed. I am not saying the kids death was not a tragedy, just that Richard did not intentionally murder a kid, and never would have. Richard's modus opernadi is better here than Red's, who is 'enjoying himself in the town' and asserts his right to this by machine gun, easily would kill for it, like some kind of 'invading troop' on Richard's territory(who is a young social rebel that knows the sheriff is useless). Richard even turns out to be something of a hero, what Richard cares about is restoring Audrey Horne and his rightful place in society, taking the name of his father Cooper and doing something more with his life; and his life was a product of the great potential and 'magic' of Twin Peaks, the relation of Cooper and Audrey, what made Twin Peaks special...Richard embodies this and stands up for it(or at least knows he embodies the potential of something much greater) with the full risk of his entire life on the line, since at the same time maintaining his antagonism with a society that is rotten at its core, where 'something definitely stinks', when the price of nostalgia and cute dreams are bodies like Laura washing up on a regular basis..... so much for those smoking babies......
Its 'two birds with one stone' here, Linda was crippled by the war and the government gives no help, as Mickey reveals to Carl Rodd. The electricity behind Richard, Linda, Chad goes through Carl 'Lighting' Rodd(like the electric posts), who reveals this when responds to Mickey about Linda, the damned never ending war, damned government(or something along these lines), this is the distortion here that links Chad, Richard, Carl Rodd...and reveals the 'bad guys' as would-be heroes with no social outlet, facing exclusion, death, murderous pressure from the community, turning a blind eye while cashing in from the town elders as they watch their town die(Bobby corrupting the law to put extra legal pressure on Steven, culminating in his death, etc.).....what moves in Twin Peaks, money, drugs, draining the town...what does not move, the new generations who, in their distortion, take the rightful stance of opposing this(Chad, Richard), or even just try to follow along(Steven, Jessie). Chad says 'its a free world', he is not content with satisfying his own base enjoyment, while turning a blind eye to the socially antagonism effecting the entire situation....like a true cop, he detects it and rejects the pressure which leads Hawk, Truman, Bobby to all fail in their duty as policemen. Chad looks at a 'free world', the entire place and its problems, while the 'truck you' is just looking for his own personal and immediate problem, willing to dump the consequences onto Sarah Palmer, much like 'support the troops'/war on terror has done to the international order(threatening a new global war, with Russia and China joining in), and of course to Linda, and rich classes do to Twin Peaks(Red/Richard) as top classes in warring countries do/would do to people of the world(including the people in their own 'cuntry' as shown by Twin Peaks). For 'truck you' its 'support the troops', now I get to participate, conquer Sarah Palmer and enjoy, I am owed it because I took crap for a master who dumped on me, exploited, took my life from me, got tricked, now take it out on Sarah/Laura Palmer; a slave here who likes being a slave so he can pretend like he will one day be a master, pretending and wanting to be the master; for Chad, they are all 'crying/smoking babies' who betray a 'free world' for their own weakness and failure to properly deal with their own problems. Chad is definitely on the right side here, unlike Truman, Bobby, et al....