Cameron, what is the name of your podcast? Feel free to link it.
In terms of the Philip Gerard / Mike question: another interesting part of the FWWM script is that when The Arm is introduced, he's credited as "The Man From Another Place (Mike)." I therefore think the Mike part of Gerard is entirely in The Arm.
That is interesting, but what to make of the scene where he puts his hand on Strobel's shoulder, then?
In terms of the Philip Gerard / Mike question: another interesting part of the FWWM script is that when The Arm is introduced, he's credited as "The Man From Another Place (Mike)." I therefore think the Mike part of Gerard is entirely in The Arm.
That is interesting, but what to make of the scene where he puts his hand on Strobel's shoulder, then?
You mean at the end of FWWM? If I'm remembering the scene correctly I interpret that scene as The Arm linking back to "The Body," and talking through Gerard.
By the way, I'm just commenting on the use of the name "Mike," not on the morality of the two. I too am highly suspicious of Gerard. I think the truth is that we're not dealing with good and bad as such, and it might be that Gerard and The Arm have ulterior motives that don't completely align with Cooper's. The whole thing is even more complicated by The Arm Doppelganger, which is a bizarre concept based on what we thought we knew about The Arm prior to the new season. The yellow head seems to indicate rot - maybe linking it to the zombie child in the back of the car.
Agreed. I just see some tension between the idea that this is the Arm connecting to the body and the thought that Mike is wholly within the Arm. Also, there is the fact that Gerard becomes Mike without chemicals in the original run. I always thought that scene at the end of FWWM was giving us the "full Mike" I guess, and I definitely agree that his morality/intention is ambiguous.
This podcast is so good! You guys rock! I usually avoid long podcasts in general and especially about TP because honestly, most of them end up with a lot of filler, but I'm finding these really enriching.
This podcast is so good! You guys rock! I usually avoid long podcasts in general and especially about TP because honestly, most of them end up with a lot of filler, but I'm finding these really enriching.
Thanks so much! It has been a lot of fun to make. Glad there are people out there who enjoy it.
I do I do! I am a fan!
I am listening to the episode where you and Mike were talking about the sentient beings living in a single time-space and the versions of self that we might all have unto infinity--and I had an idea that I'd never had before:
What if, in addition to "we all live inside a dream," we are all some version of Laura Palmer with a cosmic Fireman using us like a cosmic billiard ball in at least one of our realities? So there's a cyndeewillow inside the orb being hurled toward one dimension, and a Brandy orb being hurled toward another, and a buttercup orb...well you get the idea.
Maybe you cover this later in the podcast. I'm sure it's not an original thought. (Well, Buddhism for example.) But it's fun to think that this might also be a structural feature of the TPeaksiverse. So even within it, you might have a universe where James is the Laura of a town and a timeline (what a thought!)
That's interesting. I'm not sure if I am following exactly what you are thinking, but I like it. Something interesting to think about!
Think of it this way: Laura is "the One" in TP. If we all inhabit an infinite number of dream selves, then perhaps there are timelines in which each of us is "the One." There might be a version of TP where Freddie is "the One," or Cooper is "the One" chosen by the Fireman (or some version of him). As people work toward spiritual enlightenment (as Cooper does), they begin to inhabit more of their dreamselves and will eventually encounter a timeline where they are the Laura of their world. Being a Laura is a kind of cosmic leading actor in a certain kind of cosmic movie (if it weren't a TV show to begin with).
How are you thinking about the purpose of the orb(s)?
How are you thinking about the purpose of the orb(s)?
Probably like delivery systems for a soul that the big Lodge entity (ie the Fireman for WL, maybe Judy or one of "her" agents for the BL) decides would have impact at a certain point in space/time. In TP, it kind of looks like a cosmic video game, with the Lodge boss hurling the agent in the orb toward a point where instead of having an insta effect (like Freddie's glove), the orb takes root and infests the entire culture in a way that changes it. I say infest not to imply that it would be necessarily bad. as it could be very potentially good--but in any case potent and peculiarly important. In video game jargon, think of it as more like a DOT (damage over time) or HOT (healing over time) than something with a single effect.
Cool. I like how this way of thinking could both recognize the importance of Laura, and undercut those ideas that the Fireman created her to counteract Bob. I mean, clearly something along those lines is going on, but I never liked the idea that he was CREATING her, nor the idea that she somehow represented some countervailing force for Good. Something along those lines, but more complicated, was always where I wanted to go with all of that.
Cool. I like how this way of thinking could both recognize the importance of Laura, and undercut those ideas that the Fireman created her to counteract Bob. I mean, clearly something along those lines is going on, but I never liked the idea that he was CREATING her, nor the idea that she somehow represented some countervailing force for Good. Something along those lines, but more complicated, was always where I wanted to go with all of that.
I agree, it bothered me. I like Laura as much as anyone else, as a character, but the question can be raised, why put all this cosmic weight on the choices of this child, who seems like an ordinary bright and attractive kid who just wants to cheerlead and go to parties, and maybe go to college? Does Lynch & Co. want us to go there with the Messiah complex? It's possible. But if you look at it more as a huge multidimensional game, the question for the Fireman is "what soul has X qualities or potentialities that I can unleash in this particular time/space in crisis?"
And yes, he didn't create the souls--right. The souls are multidimensional beings, just like the Fireman. Maybe of a different type. But they are more like him than not. He is not their God. He's a gameplayer, or maybe a guy with a job (like Cole and Cooper, only in a different realm).
I do I do! I am a fan!
I am listening to the episode where you and Mike were talking about the sentient beings living in a single time-space and the versions of self that we might all have unto infinity--and I had an idea that I'd never had before:
What if, in addition to "we all live inside a dream," we are all some version of Laura Palmer with a cosmic Fireman using us like a cosmic billiard ball in at least one of our realities? So there's a cyndeewillow inside the orb being hurled toward one dimension, and a Brandy orb being hurled toward another, and a buttercup orb...well you get the idea.
Maybe you cover this later in the podcast. I'm sure it's not an original thought. (Well, Buddhism for example.) But it's fun to think that this might also be a structural feature of the TPeaksiverse. So even within it, you might have a universe where James is the Laura of a town and a timeline (what a thought!)
Hey why you gotta bring me into this? I get really sick when flung across universes and realities in an orb.
BTW, my orb is more a gunmetal grey. Gold really isn't my color.
Fire walk with