Never knew about that (?)

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Once you finish Twin Peaks as an entire unit, you realize that the vast majority of that town was inappropriate with Laura or outright ignored her suffering. She is basically a lightning rod for this type of behavior against underaged girls.

The only ones we can say for certain were decent people when Laura was alive (off the top of my head) were Sheriff Truman, Andy, Lucy, Hawk, Margaret/The Log Lady, James, Ed, and Donna's parents. Maybe Pete too.

Even the principal in the beginning, crying the way he was, ends up being called into question.

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u/knoyeah 7h ago

add the Major please

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u/MisogynyisaDisease 7h ago

Part of me wonders, given his Blue Rose Project, how much he actually knew though.

Don't shoot me for it, I love the Major, but it's still something I question.

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u/DialecticalDeathDryv 6h ago

Your instincts are right but I feel like to the wrong end.

Briggs knows way more than he is letting on. But I don't get the sense that it's "I'm only gonna drip feed info because it's more advantageous for me to know more than others do about the lodge" but rather "I'm a man of Duty and I swore an oath and that oath says that I'll never reveal classified information."

I get the sense more, that he knows a lot, but is WORRIED about what he knows, and torn between his duty.

Major Brigg's the Twinpeaks resident probably wants to come out and scream to everyone "Look out for the evil portal in the woods!" But the General in him knows that's a violation of duty.

So instead, he tries to work within those bounds. In Season 3, we see that he was way more involved than we thought, but we also see, he's trying to help Cooper, and his insights come back from the dead (via Bobby) to help the crew solve things (like finding Jack Rabbit's Palace)

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u/MisogynyisaDisease 6h ago

I think you and I are more on the same page than you think.

My conflict is, given that he likely knew more than he let on, whether he could have done more to protect Laura given his power, knowledge, and position.

However this is all down to speculation, as he may not have known Laura was being targeted at all.

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u/DialecticalDeathDryv 5h ago

Yes. One could and should critique him for holding onto his sense of duty far too rigidly, perhaps, to the point of maybe not preventing things he could've. Whether we expand that to Laura isn't actually the issue, your moral concern is already relevant.

It already seems like there's at least MAYBE more he could've done. If Truman and Cooper had had bits of info sooner, or provided more clearly, what would've been different?

It's actually a pretty morally serious position lol. Was there a moral cost to Brigg's uncompromising sense of duty? It's certainly possible.

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u/Clean_Candidate3400 5h ago

Major Briggs is lawful good. Those are his faults.

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u/WithoutDennisNedry 7h ago

Hammond Of Texas would never. He’s pure as the driven snow.

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u/Iamthefbi821 8h ago

James wasn't exactly what I'd call a decent person while she was alive he knew something was going on he ignored it he let her jump off his bike and run off in heels in the middle of the night into the woods and didn't go after her

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u/MisogynyisaDisease 7h ago

I wouldn't say he ignored it. He was the reason she was clean for any period of time, and I think he tried to be there for her in his own naive way. I think I give all the kids in the show more leeway, teenagers don't always make logical decisions when it comes to situations that are way over their heads. He made a massive mistake that night, but I don't think he's a bad person for mishandling a very complicated and horrifying situation.

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u/Feisty_Ease_1983 7h ago

Everyone is a one dimensional caricature of certain personalities and they are all 100% guilty. Laura had to die for all of them to exist.

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u/Oneironaut420 3h ago

And Johnny!

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u/EbmocwenHsimah 55m ago

I think the people you mentioned are good, but I think the only person to truly see Laura for what she was is the Log Lady in that encounter at the Roadhouse. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

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u/Calm_Public_615 8h ago

There's a lot more about Josie's past in Secret History.

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u/IndividualFlow0 8h ago

The Secret History goes into her Interpol file. She's a piece of work.

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u/DesignerOriginal1500 7h ago

Now she’s a piece of brasswork!

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u/quanate 5h ago

well, this is what pushes me to pick it back up again. l think I got halfway through before I stopped finding time to read it

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u/TrasseTheTarrasque 8h ago

How is one paragraph of Book Josie somehow more interesting than two seasons of Show Josie?

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u/Solo_Polyphony 7h ago

Because Joan Chen is one of those misfires inevitable in the Lynch casting process (that is, pretty faces).

Isabella Rossellini would’ve brought considerably more darkness and predatory sexuality to the character.

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u/notafanofmaluma 7h ago edited 7h ago

I think Joan was chosen precisely because she brought that soapy quality to her acting. Plus, the point of the character is that she was constantly revealed to be two-faced and with a secret agenda -right until her final episode.

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u/TrasseTheTarrasque 7h ago

Honestly reading that diary entry is kind of eye-opening. Why is she taking English lessons with Laura when she either doesn't need them or doesn't bother improving?

Seems like there could be a Judy connection (I know there was supposed to be a different original idea for Judy that heavily involves Josie, but I'm imagining Judy as she exists in The Return).

What if Judy was using Josie to actively mess with Laura, keep law enforcement distracted, and then deal with Cooper? Whether Josie was possessed or a tulpa or something I dunno.

Tulpas we see in The Return do have that same kind of cartoonishness about them. And it would work with her eventual weird fate.

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u/notafanofmaluma 7h ago

You have a very good point! Josie generally doesn't make a lot of sense. Who's she aligning whith at any given point? Why would she put herself at risk so much? Given her background, it makes sense she tends to go for the survivalist route, but man does she do bizarre things. Maybe she was always meant to be an entity from the Black Lodge; after all, she's the only person who dies and gets trapped elsewhere apart from Log Lady's husband (whom is implied to have some form of spititual powers) and Major Briggs (who had contact with the Lodge and was used by it in order to talk to Coop). And, of course, Coop himself.

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u/TrasseTheTarrasque 6h ago edited 6h ago

Also she just so happens to be dating a guy who shares his name with the President who authorized dropping the nukes

Edit: I also feel like Windom Earle has a similar vibe. Like he doesn't act or think like a real person, and he goes out the same way as Original Dougie and Mr. C. And he just randomly showed up in the middle of the woods where Bob was presumably lying low for like 5 episodes.

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u/TrasseTheTarrasque 7h ago

I don't even know if the casting was the issue. The way the character was written just seemed so passive (even while doing decidedly active things)

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u/Hot-Jelly-4439 8h ago

Was it intentional to mention Josie (who is Chinese) on June 4, 1989???? The date of the Tian'anmen Square massacre.

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u/ultimomono 5h ago edited 5h ago

I was just going to say the same. It has to be intentional. That date at that time was burned into our memories. Josie was from China via Hong Kong. Laura's death was February 1989 in the series--not sure why the diary has her living longer

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u/EbmocwenHsimah 50m ago

I think it’s as simple as a dating inconsistency. I think the book’s running off the assumption that Laura died in early 1990, when the show aired, instead of 1989, when they shot the pilot episode.

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u/ahkond 5h ago

WHOA, nice catch!

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u/TheAbsurderer 7h ago

What do you mean? Josie tells Truman about her past in the show, and Cooper also tells him about it after Josie dies.

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u/jrg320 7h ago

I think OP is referring to Josie attempting to seduce Laura, or at least being creepy with her.

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u/cyberbela 7h ago

Yes, exactly this. At the end of the day, laura was sixteen in this entry, that's very gross from Josie.

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u/Slight_Cat_3146 4h ago

They are both experiencing hypersexuality which can be a and is a fairly common trauma response of protracted sexual abuse. It is consistent with her background to be predatory sexually.

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u/k1wyif 2h ago

Grossie Josie

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u/SeeBriRun 7h ago

I never had a problem believing in the seduction - if Josie were going to make a play for Laura, this is probably how she would go about it - but I still don't know why Josie would try to seduce Laura. I doubt it's just for fun.

If Josie knows about Laura's secret nocturnal life, then she most likely heard about her from Ben Horne, right? So is this a plan she hatched with him - or some sort of contingency plan against him?

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u/BlueRoseBrighton 5h ago

Now that is something interesting to think about!

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u/BlueRoseBrighton 5h ago

Alright, let me overthink this…

Josie speaks perfect English. She pretends she doesn’t as part of her act of vulnerability in front of Catherine and Pete and Harry and whoever to make them underestimate her.

Who set up the lessons? Josie herself? How did that arrangement come about? Who told her about Laura and her role as a tutor? Perhaps Ben, because she tutors/cares for Johnny.

How does Laura know about Josie’s past? Is it possible Josie volunteered this information? Why? Is it because she can see Laura is similar to her? Did Ben tell Laura about Josies past? Why? How does Laura know about Josie’s secret relationship with Harry? Only Josie could have told her that. But why would she do so? Because she wants Laura to share a secret also?

We know we can’t trust Laura’s perception of things. She’s traumatised, high, and sleep deprived. Laura thinks she has a kind of sexual magnetism that people can’t resist, but I think in reality, manipulative people like Ben and Josie see Laura for what she is: Pretty, and damaged, and meat for their appetites.

There’s a possibility that (if these English lessons ever even really happened) that Josie sensed something up with Laura, and maybe even wanted to help - but didn’t want to blow her cover. That would be why she asks about Bobby. It’s not an attempt at seduction, it’s curiosity. Maybe Josie makes insinuations about her sexual activity because she worries for Laura’s safety.

…to what end? I don’t know.

Anyway, thanks for coming go to my TED talk.

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u/divinebettiepage 4h ago

I agree with you that Josie speaks perfect English. This is shown when she’s talking to the man who comes to fetch her for Thomas Eckhart and then again when Eckhart shows up. There was a thrown-out story line that Josie was Judy’s sister and had lodge connections, and she does seem to enjoy manipulating people. But also Laura DID have a magnetism that people couldn’t resist. Some sexualized it. Others, like Donna and Maddy, were just drawn to it. There is plenty of canonical evidence that Laura did indeed have a psychological hold on everyone in the town.

Josie was bad news. No way she wanted to help Laura. I don’t know what her game was there, but it wasn’t good natured curiosity or sexual desire. Josie’s go-to move with everyone was seduction. Every time Harry asks her anything she doesn’t want to answer, she just says, “Ohhhh, Harry…” and starts running her fingers through his hair and he forgets what he was doing.

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u/Vintage_Visionary 4h ago

Maybe she wanted to find out more about Ben's pet project (One Eyed Jacks). Laura did work there. Maybe she was trying to 'befriend' Laura to get more information, something she could use against Ben. Laura had no idea of Josie's connection to Ben.

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u/RobAChurch 3h ago

Laura really was in some ways like a modern sin-eater, like a beacon attracting everyone's darkness.

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u/Nodack_ 5h ago

What book is this

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u/soap_is_neat 4h ago

The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, written by Jen Lynch! There’s an audiobook of it on YouTube narrated by Sheryl Lee, it’s great. Very, very sad and disturbing but it’s worth the listen if you want more of Laura’s perspective

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u/Neither_Internal_261 2h ago

Josie was really the other evil in the show. I like her about as much as I like Leo.

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u/Owen_Hammer 8h ago

The fact that the timeline of “The Secret Diary” doesn’t align with, for lack of a better word, “canonical” Twin Peaks tells you everything you need to know. Remember that Laura was killed on February 23rd, 1989.

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u/Calm_Public_615 8h ago

The diary was written with the understanding that Laura died in 1990 rather than in 1989. They didn't decide on 1989 as the year of her death until after the book's publication.

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u/Owen_Hammer 4h ago

Not true. The pilot takes place on February 24th, 1989.

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u/Calm_Public_615 4h ago

Yes, but then they go to 1990 in later episodes before finally coming back to 1989. Here.

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u/Owen_Hammer 4h ago

Yeah, there are inconsistencies. The idea that the series takes place in 1990 was toyed with for a few episodes, but when they had to have the date be spoken (not written in a time when nobody paused frames) it was 1989.

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u/Alreyleon 8h ago

I just think Jennifer Lynch didn't get the dates right because David and Mark Frost didn't develop the whole thing in so much detail as a modern series would, I don't think they cared about dates that much, and they weren't always around, both came and went, and came back. I just take Laura's words in the diary as her recollections and emotions, doesn't line up entirely in a rational way, more in an emotional way.

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u/lavendermoonoracle 7h ago

This feels a little harsh...

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u/Poerflip23 7h ago

Probably because it’s thinly veiled misogyny towards Jennifer lynch.

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u/lavendermoonoracle 7h ago

Yeah, especially because Secret History and Final Dossier have inconsistencies as well and have still been received very positively by fans.

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u/Owen_Hammer 4h ago

Fine, they've been received positively. I don't care. All I'm saying is that you absolutely cannot reconcile all these inconsistencies and people are interpreting it as some kind of attack. Stop being so defensive, everyone. It doesn't make for an environment where people can have a conversation.

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u/lavendermoonoracle 3h ago

Wait so do you think all of the books are a different canon from the show/movie? I don't hate that theory necessarily, especially a story that has multiple timelines. I just didn't get that from your initial comment.

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u/Owen_Hammer 3h ago

I do not have a holistic theory about all the inconsistencies. I am merely pointing out that the books and the TV show (and the movie) are inconsistent. That’s it. Lynch, Lynch, Frost et al didn’t have some master plan about multiple timelines. I can say that with certainty.

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u/lavendermoonoracle 1h ago

My apologies. Your initial comment read to me that the secret diary was not canon because of timeline inconsistencies.

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u/Owen_Hammer 1h ago

I don’t care about canon.

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u/Owen_Hammer 4h ago

This criticism is wholly without merit. I didn't even criticize Jennifer Lynch. You just want to use the real problem of misogyny to attack me, someone you don't know who hasn't hurt you in any way.

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u/VerminousScum 6h ago

Oh don't be ridiculous. The book was a fun companion piece for fans to promote the show. Also bear in mind that it is a "diary", and Laura is already a famously unreliable narrator. Neither David Lynch nor Mark Frost had much to do with it. Not to mention the show is ultimately non-linear itself and the dates (and everything else) are left in question. None of this has anything to do with misogyny.

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u/Owen_Hammer 4h ago

Harsh? I'm not criticizing anyone. I'm just saying that you cannot reconcile the events of the book with the TV show.

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u/Merfstick 7h ago

What year is it???

Season 2 Never knew about that (?)

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