To Search The Ceiling and Sky; Shaking Limbs

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GIFS OF FLASHING LIGHTS

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me often has Laura look to the ceiling as she speaks with BOB. While writing about this and BOB's connection with white light in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, two other characters from the original series whose gaze lingers in one direction came to mind. Mike/Philip Gerard and Harold Smith both perform a similar action. 

In episode 14 (Lonely Souls, 2.007), Mike inspects the Great Northern Hotel's guests in an effort to locate BOB. He is accompanied by Cooper, Truman, Doc Hayward, and Deputy Andy Brennan in the hotel lobby. Weak from withdrawal from his medication, Mike warily repeats the same "No" as each person is brought before him. Suddenly, his right hand raises, reaching for his missing arm, and he begins to shout, "My arm!" He vacates his chair, landing on his right knee.



He looks to the ceiling and seems to address what we cannot see, shouting barely legible words. "I can't!"




He lowers to the floor, resting on his left side before lying on his back.




Once Ben Horne storms into the room and begins demanding answers, our perspective changes so that we are looking down from the ceiling, near the area Mike searched, almost as if we are looking through the eyes of a being or entity that Gerard/Mike may have addressed. The same perspective was used moments earlier before the scene grew chaotic, almost as if to suggest someone or something was waiting, watching. Our view changes to a distant shot as we move past Mike/Gerard, Cooper, and Hayward, past the reception desk, and down the hall. The same dialogue from Mike is repeated "My arm. I can't!" only this time, a second, "I can't!" is added. It sounds as though the line is replayed. Mike says the sentence twice in the script, but when it is said in the episode, it is quieted or muffled the first time we hear him. Mike's movements appear to be the same as before, possibly a different take from a different angle. As Mike collapses, his hand reaches outward, and his fingers are spread widely. The pose looks uncomfortable, yet he barely alters it throughout the rest of the scene. It's as though at least two of his fingers are stiff and incapable of movement. His legs are also spread, and he keeps them suspended for an unusual length of time. Sheriff Truman takes hold of one of his legs, yet Gerard doesn't immediately lower them.

The scene was originally longer and had Doc Hayward explaining Mike's collapse as a result of his withdrawal from his medicine. Cooper asked Ben to give Gerard a room at the Great Northern. Perhaps the same footage of Mike/Gerard's collapse and his repeated words were used to camouflage the removal of footage and dialogue. The scene would end too abruptly were it to cut without the camera pan of the lobby hall, though similar editing is utilized in other episodes. 

In episode 15 (2.008, Drive With a Dead Girl), the shoulder of Gerard's missing arm twitches violently, waking him from a peaceful sleep. The script states that "Mike" is back, though we haven't seen Philip Gerard regain power. It was supposedly Mike in the lobby of The Great Northern hotel when we last saw him. Does the scripted return of Mike indicate that Gerard's missing arm, and possibly the arms of others, tremble with BOB's closeness? Or perhaps it is with the spirit of another coming into focus, coming to take over as BOB takes over Leland or as Mike takes over Philip, that causes a person's arm to tremble? After reading this, my sister added, "It may also have to do with other-dimensional versions of characters linking to their counterparts. What if the arm is Mike signaling to Gerard from the other side? Or maybe it is a signal they all get from BOB, a kind of bell that chimes, like when a fish is caught on the line when Ice fishing."

Mike's shoulder seems to act independently, moving on its own. His eyes roll to the back of his head. When he wakes, his shoulder stops shaking. He looks up and to his right for a moment before saying, "He is close."



In episode 12 (2.005, The Orchid's Curse), Harold Smith is drawn out of his apartment. As soon as he steps outside, a trembling ignites in his right arm and hand. Harold's arm remains raised, his fingers spread widely. He looks at his outstretched hand as though puzzled. It's as if he can't understand why his arm has moved. Recognition dawns on his face as though he knows the cause and looks directly at it. His behavior, in my opinion, makes it seem as though he has experienced this before. His eyes move upward and immediately to the right.




If the phenomenon were strictly attributed to Harold's fear of the outdoors, one would think his gaze would wander the entirety of the surrounding area, as one would when overwhelmed. When he steps outside, there is an accompanying sound effect most often used during moments of a supernatural or mysterious nature. It is sometimes used when in the presence of BOB. We can see fear in Harold's eyes as he falls. Fear and desperation, as though death is a possibility. The script relays that Harold is almost paralyzed. In the episode, both of his hands seem momentarily partially numbed or paralyzed. His right leg seemingly gives out underneath him, and he falls to his right knee, then lies on his left side.



He does not seem coherent enough to fully recognize Donna's actions, though he is aware of her presence. His eyes do not focus on Donna until after he searches for and finds the diary. Before Laura's diary is once again in his possession, his eyes return to that same spot in the sky or air above, his eyes sometimes rolling back. In the script, Harold mysteriously says, "I just got too close."

Notice how both Mike/Gerard and Harold look to the ceiling or sky, to the right, fall to their right knee then lie on their left side. Both also say similar words, "I just got too close" and "He's close" after their limbs tremble. The only explanation that comes to mind is that both men experienced a similar presence.

In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Laura writes on page 181:  "I told him [Jacoby] that BOB was getting very very close and that I was trying as hard as I could to write about him and find out what he was, who he was, before he could get to me."

Gerard's words to Laura in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me are perhaps connected, though seem similar.   

                                GERARD
                         (shouting at Laura)
           Miss, the look on her face when it was
           opened.  There was a closeness.  Like
           the formica table top.

Though we cannot know the meaning of his words, Leland's use of the word "opened" in relation to his initial possession come to mind. From the script:

"I was just a little boy. I saw him in my dreams. He said he wanted to play ... (reliving the terror) ... and he opened me ... and I invited him ... and he came inside me ..."

Recall how in preparation for his death, Dale positioned Leland so that he would be lying on his side. The action is included in the script. Cooper turns BEN gently so that he's lying on his right side, holds him and begins to speak softly in his ear.

Another man who held his hands upward, fingers widely spread, is Windom Earle. In the final episode of the original series, moments before BOB apparently brings about his death, Windom holds his hands in a slightly similar way.



When Windom Earle steps into Owl Cave, he strangely knows to look to the ceiling for the symbol.

Recall how in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Teresa Banks and Laura Palmer both cope with a numbing in their left arms shortly before their deaths. The Return sees Dougie Jones have a similar experience.

Though it is his leg, not his hand or arm, Phillip Jeffries interestingly displays difficulty walking as he enters Gordon Cole's office. He sometimes limps. His right leg appears to give more than once. As he speaks beside Gordon's desk, his right leg shakes so violently that he requires a seat. Phillip then speaks of attending "one of their meetings." He looks and points up, remembering the event.

Phillip speaks of a meeting. 

Phillip's leg giving out.

Twin Peaks: The Return introduced vortexes that appear in the sky. They are accompanied by flashing white lights. In the GIF above, Naido's hand may be shaking as she holds onto Andy's hand.

Deputy Briggs looks up at a portal.

The Sheriff and his deputies look to the sky. 

In The Missing Pieces, The Man From Another Place says, "From pure air we have descended." In the August 8th draft of the Fire Walk With Me script, a woodsman says the line instead of TMFAP, which may be tied to the manner in which the woodsmen appear in Part 8 of The Return. Again, an action tied to the sky. The portal near Jack Rabbit's Palace, the symbol on the ceiling of Owl Cave, and the woodsman (below) all are tied to the same rightward location.



When Cooper dreams of the Red Room in episode two (1.002, Zen or the Skill to Catch a Killer), Mike looks back and forth over the ceiling as if willing the music to fill the room. 

The Missing Pieces contains a scene that seems to indicate Laura was possibly viewing the same meeting that Phillip Jeffries attended. As stated elsewhere on this blog, I believe the scene of Laura superimposed over the convenience store and the woods is a recent creation, one applied after the decision was made to release some of the deleted footage from Fire Walk With Me. She was in the script speaking to BOB beneath the ceiling fan. This addition to the film may enable one to consider tying the convenience store and its inhabitants to Mike/Gerard and Harold's reactions rather than to BOB or The Black Lodge. Though, judging by the script to Fire Walk With Me, I tend to think that the phenomenon is primarily connected to BOB and/or the Black Lodge and its ilk.



The scene seems to convey a distance, and dizziness, before merging with the trees. My initial reaction was that the location is elevated. The camera pans over the trees, resting on the right section of the woods.

Laura is scripted as speaking with BOB more than once in the film. She looks to the ceiling, asking BOB who he really is, and holds a conversation with him, though, in the final cut, BOB's dialogue is mostly removed. Moments when he is scripted as speaking are listed here. Notice how Laura usually looks upwards and to the side, to the ceiling, as she speaks with BOB.

Laura speaks to BOB beneath the fan. She knows to search the ceiling.

Though her gaze focuses more to the left than the right, it is slightly reminiscent of the way both Harold and Mike search the skies or ceilings during the series.