After completing this post, a conversation with a family member led me to do a Google search of "Axe, Pipe, TV, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me." This blog post by Steven Miller appeared with the results. After reading it, I became frustrated for not having thought to search earlier. Every word in this entry was written before I read Mr. Miller's post. After reading it, I feel this can be thought of as a companion piece to his article. The Twin Peaks Blog post I reference in the main body of this piece is a post different from the one already mentioned.
The opening of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me begins with the violent destruction of a television. The apparatus used to destroy the television seems to be a metal pipe. A pipe is what the August 8th draft of the shooting script claims Leland/BOB uses to murder Teresa Banks.
The moment in the script:
164. LELAND: FLASHBACK
Nighttime in the woods. We see Leland crush Teresa Banks' face and
skull with a pipe until she is dead. We hear the gurgling of the
Wind River behind her.
END OF FLASHBACK
Thankfully we are spared from witnessing a scene with more excessive violence than the film's final cut. Note that Teresa was killed in the woods in the script.
D.G. on Facebook reminded me of Teresa's cause of death given by Sam Stanley:
STANLEY
(into his recorder)
Crushed skull. Probable cause repeated
blows to the back of the head with an
obtuse angled blunt object. Subject
looks to be between 16 and 18 years of
age.
The weapon in Leland/BOB's hand. (From the digital version taken on my laptop.)
The Blu-Ray on a 4K Television.
We can see the blunt, rounded end of the pipe in Leland/BOB's hand.
Pausing the opening of the film frame-by-frame, a noticeable jump can be discerned from the image of the static television screen and its demolishment.
Notice the size difference of the television in the first frame compared to the second. (Above.)
The metal pipe.
The handle of the axe in the Palmer home is made of wood and seems to be a darker color than the object used to deface the television.
In this
photo shared by Mary Reber
@alicetremond, the Palmer's double-headed axe has a tapered haft. The shoulder of the axe is at its widest closest to the head. It appears like most axes in that its handle is wide, flat, and thin.
Examples of axe hafts. The haft is slender and wide.
Steven Miller of
Twin Peaks Blog composed a fascinating article detailing the filming location of Teresa Banks' murder. You can read the article
here. Thanks to a call sheet, Mr. Miller discovered that Teresa's life is taken not in her home but in the Chalfont Trailer. Lynch may have been telling us this all along. The dirt mound Chet Desmond finds is beneath the Chalfont trailer - just as a mound was discovered in the train car after Laura's death.
Note that in both cases, the mound has at its opening a piece of jewelry worn by the slain person.
In deleted dialogue found in the script for episode 8 (2.001, May the Giant Be With You), Albert mentions a mound of dirt in connection with Ms. Banks:
ALBERT
He cleaned up. He built a mound of dirt, just as he had
with Theresa Banks. He left a note written in Laura's
blood. Washed his hands in the rainwater pooled
outside. My men also found these outside ...
Long ago, I read somewhere — perhaps in Wrapped in Plastic magazine, a fanzine, or on the Dugpa Forum — where a fan mentioned that when we first see the Chalfont Trailer, the inside lights may not be on or are dimmed.
However, when Agent Desmond approaches the trailer, the lights glow brightly. (Below.)
Pausing the film to better view the pipe, I noticed a blue line in the left corner of the screen. As the frames progress, it is clear someone or something is moving in front of the camera.
Lynch seems to incorporate the appearance by trailing it with a fade-out. Initially, I thought we might be seeing a person's leg, but it is too thin. The shape is difficult to discern. One vague guess is that it could be an arm followed by the person's body, almost as if the person is walking in a hunched position. The color acting as an aura around the movement seems dark blue. Leland/BOB is wearing all black. Teresa is wearing pink and white, and her arms and legs are bare.
The scene with Teresa is of a golden hue while the TV is almost beige. The trailer in Teresa's scene seems lit by an outside light. The dissimilar coloring makes it seem as though it was filmed on a different occasion. Though it may sound implausible, I can't help but think of BOB when I see the movement in blue. It could be denim. Granted, Frank Silvia's name is not on the call sheet, but perhaps there is a possibility. Even if only in dreams.
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