MLS does some writing: Twin Peaks & the Question of Audrey
Sept 18, 2017 0:30:22 GMT -5
Invisible Goat and repulsionist like this
Post by Meth Lab Shenanigans on Sept 18, 2017 0:30:22 GMT -5
Twin Peaks is an incredibly layered, complex show, and two weeks after the end of season 3 I'm still thinking about it and still working it out in my head. So I've been doing some writing. I guess here is as good a place as any to post it. Not expecting much of an audience, but I like writing about these things. Spoilers ahead for the whole show.
Twin Peaks' fantastical, supernatural aspects are almost always paralleled in some way in a much more literal, realistic story. The original series is about a quirky FBI agent hunting down a demon named BOB, but it's also about domestic abuse and the struggles of a girl who was raped and ultimately killed by her father. The two aspects co-exist, it's not all metaphor or all literal. They tie into each other and explain each other, and are still inextricably linked in The Return. Season 3 uses its '25 years later' premise to explore the long-term aftermath of sexual violence, both on the victim and the people around them. Audrey's storyline deals directly with this, but it's the strangest and most abstract part of the show, with no clear resolution (or explanation of where exactly her story takes place). Two weeks on from the finale, I think I've figured out what her presence means, or at least come to some sort of conclusion that feels satisfying to me.
25 years before the Return, Cooper is replaced by an identical copy of himself that proceeds to rape and murder his way through the real Cooper's friends and associates, then disappear from the map. Audrey is replaced by a "doppelganger" in a way, too - by her son Richard, who appears in more episodes than any of the other Hornes. Richard is violent to the women around him, like Doppelcoop, and specifically attacks someone close to the person he replaced (Sylvia). He drags the Horne name through the mud, sabotaging Ben's efforts to make amends with the world. With two exceptions (Doc Hayward and Richard himself) Audrey is never mentioned by anyone else outside of her storyline - it's as though Richard has taken her place in the world, covering up her identity and legacy with his own. After he assaults Sylvia, he tries to disappear from the map, just like Doppelcoop - fleeing Twin Peaks to the Farm, where he meets his father.
Both Cooper and Audrey are anchored to the outside world by some kind of desire for or connection to a dead member of the opposite sex. Cooper spends his 25 years formulating a plan with the Fireman to save Laura, leaving the Lodge for the purpose of finding her. He travels through a new and distinct section of the Lodge on his way out. Audrey leaves her prison with the purpose of finding Billy, and travels through the Roadhouse on her way out.
Cooper leaves the Black Lodge via a trade and emerges in a diminished state, with his mind fried. Though it doesn't work out this way due to the creation of Dougie, the trade is intended to be with his evil doppelganger. Audrey emerges from her prison by trading with her "doppelganger" as well. Richard is electrified - he goes "in" - and Audrey, to the sound of electricity, goes out. She emerges in what appears to be a mental hospital - like Cooper, in a diminished state. "When you get there, you will already be there."
I've read some discussion of the idea that Laura and Cooper are soulmates in a way, in that they would always be connected to each other beyond time or space or reality or death. Audrey and Cooper are just as tied together - only in different ways. They were meant to be together in the original series, and their drive is similar. Audrey is a striver like Cooper, someone who is always taking the journey herself and putting herself through hell for a grander purpose (infiltrating One Eyed Jack's, for instance). Their stories mirror each other - Audrey's is just on a more personal scale.
One thing that really bothered me about Audrey's story this season was how I couldn't see a point to it other than cruelty. But if it's a deliberate parallel to Cooper's arc, then it makes sense not just as a decision in keeping with how other characters are portrayed, but as a vital part of the Return's message. It's drawing a line between his unambiguously heroic and supernatural return to Twin Peaks and Audrey's intensely personal (and mostly metaphorical) process of recovery. Cooper doesn't save her at the end of this story because she's not a damsel in distress anymore. Like Cooper, she has to do this alone.
Twin Peaks' fantastical, supernatural aspects are almost always paralleled in some way in a much more literal, realistic story. The original series is about a quirky FBI agent hunting down a demon named BOB, but it's also about domestic abuse and the struggles of a girl who was raped and ultimately killed by her father. The two aspects co-exist, it's not all metaphor or all literal. They tie into each other and explain each other, and are still inextricably linked in The Return. Season 3 uses its '25 years later' premise to explore the long-term aftermath of sexual violence, both on the victim and the people around them. Audrey's storyline deals directly with this, but it's the strangest and most abstract part of the show, with no clear resolution (or explanation of where exactly her story takes place). Two weeks on from the finale, I think I've figured out what her presence means, or at least come to some sort of conclusion that feels satisfying to me.
25 years before the Return, Cooper is replaced by an identical copy of himself that proceeds to rape and murder his way through the real Cooper's friends and associates, then disappear from the map. Audrey is replaced by a "doppelganger" in a way, too - by her son Richard, who appears in more episodes than any of the other Hornes. Richard is violent to the women around him, like Doppelcoop, and specifically attacks someone close to the person he replaced (Sylvia). He drags the Horne name through the mud, sabotaging Ben's efforts to make amends with the world. With two exceptions (Doc Hayward and Richard himself) Audrey is never mentioned by anyone else outside of her storyline - it's as though Richard has taken her place in the world, covering up her identity and legacy with his own. After he assaults Sylvia, he tries to disappear from the map, just like Doppelcoop - fleeing Twin Peaks to the Farm, where he meets his father.
Both Cooper and Audrey are anchored to the outside world by some kind of desire for or connection to a dead member of the opposite sex. Cooper spends his 25 years formulating a plan with the Fireman to save Laura, leaving the Lodge for the purpose of finding her. He travels through a new and distinct section of the Lodge on his way out. Audrey leaves her prison with the purpose of finding Billy, and travels through the Roadhouse on her way out.
Cooper leaves the Black Lodge via a trade and emerges in a diminished state, with his mind fried. Though it doesn't work out this way due to the creation of Dougie, the trade is intended to be with his evil doppelganger. Audrey emerges from her prison by trading with her "doppelganger" as well. Richard is electrified - he goes "in" - and Audrey, to the sound of electricity, goes out. She emerges in what appears to be a mental hospital - like Cooper, in a diminished state. "When you get there, you will already be there."
I've read some discussion of the idea that Laura and Cooper are soulmates in a way, in that they would always be connected to each other beyond time or space or reality or death. Audrey and Cooper are just as tied together - only in different ways. They were meant to be together in the original series, and their drive is similar. Audrey is a striver like Cooper, someone who is always taking the journey herself and putting herself through hell for a grander purpose (infiltrating One Eyed Jack's, for instance). Their stories mirror each other - Audrey's is just on a more personal scale.
One thing that really bothered me about Audrey's story this season was how I couldn't see a point to it other than cruelty. But if it's a deliberate parallel to Cooper's arc, then it makes sense not just as a decision in keeping with how other characters are portrayed, but as a vital part of the Return's message. It's drawing a line between his unambiguously heroic and supernatural return to Twin Peaks and Audrey's intensely personal (and mostly metaphorical) process of recovery. Cooper doesn't save her at the end of this story because she's not a damsel in distress anymore. Like Cooper, she has to do this alone.