So, I have two things I want to discuss and get feedback from al of you concerning Cooper's dream in the second spisode of season 1.

1- What the Hell is that slightly square shadow that moves slowly along the red curtains. It was put there for some reason but I still can't fugure it out after 16 years.

2- I don't buy the theory that the woman who looks almost exactly like Laura Palmer, and when the LMFAP says "she's my cousin", are referring to Maddie. Here's why. All people (in the Twin peaks universe) have a duplicate, or their evil half in the Black Lodge. So this is Laura's dark side (wearing a black dress) who could be considered the LMFAP's cousin because the evil duplicates in the Black Lodge are related in a way.

It makes perfect sense that the Laura in the dream would be Laura's doppelganger, but to me that doesn't negate the idea that the little man's comment is still a veiled reference to Maddie. Both could absolutely be true.

As for the flying thing, it's anyone's guess. My guess is that it was not put there for a specific reason other than to satisfy some intuition/vision on Lynch's part. It conveys feeling but not necessarily meaning. While it would be great, in a way, to think every single detail like that holds some significance, that can't always be the case.

I think it's important to keep in mind that the first dream sequence was probably not shot with the intention of putting it in a series episode later on. It was part of the European/home-video pilot's ending, which anyone who's seen it knows makes little sense. I think it's great that what was probably just an experiment on Lynch's part turned into such an integral part of the series; but I think the detail of that flying object probably has little, if any, meaning.

Of course it´s supposed to make sense! How can you people say that???

The dwarf is giving Cooper clues to help with the investigation, not just doing magic and talking nonsense.

A few of us here, belive that the flying object could be a page of Lauras diary. Telling Cooper to look for Lauras diary.
And I don´t think that the beautiful woman is lauras dopp. Her eyes are clear (unlike the dopps) and she´s acting friendly and teling Cooper who killed her...

Right! I gotta go. Sorry for the short reply...

Ditte

Besides inhabiting people, the spirits like BOB and Mike move in the real world through electricity and owls, there are many theories. The floating shadow seems to me a link to something similar, perhaps a spirit moving around, checking what's happening or whatever.

Its existence seems justified and really part of the thing although no explanation is required, which is often the case in DL's productions.

And since he also says he's the arm...would that make L Mike's cousin? Now I'm confusing myself!

Still I think he's refering to Maddy, since the dream are ment to be a help for Cooper. He also says that she looks like Laura Palmer (almost exactly like) and doesn't Maddy fit that comment!? 
 

 / L 

~Night time is my time~

MSN: lilla_laura_palmer@home.se

I've always seen the flying object as a shadow of Saturn, it looks like the planet is tilted to the right  (if you tilt your head to the right while watching this scene it look like a circle with a ring around it). The same planet is sitting on the table next to coop, it tends to make sense to me, I've never seen anything else. I'll try an find a screen cap to prove my point.

I hope this has helped but i get the feeling alot of people will see alot of different things, good luck. 

GREAT ideas about Saturn, Novi - I haven't seen that before!

As far as the whole Maddy debate is concerned, I think people are too attached to the idea that if you look hard enough, there is a singular, "truthful"interpretation to the events of TP. I disagree with this - for me, part of the beauty of the show is that much of it is open to interpretation. So, the beautiful girl from Coop's dream could be the MFAP's "cousin", but the references could also be a way of helping Coop in his investigation. Certainly, some of the things said in the dream have an obvious interpretation (eg - "sometimes my arms bend back"). But I think some of that stuff is deliberately ambiguous. And don't forget, when Cooper finally remebers what she whispered in the dream, we discover that she said "my father killed me" - NOT "my uncle killed me". I think the girl in that dream is Laura, 25 years after her death, still trapped in the lodge and trying to help Coop

 Another thing: it appears that nobody can really agree on whether the MFAP is good or evil. Is he the one who enters Coop's mind that night? Is it Laura? Somebody is trying to help Coop - who do you guys think that is?

I agree that it's intentionally ambigious.  I took "she's my cousin" to mean that the lodge dwellers are like a family who are all privy to it's mysteries.  

I always thought the shadow was a bird. "The birds sings a pretty song and there's always music in the air."  It looks like a seagull in flight to me. 

I always thought that the finger thing was Lauras way of saying "follow your nose" or something. Like telling Coop to go by his instincts. I also think it has to do with drugs...
And Im still convinced that the flying thing is a page of Lauras diary. I don´t see a bird, saturn or anything else. Just a piece of paper.

I can´t figure LMFAP out. Maybe he´s both good and evil. He does seem spooky and agressive sometimes. Laughing and going "Wow Bob Wow". Yet, he´s giving clues to Cooper. Very tricky.

Ditte

I think the "Laura" we see in that scene is Laura, or rather Laura's soul sort of speaking to Cooper from the grave. I don't think, though, that when the little man says "She's my cousin" he's literally saying she is his cousin. It's more a hint he hoped Coop would pick up on when a girl who looks so much like Laura suddenly shows up in town. At least it can be interpreted that way in hindsight; tough to say if that was Lynch's intention from the start, but that's kind of irrelevant at this point.

As for whether The Arm is good or evil, I think he's a little of both. Basically, I think he's torn (no pun intended) between Mike and Bob. On one hand, he used to be a part of Mike, who is now (although I've seen some who disagree) fighting for good, and Mike still holds some power over The Arm. On the other hand, Mike took off the arm because it was used for killing when he was Bob's partner, and a part of The Arm still has some connection to Bob and the need to kill.

So I think at different times, the little man is acting more or less on behalf of either Mike or Bob. Sometimes he gives Coop important, helpful clues; other times, he's much more ambiguous and maybe more on Bob's side. One of the most fascinating moments in FWWM for me is when Laura is being killed and we see a quick flash of the little man, sporting a violently ravenous look on his face. It's obviously related to Garmonbozia, yet it's still unclear whose side he's on at that moment.

 And of course, that line tied directly into the log cabin (Waldo, the record player playing when the cabin was found) - which kind of proves that many things in TP have more than one meaning!

 Some brilliant ideas on this thread - thanks everybody!

I love your thoughts on LMFAP, autohypnosis!!!!!

Ditte 

Yeah I agree with autohypnosis about the cousin comment being a hint about Maddy. All the lines from Coop's dream are references to things that happen. It's definately Laura in the dream. She has the same dream before she dies and writes about it in her diary. She describes how her words came out slow and odd and thinks Cooper might be Mike who she knows Bob's afraid of. Cooper and Laura have the same dream.

Good thread!

I definetly agree with the comments about the "she's my cousin" being a premonition of Maddy. Yes, the dwarf DID say she was his cousin, but he also said "but doesn't she look exactly like Laura Palmer?" Not that it is Laura Palmer, which Cooper thought. Think about the next episode from the dream.

It is not just based on the dream but is also to do with how Cooper interprets the dream in episode 3 (and later in episode 16.) The whole dream is a clue that Cooper must solve, as he tells us. For example, when "Laura" says "I feel like I know her, but sometimes my arms bend back", which is nothing to do with Maddy as we find out, but to do with the twine and how it was used to bind her wrists. At practically the same time in the Palmer house, Maddy is first arriving for the funeral!

 
 I think these parts of the dream are definetly but a clue for Cooper and a premonition of both the twine and Maddy's arrival the next day. I have had premonition dreams like this before, where you dream everything that will happen soon, the people you will see, etc...and I really beleive that's what Coop was doing.

As for the flying thing - I know you might not agree with this because of the shape, but I have always thought it was meant to be an owl, because Owls are BOB's messengers imo. They seem to be like Lodge Totem animals and symobols and are the bird used most often - the Owl in BOB's head when he is at the foot of Laura's bed, etc. But that is a whole 'nother thread.

"watch out for my cousin.."

"Send more paramedics....." "...Send more cops..."

I guess it could be either the owl, the diary page or anything else that has been suggested here.  There are no "right" answers.  (Unless someday Lynch or Frost tell us what it was!) Maybe the whole point for that was to leave it to the imagination (hence the fact that it was a shadow and hidden behind the curtain.)  It does sound like it's flapping it;s wings in a way if that makes sense, which is why I think it could be an owl.  but I don't dismiss the diary thing either, because I can understand why people would think it was that.  It just sort of..floats, in an abstract way.  I've heard Lynch say in interviews and stuff that there were certain things he left to the imagination,  so maybe this is one of them. 

 But for arguments sake:

It just is more of a feeling to me -yes I know that's not logical, bur it's mainly becuase it's as if it's "flying in" to report something.  It reminds me of Laura's diary when BOB is in her diary and says to her about "An Owl said he saw you in the Woods"  And then later on in Series 2 "There Are Owls in the Roadhouse."  The pages of the diary are ripped out, but are they coded/mentioned in the dream?  More importantly, can paper fly?  (Can't believe I jsut said that.)  SO that wouldn't be very logical either.  But then again it IS a dream and in dreams anything is possible...  

"watch out for my cousin.."

In relation to the flying object at www.twinpeaks.org, in the faqs it says according to the shooting script for episode 2, it is the shadow of a bird.

I don't know if anyone can back this up. I'd like to see a copy of the shooting script if anyone knows where I can find it on the net?  

http://www.lynchnet.com/tp/tp02.html   here you go.   (it looks like all the shooting scripts are here on glastobury grove, too http://www.glastonberrygrove.net/texts/

It just seems so obvious to me.

without going into details, I would like to point out that this was a DREAM and not a REAL MEETING between Cooper and the Dwarf. Little Man was real indeed (and that was a phenomenon of Coop's visions, that he was able to see things which existed but which he had never seen) - yet the scene from Ep.2 was only a dream, not a report of a real meeting these two have experienced.

So IMO it would be more precise to say that more than Dwarf was giving Cooper clues, it was Cooper's subconscious giving him clues with the words and gestures of a cerain Dwarf that Cooper was able to see even though he had never met him.

Perhaps that's why the Dwarf's clues are so abstract and difficult to read (therefore sounding like nonsense). What the Giant later said was much clearer and easier to decipher (not to mention MIKE's words).

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

I know the script says it a bird flying by. But I've watched it MANY times over and I don't see any resemblance to the shadow of a bird.

I don't buy it.