I was thinking over Leland's character last night, Dale's possession, and the existance of the dopplegangers...and I thought of a good way of explaining the material, and prompting good conversation.

I have always found that Leland's character truly illustrates all the different ways the character's can be explained.  In a way, Leland was actually just as much of a victim of BOB as Laura was...if not more.  What Bob does to Leland, is like spiritual rape...(notice how Leland says, "I met him when I was a boy...he said he wanted to play.  He opened me, and I invited him, and he came inside me".)This account actually has a mild sexual tone to it.  While no one knows if there was actually a sexual assault, this also points out a possibility of a duality to the act.....where 2 things are actually happening.

In interviews, David Lynch was asked if Leland was actually possessed, of if he was just filled with the "evil that men do" and so we saw Bob.  While Lynch loves the ambiguity, I think that the answer is BOTH!

Leland was possessed by Bob at an early age....HOWEVER, was it truly him that was possessed, or was it his doppleganger the whole time.  Well....the doppleganger is actually your SHADOW self, meaning that it is STILL YOU....but is the weaker, less moral side of your soul, the goodness being trapped away within the black lodge(hence, "the good dale is in the lodge and he can't leave".  Some people say Leland's doppleganger was never out, and his possession was different than others....but I feel it is all the same...and is merely illustrated differently.

Now notice how DALE reacts (or how his doppleganger reacts if you prefer) when he awakens after coming out of the black lodge.  At first he says calmly and coldly, "I wasn't sleeping."  then all of a sudden, as if a switch has been turned off, he says "Annie....how is annie?" 

THis is showing the doppleganger's conciousness, and then Cooper's awareness comes into play.  You can see this in Leland in FWWM.  The morning after Laura realizes her father has been the one raping her, she is withdrawn, and Leland innocently asks, "Laura....is something the matter this morning?"  She tells him to say away from her.  At first, Leland looks as if he has NO IDEA what she is talking about.  Then...you see the awareness on his face....as if he remembers. This may be the doppleganger side, and then after Laura leaves, we see BOB come into conciousness.  Now this could also just be Leland realizing that Laura finally has a problem with being raped, or he doesn't know he is raping her, but his doppleganger does!  Again, this can also be BOTH explinations occuring simultaniously.

In one sense, if Bob is "the evil that men do" this latter action is the different sides of Leland's conciousness...a man who has raped his daughter, but doesn't remember because he is a good man, who has been victimized in his youth and is now broken, full of holes, and with a split personality (as the one armed man is possessed by Mike, but takes a drug to control a split personality)  Perhaps the doppleganger IS the split personality, and Bob is the INHABITING spirit which can control it...but 
I digress..... when Laura confronts Leland the doppleganger opens up its conciousness.  Finally Bob glances in...because he knows Laura must join him or die since she knows the truth

Now, notice how Leland's doppleganger in the final episode says, "I did not kill anybody"...illustrating how BOB is the killer, and the doppleganger is merely the side that can be manipulated by Bob.  (hence Leland screaming...."NO, don't make me do this" during Laura's murder.)

Adding it all up, we can look at how there are 2 sides to reality here.  On one hand, Leland is a broken man who was abused, and now abuses his daughter.  He was being blackmailed by Teresa Banks...giving him the motive for killing both of them.  On the other hand, the true Leland is unaware he has done anything wrong.....but the doppleganger, or the abused and broken side, is aware, and Bob is making it kill.  In our reality, Leland is crazy and a murderer, but in the spiritual world, he is an innocent...a babe in the woods.  He is innocent of the wrongdoing, for the same reason any crazy person, or person with a split personality would be considered innocent....and the whole time the spiritual side is being controlled by a power that doesn't add up in our world.  This is the duality of the world that Lynch created.  All these possibilities are true....in a way.

Does anyone see what I mean?

Comments please?

 That is completely deliberate. You can either take the BOB/Black Lodge stuff as being completely literal, or you can take it to be metaphorical. If you choose the latter, the Laura Palmer/BOB plot is basically a metaphor for child abuse. Leland became an abuser because he himself was abused as a child.

In many ways, it makes the most sense to me to see the series in these terms - but it can also be fun to speculate about owls, dwarves and planetary alignments!

PS - the title of this thread should probably be changed, since it pretty much reveals WKLP.

I always thought that the brilliant evilness of leland would be taken away if Lynch made it explicit that it was only BOB who was maiking him do these things to Laura.
  Oh, and you really should change that title , it's no use reading spoiler alert after you've seen what it says. On a side note, if someone had told you WKLP before the first episode how diminished d'you think your enjoyment of the show would be?

Aaaaarh, the good old discussion. This used to be a great discussion topic around the Gazette a while back. The whole "is BOB (not) real" debate. Some would only see the spiritual aspect while other saw the whole deal as a metaphor. I was mostly into the methapor but as you say, you can see it in both ways. Well, actually I believe you should.

I like how you (Hyde) describe the Leland/doppelganger/BOB thing. Makes a lot of sense to me. Especially when you think of of one of the last scenes in BL where BOB and Coopers dopp are laughing together just before the dopp startes chasing Cooper.

About the whole spoiler deal. IMO you shouldn´t join a TP forum if you don´t know who the killer is and don´t want to know yet. It´s your own responsability. I haven´t seen I.E. yet so naturally I don´t go to the David Lynch forum here until I have seen it. 

Ditte 

Got up early, found something's missing/ My only name/ No one else sees but I got stuck/ And soon forever came