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1. Sunday, September 14, 2008 8:31 AM
Sourdust Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Rounding out the trio of FBI agents connected to the Black Lodge, I finally present Philip Jeffries!

Agent Philip Jeffries


Appearances: Philip Jeffries makes a single appearance in FWWM. After Agent Desmond has vanished in Deer Meadow, Jeffries inexplicably appears in the Philadelphia office of the FBI, after having gone missing for two years. He describes a meeting he attended which we recognize as a "Black Lodge" meeting. Before being able to relate more information, he vanishes without a trace.

Connections: FBI, and a certain "Judy".

Role: Unknown

The Philadelphia appearance

The entire sequence involving Philip Jeffries is probably the most bizarre in all of FWWM, and also the source of many of the complexities and controversies associated with the movie. The script provides some additional context. Prior to his appearance at the Philadelphia HQ, Jeffries is seen checking into a Buenos Aires hotel. He enters an elevator and inexplicably gets off at the FBI building in Philadelphia. After relating his vision of the Lodge meeting, he vanishes from Cole’s office and once again finds himself in the hotel where he came from.

From what we gather it appears he entered some sort of time rift (hence the doubling of Agent Cooper), visited the Lodge(s), and then passed this information to his colleague(s) at Philadelphia. The idea has also been put forth that Jeffries was able to leave the Lodge when Desmond went in, on a sort of "one-in-one-out" basis. An alternative interpretation connects Jeffries' visit to the theory that Deer Meadow and the events at the Philadelphia office are a dream of Agent Cooper. Whereas Agent Desmond may only be a dream-self of Cooper however, Jeffries is probably a real person. What happens during the Philadelphia scene is that both characters cross over into each other’s dream, hence the line "we live inside a dream" from Jeffries. That this is possible is illustrated by episode 2.09, where the diary of Laura Palmer reveals that Cooper and Laura shared the same dream of the Red Room from episode 1.02. The Dream Theory holds that Jeffries entered Cooper’s dream to warn him about the green ring. This later enables Cooper to do the same to Laura in her own dream. Of course, the scene also serves to reinforce the idea that the Lodges are timeless dimensions, where people can meet who are miles and even years apart.

An oddity from the script is that after visiting Philadelphia, Jeffries again finds himself at the Buenos Aires hotel, with apparently no time having passed. This is odd given the fact that he has reportedly been missing for two years. If no time passes in Buenos Aires, no time should pass in the rest of the world either... Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the scene was ultimately cut.


The Lodge meeting

Although I’ve already touched upon various aspects of the Lodge meeting in other entries, this is perhaps an ideal time to address this scene more in-depth. I will focus on three important questions: firstly, who do we see here? Second, where does this meeting take place? And third, what is taking place?

Who? To start with the first question I might comment that, although a variety of odd characters appear which are subsequently never seen again (The Jumping Man, the Electrician and the two Woodsmen), about equally interesting are several notable absences. Where for instance is the Giant? Or Cooper? Or Jeffries himself for that matter?

The Giant’s absence may support the idea that this is indeed a "Black Lodge" meeting we are witnessing. In fact none of the spirits commonly associated with the White Lodge (Horse, Angel), are seen during this sequence. On the other hand, White Lodge spirits are usually associated with ONE person only, and may not be "united" in the same way the Black Lodge characters are. Their absence does not necessarily support the idea that the meeting is Black Lodge exclusive. The alignment of the Electrician, the Woodsmen, and even the Tremonds to an extent, is suspect. If the first Woodsman really is the former husband of the Log Lady, it would not make much sense that he is associated with the Black Lodge. The back row in the scene seems to include mostly "spectators", who may be associated with either Lodge (or none?).

The absence of Cooper need not be a puzzle either. He is not a Lodge spirit after all, but merely trapped in the Red Room. The same goes for Leland, Laura, and perhaps Desmond. None of these people are spirits, but merely entered the Lodge on occasions. Nevertheless, Jeffries does seem to have met Cooper during his brief Lodge excursion, and immediately recognizes him during the Philadelphia scene. Later he shouts "Who do you think this is here?" while pointing at Cooper.

Where? Both the script and the movie make it abundantly clear that the Lodge meeting takes place "above the convenience store", but despite these references the location is still something of an enigma. It is never quite clear whether the room exists in the real world or not. In Cooper’s dream (or vision, depending on how you look at it) in episode 1.02, Philip Gerard / Mike explicitly states:

"How do you say... convenience store? We lived above it. I mean it like it is, like it sounds."

Despite Mike's claim that he literally means they lived above a convenience store, the line sounds a lot like some form of code. He talks about "a" convenience store, but which one? Where is this room located? Is it actually a "facade" for the Red Room, much like Gerard and Leland are masks for Mike and BOB. Laura appears to enter the room above the convenience store in her dream in FWWM. From here, she is transported to the Red Room by Pierre Tremond, but again, the sequence reveals little on the nature of the room. What is of interest however are the visual similarities between the convenience store and One Eyed Jack's. Both feature the same rose-flower wallpaper, similar doors, and red curtains, although the red curtains are difficult to spot during Laura's dream sequence. This of course begs the question: is the convenience store One Eyed Jack's?

Also of interest is the fact that the Tremonds are never seen inside the Red Room, only going as far as the room above the convenience store. This indicates that they are indeed spirits of a different order than Mike and BOB. Perhaps the store is entirely neutral ground, or merely a bridge between the real world and the spirit world from the Lodge. This is supported by some of the cut lines of the original Lodge meeting script. The room above the convenience store also has functional uses, as we later find out during the traffic stop scene. The room is where Mike keeps the Garmonbozia (corn) stored for later use. It is this Garmonbozia which BOB stole.

What? Perhaps the most important problem finally, is the question of what is taking place during the Lodge meeting. The sequence seems to lay out some of the rules to which the spirits from the Lodge world are bound.

Firstly, the composition of the shot and the distribution of Garmonbozia seem to imply some form of hierarchy among the Lodge spirits. Mike and BOB appear to be the most powerful spirits: they occupy the front of the shot and share the bulk of the Garmonbozia between them. The more menial Lodge spirits such as the Electrician and the Woodsmen merely watch on from the background, having to be content with only a single bowl of Garmonbozia (resting at Pierre's feet).

Regardless of hierarchy however, the Lodge meeting seems to represent a pivotal event in the history of Mike and BOB. My own personal theory is that three things of significance take place here:

* The old Mike ceases to exist
* A new bond is established through the green ring
* Mike and BOB abandon the convenience store

The scene likely takes place after Mike saw the "face of God" and cut off his left arm. As a consequence, the "evil Mike", who is represented here by the Jumping Man, was reduced to a grotesque, dwarf-like state, known as the MFAP. This loss of power also brought with it a loss of control over BOB's actions. Hence the green ring was created as a new form of partnership. The green ring singles out its wearer as a target for BOB, who is forced to kill the victim and hand over the Garmonbozia to the MFAP. Thus, the green ring simultaneously weds its wearer to Mike and BOB, as stated in the scene by the line "with this ring I thee wed". Once the new bond is established BOB claps his hands, the old Mike ceases to exist (the Jumping Man freezes), and the MFAP and BOB abandon the convenience store to permanently take up residence inside the Red Room. What I still don't quite understand however, is the significance of the formica table.

Judy

Which brings us to what is perhaps the single most arcane and bizarre plot element in all of Twin Peaks: Judy. Who is she, what is she, what is her connection to Jeffries, to Cooper, to Pierre Tremond, to Garmonbozia, to the mysterious monkey...? We will proceed to examine the evidence. Judy is first mentioned by Philip Jeffries in Philadelphia. Notably, he brings the name up when he spots Agent Cooper, suddenly stating:

"Well now. We’re not gonna talk about Judy. In fact we’re not gonna talk about Judy at all. We’re gonna keep her out of this."

Unfortunately the remainder of the scene is extremely elliptical, but the script adds more details and references to Judy. Two extra lines were cut from the final version:

"I want to tell you everything, but I don't have a lot to go on.  But I'll tell you one thing:  Judy is positive about this."
"No, no.  I found something...  in Seattle at Judy's...  And then, there they were."

In the script, the last sentence segued into the flashback to the convenience store. In the final version however, Lynch moved the dialogue around a little and decided to show Lodge meeting concurrent with most of Jeffries’ lines. Some additional information from Jeffries’ comments about Judy can be gleaned: firstly, she appears to be an actual person, and lives in Seattle. In the original script, Jeffries received a note from a "young woman", prior to entering the elevator in Buenos Aires. Was Judy this young woman?

Second, Jeffries found something at her place which seems to have transported him to the Lodge world. It is not entirely clear what this was, but two alternatives have been suggested: a direct portal to the Lodge world, or the green ring. Remember that the scene is primarily about Jeffries warning Cooper about the green ring. Perhaps, like Desmond, he found the ring, and by wearing it was transported to the Lodge world. Furthermore, the fact that "Judy is positive about this", indicates that at least some of the information he relates at Philadelphia came directly from Judy's experiences.

Josie's sister: According to FWWM writer Robert Engels, Judy is the twin sister of Josie Packard. This helpful bit of information sheds some light on Jeffries' ramblings. On the show, Josie at one point leaves Twin Peaks for an unexplained errand to Seattle. Later, when she is revealed as Cooper's "assassin", her soul apparently becomes trapped inside the wood of the Great Northern Hotel. A vision of Mike and BOB suggests the Lodge spirits were somehow connected to her death. FWWM appears to try and make some sense of why this happened to Josie, by adding the Judy character. Then again, the fact that Judy is Josie's sister is never mentioned in the movie. So the question: is this still relevant? Perhaps they did intend for Judy to be Josie's sister, but as it stands, this plot point merely brings more confusion to the (formica) table.

In any case, Judy seems to be connected to the Lodge somehow. Perhaps she received the green ring from a Lodge spirit. Some have suggested for Judy a similar role as Teresa to Desmond, and Laura to Cooper. Perhaps she was murdered by BOB or Mike, with Jeffries as the investigating agent. However, Jeffries' brief comments indicate that Judy is very much alive at the time of the Philadelphia scene. He says "Judy is positive about this", not "Judy was positive about this". If the note in the Buenos Aires hotel indeed comes from Judy, it is further proof that she was alive at that point. Perhaps she was murdered later on. To an extent, it would at least explain Josie's fate in Twin Peaks. Sometimes people are drawn to the Lodge spirits simply by being strongly connected to one of their former victims, as is the case with Laura and Maddy.

Another open question is whether Cooper knows who Judy is. Remember that Jeffries does not bring her up until he spots Agent Cooper in Cole's office. He seems reluctant to talk about her in his presence. Why?

The monkey: So far so good. Unfortunately, it gets more complicated from here. Near the end of the Lodge sequence, Pierre Tremond is briefly seen lifting his mask twice. The first time he reveals his own face, the second time we see the face of a monkey. Fast forward to the end of FWWM, and we get to the scene where the MFAP consumes the Garmonbozia from Laura's death. After this shot, we see the face of monkey again, accompanied by the word (faintly): "Judy". Several pertinent questions arise:

* How is the monkey connected to Judy?
* Who speaks the final "Judy" line?
* How is the monkey/Judy connected to Pierre Tremond?
* How is the monkey/Judy connected to Garmonbozia?

Unfortunately, I have answers for none of these questions. Regarding the monkey however, it may be of interest to know that in Buddhism, the monkey is thought to be an early incarnation of buddha. According to Wikipedia, he may also represent trickery and ugliness, the former trait which is definitely associated with Pierre Tremond. Even more interesting however, is that in Chinese Buddhism the monkey is counted as one of the Three Senseless Creatures, along with the tiger and the deer. Each represents a different negative emotion:

* Monkey -> greed -> Judy? Pierre?
* Tiger -> anger -> BOB?
* Deer -> love-sickness -> ?

The monkey may represent the greed of the Lodge spirits in general; the greed for Garmonbozia. The Log Lady's introduction to episode 2.08 has some interesting comments along these lines:

"Food is interesting. For instance, why do we need to eat? Why are we never satisfied with just the right amount of food to maintain good health and proper energy? We always seem to want more and more. When eating too much, the proper balance is disturbed and ill health follows. Of course, eating too little food throws the balance off in the opposite direction and there is the ill health coming at us again. Balance is the key. Balance is the key to many things. Do we understand balance? The word balance has seven letters. Seven is difficult to balance, but not impossible if we are able to divide. There are, of course, the pros and cons of division."

This ties in rather well with user MisterGrey's comments in the entry on the Tremonds that the appearance of a Lodge spirit to an extent reflects its vitality:

"It has been a theory of mine for a while that the physical state of the Lodge beings represents their vitality: MFAP, starved of his Garmonbozia, has regressed to a miniature state; Mrs. Tremond, intentionally depriving herself, is deteriorating; Pierre, perhaps a "lesser" spirit, has not been consuming much to begin with, and so hasn't grown; and Bob, with his rampant consumption, is the most physically adept and agile of the Black Lodge spirits, rampaging through TP in his bestial state.

If the White Lodge spirits survive on love, as the Black Lodge spirits survive on fear, I would presume then that, despite being usurped by the Black Lodge, they are in far better shape-- there is a much greater abundance of love than fear in the town of Twin Peaks. Thus, the towering, colossal presence of the Giant, grown massive and dominating through his consumption of love and happiness."

Further additions are welcome!


Silencio
 
2. Tuesday, September 2, 2008 7:13 PM
MisterGrey RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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As for _what_ we're seeing, I agree with the theory that Jeffries witnessed an arbirtration between Mike and Bob over Garmonbozia.

Mike/MFAP seems aggreived, and speaks his lines in an aggressive manner; it's like we're hearing someone complain in a foreign language. The words are all there, but the sentiment is more in his inflection and facial gestures than in the content of what's coming out of his mouth. He's upset about something, it involves garmonbozia, and all these people are here to watch it go down.

Bob, on the other hand, is the defendant, and appears irritated/as if he doesn't really want to be there. His emotional range goes from annoyed to begrudging acquiesance.

It would seem, then, that this is the meeting that ultimately sealed Laura Palmer's fate, the bottom line being, "Teresa Banks' garmonbozia was mine. You took it. Now you gotta get me some more." If Bob's plan was to possess Laura, the garmonbozia he'd have collected for Mike would either have come from Ronnette and/or Leland. As it ended up, it came from Laura (and depending on how you look at it, Leland), but nonetheless, Mike got his grub.

If the whole point of what Jeffries relays, then, is that it is Bob being ordered to get Mike garmonbozia, then it is a tacit warning about the fate of Laura Palmer.

 
3. Wednesday, September 3, 2008 9:47 AM
Sourdust RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Exactly my thinking, although I would place the Lodge meeting even before Teresa's death.

Any thoughts on the Formica table, Mister Grey?


Silencio
 
4. Wednesday, September 3, 2008 4:16 PM
coolspringsj RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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TP series writer Robert Engels said in a WIP interview Judy was Josie's sister.

"Formica table.  Green is its color."  *I guess we need to read up on formica tables and what the color green could symbolize*

AND I bet Jeffries sang "China Girl" to her.

EDIT - Sourdust hit another home run with this Black Lodge entry.  Always a pleasure reading these!  Love the analysis of the convenience store itself!


"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 
5. Wednesday, September 3, 2008 5:41 PM
MisterGrey RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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I'm drawing a huge blank on the formica table, other than the fact that I think my grandfather used to install formica countertops in the houses he built. It's apparently a very versatile material to have in your kitchen.

 
6. Thursday, September 4, 2008 5:34 AM
Sourdust RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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It's also supposed to be heat resistant, no doubt a quality of some practical use to the Lodge spirits.

I've further fleshed out theories regarding Judy and the monkey in my original post. I have a feeling we're finally getting somewhere with this :)


Silencio
 
7. Thursday, September 4, 2008 8:54 AM
coolspringsj RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Wasn't there a comedic scene in the FWWM script in a South American hotel where an employee has dialogue about relieving his bowels when Jeffries reappears?


"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 
8. Thursday, September 4, 2008 6:50 PM
Ivan Sputnik RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Formica table

For Mike, a table.... 


The question is, Where have you gone?
 
9. Friday, September 5, 2008 8:41 AM
coolspringsj RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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One interesting note I read in WIP 75 last night in a mini-article about FWWM and Judy is that the monkey was NOT in the original script, but was added after the fact by Lynch.  Odd.

WIP 75 has FWWM articles on Judy, Garmonbozia, and the songs of Deer Meadow.


"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

 
10. Friday, September 5, 2008 11:49 AM
Rami Airola RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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QUOTE:

He seems reluctant to talk about her in his presence. Why?

 


Let's see:

-He knows about the (future) connection between Coop and Bob.

-In the script he says Judy is positive about something. We are led to assume she knows things about the Lodges, the ring and the Lodge Spirits.

-He wants to leave Judy out of all (the Lodge) things he's about to reveal.

 

 I think he doesn't just know that there are these weird things happening in the otherworld. I think he know that some of the things there are simply and plain evil. He knows those forces are getting people killed. He wants to protect Judy and as he sees Cooper after getting to know the connection between Cooper and the Lodges he becomes alert. Imagine a criminal who gets too deep into something and starts to get threats. Someone might be hinting that his family could be in danger. The man then hopes that by saying that his family doesn't have anything to do with the stuff he's done they should leave his family out of it. Not exactly like that, but somewhat like that I think Jeffries is trying to protect Judy.

 
11. Wednesday, October 20, 2010 12:09 AM
eccentrix RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Jeffries' "Who do you think this is?" may just be foreshadowing. In the first episode of Season 2, when Albert arrives at Leo's house Andy shouts while pointing at Albert "Harry, do you know who it is?" I don't know what significance this would have, but it reminded me of this seen so much.


-Mat
 
12. Monday, November 8, 2010 9:59 AM
Sourdust RE: Black Lodge Encyclopedia - Agent Jeffries


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Here's an amusing coincidence I came upon while studying statistics. In Bayesian statistics, whenever we want to estimate the value of a certain parameter (e.g. the mean of a sample), we require a "prior belief" of what that value should be, in addition to the value we would estimate based on the sample data alone. This "prior" is usually operationalized as some kind of distribution (e.g. a normal distribution).

Sometimes, however, when we have no clear idea of what the prior value should be, we choose a so-called non-informative prior for our calculations. One of the most common priors along this line is the "Jeffreys Prior".

Why do I find this amusing? Because Agent Jeffries' entire appearance in FWWM is meant to provide Cooper with prior information regarding the green ring. This later enables him to warn Laura not to take the ring during the dream sequence. As Jeffries' name implies, however, his information is largely "uninformative", at least to the audience.

And yes, I'm a nerd.


Silencio
 

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