Long-time lurker, infrequent poster, been away for ages. . .

 Any old topics on this?:

After Leland dies, it seems that BOB leaves Leland's body.  Then, we see what seems like an "owl's view" perspective of BOB flying away.

Later, when Cooper and Major Briggs are camping and Briggs is abducted, we see the same "owl's view" perspective.  If Briggs is taken to the White Lodge, why does it seem the abductor is an evil force like BOB?

Gray

I suppose you could be right.  Maybe I'm getting caught up in an oversimplistic dichotomy, but the images and sounds sure do evoke a sense that it's not a "fluffy little bunnies" positive force.  ;)

Gray 

Interesting, Rigpa.  But that gets back to my initial question.  If that's the case, why the parallel imagery from when BOB leaves Leland's body?

 gray

I see what you mean.  I guess my problem with the notion of the TP forces as morally neutral is that a) the presentation of those forces plays with our emotions to evoke fear or calm, undercutting that neutrality and b) such an approach seems to invalidate the work that Cooper, Harry, Hawk, Major Briggs, etc are doing.

gray

I went back and rewatched the scenes dealing with Briggs' disappearance, and found some interesting connections.  I had forgotten about those 3 triangles that come spinning out of the starry night sky, and are burnt into Briggs' skin behind his ear.  In ceremonial magick, a triangle is used to evoke a spirit to visible appearance on the plane of matter.  In the Qabala, the third sphere on the Tree of Life is called Binah.  On the ascent up the Tree, Binah is the first sphere one encounters across the Abyss (the gulf between the potential world and the actual world).  Binah is attributed to spiritual awareness and love (love opens the way to the White Lodge).  Associated with Binah is the magickal cup (Holy Grail) into which the Adept who crosses the Abyss must drain every last drop of his blood (symbolically, in order to cross the Abyss everything has to be given up).  The Adept who achieves this crossing is said to be in the "City of Pyramids".  The Adept is sometimes symbolically represented as a gardener.  The garden he must tend is all the connections with the world the Adept has left behind.  

So, Briggs sees the cloaked figure (spirit from the White Lodge) in the woods (plane of matter).  It guides him across the Abyss, into the City of Pyramids (3 triangles).  We see him seated on a throne (Siege Perilous? Chosen One/Adept/Holy Grail) entwined with vines, in the middle of a garden!  

I'm not suggesting that Lynch knew any of this consciously, but it does seem to tap into a collective unconscious of symbol systems.  

On a side note, when Briggs first returns, he seems to drop from out of nowhere into his living room. Then, a couple of episodes later, when he is recounting what happened to Cooper and Harry, he says he remembers walking away from the flames, then nothing until he found himself next to the cold firepit in the woods.  Contradiction, or are we to assume he walked from there to his house?

"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

are there any elements beyond season one that you like?

"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

"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

"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