TP does not stand for toilet paper: what about Bob?

Here's my fourth blog, a tad bit late but better late than never.........

So this semester has been pretty awesome. We have watched some interesting shows, some awesome, some scary, some humorous and some downright SUCKY.

What I enjoyed and appreciated the most this semester was being re-introduced to Twin Peaks. I've seen most of the 1st season a few years ago, and I truly enjoyed it, but I never got around to finishing the series. The murderer of Laura Palmer was intentionally prematurely revealed to me by a malicious friend of mine (he showed me "Fire Walk With Me" before I had even started season 2. What a dick), and out of frustration I pulled the plug on watching the rest of the show. As we watched the pilot in class, I remembered the quirky little details and brilliant character traits which impressed me so in the first place. This resulted in me going to Newbury comics and spending 80 bucks I don't have on the deluxe Twin Peaks Golden Box Set. I spent a whole weekend in my pajamas, drapes pulled shut, phone turned off, and had a red wine and pizza date with the dreamy Agent Dale Cooper.

This show is fantastic. It goes from lightly eccentric, humorous events to downright terrifying circumstances that seem to have leaped from the depths of hell. I'm not one who gets easily scared, but after BOB magically appeared in the Palmer household and ravenously climbed over furniture to attack cousin Maddy, I spent the night on the phone with my boyfriend until I fell asleep from the Tylenol PM I took to weaken my terrified BOB anxiety.

In terms of the supernatural, BOB is the strongest supernatural element in the series. The show overall is very surreal and peculiar, but nothing is as directly linked to the paranormal/supernatural as BOB (and MIKE, who is essentially the same exact aspect that BOB is). Mark Frost said the inspiration for BOB was inspired by native American mythology, but never confirmed that BOB actually was a ghost/spirit. Lynch and Frost kept to ambiguity when it came to explaining all sorts of aspects of the show.

Due to lack of confirmation, it is sometimes questionable if one could even consider Twin Peaks to be a supernatural show, after researching the subject I found some interesting opinions of the phenomenon that is BOB:

"Some who reject supernatural explanations believe BOB may
be/have been a figment of Laura's or Leland's imagination (a
means of psychologically dealing with the trauma of incest
and adultery), or an alternate personality of Leland. The
caustic FBI agent Albert Rosenfield suggests that BOB is
simply "the evil that men do". The fact that so many TP
characters experience these spirits make such
rationalizations hard to logically support. Events in the
series following Leland's death (the Windom Earle arc) and
in FWWM also continue the supernatural themes."

BOB, played by Frank Silva, was actually a carpenter on the set. He accidentally appeared in a mirror on the wall while they were shooting a scene, and Lynch decided to keep it in because he liked Silva’s look. They eventually created BOB’s character from that moment, adding Silva to the cast. Talk about luck!

Overall, BOB is one scary mother*cker, regardless if he is a spirit or a psychological result.