Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a Heartbreaking and Disturbing Tale of Tragedy and Evil

 

Credit to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me — An Unflinching Portrait of Despair — Reactor

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is the prequel story into the final moments of Laura Palmer, a young girl who was murdered in the small town of Twin Peaks. This movie was unbearably hard to watch. What this poor girl went through before she was murdered was brutal, and I was not expecting to feel so torn over this character. Throughout the entire show, her life was revealed to the viewers through clues, but finally getting to see what she had gone through was absolutely awful, and I hated every second of it. 

Kudos to the actress who played Laura Palmer, she is phenomenal, and I can’t believe I didn’t see her in other films, other than the work of David Lynch. She deserves an Oscar award for her performance in this movie, she is a horror icon in my eyes after watching the film!

The movie begins with the first murder of a young woman, before Laura Palmer. 

Credit to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me | Rotten Tomatoes

Two FBI agents under the leadership of Gordon Cole, are asked to investigate the death of Teresa Banks, the first murder before Laura Palmer is targeted next by the serial killer. They go to a small town to investigate the body, and are met with disdain by the local police force, who are complete assholes, and treat the victim like a nobody. Thankfully, the FBI agents are able to take action against these bastards and take away the body for a better examination to solve the murder. 

One of the FBI agents notices that the victim was wearing an odd green ring, that carries the symbol of The Black Lodge, a place of pure evil, ruled by an entity known as Bob. The agent retrieves the ring, only to go missing, and never seen again. Agent Dale Cooper is now introduced once again, and is with the FBI, claiming that he had a strange dream of an odd man arriving to the bureau. This man is played by David Bowie, and claims he had seen the Black Lodge, and suddenly disappears after arriving. 

The agents and Gordon Cole are flabbergasted by this disappearance, and Cooper reveals to a fellow agent that the killer is going to strike again. 

We now cut to Laura Palmer’s story, witnessing her final days on Earth. 

Credit to 9 Ways ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ Connects to the Series Revival — The New York Times

Right from the start, Laura appears to be a cheerful girl, but secretly carries a double personality. She puts on an act for her friends, but displays her true self to others, who is a broken soul. She is taking drugs to mend her pain, and is sucked into the world of prostitution, because she is being haunted by Bob, who is determined to possess her soul. 

She claims to a friend that Bob had been haunting her ever since she was a young child, and she lost her mind in the process. Her friends begin to see a darker side of her, when Donna stupidly decides to tag along to a club meant for prostitution, but is luckily saved by Laura. James, one of her boyfriends is desperate to help her, but she keeps shrugging him off. She is using another guy named Bobby for drugs, and she is now having trouble at home with her father. 

She comes to the horrible conclusion that her father is possessed by Bob, and Laura feels powerless and broken to stop the entity she despises. She has dreams of Dale Cooper and his love interest, Annie, giving her warnings to save her life. Dale Cooper tells her to not put on Teresa’s ring, because of it’s connection to the Black Lodge. 

Leland, her father, is revealed to be possessed by Bob at times, and he is revealed to be the one who killed Teresa. Later that night, Laura goes with Bobby to pick up more drugs, only to be forced to kill a man, who was the deputy from the small town where Teresa was killed. Laura hardly shows emotion in her drugged state as Bobby panics to cover up the murder. 

Laura later witnesses her father go crazy on the road while driving, and then she goes through pure horror when she realizes a dark truth. Bob had possessed her father to harm her at night, and this experience completely breaks Laura. She decides to venture to a cabin for another prostitution job, and has James drop her off near the location. James witnesses her go crazy, yelling that she does love him before running away to the cabin. 

We then witness Laura’s final moments, and it’s beyond difficult to watch. 

Credit to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me on October 31, 1991 | TWIN PEAKS BLOG

Laura gets completely wasted through drinking and drugs as she is tortured by two men in the cabin, along with another girl who was also pulled into the same horrible life. The two men run away when a possessed Leland shows up, and kidnaps the two girls. They scream in terror as they are taken to a new location, where their torture continues. 

The other girl is saved by an angel who appears to her, and she is able to escape from Bob’s evil. Laura sees the ring, that Cooper had warned her about, and she puts it on, determined to ensure that Bob will not be able to possess her. 

Leland begs Bob to not force him to murder his own daughter, and she is beaten and stabbed to death, by Bob. Her body is disposed of, and is thrown into a river, where it will be eventually found by the authorities of Twin Peaks in the TV show. 

Laura’s soul awakens in what appears to be the White Lodge. 

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Laura is greeted by Dale Cooper, who is standing by her side in the Red Room. She then meets an angel, and she starts to smile and laugh, realizing that she is finally safe. She appears to be at total peace, as Dale smiles down at her, while the angel is there for Laura. 

The ring mystery is never really explained, but I think that perhaps the ring was going to seal her fate of dying, but I think Laura wanted to die, to make sure that Bob wouldn’t win. I’m curious how Dale Cooper fits into the equation, since they hadn’t met at all yet. I think because of Cooper’s determination to solve her murder, some part of his soul ended up in the White Lodge, to watch over her. 

The White Lodge was hinted to be some form of heaven from the television show, and I highly doubt this is the Black Lodge, because this is the only moment in the entirety of Twin Peaks, (from the old show and movie), where everything feels good, not evil or malicious. I cried when Laura realized she was going to be alright, I felt so sorry for all the pain she had suffered for years. 

Bob is a piece of shit, and I hope Twin Peaks: The Return will somehow find a way to kill the bastard, as revenge for all the pain he brought to Laura Palmer. 

This movie was a great prequel, and even though I was left with even more unanswered questions, I was relieved to see Laura finally happy and free from her pain.