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WARNING! This article contains plot spoilers for the 2017 series of Twin Peaks. |
Annie Blackburn was the sister of Norma Jennings, from whom she got a job at the Double R Diner after she left a convent. Furthermore, she ultimately fell in love with FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper.
Biography
Early life
Annie had a boyfriend during her senior year of high school. However, this relationship did not end well and she attempted suicide prior to living in a convent[1] for five years.[2]
Return to Twin Peaks
After leaving the convent, Annie arrived in her hometown of Twin Peaks and went to the Double R Diner. There, she saw her sister, Norma, who introduced her to waitress Shelly Johnson.[3]
Later, she poured a coffee for FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, who was an outsider but had become quite comfortable with the town. He approved of her coffee and she smiled.[3]
The next day, Annie went to Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman's table, where they observed through the window a chickadee on a Dodge Dart. Truman asked her what she suggested to cure a hangover, to which she responded, "teetotaling and prayer." She poured them coffee and took their orders, getting along with Cooper quite well. He began telling her a joke about two penguins on an iceberg. However, she was called over by Shelly but came back for the punchline, which amused her. She then observed a drawing Dale had made on a napkin, telling him it was from Owl Cave.[4]
While cleaning up dishes, she found an advertisement for the Miss Twin Peaks Contest, which she did not want to enter. Shelly came in and asks her about her time in the convent compared to now, which she said was not much different aside from the convent's absence of men. She asked about Cooper in particular but denied being interested in him.[4]
In the evening, Annie went to the bar at the Great Northern Hotel and ordered a rum and tonic, with Agent Cooper then approaching her. She expressed her fascination with people but then noticed that he saw a scar on her wrist. She said she was afraid that she would fail again like she had in the past, but was resistant to talk about it. He offered his help and she made up reasons for him not to pursue, but he persisted and she accepted his offer.[4]
Cooper came to get donuts and coffee for the Sheriff's Department the next day, then also asked Annie if she would like to accompany him in a nature study, to which she agreed. He admitted that he would get "a tingling sensation" in his toes and stomach when he talked to her.[1]
Later, she went out on the lake with Cooper. Her ex-boyfriend was brought up, but she did not wish to talk about it, instead expressing her fears of returning to the real world. He told her he understood her pain, having felt the same before. They then shared a kiss.[1]
Dale and Annie went back to the diner, where they joined Cooper's supervisor, Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, and Shelly for pie.[1]
As she wiped down the counter at the diner the following day, she crumpled up an advertisement for Miss Twin Peaks. Dale arrives and urged her to enter. She poured him coffee and noticed that something was bothering him. He said that he had been thinking about her all day, and Annie said that she had been thinking of him as well. He asked her to go dancing with him later that night and they kissed, which caused her to accidentally drop plates onto the floor.[2]
She went to the Roadhouse, where Cooper met with her. Annie was reluctant to dance, but she finally did at his insistence. She expressed worry over dancing, but he easily showed her how to do so. She expressed that she wanted more than his kisses and was interrupted by Mayor Dwayne Milford attempting to speak into the microphone onstage. She then expressed her attraction to Cooper and they kissed, only to be interrupted by the Mayor again. She then decided to enter the Miss Twin Peaks Contest.[2]
The next day, Norma made pies for the Contest and told Annie and Shelly that she expects to see one of them win. They teased her about which one of them she will vote for.[5]
Later in the morning, Tim Pinkle taught choreography to Annie and the rest of the women participating in Miss Twin Peaks.[5]
Later, she went to Dale's room at the Great Northern and he welcomed her in. She requested his help on her speech for the contest, concerning conservation of the forest. Talk of trees became a metaphor for her life and they then made love.[5]
At the pageant, she made a speech, quoting Chief Seattle and moving the audience.[5]
Annie won the title of Miss Twin Peaks. During the applause, the lights in the building shut off and then strobes were turned on. Smoke bombs were set off and she was taken from the stage by Windom Earle.[5]
The Black Lodge
Earle took Annie to Glastonbury Grove, commenting that he liked the fear she had. He took her to a circle of Sycamore trees, which seemingly hypnotized her, and he led her through red drapes - into the Black Lodge.[6]
In the Lodge, she appeared to Cooper on the floor, bleeding. In another room, she appeared to him, saying she "saw the face of the man" who killed her and that it was her husband. Caroline Earle then took her place. She appeared to him again, saying she was alive, then Laura Palmer took her place. She appeared to him once again, with Earle present, then disappeared.[6]
Later, Sheriff Truman discovered her at the grove with blood on her face and took her to the hospital, still alive but in shock.[6][7]
Annie appeared to Laura Palmer in a dream bruised and bloodied to warn her of her death, but as the events were still to happen, Laura did not understand the message. Annie said, "My name is Annie, and I've been with Laura and Dale. The good Dale is in the Lodge, and he can't leave. Write it in your diary." When Laura looked back a few seconds later, Annie was gone.[8]
Later Annie was taken to the hospital wearing the ring that Laura Palmer and Teresa Banks were wearing on the nights they were killed. Her physical wounds were treated, but she was still in a trance. She repeated her message for Laura to the nurse attending to her, though it was not clear if she knew who she was talking to. The nurse proceeded to steal Annie's ring, unaware of its importance.[7]
Trapped in the Black Lodge, Cooper asked The Man from Another Place where the ring was. The man replied that "someone else has it now," and silently confirmed Cooper's fears that it was Annie.[7]
The diary entry Annie told Laura to write was found twenty-five years later inside a bathroom stall door at the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department.[9]
Behind the scenes
Annie is played by American actress Heather Graham. Annie was originally added to the show to take Audrey Horne's planned role as Agent Cooper's love interest. Kyle MacLachlan objected to the idea of Cooper having a romance with a high school student, so the character of Annie was written, as well as John Justice Wheeler, who became Audrey's love interest. Rumors persist that Lara Flynn Boyle (MacLachlan's partner at the time) had some influence on this decision, as she allegedly did not get along with Sherilyn Fenn.
In the shooting scripts of episodes 24 through 29 and on the laser disc jackets, her name is "Annie Blackburne" but the spelling "Blackburn" has been adopted since at least Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me's shooting script.
Lynch confirmed that Laura wrote down what Annie said to her[10] although the movie shooting script says that Annie tried to get through to the nurse instead.
Harley Peyton clarified that, at least when originally conceived, she was not an agent of the Lodges.[11]
Mark Frost repeatedly stated in his book tour of The Secret History of Twin Peaks that Lana was the winner of the Miss Twin Peaks 1989 pageant, not even mentioning Annie at all.[12]
Trivia
- The fact that Annie is shown saying the message "My name is Annie, and I've been with Laura and Dale. The good Dale is in the Lodge, and he can't leave. Write it in your diary," in two very different scenarios raises the question over her connection to the Black Lodge after her kidnapping.
- From one point of view, when she is in Laura's bed, she is sending Laura a message from the Red Room warning her of her impending death and Cooper being trapped—"write it in your diary" referring to Laura's secret diary. This would put her subsequent repeat of the warning to the nurse in a position of her, traumatized by her experience, only being able to repeat this single phrase.
- However from another point of view, it could be noted that she mentions having been with "Laura" in the Black Lodge while speaking to Laura herself, which seems odd. That could mean that the warning she gives was actually aimed at the nurse who steals her ring, telling her to write it in the nurse's diary. In this case, it is unclear how Laura was able to hear this message to the nurse in her dream without Annie still having some connection to the Black Lodge, thereby sending a warning back in time. However, as revealed in Laura Palmer's secret diary, Laura experienced the exact same dream as Dale Cooper before her death, well before Dale Cooper experienced said dream. This, coupled with the existence of the good Dale in the Black Lodge prior to Laura's death implies a circular state of being where the Black Lodge is involved. Annie may not be repeating the line while she's in the hospital, but saying it for the first time, in Laura's dream while simultaneously existing elsewhere. This could be further related to Phillip Jeffries' behavior after coming into contact with denizens of the Black Lodge ("It's a dream. We live inside a dream.").
- In The Secret History of Twin Peaks, Norma's parents are identified as Mr. and Mrs. Lindstrom, whom both allegedly died before the events of the show, despite the appearance of her mother Vivian Smythe Niles in the show. It is currently unknown where the name Blackburn comes from, as the show seems to indicate that Norma and Annie had both of the same parents, although the latter shares no screen time with Vivian.
- Furthermore, the book does not contain any mention of Annie whatsoever.
Appearances
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
- Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
- Twin Peaks – season 2
- Twin Peaks – 2017
- "Part 7" (Mentioned only)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Twin Peaks – "Episode 26"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Twin Peaks – "Episode 27"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Twin Peaks – "Episode 24"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Twin Peaks – "Episode 25"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Twin Peaks – "Episode 28"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Twin Peaks – "Episode 29"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
- ↑ Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
- ↑ Twin Peaks – "Part 7"
- ↑ Lynch on Lynch
- ↑ Harley Peyton comment on the alt.tv.twin-peaks Usenet forum
- ↑ Twin Peaks Unwrapped #77: Mark Frost Book Tour 2016