|
WARNING! This article contains plot spoilers for the 2017 series of Twin Peaks. |
The arm of MIKE, also known as the Man from Another Place was an inhabitant of the Black Lodge – a realm of pure evil – who gave Agent Dale Cooper clues to apprehending the killer of Laura Palmer.
The arm later evolved into the appearance of an electric tree with a fleshy mass on top of it.
Biography
Above the convenience store
At some point, the Man from Another Place appeared across from BOB at the meeting in the room above the convenience store. He said, "The chrome reflects our image. From pure air, we have descended, from pure air. Going up and down. Intercourse between the two worlds,"[1] he then observed creamed corn, saying "garmonbozia," and he observed the green Formica table before him.[2][1] BOB said "I have the fury of my own momentum."[1] He then said "with this ring, I thee wed," and laughed with BOB.[2][1] He then said "fire walk with me," and BOB clapped. The Man From Another Place and BOB then left through a set of drapes.[1]
Teresa Banks' investigation
The arm's whooping sound is heard by Leland when recalling killing Teresa Banks.[2]
When the Curious Woman left Carl, Sam and Chet from Teresa's trailer, the arm's whooping sound is heard from the electrical pole number 6.[2]
When Desmond comes back at the trailer park, the whooping sound is also heard coming from the same pole before Desmond went to the Chalfonts' trailer.[2]
When Cooper finds Desmond's car following the later's disappearance, the words "Lets Rock" are cursively written on the windshield.[2]
The last days of Laura Palmer
On Friday, February 17, after 10:35PM, in her dream, Laura Palmer went through her doorway picture given and inhabited by Mrs. Tremond and her grandson.[2] She then arrived in a Red Room where the arm questioning whether it was future or past,[1] then told Cooper that he was "the arm" and that he sounds like an Indian Whooping sound[2][1] and showed a ring to Agent Cooper. Cooper told Laura to not take the ring.[2] Later inside the dream, Laura goes out of her room and looks at the staircase while the whooping sound was faintly heard and that the staircase room becomes the inside of the painting.[2]
On Sunday, February 19, when MIKE pursued Leland and Laura in a pickup, the arm's whooping sound was heard. After the confrontation, Laura asked if she had seen him before although she had only seen the arm and Cooper in her dream.[2]
The night before February 22, Laura shared the very same dream as Cooper. In the dream, she was with an aged Cooper and the Man From Another Place, Laura told the old man the identity of BOB and wondered if she was with MIKE.[3]
Following the murder of Laura Palmer, BOB and a bloodied Leland came to the Black Lodge. MIKE and the Man From Another Place, who put his hand where Gerard's left arm used to be, demanded their garmonbozia. BOB healed Leland by pulling blood from his shirt and threw it on the floor. The little man then consumed the garmonbozia in the form of creamed corn.[2]
Cooper's investigations
The man appeared in a dream had by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. He said "let's rock" and went to a chair to tell Cooper that the gum he liked was going to come back in style. He described the present Laura Palmer as being his cousin and said she was full of secrets. He said that where he was from, "the birds sing a pretty song and there is always music in the air." He then stood up and began dancing.[4] It was the same dream as Laura.[3]
Following the death of Josie Packard, the man appeared to Agent Cooper, dancing.[5]
The man appeared to Cooper in the Red Room, dancing on his way to his chair. He told him "when you see me again, it won't be me," then stomped his foot. He called the room the waiting room and offered him coffee, also saying that some of his friends were there. Laura came and sat down next to the man. She spoke to Agent Cooper and disappeared. An elderly waiter then appeared and brought coffee to Agent Cooper. The Giant took the waiter's place and joined the little man, saying "one and the same," then disappearing. The man grinned and rubbed his hands together as Agent Cooper's coffee went back and forth between solid and liquid forms. He then said "Wow, Bob, wow. Fire walk with me."[6]
In the Black Lodge, he pointed Cooper in the correct direction and in another room laughed, announcing "another friend," which turned out to be Maddy Ferguson. In a different room, his doppelganger appeared to Cooper.[6]
Like he did in Laura's dream, the man showed the table where was the ring to Agent Cooper, questioning whether it was future or past, then told Cooper that he was "The Arm" and sounded like an Indian Whooping sound. Cooper realized with horror that Annie Blackburn had the ring now. Cooper asked how he could leave, and the man told him there was no place to go but home and laughed, then danced once more.[1]
The evolution of the arm
Over the next 25 years, the arm had evolved into an electric tree with a fleshy-looking mass, the same shape as his former cranium, atop it (It can also be seen to resemble a neuron or a circulatory system). It asked Agent Cooper if he remembered his doppelganger and explained that he must be returned in order for Cooper to be allowed to leave. The arm then said "253. Time and time again," before repeatedly saying BOB's name and for Cooper to go.[7]
The arm's doppelganger caused something wrong with the process. It emerged out of a statue and appeared to Cooper, roaring and saying "non-exist-ent!", before Cooper was dropped through the floor.[7]
The arm later appeared to a catatonic Cooper as he disarmed Ike "The Spike" Stadtler, telling him to squeeze Stadtler's hand off, a chunk of his palm being stuck on the grip of his pistol.[8]
Non-canon appearances
International Pilot
The scene is similar to the one from episode 2.
The man says "let's rock" and goes to a chair where he joins hands with Laura. He then rubs his hands and tells Agent Cooper that the gum he likes is going to come back in style. He describes Laura as being his cousin and says she is full of secrets. He says that where he is from, "the birds sing a pretty song and there is always music in the air." He then stands up and begins dancing.
Saturday Night Live sketch
The man (played by Mike Myers) goes to Agent Cooper's room after Leo confesses to Laura's murder. When Cooper says he plans to get a pie from the Double R Diner, the man asks if they have little pies and starts to follow him out, but then the agent decides to go to bed. The man starts dancing.
Identity
The Man from Another Place is connected to MIKE, the faceless spirit entity who possesses Phillip Gerard, The One-Armed Man: In Cooper's dream, Cooper is told by the one-armed Gerard about having been BOB's partner until he cut off his own arm in an effort to relieve himself of his urge to kill, the arm's whooping sound is heard when the One Armed Man pursued Leland in a car and when MIKE and The Man demanded their garmonbozia to BOB they were connected where Gerard's arm used to be.
The Fire Walk with Me shooting script even explicitly refers to the Man from Another Place as Mike during the convenience store meeting.
Oddly, Episode 16 shooting script states that Cooper "was Mike" during his and Laura's dream.
Motivation
It is revealed that The Man from Another Place had a dispute with BOB over stolen garmonbozia, a manifestation of pain and sorrow, which serves as a source of sustenance for inhabitants of the Black Lodge. BOB, MIKE/The Man from Another Place's familiar, was supposed to collect garmonbozia and bring it to The Man from Another Place; instead, BOB consumed it himself. This sparked a feud between the two spirits, which resulted in BOB being ordered to collect more garmonbozia to pay back the Man from Another Place. At the end of the film, Killer BOB uses the garmonbozia he collected to pay back the Man from Another Place. The Man from Another Place still regards BOB with animosity, however, resulting in his helping Cooper identify BOB's host, thus preventing BOB from collecting any more garmonbozia for himself.
Behind the scenes
The Man from Another Place was played by American actor Michael J. Anderson, who was first approached by David Lynch as the eponymous character of the unproduced movie Ronnie Rocket[9] and they later worked together on Industrial Symphony No. 1 and Mulholland Drive.
Due to payment disputes with Showtime,[10] Anderson did not reprise the role in the 2017 series of Twin Peaks.
Reverse speak
The strange cadence of the Man’s dialogue was achieved by having Anderson speak into a recorder. This was then played in reverse, and Anderson was directed to repeat the reversed original. This “reverse-speak” was then reversed again in editing to bring it back to the normal direction. This created the strange rhythm and accentuation that set Cooper’s dream world apart from the real world.
Anderson recalls that his reverse-speak was not difficult to master as, coincidentally, he had used it as a secret language with his junior high school friends. Series creator David Lynch was unaware of this when he cast Anderson in the part and had hired a trainer to help Anderson with enunciation. When he found out Anderson could already talk backward, he canceled the trainer and wrote more difficult lines of dialogue for Anderson to read.
The evolution of the arm
The latter appearance of the Man From another Place is very similar to the cover made by Lynch for "The Voice of Love" album by Julee Cruise. The cover being a picture of an experiment made by Lynch who stuffed turkey and cheese into an head-shaped hollowed clay figure and photographed ants eating it.[11][12]
Lynch unambiguously states that the head on top is just a head, not a talking brain, a gland or a neuron.[13]
The tree was made entirely using CGI, the practical set only having an X mark on the curtains.[14]
It can also be reminiscent of The Grandmother short-filmed he directed where a boy made a tree which he pulled an old woman from. A tree also seemed to be an important part of Eraserhead.
Appearances
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
- Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
- Twin Peaks – season 1
- Twin Peaks – season 2
- Twin Peaks – 2017
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Twin Peaks – "Episode 16"
- ↑ Twin Peaks – "Episode 2"
- ↑ Twin Peaks – "Episode 23"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Twin Peaks – "Episode 29"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Twin Peaks – "Part 2"
- ↑ Twin Peaks – "Part 7"
- ↑ Late Night with Dave on February 27, 1991
- ↑ Facebook - Michael J. Anderson
- ↑ On the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 1992
- ↑ Pretty as a Picture - The Art of David Lynch (1997)
- ↑ Lynch interview about Parts 1 to 4
- ↑ MacLachlan interview for Entertainment Weekly