ORIGINAL SERIES Josie - The Drawer Pull Scene & Aftermath

[OneMoreChapter]

Thoughts on the Josie in the drawer pull (often erroneously referred to as a door knob) scene at the end of Episode 23? I've included some screencaps, a few video clips (if anyone knows if the full clip is online including what Cooper sees and Josie pointing the gun at Harry let me know - all I found was the drawer pull bit and a funny video of "Put it down!" repeating over and over).

I've also included a link to Episode 23 discussion on Dugpa where I - and others - share a lot of talk on this scene.

As for the aftermath, there is a link to @Jerry Horne's site Twin Peaks Archive that discusses the possibility of Josie appearing in the red room being played by a double (including photos from the same site below!) that Frank Silva also mentioned having being filmed for Episode 29 (was it also planned for Fire Walk With Me?). For unknown reasons, it was cut.

And then of course we have the hum Ben and Beverly both hear in The Return which link back to what Ben and Pete may have both scene in Episode 27 of the original series.

Putting all this together quickly but it could be shaped into a better article and sequence of events. And if I've made any errors let me know and I'll fix it. More than anything, I thought it might make a good discussion - and am interested in hearing everyone else's thoughts.

While I agree with posters like LostintheMovies in the Episode 23 Dugpa thread that it might seem strained or like they were trying too hard to mimick Lynch, I personally love the scene - it's just so delightfully weird and I always loved it, though yes I think it would have been much more amazing had Lynch shot it. I believe the whole sequence was Lynch's idea. I think he literally "phoned it in" when it was decided Chen would leave the show - that was his idea for what would happen the character of Josie, perhaps so he could use her later on (he planned to put her in Episode 29 too as is shown elsewhere in this post and in Jerry's article). I also think some of the reason it gets some flack is the computer generated effects at the time weren't great but I don't think they're all that bad - and they do perhaps make it eerier.

Oh and a last thought for now - the whole idea of spirits getting trapped in wood was also hinted at elsewhere in the series, when Briggs brushes wood and says "is my soul meant for this?" and other incidences, plus it connects with the name Ghostwood too (and think of Audrey's comments about that in The Return - was part of her soul trapped in wood even though we saw her waking up in Part 16?).

Some screencaps (more need to be added):

A link to part of the scene on Youtube.


A clip of the scenes where Ben and Pete see/hear something in Episode 27 that is likely Josie based on Pete saying "Josie, I see your face."


A link to the thread on Dugpa discussing Episode 23.

Another thread on Dugpa discussing the possibility of Josie appearing in the Red Room in Episode 29.

A link to - and a photo from (taken by Richard Beyer during E29) - Jerry's site, Twin Peaks Archive.

Twin Peaks Archive Presents...

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: JOSIE'S FATE This article is in celebration of the release of Wave Two of Richard Beymer's signed & numbered Twin Peaks...

twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com

A clip of the hum in The Return needs to be added here - if anyone can find one.

 

[Jerry Horne]

Thank God for Richard Beymer taking those stills of Josie's double. Apart from those the only photo I recall seeing is a costume Polaroid of the double from the neck down showing her nightgown.

Captioned:

Josie Photo DBL #2022

Sc BL Various Josie 1/2 In / 1/2 Out

 

[mtwentz]

First of all, I don't normally like to criticize actors, but Joan Chen is awful in that scene. To me, her trying to simulate dying from a sudden seizure is one of the worst acting performances in the entire show. Ontkean was also awful in that scene, IMO.

Secondly, Bob and Little Man appearing just comes out of nowhere. There is no known connection with Josie and Bob/Little Man. Up until that point, those mystical characters had been confined to the Laura Palmer story. So why they suddenly show up for Josie's death made no sense at the time (it was finally explained by Cooper many episodes later).

Finally, the cheesy drawer knob special effect was straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street.

So 3 problems with the scene, 1) Chen/Ontkean acting leading to Jose dying, 2) Bob and Little Man appearing was out of place and 3) the actual face in the drawer knob, both the special effect itself and what the hell it meant.

Basically, that one scene almost killed the show before the season ended. So to this day, I can't warm up to it. In retrospect, Lynch needed to direct that scene for it to have any hope of that scene not being a complete disaster.

 

[N. Needleman]

As I've said, I love the Josie/drawer pull sequence. I think that scene and episode are when the show changes and everything circles back to the central story. The latter half of S2 also steadily improves after that (IMO).

You have to remember that at the time, in the airing of the series, BOB and the MFAP have not been seen in ages, with Little Mike not being seen since, what, episode 2? To me it is Lynch slapping the audience in the face with the deeper cosmic underpinnings of the entire town, not just the central Laura Palmer story, though Laura is its crux/the one. That carries through the entire remainder of the series, into 2017 (and yes, I do think the ringing in the Great Northern has a connection to Josie but moreso to the wood she was subsumed into, which in turn leads to the convenience store).

I've talked many times about how fascinated I am by Lynch's apparent plans for Josie and Joan Chen. The character's story is classic noir intrigue that gets a little lost along the way, but ultimately it all goes back to the Lodge.

 

[mtwentz]

As for the 'hum', it's also heard at the hospital in Vegas. I personally don't tie it to Josie or the Great Northern or the town of Twin Peaks. My interpretation of the hum is that it indicates we are in a dream, or a dream-like state. I don't think it's that dissimilar from the hum that Cooper hears during his dream in Ep. 2 of Season 1.

 

[N. Needleman]

As for the 'hum', it's also heard at the hospital in Vegas. I personally don't tie it to Josie or the Great Northern or the town of Twin Peaks. My interpretation of the hum is that it indicates we are in a dream, or a dream-like state. I don't think it's that dissimilar from the hum that Cooper hears during his dream in Ep. 2 of Season 1.

I think that's all very true. But I also think it has a related connection to Josie insofar as she was trapped in the wood, her spirit inhabited the Great Northern via the Lodges, etc. And when one is at the Great Northern, the linkage is there, at least for me and particularly re: her relationship to Ben.

 

[Dom]

I seem to remember there's a scene well after Josie's death where Pete is talking to Josie (the way we talk to dead relatives sometimes) while standing in front of a wooden fireplace. Later on, it occurred to me that Pete really was talking to Josie and could see her in the wood. I loved the trapped-in-wood ending. It was straight out of a horror film of that era and was the sort of wonderful random thing that Twin Peaks would throw into the mix. For all season two's manifold weaknesses, there was the joy that the series was so unpredictable.

 

[noname#0]

While I agree with posters like LostintheMovies in the Episode 23 Dugpa thread that it might seem strained or like they were trying too hard to mimick Lynch, I personally love the scene - it's just so delightfully weird and I always loved it, though yes I think it would have been much more amazing had Lynch shot it. I believe the whole sequence was Lynch's idea. I think he literally "phoned it in" when it was decided Chen would leave the show - that was his idea for what would happen the character of Josie, perhaps so he could use her later on (he planned to put her in Episode 29 too as is shown elsewhere in this post and in Jerry's article). I also think some of the reason it gets some flack is the computer generated effects at the time weren't great but I don't think they're all that bad - and they do perhaps make it eerier.

Hey there, do you have a source/link that says how Lynch was involved in this episode? I had always assumed that this was not his idea

 

[Mr. Reindeer]

Hey there, do you have a source/link that says how Lynch was involved in this episode? I had always assumed that this was not his idea

It’s in the book Reflections By Brad Dukes. An essential read if you want to learn about the making of the original series: Amazon product ASIN 061596883X

 

[noname#0]

It’s in the book Reflections By Brad Dukes. An essential read if you want to learn about the making of the original series: Amazon product ASIN 061596883X

Thanks! Buying now

 

[mhb2862]

I think that's all very true. But I also think it has a related connection to Josie insofar as she was trapped in the wood, her spirit inhabited the Great Northern via the Lodges, etc. And when one is at the Great Northern, the linkage is there, at least for me and particularly re: her relationship to Ben.

THE WORD LINKAGE REMINDS ME OF SAUSAGE.

 

[Cappy]

I do wonder how Lynch would’ve executed the drawer pull scene, had he directed it.

So many Lynch ideas are things that only he can effectively commit to film.

 

[Dom]

I do wonder how Lynch would’ve executed the drawer pull scene, had he directed it.

So many Lynch ideas are things that only he can effectively commit to film.

Maybe we'd have seen a hand pushing out of the wood with the mould of a ring on the finger... Josie was a character we saw far too little of and I wish she'd been kept in there for longer. Also, given how Josie's insides were apparently sucked out and she was left weighing next to nothing (lots of garmonbozia in there, because she was so evil!) there could have been some sort of video effect used. I imagine that in The Return we'd have had some sort of weird video effect used when Josie died!

One of the many possibilities following the events of The Return is that Josie is alive in the revised timeline. Imagine the sort of chaos a top gangster could cause if she's married to Twin Peaks' Sheriff!! For that matter, would the FBI even have been involved given Laura never died? Would Ronette being assaulted and drifting into Idaho result in a Blue Rose agent like Coop going to Twin Peaks or would a regular agent have gone there instead?

My guess is that the new timeline has Josie running all organised crime around the town and using her marriage to Harry to keep ahead of the police. Presumably Major Briggs is alive and his dream of meeting a happy, well-balanced Bobby really happens.

 

[Jordan Cole]

Presumably Major Briggs is alive and his dream of meeting a happy, well-balanced Bobby really happens.

In my mind, the older Bobby we see in season 3 possibly went to bed one night, and shared the vision that his father had, but from his own point of view, and this vision stretched across time, and that's the vision Major Briggs told Bobby about, not unlike Cooper and Laura's dream experiences in the Red Room.

 

[asjir]

lots of garmonbozia in there, because she was so evil

garmonbozia is pain and sorrow - indeed in Josie there wasnt much else left