Part 8 was full of mystery. One of the biggest mysteries is “What is the frug?”
No one is really sure what to call the amphibian-bug thing that hatched on August 5, 1956 but “frug” seems to describe it best. (Here at TPG we have nicknamed this thing as “Marcia’ because it was hatched the same day the actress who played Marcia on The Brady Bunch was born. So we will call the frug Marcia from here on out.) The frug has the body of a mutated frog and the wings of a locust or roach.
The interesting thing about the frug is that it is mentioned in the Access Guide to Twin Peaks which was published 25+ years ago. Here’s a screenshot of that page
(I can’t help but mention the sentence that talks about a a house floating in the middle of a lake in which there is a woman whose body is covered in flying frogs. Reminds me of the “castle” in the middle of the purple sea, even though Senorita Dido isn’t covered in frogs.)
In Part 8, Marcia the frug hatches in the New Mexico desert and crawls into the “Girl’s” mouth when she is put to sleep listening to the chanting of Abe the Woodsman over the radio. Before this we saw MOAB vomit out a stream of vomit which not only contained BOB in some sort of organic bubble but also small speckled eggs. Soon after we see The Giant (???????) produce a golden orb with Laura’s face in it. Dido places the Laura orb into a strange flute type machine that sends it into Earth.
The question ultimately becomes – is Marcia the frug carrying BOB, Laura or something else entirely and implanting something into the Girl. So much of this depends upon WHO the girl is. And depending upon who the girl is also helps determine WHAT this thing is. We’re going to explore 3 avenues.
The Frug Carries Laura’s Essence
If we believe this, then it’s likely the girl is Sarah Palmer in 1956. The frug has entered her and is delivering Laura’s essence which will be born into a future child in the early 1970s. This theory is generally straightforward but does have some problems.
The first problem is that the egg the frug hatched from is speckled like the eggs MOAB spewed. Whatever MOAB is spewing cannot be good thus cannot be Laura who is good. And this makes sense. If frug is delivering Laura, then it could be said that the orb changed into a speckled egg so as not to be found by evil beings.
The second problem is that this egg and the Woodsmen seem to be connected. When Abe the Woodsman repeats his chant, people fall asleep which gave the frug a chance to enter the girl. This is a very valid point which makes the possibility of the frug carrying Laura’s essence unlikely. For this to be true, we also have to come to the understanding that the White Lodge (?) denizens knew that at some point, Abe would put “Sarah” asleep with his chant and the bug would then be able to enter the girl.
If the girl is Sarah, then it does open several huge possibilities about Sarah and about Laura. But we won’t explore those at this time since we would be jumping into fan fiction.
Read more about who the girl (and boy) could be.
The Frug Carries BOB
If we believe this, then it’s likely the girl is BOB’s first host. BOB needs an initial host in order to fully form and so he choose this young girl (or the frug choose it for him). Again, straightforward, but we have several issues.
The first problem is that we didn’t see BOB in an egg. He was in some sort of organic-looking bubble. He seemed to be different from the rest of the eggs. I can’t think of any reason why this organic bubble carrying BOB would change into a speckled egg at this point. At least with the previous idea, we can explain away the change but here it just doesn’t make sense.
The second problem is why did BOB lay “dormant” for 11 years. Unless of course it took MOAB’s vomit 11 years to arrive to earth. I think the latter is unlikely and when MOAB vomited up those eggs, she vomitted them up in 1945 right here on Earth. I might even be willing to say that MOAB was actually created via the nuclear blast or was already here when the blast happened, and became more powerful with the blast. This latter description may be more accurate when you include The Secret History of Twin Peaks book, and believe that Jack Parsons brought forth Babalon.
The third problem is that in 1956, Leland is a young boy (around 11-12) and is being tormented by BOB in Pearl Lakes. It’s not possible, as far as we know, for BOB to be both in New Mexico in a bug and also flicking matches at Leland. The only workaround for this is a time/location portal or Leland is lying. We cannot forget that BOB and Mike ran with each other for some time before Mike saw the face of God and cut off his arm. Timeline-wise, this doesn’t really work.
Because of these three problems, I think it’s highly unlikely that “Marcia” is delivering BOB to the girl.
Side note – something has always bothered me about the organic nature of BOB’s “blob” in the vomit scene. It isn’t part of the vomit unlike the eggs. It almost seems like BOB is outside the vomit and is just along for the ride. Dare I say — he has taken this chance to enter our world. For many years, we have talked about something Robert Engels once said about BOB — that he came from a world made of garmonbozia — a world of creamed corn. Like many, I laughed this off. I’m beginning to wonder if this wasn’t a joke and maybe more serious than we realize. There is a possibility that MOAB didn’t create BOB — but instead BOB used the nuclear explosion to enter our wold through MOAB. After arriving on Earth, BOB has been interacting with the dark forces of the Black Lodge because he has a bigger agenda. The Giant (???????) has recognized this and has created a plan to bring balance back to our world and the worlds of the Black and White Lodges which are ancient places. Time will tell if any of this is true.
The Frug Carries Something Else Entirely
Because the first two are highly unlikely (but really cool ideas), it’s more likely that the frug is carrying something else entirely. And this poor girl is in for a really bad morning one day. The frug is likely mutating into something supernatural — maybe a creature that we have seen above the Convenience Store – like the jumping man.
Some people have posted some close-up shots of Marcia and the Jumping Man from FWWM and have suggested that they have similar faces — the mask with the long nose. If we go along with this line – the Jumping Man “jumps” – as do frogs. Take a close look at the image below – I’ve zoomed in on the frug and I’ve circled it’s head. You can make out a pointy “nose” (click image to make it bigger).
Summary
In the end I think the most likely option is number 3 — either some entity other than Laura and BOB that we have seen or maybe not seen. For much of the week after the airing of Part 8, I was working on the idea that the Girl is Sarah and the frug was carrying Laura’s essence. Even though I do believe this is a possibility (and love the idea), I have come around to the idea that it is highly unlikely on both counts.
Even moreso, I believe it is even more unlikely that the frug has anything to do with BOB directly and I don’t believe the Girl is BOB’s first host. The timeline just doesn’t work here. And if we do discover this, then we’re going to have to make sense of some pretty big inconsistencies between Seasons 1/2 and The Return.
Wondering why it is assumed that the moab vomit scene is in the timeframe of the 40’s/50’s and not in the modern timeframe. Woodsmen pull BOB in orb form out of bad coop. BOB is in orb form alongside the vomit. Could it have been juxtaposition? I know the screen is indicating the exact date beforehand, but does that necessitate the Moab scene being in that timeframe? Just a thought. Anything negate this idea? Thanks
I don’t think much negates the idea. And it very well may be the case and I’ll have to make some corrections if that is true.
BUT here’s what I would say — that scene is black and white. The scene zooming into the mushroom cloud and then every scene after the mushroom cloud is all in black and white. I tend to think that is past.
The “flute thingy” that Laura’s orb goes into, and Laura orb, are colored which may suggest an inter dimensional time change.
I do find it odd that once we go inside the mushroom cloud almost everything is in color except for the first couple of scenes and the last couple of scenes. I believe that these two transition periods is us entering a timeless moment and then exiting into past.
Right now I don’t see anything that suggests MOAB’s vomit is anything other than past. Babalon was brought forth (either by Jack Parsons or government – read Secret History) and the bomb either brought her forth or created a portal into other worlds, giving her immense power. I’m not even convinced that MOAB produced BOB but rather BOB was brought forth from some other place onto Earth through her apperance or through the bomb’s explosion.