In episode 29, Cooper is walking along a corridor in the Red Room, and Leland Palmer (or his Doppelganger?) pops out and says: "I did not kill anybody."

Well, he jolly well did! As I recall, he killed about 4 people all together.

So why on earth is Leland denying it now? Can anyone explain this to me, please? Thanks.

I suppose he denied it,cause he really didn't want to kill anybody,his body and mind were inhabited by BOB and Leland didn't realise what he had done,he didn't remember after that,so maybe he just wanted to excuse himself to Cooper or kind of,or maybe to make him even more confused.

Yep, he really didn't kill anyone. BOB did. As for why is he saying that. This and a few more encounters in the black lodge sequence kind of remind me of a dream(nightmare). In a dream, random images pop up in your mind and you make the quickest associations. Perhaps David just wanted to confuse us with his twisted vision without losing sense at the same time.

This episode is a damn fine piece of art.

I always considered this line to be the doppelganger laughing about poor Lelands plight. Basically making fun of the fact that they forced him to kill.

Well, my opinion is that it was defenitly Leland who killed Jaques, not BOB.

Well, my opinion is that it was defenitly Leland who killed Jaques, not BOB.

  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Well, my opinion is that it was defenitly Leland who killed Jaques, not BOB.

I believe it was Leland, yes, but through Bob's influence.

Thanks for your ideas on this.

Someone said it is Leland's doppelganger laughing at Leland's situation. I find this very convincing. There is a kind of evil laughter about "Leland" in this particular scene. I think the real Leland is absolutely devastated by what BOB has forced him to do. He really feels full of guilt and sheer anguish, so he wouldn't be laughing about it. So, this is the doppelganger of Leland, from the Black Lodge.

I like the question about Leland killing Jacques. It's ambiguous. It could be just Leland getting revenge on the person he thought killed Laura. On the other hand, it could be BOB influencing him and then fabricating the motive when the police find out and question him...

To the person who said that Leland did not kill anybody that BOB did, I totally disagree. Saying Leland is innocent is a total cop-out; it fails to take into account the METAPHOR of BOB and the spirits. There is both REALISM and SURREALISM at stake here - yes, BOB exists, but he also does not exist.

To the person who said that Leland did not kill anybody that BOB did, I totally disagree. Saying Leland is innocent is a total cop-out; it fails to take into account the METAPHOR of BOB and the spirits. There is both REALISM and SURREALISM at stake here - yes, BOB exists, but he also does not exist.

 Yea, whatever

 Fred, about the hospital - that could be, but if you think about it, BOB has no motive to kill Reno... so I'll pass on this. 

To the person who said that Leland did not kill anybody that BOB did, I totally disagree. Saying Leland is innocent is a total cop-out; it fails to take into account the METAPHOR of BOB and the spirits. There is both REALISM and SURREALISM at stake here - yes, BOB exists, but he also does not exist.

Yea, whatever

Fred, about the hospital - that could be, but if you think about it, BOB has no motive to kill Reno... so I'll pass on this.

Yeah cause Bob is such a careful. well planned Serial Killer....Since when does Bob need a motive to do anything?

Is pissing me off your purpose in life? If you haven't noticed BOB don't just go arround the streets of TP picking random victims. Teresa attracted him, so did Laura and Maddie. As mike said he feeds on pleasure, pain and suffering from the victims. BOB had NO connection to Reno. He didn't experience fear nor anything... He surely didn't attract BOB. Leland simply went there, mad for vengeance(temp. insanity perhaps) and suffocated him. There's no reason for BOB to take revenge for the murder he comitted or any other motive...

since when does BOB need a motive.. ffs, man...

Is pissing me off your purpose in life? If you haven't noticed BOB don't just go arround the streets of TP picking random victims. Teresa attracted him, so did Laura and Maddie. As mike said he feeds on pleasure, pain and suffering from the victims. BOB had NO connection to Reno. He didn't experience fear nor anything... He surely didn't attract BOB. Leland simply went there, mad for vengeance(temp. insanity perhaps) and suffocated him. There's no reason for BOB to take revenge for the murder he comitted or any other motive...

since when does BOB need a motive.. ffs, man...

Are you stoned or something? You are saying that Bob wouldnt get anything (Pleasure/suffering) from killing Renault? Renault did suffer while he died, so Bob had enough reason to kill him. I still think it was Lelnad who killed him, but it was through Bob's influence. The reason Bob didnt start picking off people at random was because Leland would have got caught, and he didnt want to lose his "good Vessel". Oh and the only reason he killed Teresa was cause she was trying to Blackmail him, so it wasnt anything to do with feeding on pleasure/pain/suffering.

Are you sure he only killed Teresa because she was blackmailing him? Remember how Leland says "You look just like my Laura" + Teresa had the ring. I´m sure there was more to the killing that the blackmail...

Now. The Renault muder. I´m really not sure. I´ve always thought it was Leland. I´m sure he was influenced by BOB. He made him cabale of murder. But his motive?

Oh. Btw. Amen to MrsTremonds post!

Ditte

Are you sure he only killed Teresa because she was blackmailing him? Remember how Leland says "You look just like my Laura" + Teresa had the ring. I´m sure there was more to the killing that the blackmail...

Ditte

I always thought the blackmail reason was secondary, too. 

Regarding the murder of Jacques: Dr Jacoby is in the hospital nearby and he smells scorched engine oil, which suggests that BOB is nearby, so surely BOB was possessing Leland when Leland killed Jacques.

Jacoby later corrects himself when he's hypnotized and says he smelled oil in the park (BOB attacked him) and not the hospital (Leland killed Jacques). That's also what makes more sense too, that Leland killed Jacques because he thought he was the killer (what would be the point of BOB killing a suspect? Remember he wanted to frame Ben later) and that BOB attacked Jacoby because he was angry and disturbed to see Laura "resurrected" in the Gazebo.

My own answer is that Leland killed Jacques, not BOB (to the degree that they can be considered separate; I largely agree with MrsT that the realities portrayed don't entirely overlap). But I'm only about 80% convinced of this, mostly because of the evidential value of the Leland's Doppelganger scene.

One thing is clear -- if it was BOB (or "Evil Leland", to integrate the metaphor) who killed Jacques, then Leland's confession was BOB also. And it makes that scene even more interesting than it already is, the thought that he's actually psyching them out there in the interrogation room -- not to mention the scene with Judge Sternwood, and others I know I'm forgetting...

Jacoby later corrects himself when he's hypnotized and says he smelled oil in the park (BOB attacked him) and not the hospital (Leland killed Jacques).

Doesn´t he start saying that he smells it at the hospital and then remembers the smell in the park? And then Cooper says "okay, let´s get back to the hospital" or something...

This is actually a great clue to the viewers that Leland is the killer (Laura´s) because we already know that Leland killed Jacques. Jacoby smelled the masked man in the park who was watching Maddy... To me it seems like a clue...

So great point, Fred. This was BOB´s work...

Ditte 

That's a very ineteresting insight, Jaime. Was it BOB psyching them out when he was interrogated about Jacques' murder and Judge Sternwood...it is certainly plausible. I would like to think it is Leland reacting to the heartbreak he felt over Laura's death, but then again at that time, we didn't know he was the killer. So, in the end this is totally up to the viewer's interpreation...I think Gordon's point, that Jacoby corrected himself under hypnosis that he smelled engine oil in the park and thus it was BOB that attacked Jacoby in Easter Park...okay, didn't everything that occured in episodes 6 and 7 occur in the same night. So, what Gordon is saying is that BOB attacked Jacoby, BOB fled Leland sometime in the night and then Leland killed Jacques. Of course, Leland had no conscious memory of BOB's comings and goings, so it could fit and I personally go with this, but that's because that's the way I would like to believe they happened. However, as I said it's up to the viewer.    

I don't remember the actual dialogue but the script for the episode says: 

COOPER
Do you smell anything? Burned engine oil?

JACOBY
No. I smell engine oil in the park.

I'm with smokey that it's up to the viewer to decide, is not an accident that they decided to leave this matter ambiguous... But to me the answer is quite clear judging the evidences. BOB was not a brutal beast who killed without thinking, he wanted to remain in Leland, didn't want him to get caught. That's why he put the animal hair (from Ben's office) in Maddy, why he phoned Laura from Ben's office, why he laughed when he was informed Ben was arrested... He wanted Coop and co. to get another suspect and that's why he killed Leland and left the vessel when he was arrested. The scenario of BOB killing Jacques (a suspect) makes no sense to me judging his future actions and that's enough for me.

Something else, I think that the scorched engine oil smell doesn't only indicate BOB's presence, but BOB being furious or disturbed... In the traincar, in the traffic jam, when Maddy was killed, when Jacoby was attacked,...

Ah, but Jacoby doesn't actually say "no"!

He says there was a peculiar smell -- not Jacques "voiding his bowels" -- but when Coop prompts him on the scorched engine oil, his response is to jump tracks and say "there was engine oil at the park" without a yes or no answer to the hospital... I'm 93% certain of it.

I often thought that Leland had some control over bob and he could make him leave causing him to feel remorse. There were examples of this early on, and then bob took over exclusivly when leland goes white. A possible theroy of mine, what you think?

Yes, I knew the dialogue wasn't like that on screen but I wasn't sure. Thanks Jamie... As I said they probably wanted to leave things ambiguous.

Leland says he couldn't remember what he had done when BOB was gone so if BOB was Jacques killer I think Leland wouldn't remember all that... Yes, I know that there's the possibility that he's BOB when he's arrested, questioned and in the trial, but I doubt it. He's Leland all those times... When he's arrested he's having memories of the summers in Pearl Lakes, when he's questioned he's sad talking about screaming cells, grief, etc. and in the trial or in other scenes with Sternwood he seems very Leland...

I don't think Leland has any control over BOB, who has been inside him since he was a child. That's why when we have to consider all the actions Leland did in the series and the film we must consider that BOB is always there; sometimes he's in the shadows, letting Leland to surface, but is always there. That's why while I don't agree () those who think BOB killed Jacques or that Leland did under BOB's influence have a point...

I always considered this line to be the doppelganger laughing about poor Lelands plight. Basically making fun of the fact that they forced him to kill.

That would also be my answer to the original question. Ray Wise's acting sggests that, too, and he acted well enough to trust it. He's obviously making fun of Cooper, and most unpleasant fun!

There is both REALISM and SURREALISM at stake here - yes, BOB exists, but he also does not exist.

Mrs Tremond, that was a good one! A superb conclusion to the rather pointless argument between those who say of course BOB existed! because of this, this, this and this (that we see in the films) and those who prefer BOB is just a symbol, the evil that men do.
Obviously he is both.