Not too much to say about Carl, but I love Harry Dean Stanton and he of course deserves a place in these threads... Though Carl is not apparently a mysterious character, basically one of those magnificent secondary characters that inhabit Lynch's movies, with many groovy lines and amusing things we later remember, there are some things about him that we've discussed in the past and maybe it's time to resurrect....

The most popular is the meaning of his "I've already gone places", a strange an unexpected scene which has puzzled every person that I've showed the film... I remember that old theory about the curious woman being Carl's wife and that they beat each other, another one about Carl being in prison, etc. What I believe is that Carl, like that woman or many other characters in the series, *knows* something strange is going on... Fat Trout's has always been a quiet place, but now the Lodge mafia has targeted it, a girl who lives there is murdered, the Tremonds visit, Chet disappear, even the LMFAP had some influence there... And that's what Carl is noticing, knowing without knowing... I'd like to hear theories about this, it's been long since we last talked about it...

Another interesting thing is to see Carl as some kind of doppleganger of Ben and Fat Trout's as the dark side of the Great Northern, always from an artistic POV... Deer Meadow vs. Twin Peaks, you know... However, I can't find a single thing that connect both characters, other that they run a place where people sleep and that both had wonderful one-liners... The cup of good morning America, uncle's day in a whorehouse, the valium for Margaret, the 'god-damn-hot-water" lady, etc.

BTW, take a closer look to those notes from Carl's door if you haven't already... They're priceless: "Rod, my cat is gone", "My fridge doesn't stay cold", "I'm moving out", "My trailer has a leak, fix it by tomorrow"...

If Ben and Audrey are essentially the King and Queen of the Great Northern, then in the Fat Trout that equates to Carl and... the shaky old lady?  It does fit the mirroring/reversals mode...

I generally take the "gone places" speech as an apologetic argument of defense regarding the dingy world he inhabits, with an oblique secondary reference to and acknowledgement of the stranger goings-on involved.

 I don't believe he is a doppelganger of anyone. All the weird things on that scene were created after the script was done. On the script Carl wasn't that weird and didn't say anything about places, and the curious woman was just a curious woman with no hints of her being connected to Lodges or anything. But that's the thing that leads me into thinking that there is much more to them than they show to you. I don't believe that Lynch would've add that odd and a bit scary soundtrack to that scene. Also they both, the woman and Carl, seem to be trembling a bit. The curious woman acts a bit like LMFAP and Carl is a bit like Jeffries. That leads me to think that maybe Carl has visited the Lodge and he was let out of there and after that he decided to "take it easy" and to stay out of any "weird" things he might encounter.

I don't quite remember how the scene goes on, but didn't Desmond notice the ring on the finger of Teresa just before the woman did her appearance? Was there a cut to the number six right after or in the middle of the scene? (damn, I just watched the whole movie a week ago and I've seen it over 20 times and still I can't remember what really happened on that scene). There sure is that noise and music right at the moment we see the woman approaching the trailer. It can't be there without a reason.

 Somehow everything leads me to think that the curious woman is watching Carl's actions. She's like a guard(ian) or something like that. She makes sure that Carl doesn't get involved in the Lodge business (anymore). Although if Carl would've been in the Lodge he would've recognized the old woman and her grandson at the trailer park. Or who knows... Maybe even Cooper didn't ever meet them. What do you think of this theory? That the woman is keeping an eye on Carl?

I found this video clip from the internet:

http://twinpeaksreferencebook.com/video/doppelganger001.mov

It seems to connect Carl and Annie together but I think that would be extremely far fetched theory. I guess this clip wasn't made that seriously. Great clip though. 

Well...I don't have too much to say about Carl Rodd,he's just a secondary character,very mysterious though,but actually who in TP is not such?lol

I also think he's connected with the Lodge(and he might had been there,like Rami said),and if David had decided to put him in the movie,that means he's important and might also help somehow

Rami...great video!

Beware of BOB

When I call out no one can hear me,when I whisper he thinks the message is for him only..my little voice inside my throat,I always think there must be something that I've done or something I can do...But no one no one comes to help,he says,a little girl like you...

As I said, I meant doppleganger strictly from an artistic POV... I don't believe any human character is a shadowself of another in a supernatural level... But it's quite clear that Deer Meadow is a dark reflection of Twin Peaks and we have a lot of "dopps"...

Irene vs. Norma, Fat Trout's vs. Great Northern, Carl vs. Ben, Cable vs. Truman, Hap's vs. RR, etc. Laura was loved by many, and everyone knew her, Teresa was a drifter, a lonely girl who didn't even have family that claimed the body... And we even have scenes or details that mirror others in a dark way: Coop grabs Harry's nose to make a funny thing, Chet grabs Cliff's to shut his mouth.... :)

I've never been interested in any theories making anything supernatural out of poor Carl.

What I see in the fabulous "gone places" moment is a man who for a blink realizes that some things are far beyond his control, things which he senses are a threat. Maybe not directly for him but they are around him.

I doubt if Carl had any intuition of those things being supernatural. But for that one moment he was a man who faced the unspoken. Probably that is why this scene makes such an impression - it grabs the human wonder for things out of this world.

What Gordon described as "knowing without knowing" might be the closest to what I think.

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

I have many different tasks, but the one that most interests me is the study of UFO's.

When they first wake up Carl Rodd, everything seems pretty much ordinary and humdrum. He complains about having to show them the trailer. He goes and gets them some coffee. They look around the trailer.

But then, suddenly, the atmosphere changes. There is a feeling of unease or fear... a feeling that something is about to happen, but you don't know what... the presence of something you cannot actually see. This mood envelops everyone: the Curious Woman, Carl Rodd and the two FBI agents. They don't know what it is or how to put it into words.

In the face of it, Carl Rodd suddenly loses all his confidence. This usually witty and wisecracking man struggles for words. He stammers. Eventually he says, "I've already gone places..." which does not exactly express the strange mood, because it cannot be expressed in words.

That's why FWWM is such a brilliant film: it has scenes like this which convey a feeling that cannot be expressed in words. I think this is what films should do. Otherwise, you could write it as a novel or essay.