Nadine – why does she need silent drape runners? Who is she for Laura?

I’ve been re-watching seasons 1 & 2 recently, slowly and patiently, through ”Find Laura eyes”. I’ve been taking notes, and at some point I will post here a list of random ideas & observations for anyone to mull over. But I will not refrain myself from posting a thing or two along the way, when something ”bigger” comes up.

Yesterday I watched S1E2 and started to think about Nadine and her silent drape runners more seriously, as a sort of abstraction of Laura’s split and her ”escaping” to Red Room. It’s not a particularly new idea – many have made the connection before, but I haven’t really read anything about it after having my brain tuned permanently to the ”Find Laura frequency”.

***

There are many women in Twin Peaks story who have been shot in the eye / head: Nadine is one of them, Ruth Davenport, Darya and Phyllis Hastings among the others. It’s not a long shot (!) to understand being shot in the eye (or head) as an abstraction of brain / mind splitting.

Nadine survived the shot and didn’t leave. She decided to stay with the person who was responsible for the trauma. She’s split in two – but it’s like only one half remains. The other half is literally blind. It seems dead, hidden or missing, long gone.

Could it be that Nadine is Laura’s idea of her possible future, had she decided to continue living her life in Twin Peaks despite the split and the trauma?

***

The eye-patch isn’t the only thing going on with Nadine that implies a split. There are of course the drapes.

For Laura, the drapes of the Red Room provide a sort of haven, a safe space to escape her reality, a place where she once hid a part of herself. What do the drapes mean for Nadine?

Nadine wants to be able to open and close the drapes as quietly as possible. Why? Well, that would enable her to enter and exit the draped space, her personal ”red room”, without anyone else noticing.

Is Nadine trying to find a way to enter her own ”Red Room” in secret? Perhaps to be re-united with her hidden half and become a whole person again?

Is the story of Nadine a way for Laura to test whether or not it’s possible to continue living in Twin Peaks despite the split and the trauma and somehow come up with a way of becoming The One again?

Nadine thinks that the success of silent drape runners would make her (and Ed) ”so rich”. She seems to see that as the only possible way to happiness. When the plan fails, she chooses death – just like Laura did, at least on a spiritual level.

***

Then there’s the ”engine oil” (or grease) Ed drips on the cotton balls… What role does the oil play?

Well, Nadine doesn't seem to able to make her drape runners completely silent by herself. She needs ”help”. And in this case it comes from the very person who originally caused her trauma.

As with the Glastonbury Grove, engine oil (scorched or not) and the movement of drapes are connected. As Log Lady says ”Oil is an opening to a gateway.” It is required for the drapes to run smoothly.

If you want to re-enter your own "red room" and face the hidden part of yourself, you need to smell the oil. You need to face the trauma.

(Or something.)