Twin Peaks Character Breakdown Laura Palmer 

Laura was horribly used by everyone. Her dad, BOB, Leo, Jacques, Ben Horne, Emory Battis, Blackie, Jacoby (he had a crush on her, had some perverted pleasure in the therapy with Laura), even Bobby (who cheated her on with Shelly), not to mention the other men. They all used her. The others pretended to be blind: her mom, Donna, James, Harold. Laura was alone, Laura was lonely, Laura was betrayed. I feel so sorry for her!

To me Laura is the one, the one mystery of mysteries in Twin Peaks. The one whose motivations are hard to understand, and the one who is not relatable, unless you're an abuse victim yourself and struggle with the same feelings and demons as Laura did. So when you're an abuse victim yourself, Laura's story might help you to cope and survive and become Carrie. And when you're not an abuse victim and can't relate to Laura, her story might make you wonder, how many women (and men) are out there who suffer from abuse, silently, which might make you more gentle towards people in general. Besides all that, Sheryl Lee really makes that character come to life. Moreover, she was destined to play/be that character. There is more of Laura Palmer in Sheryl Lee, at least there was, almost like Laura was real and one of the infesting spirits of the Lodge, and Laura infested Sheryl Lee. So, again, there is a double side, Laura Palmer the shadow self of Sheryl Lee, maybe? And that connection makes Laura Palmer as well as Sheryl Lee even more interesting and at the heart of it all. Laura is the one.

This was your best character breakdown, which makes sense because Laura's character is so on-point psychologically. She's the perfect symbol of the cycle of abuse. First comes the abuse. Next comes the taking back of power through engaging in similar situations, only this time voluntarily. She dilutes the impact of her sexual experiences with Bob by making them merely one of many. The more mundane you make sex, especially violent sex, the less you need to feel like a victim. The comments about bodily and sexual autonomy are spot on. The final step in the cycle is becoming the abuser. Laura valiantly resists this step, giving her a redemptive ending if not a happy one. Excellent character.

Sheryl Lee is a fantastic and beautiful talent and made this character real.

She truly is a haunting dream that the town cannot forget.

I didn't think a character analysis would make me cry, but this one did. I really feel for Laura Palmer.

laura's story always brought me to tears and i'm ever disgusted by how much season 3 ruined and shit on it

I wish there was a character breakdown of Harold. They could have worked with this character little bit longer, because he was so intriguing, mysterious, understanding and king, yet very disturbed and dissapointed by the reality surrounding him.

She is so beautiful I think💙

I am a man, but an abuse survivor (from a woman). I see many aspects of Laura in myself

For an underrated actress like Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer leading such a double life in the film "FWWM", who else could have pulled off like her. Plus when it comes to the red room scenes in the movie & t.v. series, she's done such a good job with the night & day difference between the cheerfulness teary laughter Laura seeing that angel & that eerily blood curdling screaming doppelganger of her's.

Probably the most depressing character breakdown I've ever seen.

My thoughts on Laura Palmer/Twin Peaks: somehow the show and the movie affect me slowly but thoroughly. The show has a mystery and a soap opera feel most of the time and Fire Walk With Me has a very pleasing aesthetic. Add to that the jazzy music. And the beautiful, dark Laura Palmer theme, which captures her story truthfully. But under this nice veneer there is this unspeakable tragedy of Laura Palmer, which makes you sad and even cry a little, when you focus only on her, when you ignore everything else, including the mystery stuff, like the lodge, and even the image of Bob being an evil spiritual entity. Because then you're left only with the hard truth that Laura was extremely suffering, falling, fighting against her suffering, and ultimately coming to the point where she needed to die to be relieved of her pain. The only upside is that she didn't become a killer herself, that she won the battle against becoming evil. But at what price? I actually would love to know how many real life abuse victims and those around them loving them are drawn to Twin Peaks. How many Lauras, Donnas and Jameses find some sort of catharsis and maybe comfort in this story?

This is an amazing video and such a complex breakdown of the character. I love it.

Laura Palmer is my mirror

These videos are great man, thank you so much! Michael Snow you son of Mike Frost

This is totally amazing! You're doing god's work my man. Seriously, this deserves about 10 million more views. Please never stop what you're doing, it's awesome

One of the best TV shows ever!!!

Your breakdowns are the best Michael!

I love the scene with Donna about the floating in space, it is chilling and extremely sad all at the same time! Great video :)

Man, I just found this. This is amazing and I will join my friend in re-watching this series and Fire: Walk With Me.

Excellent video!

Well done!

thank u!

Люблю Твин Пикс! Моя ностальгия детства!👍👍👍👍👍

exellent breakdown

she was dat gurrrlll. rip to my homegirl.

Very Nice!!

Michael please do episodic reactions videos. We need your expert analysis for the new series

20:44 I've recently found this* chapter of an essay from 1999 which seems to suggest that the Red Room is the site of the crime, more precise the inverted version of traditional crime scenes in TV. Cooper gets his answers through the clues he sees or is told in his dream state of mind. I suggest in this interpretation of the Red Room, the red curtains represent blood, as does the red suit of the Man From Another Place, who'd become The Arm, taken from the body of a former serial killer who took pleasure in murdering. That's why The Arm likes to dance, it's a dance of joy from killing. The Arm didn't kill Laura, but MIKE was sort of an accessory. Maybe Laura didn't see anything bad in sitting next to The Arm or MIKE in The Return, since she wanted to die anyway. On the same page you'll find a quote by Michael J. Anderson, who stated in an interview, that Cooper was falling in love with Laura, hence the "birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air." That could explain partially, why Cooper is still in the Lodge 25 years later, and Leland tells him to find Laura, because Cooper wants to find Laura, and save her, but he can't save her, and so he's back in the Lodge with her at the end of The Return, cause that's the only place where he can find Laura. I don't know though how to work in Carrie in that speculation. * www.thecityofabsurdity.com/papers/detective22.html (the page didn't load in Firefox, but in Brave and in Opera GX. I didn't try out other browsers. If you have to click your way to the essay with thecityofabsurdity as starting point, then click on Papers -> The Detective in Twin Peaks -> 2.2. The Red Room Dream / The Female Victim as Subject. I haven't yet read the whole essay, but the author had some pretty good ideas about a third season would play out in terms of doppelgangers.)

I tend to think that Laura is a resident of the White Lodge, and given that I also think the White Lodge and Black Lodge are mirrors of each other, she has a mirror of herself in the Black Lodge.

Even though I barely understood Fire Walk With Me I always thought Sheryl Lee should have gotten the Best Actress award. What a performance. I'm sad that she died of cancer. He movie Bliss was so amazing.

I saw Bob in this episode way more than I should have. xD

She was 17

If this story were a real life event, the giant should and would have been there for her, because he created her. I have good spirits around me to balance out the presence of the negative ones. The negative ones being predominantly human and the positive ones being a mixture of human and non human beings.

there is no character in any other series or movie ive ever identified with more

Should I watch fire walk with me?

I identify with Laura Palmer immensely, to the point of carrying a child... The pot was always laced. The red bulb in my lamp would disappear by morning. The incense lingered in my mind. The excuses always came readily. The drugs helped. And now, I'm healed. God does work in retrobutional [sic] ways. I'm not against abortion. Contraire mon cheri...[double sic] But I felt it wasn't my right to take his/her life away. I'm not a bible thumper. But, damn! H.E. is now dead...oh well

She was 17 not 18

you keep saying 18 years old, the girls are 17.

I see a parallel between Twin Peaks and the 1996 novel "Medea" by Christa Wolf. Something evil has happened and a whole town suffers from the repercussions.

I've always struggled to see Laura's good side

this is the oldest looking high school student I've ever seen