Andy and Lucy. We often see them as a couple and see how fun and funny they are.  Some fans look at them as the wise fools of the show, or, some unfortunately see them as merely the fools.  Some are completely surprised at some of the turns that they make during the course of the three seasons of Twin Peaks.  These popular characters have had a lot of discussions around them, but let’s analyze them through the definitions of their names (and a short explanation of a popular Lucy in history). 

Lucy is connected with many other names, Luke, Luca, Lucius, Lucifer.  Thus it is connected with the term light or light bringer.  It seems interesting that she is connected to the light.  She is the one to ultimately destroy Mr. C. She brings the light back to the Sheriff’s station.  She also is a bearer of light.  I mentioned in one of my previous posts in the Twin Peaks Between Two Worlds group, that Lucy decides to leave town, for an unrelated reason albeit, in the same episodes that Mike is officially unleashed in Demons and that Leland kills Maddie in Lonely Souls.  These are some of the darkest episodes of the original series.  Therefore the character whose name literally means Light is gone from Twin Peaks as the darkness takes over, and just as the revelations about Leland’s evil is slowly uncovered throughout the course of the next two episodes, Lucy returns to town and allows the light to return.  When she is angry at Andy and it seems that her own light is dimmed, the sheriff’s station seems unitedly on edge.  When she’s too subdued on finding out she’s pregnant, Agent Cooper notices as she’s usually the happiest character no matter what’s happening.  It’s odd whenever you see her really angry.  Also, it’s stretch, but her Miss Twin Peaks music is some of the happiest music in the series.

It’s also interesting that Lucy speaks most about the fear of “Lights going out.”  Lucy has a fear of going into labor during a hypothetical electrical outage.  Lucy discusses, in season 3, a weird electrical outage when Lucy and Andy wake up in the middle of the night and she is completely bewildered about the time and place, because of how dark it is.  Lucy is worried the most when the guys return from the siege at Dead Dog, and presents them with the electrical outage in the Sheriff’s Station.  Also, if you want to read it in that way, she seems a little concerned looking up in the sky during the thunderstorm in Episode 11.  Was she worried about the lights going out then?  

She is also the most observational character in the show, bringing things to light  She tells everyone exactly where things are located.  She observes what Chad is doing to the mail and gets to the bottom of it.  Lucy also observes the stupidity going on between Andy and Dick and tries to, at many, times to get them to cut it out.  She observes how they both don’t understand a thing about what happened to Nicky and calls in Dr. Hayward to tell everyone what really happened.  She observes what Mike and Bobby were saying to each other in the pilot and was able to report it to Cooper.  She also is very keen on other types of observational issues.   According to Kylee Karre in the Twin Peaks Between Two Worlds group, Lucy wears two time pieces as necklaces just after Part 8.  Kylee said it could be because Lucy observed the splitting of time caused by Part 8 and just when Part 17 occurs, Lucy is back to wearing one time piece.  She is the only one to observe how silly men are around Lana.  According to Kimmy Robertson, she and David Lynch agreed that Lucy has the pulse of the town in her grasp.  She knows exactly what’s going on.  Because she observes, sees, and hears a lot.  That maybe is the reason that she is afraid of what happens when everyone’s not there at night, because she can’t observe it.  It’s like that old statement, if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? 

It is also interesting when you consider Lucy in connection to the legend of Saint Lucia.  As the patron saint of Sweden, it is also interesting as there is a great Scandanavian presence in the Pacific Northwest.  It is also interesting as Lucia got martyred with her eyes being dug out. In some cases, and this may be a bit of a stretch, when one loses one scent, another takes over, stronger.  As Lucy Moran is also an observational character, she relies so much on her eyes, but she relies most on her ears.  She hears the most.  Almost all of these observational genius moves Lucy does, is through her hearing.  She doesn’t need her eyes.  She is the one that really ‘listens to the sounds.’  She hears the outdoors when Albert calls Dale in Episode 1.  She hears the little bells like at Easter Park when Bobby fakes being Leo to frame James for being an “easy rider.” She hears the aforementioned conversation between Bobby and Mike.  She is the first to hear Agent Cooper’s voice and know instinctively that Mr. C is not the Agent Cooper that she knew.  She also hears Sheriff Frank Truman and how his voice sounds very, very distant.  It’s it any wonder that her job involves phones?  Hearing and listening is such an important skill that Lucy masters.

Lucy is then the one who brings the light and who observes, especially through hearing the sounds, all things.  But what about Andy?

Andy’s name means masculine or manly.  But it would seem that Andy is the least masculine man on the show.  Ed, Harry, even Hank have the physical strength and the typical masculine qualities.  However, could Andy’s name defined as being masculine or strong or manly radically redefine what masculinity is about?

Does masculinity rely on sustained strength?  Or does Andy apply his strength when he needs to with some innate wisdom?  Yes, he cries every time he sees a dead body, but it’s very courageous that he stays in the Sheriff’s Department.  The old maxim of “Courage isn’t the absence of fear but the knowledge that there is something more important than fear” comes to mind with Andy.  He knows that serving the public and protecting the citizens of Twin Peaks is more important than the fear he feels around dead bodies or crime scenes.  He faces that fear every day and beats it down.  

He also knows when to assert himself at appropriate times.  The “Listen Lucy Moran just listen” speech in Episode 9 comes to mind.  He asserts himself.  He was also the one to first make sure that Dick and he kept the peace between themselves, to make sure Lucy felt secure.  He doesn’t boast about it either.  Andy also is the one to stand up to Albert and actually renders him the most speechless.  Every time Harry applies his brute strength or threats of brute strength at Albert, Albert comes back at Harry with the same snark.  But when Andy comes back with “Listen Albert Rozerfeld. I don’t like the way you talk smart about Sheriff Truman or anyone. You just shut your mouth!”  That got Albert’s attention.  It wasn’t brutality but a firm application of insisting on respect for all that got that pacifist’s attention.  And Albert did shut his mouth.  He uttered no unkind word at Andy ever again.

Also, though this is a side remark, Andy is the one where we discuss his virility the most.  We discuss whether or not he is Wally’s dad.  He’s the only character to have discussions about his “sperms.” And when they are confirmed to be a “whole damn town” it is almost as if we are reminded that Andy codes and identifies as a man.  

Andy is also the one that shows that he does what is necessary when shooting Jacques.  When gently helping Naido.  To put everything together in Part 17 and evacuate the basement of the Sheriff’s to keep everyone alive.  He’s the one to stand up to Chad and insist Chad treat Margaret with respect and also to be the one to attempt to put him in his place.  But at the same time, he is a good spouse to Lucy in Season 3.  He comforts her and gently tries to correct her mistaken assumptions about cell phones without belittling her.  He knows when to give up on the issue of the chair color, even though through the argument he never, ever strongly insists.  He knows that this “argument” isn’t a serious issue so he keeps his tone light.  

Being truly masculine isn’t about showing brute strength or force, it’s about being a gentle man.  And that’s what Andy is a gentle man.  

Isn’t it funny how well both Lucy and Andy’s names reveal about their characters!?