In Defense of James!

He is from TWIN PEAKS, which is a show created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It is weird/cheesy/funny/sentimental/meaningful all at the same time. A friend and an art teacher both recommended it to me a long time ago, but I was too young and dumb to appreciate it. Now I love it.

Before you read, be warned that this article contains many spoilers to Twin Peaks the series (all the seasons)!

I think James is a great character. So what if he sings that one really cheesy love song with a high voice. And so what if it's 25 years later, and he's still singing the same song. And so what, if he'd been singing it to two different girls.

It might seem cringey and not self-aware, because “Just You” is being played to two girls at the same time. But if you listen to that song, there's an echo to it, so it actually sounds like two different voices singing, with one just slightly behind the other. So, maybe each individual voice really does mean “Just You” to the one girl it's addressing. In that sense, he is totally sincere and he isn't two-timing anybody. James is just fragmented into two voices. I actually think this plays perfectly to the theme of Twin Peaks, a town in which almost everyone has two sides, and two loves. Also, “Just You” is in a very high pitch, which could be representative of the voices of the girls themselves. I think in love songs sang by men, the lyrics are actually about what women want them to say, so in a way it's the voice of a woman. It would be weird if that song is sang in a more stereotypical male voice, I think it would take away from its charm.

I also thought it was funny that James doesn't understand that Jessica Szohr's husband would punch him for flirting with his wife. That's pretty stupid! But so what. No wonder why the rubber-gloved boy is paired with with James and not anyone else. They're both functioning with the same pure-hearted courage. And if you're gonna have someone this bull-headed with their good intentions, it's probably a good idea for them to be paired with someone with super-human strength.

BTW For those of you who don't watch Twin Peaks and don't plan on it, here's a short description of the James part of the show. But if you don't wanna be spoiled, don't read!

In a small town, a girl got murdered. She had a boyfriend (well several really but there was only one that was a real boyfriend), and his name is James. James had a motorcycle and looks like a bad boy but he's really a good boy. After the girl got murdered, James got together with her best-friend. They were happy for a while and then the dead girl's cousin came to town. It got all confusing for James because the cousin looked exactly like his dead girlfriend. There was a scene in which the three of them sat together to sing a song. The song was called “Just You”, and James was the singer, and the two girls were back-up singers and they stared at him while they sang. Now James is pretty confused so he drove off to another town, where he met an older lady and almost immediately got together with her. The older lady and her secret lover (other secret lover, besides James) plotted together to frame James for murder of her abusive husband. James was very upset, so he went back home. But he eventually testifies in court so that the lady is not completely screwed over. James sends a postcard from Mexico.

Here's a summary of James parts from The Return, which is filmed 25 years later:

James is singing the exact same song, “Just You”, at this club house in his home-town, Twin Peaks. His back-up singers are two young women who look kind of like his dead girlfriend's cousin and her best-friend. Women who grew up with James think James is cool and has always been cool. Jessica Szohr is sitting in the audience and very moved by James's song. James likes her so he goes to tell her. But Jessica Szohr's husband got super angry and started punching James. But, a young man with a green rubber glove, who is James's friend, punches him. And he fell to the ground. James is not hurt but he's concerned about those guys and tells people to call an ambulance. The young man is British, btw. And he came to Twin Peaks for his destiny. Which turns out, is punching bad guys so they either fall to the ground or get broken into pieces that fly around the room and disappear into the ceiling. That doesn't have much to do with James. Anyway, hooray, James!