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In Twin Peaks episode 21 (aka season 2, episode 14), we see Dr. Jacoby at the Great Northern helping Ben work through his “Civil War” insanity. Later, though, we see him walking out of the sheriff’s office, where he claims to have spent the past 24 hours with Lana and says:

Good, I wanted everyone to hear this. I have just spent most of the last 24 hours with this charming young lady.

I’m pretty sure there was no indication that a day passed between these two scenes and in the first Dr. Jacoby looked pretty wrapped up in Ben's case. How can he have been in both places? Is there any explanation - in-universe or otherwise - for what happened here? Or is this a simply plot inconsistency that was overlooked?

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  • He's not being exact with his 24 hours. He spent a while with the Horne's and spent the rest of his day (and night) with Lana. I also don't think the next scene is the following day, most likely just a few hours later. I don't think Jacoby spends the entire day with Ben.
    – miva2
    Mar 15, 2016 at 21:33

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I just watched this and I can definitely see what you are saying. We see Jacoby with Ben in his office in one scene and almost literally in the next scene Jacoby is with Lana and claims they've been together for "almost the past 24 hours". There does seem to be some inconsistency or possible mixup of details here and its possible this was simply an overlooked detail.

Personal Theory

That said I do have a possible interpretation based on what can be evidenced from the episode. In the scene in Ben's office, Ben says:

Jeb, there is a great day upon us. By dawn, our troops wiII be on the outskirts of Washington. By midday, it wiII faII.

At the end of the scene when Ben and Jacoby are singing Dixie, we see an outside shot of The Great Northern at what appears to be dusk.

The very next scene is Major Briggs stumbling into the sheriff's office on what is definitely a different time of day if not a completely new day as there is plenty of light outside. And minutes later we see the part where Jacoby claims to have been with Lana for almost 24 hours.

To me all of these facts seem to indicate that the scene with Ben occurred at the end of one day and the scene with Lana occurred on a subsequent day and while we are seeing the scenes only minutes apart, at least a half day or so has gone by. Of course a half a day isn't 24 hours, but I wouldn't put it past Dr Jacoby to spend 12 hours with someone and then call that "almost 24 hours".

One should also consider the fact that Lana clearly has the ability to put a spell on any man that she spends only a few minutes with to get them to do anything for her as is demonstrated by her spending less than a minute with the mayor and changing his mind from wanting to shoot her to wanting to adopt a child with her.

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    Thanks for finally providing a good answer to this. I've watched the series a few times and this is the only answer that really makes sense. My only remaining surprise is that Jacoby is able to get away from Lana long enough to see Ben at all. :)
    – ToniWidmo
    Apr 5, 2017 at 13:03
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He simply could have done a long session with Ben while Lana waited in the car....spending 24 hours doesn't necessarily mean every second plus how do we know if she wasn't at the Great Northern waiting for Jacoby to come back

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