Pete Martell

Peter "Pete" Martell is a character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. He was is played by Jack Nance).

Character history

Formerly a lumberjack at Packard Sawmill in Twin Peaks, Pete married into the business following a "summer's indiscretion" with Catherine Packard, sister of the mill's owner Andrew. At the time of Twin Peaks the marriage is shown to be on the rocks - the two keep separate rooms and Catherine barely acknowledges her husband's existence, referring to him at multiple occasions as a soft, old fool. Pete acknowledges that his wife is "plain hell to live with" and spends the majority of his time fly fishing, tending to the mill's business or chatting with Andrew's widow Josie. It is Pete's discovery of Laura Palmer's body outside the Packard home prior to one of these fishing trips that triggers the events of Twin Peaks.

In contrast to his bumbling personality, Pete is a champion chess player, and regular winner of the Twin Peaks Chess Tournament. He uses this advantage in the second season to help Special Agent Dale Cooper with his chess game against Windom Earle. He is a long-time friend of Sheriff Harry Truman, though not a member of the Bookhouse Boys.

In the series' finale, Pete accompanies Andrew Packard to the bank to open a safe deposit box with the key Andrew steals from his sister Catherine, which had been left by the late Thomas Eckhardt. As it turns out, there is a bomb inside the safe, planted by Eckhardt and activated once the safe is open. Pete and Andrew gaze in awe at the contraption as it explodes. However, because of the series' cancellation, their ultimate fate is never revealed.

Jack Nance also filmed some scenes for the 1992 prequel spin-off, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, but Pete Martell's character was completely edited from the film, along with plenty of footage of several deleted scenes because of time constraints.

"Wrapped in plastic"

Pete has one of the show's catchphrases - "She's dead... wrapped in plastic", which led to everything from the show's fanzine title to Marilyn Manson's song on their Portrait of an American Family album "Wrapped in Plastic". The Gothic band Creaming Jesus also has a sample-laden song entitled Upside Down that samples the line.