I interpret the whole sequence where Joe kills 3 people trying to kill one as a manifestation of Diane's misgivings about the professional abilities of the man she hired to kill Camilla. Remember, it's her dream. In this light, the pretext of why Joe had to kill Ed in the first place is less important. Seeing the black book at the diner would have naturally prompted Diane's curiosity about how he operated. The fact that Joe is looking for Rita in this scene is consistent with the idea that his attempt to kill her failed, a construction in the sleeping mind of Diane. Having had Camilla killed, Diane now dreams that Camilla somehow escaped her fate (by the grace of the drunken teenagers crashing into the limo). It is easy to imagine that the part of Diane that desires Camilla wants her to be alive, as well as the part of Diane that feels guilty for having ordered her death. — Carla Beaudet
The book appears to be a threat, showing the hit man during a previous hit, before Diane hired him to do Camilla. Her dream of the messed up murder of the long-haired guy is part of her wishful-thinking fantasy that he was actually incompetent, hence she could dream that his hit on Camilla had gone awry, which allowed Camilla to come back to Diane/Betty in her dream/fantasy. — Ellen Gwynn
Joe and the prostitute
Moreover, we also see the hit man in another scene seeking for Rita when he asks a prostitute about her, something that enhances the feeling of persecution for Rita. These things give more strength to Betty's protective role in the fantasy, where Camilla/Rita is in the need of this protection and dependence; if Rita was not still in danger after the car crash, Betty wouldn't be so necessary, and her fantasy wouldn't be truly fulfilled. Here we see how Diane breaks the link between herself and the hit man, dissociating completely the person who wanted Camilla dead (Diane) and the person who loved her (Betty). — Maia George
Through a series of phone calls that Mr. Roque initiates, the search reaches the streets. Joe the hit man (Diane's pimp?) asks a prostitute (Diane's real-life co-worker?), "Any new girls on the street?" At least two different elements of "detection" may be discerned here. On the one hand, Joe may be acting as a stand-in for the detectives who are actively seeking to solve the murder mystery involving Camilla Rhodes. Subconsciously, Diane knows that she is a suspect in the crime investigation under way. On the other hand, it is also possible that Diane's repressed rage against Camilla has taken the form of yet another role reversal. Perhaps Diane's unconscious has placed Camilla on the streets, substituting her professional rival (and fickle partner in love) for Diane's own unconscionable fall to soliciting tricks on the dismal outskirts of Hollywood. — Richard K. Sherwin
Joe's mismatched eyes
Joe is having mismatched eyes (one dark and one blue eye) in Diane's dream, but a pair of blue eyes in her flashback. Is it that she couldn't remember what eye color he had when she met him in real life and so her mind came up with a kind of hybrid? Or is it meant to visually bridge the eye color of Diane and Camilla?
Trivia: The actual condition of having mismatched eye colors is Heterochromia.
Thread: Joe's eyes — threnos
The assassin with his short blonde hair, kills his friend with his long dark hair is another parallel to Diane and Camilla, because they were also friends once. — Alan Shaw
Trivia
- This black and comical, absurdly violent scene [hit massacre] was, unsurprisingly, one of the scenes that caused problems with the ABC network. Rather than the standard gripe about slow pacing, they objected to the graphic detail of the central assassination, and the black comic element of the stray bullet hitting the fat woman's buns. It's unlikely to be a coincidence that the executives viewed Lynch's cut of the pilot very shortly before the entire TV industry came under pressure from Washington, in the immediate aftermath of the April '99 Columbine High School massacre. — Weirdsville USA: Obsessive Universe of David Lynch
- Mark Pellegrino played the role of a mobster in the Coen bros "The Big Lebowski" (1998).