Mike is the one-armed shoe salesman who helps identify supernatural clues in the original Twin Peaks series. He is also known as Philip Gerard, the name he uses in his ordinary human life. His visions and statements connect the murder investigation to the strange mythology surrounding BOB and the Lodge world.
The character is introduced through the memorable image of a man with one arm and through the repeated phrase “The fire walk with me.” Mike claims that he and BOB were once partners in violent crimes, but that he changed after experiencing a spiritual awakening. His testimony gives Dale Cooper an important route into the case’s supernatural dimension.
A common mix-up is confusing Mike with BOB. BOB is the possessing entity associated with Leland Palmer, while Mike is a separate character who says he rejected that former partnership. Philip Gerard is therefore not a second person; it is Mike’s full human identity.
Al Strobel played the character in the television series, the prequel film, and The Return.