I think there was enough stuff 'wrapped up' in Ep 17. Cooper changed history/jumped parallels - it was never going to end up with a happy family reunion, was it?
I'm still a bit puzzled by the 'it's just not Twin Peaks' comments. Who decides that??Maybe the door is now open for filling in other bits of what happened, maybe not...
This is what I find hilarious... It is David Lynch ffs, so what did people expect they were going to get for an ending? It was never going to be what we wanted, be it an end, a resolution, a coherent storyline, and amazing or dull cliffhanger or another season.
It is Lynch and Frost that decide what Twin Peaks is or isn't, not us. We are just the observer of the dream (of the dream). Anything else is just Invitation To Love...
Beautifully stated. That's exactly what made The Return so wonderful...we never knew what to expect. I looked forward to watching it every week because I love the questions, the lack of resolution, the utter poetry of it all. In trying to explain the greatness of the show to someone who's never seen it, the best I could come up with was: It's like a moving art piece.
Complaining about it not resolving like you wanted is kind of like complaining about a Dali painting because it's not 100% linear and clear to you. That's the whole point, my friend. That is the very essence of what makes it beautiful and completely enchanting (and yes, disturbing, too).
I just really enjoy seeing everyone else's perspectives and thought I'd add mine for the hell of it. See ya in 25 years!
Hi Chris,
Thanks for a very thoughtful, emotionally honest post. 😉
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I sat down to watch SCARED last night. That was appropriate.
Cooper is aware of the impossibility of saving Laura. Maybe it's possible to save Laura in the world of Twin Peaks, but as we saw with the infinity symbol that Philip shows Cooper, reality will just splinter and there will be another reality where the dark forces win by killing Laura. The giant warned Cooper in the first episode, remember Richard and Linda, two birds with one stone. Could Richard be the Tulpa he created with the seed? Cooper knew if you tried to save Laura that it would shatter reality, so is it possible that our real cooper was the one who walked through the red door in Lancelot Court, and by creating Richard, he killed two birds with one stone. It's basically exactly what bad coop did, create a tulpa to take his place and the time comes to be sucked back into the real world of the Black Lodge. It's possible that our beloved Cooper is finally able to take a retirement, enjoy a happy loving life with the family, and his tulpa is the one burdened to fight the Black Lodge for eternity. Richard reminds me a lot of a tulpa. Dougie was made from bad Cooper, and he had a lot of bad qualities, but he wasn't an evil person. If Richard was made from good Cooper, he would have a lot of good qualities, but he wouldn't be entirely good…
Cooper is aware of the impossibility of saving Laura. Maybe it's possible to save Laura in the world of Twin Peaks, but as we saw with the infinity symbol that Philip shows Cooper, reality will just splinter and there will be another reality where the dark forces win by killing Laura. The giant warned Cooper in the first episode, remember Richard and Linda, two birds with one stone. Could Richard be the Tulpa he created with the seed? Cooper knew if you tried to save Laura that it would shatter reality, so is it possible that our real cooper was the one who walked through the red door in Lancelot Court, and by creating Richard, he killed two birds with one stone. It's basically exactly what bad coop did, create a tulpa to take his place and the time comes to be sucked back into the real world of the Black Lodge. It's possible that our beloved Cooper is finally able to take a retirement, enjoy a happy loving life with the family, and his tulpa is the one burdened to fight the Black Lodge for eternity. Richard reminds me a lot of a tulpa. Dougie was made from bad Cooper, and he had a lot of bad qualities, but he wasn't an evil person. If Richard was made from good Cooper, he would have a lot of good qualities, but he wouldn't be entirely good…
Long time lurker, 1st time poster. Had to sign up though, because last night wrecked me. Have enjoyed seeing the reactions and ideas you all shared over this season, but....
I have to say that I really object to one response I keep seeing whenever people have something negative to say about the finale: "If you didn't like it, then you just don't get Lynch".
Look, y'all, NOBODY "gets" Lynch. He is an artist with a very singular mind and vision. I don't care how many times you watched The Art Life, or read Catching the Big Fish. You don't "get" Lynch because he is ungettable, and that is part of his appeal to many fans - myself included.
When you follow Lynch's art, you do so knowing that you are signing up for a journey deep into uncharted terrain. It will be unfamiliar, and it will be beautiful and terrifying and mystifying. And that's OK with me, it really is.
But if my part of the bargain is to trust Lynch's navigation through the realm he has created, and to keep an open mind about what I'll see along the way, his part of the bargain should be to make the trip satisfying and worthwhile. And I'm sorry, but after Part 18, I personally feel this season was only somewhat worthwhile, and far from satisfying.
On a technical level, we're talking near perfection. As is usually the case, what I saw in terms of visual style, use of lighting, sound design, editing and atmosphere was all masterful. The cast gave generally outstanding performances as well. There was top notch work on this from Lynch and all concerned, and it far surpassed everything else I've ever seen on TV. As far as that goes, it was a genuine pleasure to see the craftsmanship on display throughout this season.
But art requires more than technical excellence to acheive true greatness. There are other qualities that must also be present. It's not easy to define what qualities I'm thinking of, but just as the famous quote goes, "I know it when I see it". And to me, I didn't see anything that made me feel like I've spent my time well watching this season. The cast tried their best to make us care about the experiences of these characters, while the storyline clearly didn't care that much about them at all. It was a show at cross purposes with itself.
Yes, I understand that Lynch deals in surrealism. But at this point, Twin Peaks is a substantive entity - an actual, well-established industry built upon characters and a mythology and a narrative (albeit very loosely structured) that are of Lynch and Frost's own making. The defense of "surrealism" feels like a cop out at this point. If there was no need for plot, no need to focus on how the threads of this saga might weave together, then why the "dossier" novels? Why the use of FWWM as a means of laying down a relatively solid backstory, and accompanying explication and plot development? Why add these dense layers and ask fans to shell out, tune in and read up, so they can know the whole story, if the story's not relevant? We were invited and encouraged to invest real time and effort. But when those who invited you act as though you were being ridiculous to expect some sort of payoff for your time, it's not unreasonable to wonder if the invitation was made in bad faith.
These were not unreasonable expectations that we as viewers placed on The Return. These are things that the show itself set in motion, in very specific and detail-oriented ways. While there was no reason to assume we'd get an ending that is either neat or complete, it would have been nice to see the show honor its own stated agendas at least a little bit. And it simply failed to do so.
I find it both interesting and annoying that many people are gleefully claiming "You got Lynched!" as a reply to anyone who dares to complain. I mean, is trolling the ultimate goal here, for either the artist or his fans? Because that sort of "Booyah!" BS is really pretty pathetic when you really think about it. You can absolutely utilize elements of provocation in art, to great effect, and Lynch has often done so. But antagonism just for the sake of it isn't necessarily enough to be called art. And the way it was deployed in this season's finale isn't particularly cute or clever. It crapped all over itself, frankly, and that was just disappointing to me after I gave it the benefit of the doubt.
Art and entertainment are both highly subjective. I have no problem with anybody who truly loved that finale. But I do have a problem with anyone who wants to invalidate MY experience by claiming that I just "don't get Lynch". Honestly, I don't mind letting him take me on the scenic route, through bad neighborhoods and hellish terrain, and dropping me off in a place I wasn't ever planning to go. But I would hope there'd be something awesome, or illuminating, or even just engaging, to look at once I got there. And when I got dropped off last night, to me, there wasn't much worth looking at.
Worst of all, I was left not caring if this "story" ever gets revisited in the future. Done devouring the Frost tie-in novels, done praying for another season, done wanting a follow-up movie. Just totally done with Twin Peaks. Have always respected Lynch and still do, but seriously. Enough is enough. Twin Peaks was always supposed to be a place both wonderful and strange - not because I said so, but because Lynch and co. specifically told me so. Part 18 - and most of the season in general - was a double order of strange with a few dashes of wonderful, and that lack of balance makes it feel like that description of Twin Peaks was false advertising. Not too satisfying from my own personal perspective.
Sorry for the rant, but man, it felt good to get that out! And of course I expect a lot of folks will think I'm wrong/an idiot/whatever. That's fine, I'm not looking for an argument, I just really enjoy seeing everyone else's perspectives and thought I'd add mine for the hell of it. See ya in 25 years! (JK, LOL, etc.)
This!
I loved episode 18. Really. It did exactly what nobody expected but with a thread of creeping menace throughout. From the start, in fact from the end of 17, it was obvious - to me, anyhow - something had gone disastrously wrong.
I thought 17 was really, really bad. IMO, the absolute worst episode of the whole series. Not only bad but amateurish. Shoddy, rushed and contrived. Sure, you can say the whole show is contrived but 17 didn't even seem like part of the canon, more like a bad copy by a fan who is trying to emulate Frost and Lynch. A great opportunity thrown away. Again, IMO.
18 though, I loved it all. Even the driving around seemed to lend weight to things, as if Cooper himself was looking at the clock and realizing he had very little time left. I'm sure that was intentional. Everything went wrong at every turn, yet Coop kept to his side of the deal, trying to be the good guy, trying to brush the changes under the carpet, trying to ignore the fact that the whole world had taken a horrible left turn while he was looking the other way. It was no surprise at all when Sarah didn't answer the door.
I'll admit that I was hopelessly wrong about how the show would end - I guess everyone was - but not in the least disappointed with the way it was done. This was a real "Shit happens and sometimes there's nothing you can do" episode.
If there's more to be had, I'm onboard for sure.
This was a real "Shit happens and sometimes there's nothing you can do" episode.
If there's more to be had, I'm onboard for sure.
YES! Perfect statement. Thank you.
And I'm still onboard, all the way.
Nice to read a contrast to "it should have ended at 17". 17 was an admonishment to those of us looking for a tv ending (I include part of myself in that number)- I don't think it was shoddy, I think it was just as intended. The moment we see Dale's face supreimposed over the action, all the walls come crumbling down. That was a moment of revelation, and as a "TP fan", that was crushing (I still feel the weight on my chest).
I do not buy into the idea that post-motel Coop was "bad Coop" or anything like that. He was Coop in a place where the old rules no longer apply. A Coop on a mission, maybe the only mission that ever mattered.
More? Well, I will be there, if I am still alive, but not with the hope of some kind of clarity or comfort. I am not feeling much comfort at all. DL took the desire for comfort we may have wished for and threw it back in our faces. I am duly chastened.
Definitely not bad Cooper. That was Our Hero right there, getting royally fucked over.
Hard to imagine an ending more bleak than Pet Sematery but these guys did it.
I think it is possible that Cooper slipped between good and bad Coop after, as MJ put it, the walls came down. He was certainly slipping through time and realities, so it may make sense that he was also slipping between his true and shadow self.
Yeah I can see people totally missing my point .. I never ever put faith that I was going to get answers .. I didn't expect to have the show wrapped up in a pretty bow and everything solved.. but I do feel this series felt more Inland Empire, Lost Highway, and Muholland Drive then it did Twin Peaks too me.. I actually really liked episode 17 and had it been left the way it was I would have been extremely ok with that .. but that last episode .. no, no, just no..
and it is my opinion, but I have to say that when I see you guys type your opinions too well this is Lynch and if you don't get him your too stupid .. cause let's be frank that's what your saying .. it just makes me smh .. yes I get it's Lynch but it was Lynch also in the original Twin Peaks and I loved that!! I'm just not on board with this ending .. all that driving and now he's Richard .. yeah ok you can keep this season and I will stick to my original TP that I will always cherish and love ❤️ .. peace
Yeah I can see people totally missing my point .. I never ever put faith that I was going to get answers .. I didn't expect to have the show wrapped up in a pretty bow and everything solved.. but I do feel this series felt more Inland Empire, Lost Highway, and Muholland Drive then it did Twin Peaks too me.. I actually really liked episode 17 and had it been left the way it was I would have been extremely ok with that .. but that last episode .. no, no, just no..
and it is my opinion, but I have to say that when I see you guys type your opinions too well this is Lynch and if you don't get him your too stupid .. cause let's be frank that's what your saying .. it just makes me smh .. yes I get it's Lynch but it was Lynch also in the original Twin Peaks and I loved that!! I'm just not on board with this ending .. all that driving and now he's Richard .. yeah ok you can keep this season and I will stick to my original TP that I will always cherish and love ❤️ .. peace
Please tell me where I stated or even implied any of that. You are entitled to your opinion, just as I am entitled to mine. Since we're trying to keep things on an even keel and not fight, I'll politely remind you that blaming others by claiming they're saying something they aren't is a not too nice passive/aggressive trait and I'd be a lot happier if you didn't try it with me.
Also, the season has been awesome. I've really enjoyed these 2 chapters. 18 more than 17. But we've got some answers and a surprising final. I mean, even if you don't like this ending, you can enjoy the series.
I didn't like Lost end but it didn't spoil the experience
Fire walk with