I had a friendly debate with someone on another thread about whether the "Richard" character we see in the end is fundamentally different from Cooper. Someone else said no: He's Cooper, but he's badly disillusioned because he can tell this grand plan to save Laura has gone wrong and that's stripped him of of his cheery, coffee-loving Boy Scout persona.
I said yes, he's different: A disillusioned Cooper would still have his essential warmth. "Richard" is indifferent if not downright rude to the waitress who serves him coffee (coffee!). He lacks all courtesy when he demands the other waitress's address. He's a shade too ruthless with the cowboy jerkwads, and he's not concerned enough that someone might get shot with a deep-fried bullet.
I'm not sold on the idea that "Richard" is a hybrid of Good-Coop and Mr. C. Unsettling as his behavior is, it doesn't give off that tangible malevolence. I concluded that "Richard" is most of Coop - his intellect, competence, and basic morality - but without that essential "Coop-ness." That warmth and spirit. In other words, he's all of Coop except the best part.
Anyway, I think this comment from Kyle in a new Variety interview tends to back that up:
Did you feel that Richard, in the finale, was a distinct character of his own, or just Cooper with a different name?
He was… different. the way it was described to me, he’s just a little harder. So it was another variation, sort of a subtle variation obviously, compared to the other two, but a subtle variation of Cooper. And so that was that last hour, Watching him navigate that.
I feel like all the variations are on a continuum, with Evil Coop at one end and Agent Cooper at the other. All versions of a soul evolving, but because of the timeline scramble, we see them together.
The true Diane, like most of us, is in love with Agent Cooper. That's her ideal dude.
This may seem like a ridiculous comparison, but there is an anime called, "Puella Magi Madoka Magica." Without getting into the plot of that anime too deeply, but a general warning of spoilers for those who might want to watch it....
The anime involves a time-travelling character who is hellbent on changing a certain event from happening. This character has relived the same events so many times, and has tried and failed so many times, that the character has is extremely numb and downright cold towards others.
What if the Richard version of Cooper is like this? He's still Cooper, but is fatigued from trial and error, and is clinging on to his sanity by staying extremely focused on his goal above all else, eschewing the simple pleasures like enjoying a cup of coffee.
Or if Richard-coop is the dreamer, and he began to wake during the scene in the sheriff's station, as some seem to be hinting at, is it not possible that he is a midpoint between all the variations his mind has created in a dreamspace, as extremes of his personality/essence?
I don't like the ''it has all been a dream'' school of thought, but it is a possible explanation of his state at that point. I am personally far more inclined to believe either the coop who comes out of the lodge and meets red wigged Diane at GG isn't our coop proper, or as suggested above, he has become somehow jaded by experiences...but even that doesn't sound like our coop.
At the beginning of 18 we see the cooplegänger burn, but not be destroyed, just before Mike makes a new Dougie, so until I re-watch, or read more well thought out theories than my own, I reserve judgement on exactly which coop iteration is where...
What if the Richard version of Cooper is like this? He's still Cooper, but is fatigued from trial and error, and is clinging on to his sanity by staying extremely focused on his goal above all else, eschewing the simple pleasures like enjoying a cup of coffee.
I've posted elsewhere today - but could we possibly be watching the gradual evolution of Cooper into Mr C? After all, we don't really know what his mission was......
What if the Richard version of Cooper is like this? He's still Cooper, but is fatigued from trial and error, and is clinging on to his sanity by staying extremely focused on his goal above all else, eschewing the simple pleasures like enjoying a cup of coffee.
I've posted elsewhere today - but could we possibly be watching the gradual evolution of Cooper into Mr C? After all, we don't really know what his mission was......
Maybe, but hopefully not. I think Bad Coop is a separate being, possibly originally from the universe Carrie Page is in. The series never really provides too much detail on what a doppelganger is; but it seems clear to me that tulpas and doppelgangers are not the same thing.
Richard name can be broken up to "ri C hard", or "hard C", a hardened Cooper. Linda is "L dian" or a Lost Diane.
Coop Richard could be spiritually the same as Richard Horne. Both Richards are descendents or "sons" of Mr. C, and both Richards are connected to Audrey.
I think seeing Mr. C in actual flames in the waiting room is a pretty good indication from the filmmaker that he's dead and gone.
Besides, Mr. C was inhuman. RichardDale isn't that. And even descending into becoming a very evil person, a la Richard HORNE, doesn't make you what Mr. C was.
I said yes, he's different: A disillusioned Cooper would still have his essential warmth. "Richard" is indifferent if not downright rude to the waitress who serves him coffee (coffee!). He lacks all courtesy when he demands the other waitress's address. He's a shade too ruthless with the cowboy jerkwads, and he's not concerned enough that someone might get shot with a deep-fried bullet.
I'm not sold on the idea that "Richard" is a hybrid of Good-Coop and Mr. C. Unsettling as his behavior is, it doesn't give off that tangible malevolence. I concluded that "Richard" is most of Coop - his intellect, competence, and basic morality - but without that essential "Coop-ness." That warmth and spirit. In other words, he's all of Coop except the best part.
Anyway, I think this comment from Kyle in a new Variety interview tends to back that up:
Did you feel that Richard, in the finale, was a distinct character of his own, or just Cooper with a different name?
He was… different. the way it was described to me, he’s just a little harder. So it was another variation, sort of a subtle variation obviously, compared to the other two, but a subtle variation of Cooper. And so that was that last hour, Watching him navigate that.
I agree with all of those things you pointed out about his interactions in the diner. You can also add the long quiet drive to Twin Peaks. He might not be in a place to rattle on about trees and ducks but you'd think he'd at least ask Carrie about her life and maybe why there was a dead guy in her place?
I kept being tempted to draw the conclusion that he was Mr. C as well (his face was so hard and expressionless in so many scenes, Diane covering his face, all the stuff you pointed out as well) but he was also more "natural" than Mr. C. So I'm glad you included the quote from Kyle.
Also I'm pretty sure Kyle accidentally spoiled the Richard ending a bit in his twitter Q&A when asked if he could play "any other Twin Peaks character who would it be," and his answer was "I've already gotten to play four characters." I kept trying to make sense out of that answer... I suppose he could have separated Tulpa Dougie from Coop Dougie but still. Richard felt a lot more like a distinct character than Tulpa Dougie.
One of the key things for me is Cooper/Richard's inability to smile properly.
Sure, there isn't much to smile about in episode 18, but there are a few moments early on when he does attempt a subtle smile - and it is very close to Mr C's forced, "dead" smile.
To me this indicates that there is something more going on than "Cooper is jaded/stressed/sad/focussed".
I think he's all the Coopers in one and that blank, burnt out look is partly because he's Mr C and partly because he's Good Coop dealing with the memories of Mr C's actions.
I think he's all the Coopers in one and that blank, burnt out look is partly because he's Mr C and partly because he's Good Coop dealing with the memories of Mr C's actions.
That's my favoured theory too at the moment.
I guess the next question is "why is he all the Coopers in One?"
Fire walk with