So our hero wakes up in a motel room to find a note from "Linda" addressing him as "Richard." The implication is that, in whatever reality he is in, he is known as "Richard." Presumably his FBI badge would identify him as "Richard." However, he identifies himself as Dale Cooper (when he gets to the Tremendous house).
Is this a result of the fireman's admonition to remember Richard and Linda?
At that point forward he only shows a brass badge. These usually do not have names on them, just jurisdictions, numbers, stars, but not names that I have ever seen. He never shows the Federal ID "badge" that would have his pic and name on it.
This at least is the first reason I can see why he's carrying that silly badge instead of proper identification (which I'm pretty sure we've seen him carry in the past).
This is a long shot, but I also wondered if, because Dale and Diane are employed by the FBI and possibly both part of the Blue Rose Task Force, then Richard and Linda might simply be undercover code names in this reality for whatever reason. Dale simply forgets to use them as his brain is a little scrambled. I mean, it's unlikely but he has assumed undercover roles before so also possible...
Speaking of Coop being "Richard" it's surely no accident that BadCoop's son shares the same name, again suggesting that there's a BadCoop aspect to Coop in episode 18.
PS Upon reflection, I STILL hate the ending. Haha
The undercover identity idea is interesting because is implies intent. I've been thinking of Richard and Linda as unplanned identities that result form the different dimension.
Speaking of Coop being "Richard" it's surely no accident that BadCoop's son shares the same name, again suggesting that there's a BadCoop aspect to Coop in episode 18.
PS Upon reflection, I STILL hate the ending. Haha
Yes, because when Audrey had the baby they thought to themselves "We need to name this boy after the name of the man who raped me while I was in a coma, who's name I never knew or heard. Richard."
It's interesting.... Diane certainly knew her new identity and I think it was clear she starting slipping away in the awkward Love scene. Not quite sure why Coop did not slip into Richard mode - but he sure was a different persona name change or not.
It's interesting.... Diane certainly knew her new identity and I think it was clear she starting slipping away in the awkward Love scene. Not quite sure why Coop did not slip into Richard mode - but he sure was a different persona name change or not.
How do we know Diane was ever in the room? If it was her doppleganger, Linda, she saw maybe they switched places because Diane became afraid? Maybe Linda went in because Dale looked like Richard, the doppleganger, to her and she had missed him? He does call her Diane in the room but maybe she wasn't fazed by that? When Dale wakes up in the morning he never calls himself Richard because he isn't? Linda leaves an honest note.
I don't think this is right but they are interesting questions.
This is a long shot, but I also wondered if, because Dale and Diane are employed by the FBI and possibly both part of the Blue Rose Task Force, then Richard and Linda might simply be undercover code names in this reality for whatever reason. Dale simply forgets to use them as his brain is a little scrambled. I mean, it's unlikely but he has assumed undercover roles before so also possible...
I doubt it because no other FBI characters in the season use aliases. Dale's never used an alias in the series, nor Jeffries --I mean it's feasible they had but it's not a part of the script that's ever implied anywhere.
My theory (*cough* you knew it was coming) is that they channeled Parsons and Cameron from around the time of the explosion (Jack Parsons had been trying to summon demons around the same time he was working in the space program in The Secret History of TP--and in real life apparently). I think this just happened as a way to get Cooper to the Odessa dimension. Diane's orgasm was the key to opening the dimension up (as part of the Thelema sex magic ritual that Parsons and Cameron were participating in, trying to raise the Mother of Abominations or Babylon). They wake up as different people in a different hotel in a different dimension. Cooper retains his identity because the Giant/Fireman had reminded him to "remember Richard and Linda 430." I think Diane is really gone, back in the other dimension, and whatever Richard and Linda did the night before was possibly quite unrelated to that scene. The timing conveniently made it seem to us that Diane was turning into Linda during sex.
You know we will never, ever be able to prove any of these theories....yet they are SO strangely compelling!
Speaking of Coop being "Richard" it's surely no accident that BadCoop's son shares the same name, again suggesting that there's a BadCoop aspect to Coop in episode 18.
PS Upon reflection, I STILL hate the ending. Haha
Hi Roberto, not sure if you have followed the episode 17 / 18 sync threads, but I've watched them simultaneously and it really does make the ending so much better. I also hated episode 18 as it left me feeling very empty, but now I feel great again about Twin Peaks. It really is the best TV show ever made.
The episodes 8 and 18 synched with the beginning of the song "My Prayer" gives us this when Dale / Richard is reading the letter :
Final credits of episode 8 are on a very dark background.
In episode 18 when Dale / Richard asks to the waitress : "Is there another waitress that works here?", the background credits of episode 8 turns exactly at the same time from dark to the image of the teengirl.
So, Richard is looking for Linda in Odessa, not for Laura.
It's interesting.... Diane certainly knew her new identity and I think it was clear she starting slipping away in the awkward Love scene. Not quite sure why Coop did not slip into Richard mode - but he sure was a different persona name change or not.
I agree with the idea that their identities were changing in that place, which Cooper was able to mostly resist.
My thinking on the matter is that Cooper had very recently had a great deal of practice holding onto and rediscovering his true identity. 😉 Perhaps his Dougie phase was part of the Fireman's plan. It's interesting that Mike tried to intervene and get Cooper to awaken, but the Fireman didn't.
If we take the opening sequence with Dale and the Fireman to be preparation for what happens in part 18, then the Fireman's interest in Cooper has much more to do with Judy than BOB and Mr. C. Whereas Mike simply wanted to reunite with BOB and enforce Lodge rules.
What about the idea that Richard Horne didn't get fried up but went to the same place Cooper and Diane did? Maybe Richard is Richard Horne?
What about the idea that Richard Horne didn't get fried up but went to the same place Cooper and Diane did? Maybe Richard is Richard Horne?
Just don't see this, although the name thing is compelling us to think of the other Richard. Seems like that was a red herring--we all thought the Fireman's Richard was Richard Horne until episode 18. I mean, there's just no serious case for a parallel between the two characters that I can see. But then again...there's the dimensional shift thing going on.
Richard Horne and Cooper/Richard share the same DNA.
It's quite feasible that Richard Horne would have resembled Dale in maturity (although he was almost grown and didn't really look like him in the show).
It's possible that in the Odessa dimension, Richard Horne was good (or hybrid) Dale's son and not Mr. C's. He could have been a very different person given a different upbringing.
So I'll shift my response to a hearty "maybe."
Fire walk with