So did Lynch finally get to make his Mulholland Drive TV show after all. For me, that's how it seems as the moment. We put the key in the lock, turn and walk through - out of the idealised dream world and into the murky muddled and rather depressing reality. In Richard and Linda world there are no Lodges, no entities, no miraculous clue solving. Richard is a cop having an affair, poking around in a one-eyed town with its lowlife denizens. When he wakes up he doesn't remember his name, he thinks he is still Dale. He things he's trying to save Laura Palmer. He takes Carrie Page to Twin Peaks to try to prove to himself he is 'Dale' but he fails.
'Laura' might be whispering in RichardCoop's ear something liker: "REMEMBER! I'm just an ageing waitress in a crappy cafe and the girl you are trying to save never really existed you fool!"
NON-EXIST-ENT. "We all live inside a dream" - RichardCoop's dream. The key (in a way) is seeing 'Dale's' face superimposed over all the events towards the end. He is realising that non of it can be real and that he is going to have to say goodbye to the dream. It is time for his 'secretary' Linda to lead him out.
As for Linda seeing herself hanging round the motel? I think she is thinking about that when they have sex. For her, it means she has to leave him to realise who he is.
Audrey, in the end, is the only character who really realises what is going on. That's she's the dream that has to be woken up from.
I really like this explanation, especially your view on Audrey, but I'm still trying to figure out while Carrie screams in the end after hearing Sarah calling for Laura!
This is what I first thought, but there's a few things that throw that off:
1) There are two Dianes again, at least for a moment.
2) Cooper calls her Diane, not Linda, and she calls him Cooper. Also? They drive a completely different vehicle to the motel then what Cooper drives away with.
3) Cooper only finds "Laura" because he stops at a dinner named Judy's, engages in a very strange event with the 3 cowboys, and then suddenly needs the address of the waitress who's off that day: all of which is not really explained.
This is what I first thought, but there's a few things that throw that off:
1) There are two Dianes again, at least for a moment.
2) Cooper calls her Diane, not Linda, and she calls him Cooper. Also? They drive a completely different vehicle to the motel then what Cooper drives away with.
3) Cooper only finds "Laura" because he stops at a dinner named Judy's, engages in a very strange event with the 3 cowboys, and then suddenly needs the address of the waitress who's off that day: all of which is not really explained.
The hotel he exits isn't the same one as both he and Diane entered either.
I like this theory, not saying I believe it but it’s as good as any. I kind of lean towards the end being the dream, either Dale’s or Laura’s.
Having the whole show as a dream would be OTT I think (and now unoriginal), and doesn’t leave any scope for a season 4.
But, wasn’t Mulholland originally a Twin Peaks semi-sequel to start off? So maybe Lynch had this ending as an idea in the 90s, hence this is or could be a duplicate (tulpa?) of sorts.
Yes! Especially the two Dianes! ... and of course the scream (of recognition (?))
And of course the fact that 'it's all a dream' means the dismissal of sooo much!
I also wonder why EvilCoop wanted the coordinates. He is taken and made to 'emerge' in a Twin Peaks that might be different. Does he want the coordinates to get there? Is his goal to kill 'Naido' ("there are people who want her dead")? Is this because it will stop her becoming Diane and 'waking' Richard?
One of the things about it 'all being a dream' is that it doesn't mean that everything is wasted. At least, in Mulholland Drive, when the 'wake up' comes we see the value in analysing all the previous fantasies like they are 'lessons' or allegories'. So when Richard Cooper turns up and things seem changed, I think back to all the previous events to see if there are allegories or analogies. So if Richard Cooper has awakened from a dream, Dougie Jones may have been a way for him to understand about Carrie Paige.
All these worlds are equally real. As real as the world of Invitation to Love. And they are all equally a dream. As is the world in which I am typing this statement on my ipad. "Invitation to whatever bullshit is going on in MJ's brain".
Seems to me that this is a big part of DL's meta-message, throughout his ouvre.
My mind felt numb after last night, my entire sense of what is real in the context of this story deeply shaken. Mission accomplished. Is this a dream? Yep.
I really like this explanation, especially your view on Audrey, but I'm still trying to figure out while Carrie screams in the end after hearing Sarah calling for Laura!
My take on this is that we know that Carrie had just shot her apparent husband in the head, probably from years of domestic abuse. When she hears the voices in the house, it all comes back to remind her of the abuse she suffered and that she had just killed her husband... the horror. I'm surprised that I'm not reading much on the dead guy in Carrie's house.
Love the explanation by the OP! This is pretty much exactly where I'm at with this show... a psychological masterpiece!
Was the motel that Richard woke up in and got out from, the same as the one Dale and Diane went to? When Richard got out from there in broad daylight, he seemed to me looking back at the motel in a way that suggests that it wasn't the same motel as they checked into.
Was the motel that Richard woke up in and got out from, the same as the one Dale and Diane went to? When Richard got out from there in broad daylight, he seemed to me looking back at the motel in a way that suggests that it wasn't the same motel as they checked into.
It's definitely a different motel as well as a different car.
It wasn't the same one. Totally different, as was the car. Reality changed while he wasn't looking.
Further reading on related ideas:
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - Philip K Dick (novel)
Upon The Dull Earth - Philip K Dick (short story)
Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith (novel)
One Of Us - Michael Marshall Smith (novel)
Smith's books have sort of happy endings, though.
Was the motel that Richard woke up in and got out from, the same as the one Dale and Diane went to? When Richard got out from there in broad daylight, he seemed to me looking back at the motel in a way that suggests that it wasn't the same motel as they checked into.
yes, it was a different hotel and a different car. (both more modern?!)
Fire walk with