Around the dinner table, the conversation was lively. Thank you but for now, the forum has been archived.
I have an issue regarding Dale Cooper and his repeated failures, and it's that i can't figure out...
: What exactly are the fundamental character flaws in Cooper or what he represents, that thematically teach us something from his failures?
His biggest and most direct failures have been getting stuck in the lodge as his Doppelganger roamed earth in his place, and now he's apparently ruined his original timeline...but what exactly did he alone do that was wrong and that can teach us about some stable flaws that he may have?
The audience learns to see him as a shining white knight, the best of men, but why does he get defeated by his Doppelganger, and what did he do so wrong in the series finale?
Cooper tells Bobby that his father (Major Briggs) was right about everything, and then we also get to see that he is impressed at how the 430 that the fireman mentions to him led him exactly to some place...
It seems like he is trusting the words (and apparent guidance) of others, whilst being aware that things may change forever, and his mission is to kill two birds with one stone, aka find Laura and put a stop to Judy, which is something that Cole says that he and Briggs and apparently the Fireman as well were all trying to do, so in the end, what does he do so wrong that can be seen as derived from a symbolic flaw? He does say that the past dictates the future, and maybe it can be said that we learn that you shouldn't try to change the past, but again... it looks like that wasn't the only thing Cooper was trying to do, and it looks like he was being convinced and guided by others to DO SO..
Same with the series 2 finale...i've always thought that Doppelganger Coop won over him because he did not have perfect courage like Hawk once said that one needed to survive the black lodge...but that just mean's he's not perfect..
I feel like i'm rambling but the point is...i can't find stable or convincing enough things that personally leave Cooper looking like an inept fraud in a fundamental, symbolic, and thematic level. Maybe i'm just blind to it atm...
What do his repeated defeats say about him (or about the good that he represents) on a thematic level? That's my main question.