But my love for Lynch wasn’t what excited me most about returning to Twin Peaks. What really thrilled me was that we might, finally, find out if Cooper is ok. Of all of Lynch’s stories, images, sounds, shocks, and characters, no one creation has resonated with me as much as Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Dale Cooper.
Perhaps it was my youth when I first saw him on TV – a paradigm of moral fibre – that drew me to him. He was as virtuous as so many of Lynch’s villains were depraved.
Seeing him now, having escaped the Black Lodge, but without his wits, is so upsetting. The price he’s being made to pay for his transgression – of falling in love so many years earlier – is still ongoing.
At first the scenes of his reintroduction to the world were played for comedy, but they don’t feel funny to me anymore. As poor Cooper regards his fake son and sheds a tear; I, and perhaps he, consider the lost chance to have a family of his own.
Lamenting is the exact word I would use. As he reacted to 'case files' I barked at the screen 'Come on Coop,' startling my son. I explained, 'I've been waiting 27 years man.'
Until Cooper's redemption this will not be the gum I liked coming back in style. It's still enjoyable, but it is not that gum.
Perfect analogy!