wonderboy

I'm really wondering a lot how much the Dougie rebirth storyline is connected to Lynch's personal interest in rebirth through meditation and shamanism. Dougie's reintroduction to the world after a heavy ego-destroying spiritual experience (such as being trapped outside of time and space for 25 years with a bunch of spirits) either has tapped him into some kind of intuition he didn't have before OR lodge spirits are just directly intervening and helping him at certain times. I really hope it isn't the latter because that isn't interesting. If or when Dale Cooper wakes up inside of Dougie's life, what will be the fallout? The Dougie story is already so much about the weight of Cooper's sacrifice. The curse of lost time and the blessing of rebirth. Cooper loses 25 years of human relationships and gains a new perspective on life and a new connection to the spiritual world. Janey-E and Sonny Jim lose a husband and a father but they gain (potentially) a new relationship with a legitimately gentle and good hearted person in Cooper whereas Dougie Jones is implied to be a scumbag and a poor father. I wonder if Dale Cooper will leave them behind by choice?

The meditation/philosophy stuff Lynch is into seems to be very much about the erosion of a persons micro concerns and being open to greater forces/connectivity and the spiritual power of love and all that stuff so I wouldn't be shocked if it goes in that direction. I like cosmic horror when it's just a completely nihilistic nightmare - I think what's making this season so hard to process for a lot of people is the kind of personal attachments they have to characters as part of a fandom. I wouldn't go so far as to call it entitlement, but I don't think Lynch has given much thought if any to the kind of internal relationships viewers have built with the world or the characters. Obviously, for someone who has an emotional connection with a character like Laura Palmer it may matter a lot what kind of exposition is to come. I'm trying not to take anything literally and avoid the urge to tie it all up neatly in my mind like a fanwiki would. Also some thoughts on the atom bomb - it may seem like an obvious metaphor or a sort of lame plot device in 2017 but keep in mind Lynch and Frost grew up in an era where the fear of nuclear conflict was extreme and very much justified. The moment in history when humans built a weapon capable of making our species extinct (and then immediately committing an extremely brutal war crime with said weapon) feels like a turning point. The potential for nuclear conflict is still an extremely serious and critical issue today. I think lorewise the first use of such a weapon (in a test) opening some kind of portal to the lodge that barfs up a bunch of evil shit into the world makes sense - a moment in history which involves a literal massive release of energy that happens to have only the most hideous and savage intentions behind it. It isn't something people in our culture think about much but the existential threat of nuclear arms is still looming over us.

Again, it remains to be seen just how reductive or literal of a direction this lore stuff is gonna go. It's possible that interpreting this all to mean Laura is the cosmically pre-destined chosen one is completely wrong. Or only partially true (meaning unclear to what extent real human qualities vs mystic forces determine the outcomes in her life). Again, as long as the human consequences of whatever this mystic bullshit is are portrayed in an honest or particularly moving and interesting way I'll be okay with that. And if it all devolves into some kind of insane cosmic anime (I saw some viewers comparing last nights episode to the End of Evangelion) then I might be okay with that too. Side note - the gotta light? sequence with the couple in the car is the most terrifying thing I've seen in a long time. Not only did the scene remind me of some really awful things (and frightening memories) I've been through personally, but I also thought the direction of the scene did a perfect job at getting across the stress/fear/confusion of the situation that's so total (from sound design, to camera motion, to lighting, to the actual events taking place on screen) in the way that only Lynch really does horror.

I don't think it has to feel reductive. It remains to be seen what it all means or to what extent it defines Laura's life and choices. It's too early to assume she's merely the victim of some kind of cosmic chess fight. I don't think we have to forget, as viewers, the complexities of the characters we already know to be true. Magical realism isn't the right term to describe what Lynch does but I think he views the mythological elements in a way more symbolic or impressionistic way than in a literal sense like Frost does. Also, I don't think stories about cosmic struggles are automatically shitty and overly reductive to the human consequences of the forces at hand. Or rather they're just about something else entirely. The Warden probably paid Ray to kill Cooper. When Cooper said "You're out half a million" to Ray I assumed he already knew somehow about a deal they made. I'm wondering if his text when he threw the phone out the window was to send the info out to bust the warden. I thought it was Bob like as in the person Bob used to be. I think he resembles a young Frank Silva more than a young David Lynch. But then the bug (who I assumed was Bob) went in the girl's mouth and now I don't know what to think.