Nordelnob

Yeah, I was also reminded of this scene in the ending of 18. Watching it now, it feels REALLY similar.

Oh god damn it. I kind of love this. I always thought the dopples were just some inherent shadow form that everyone has though. I guess that could be wrong though.

Happy Coop! Or as I like to call him Dougie 2.0 He seems to be the part of Cooper that is his wonder and almost childlike curiosity about everything around him. The side of Cooper who asked Truman about the trees in the first episode.

I wouldn't dismiss it so fast. I've gotten the same or a very similar feeling. This entire season seems to have been about multiple or alternate realities/dimensions/planes of existence. And there seem to be little hints. Particularly whenever two shots dissolve and overlap and separate from each other (this happens quite often when there is some otherworldly force nearby or important cosmic events, etc.., for instance when Cooper asked Freddy if he was Freddy). When the minute hand on the clock in the Sheriff's station went both backwards and forwards and they did that dissolve where both shots are on top of each other. It seems to imply that the two realities that are supposed to by one are diverging. The literal world where things runs forwards, and the dream world where at least in the lodge, things seem to run backwards. And there have been a couple that I've noticed with Cooper. I doesn't quite wash literally. But thematically it kind of makes sense.

"Laura is the key to all this, if we get Laura working. 'Cause she's a funnier character than we've ever had..." -David Lynch

Yeah, she was wearing some pretty baggy clothes which probably did a descent job of covering up the weight. And they digitally de-aged her face I'm guessing. De-aging has come a long way since X-men 3 LOL. The fact that it's a dark scene probably goes a long way in making it pretty seamless as well. and things like keeping her out of focus (and the fact the scene was shot mostly in black and white). It all cut together pretty seamlessly I thought. I wasn't exactly looking for seams or anything though.

I was just watching the episode again and something about the dead man caught my attention. The bullet wound seems to angle upwards, which means it may possibly be a suicide. I just thought that was strange because there has been speculation about how Becky was sort of a stand in or a "reincarnation" for Laura. And Steven shot himself. Or maybe it's nothing. It's probably nothing. Also, they use the same "Lost Highway" Mr. C driving at night shot when "real" Cooper is driving. Almost like they are hitting us over the head with the fact that Bad Coop is now a part of Cooper. Well, that and all of the other clues. His behavior. The ruthless way he dispatched those guys in the diner. That sex scene. But the theory about Cooper giving up his innocent, chipper side when he created Dougie 2.0 seems just as plausible to me. I really want to believe that these are all meaningful clues, and that it's all going to build to something, hopefully we get another season.

I gotcha. I may have phrased that poorly. I suppose what feeling people take away from it is going to vary a lot more than your average TV show. This season was certainly not a troll. David Lynch is just a weird guy. A very, very weird guy. I have thoroughly enjoyed The Return. I'm posting on this forum after all. I'm engaged and interested in these characters. The way I feel about the finale, I have felt several times about other moments/episodes this season. And some of them my feelings have changed. And of course some of them haven't. If I can say anything about it though, almost every scene has been good, even if some of them didn't seem to serve much of a purpose to the overall story, or character development. That David Lynch knows how to put together a good scene, whether it's comedic or horrific. And he knows how to create a compelling mystery. Paying them off or resolving them is another question! Lynch seems to be allergic to that!

I didn't notice that, but I was pretty impressed by all of the other stuff. I was trying to figure out how they did it. It seemed like they either had a bunch of stuff that they filmed and never used with Laura, or maybe they did a face switch on another actress? I'm not sure.

True. But this doesn't just negate objective reality. There is such a thing as bad writing (and I'm not saying this is necessarily bad writing, I'm just giving an example) and it's a completely valid thing to criticize or discuss that type of thing. That's pretty much what we do here on this forum. When someone criticizes art, just saying "well, art is subjective" is a bit of a non starter. Kind of shuts down the conversation. When a painter uses the color red, that's an objective fact. When a film maker uses spooky music for example to create an atmosphere, whether he's subverting expectations or playing to them, there's an established "flavor" or "palette" that is being used.

Whether you can find a way to make the events that happened hopeful in some way is one thing. But the entire tone of the that last episode was deliberately empty and maybe there's a better adjective... down, depressing. Coop is now no longer the happy vibrant person he was. Diane is having rape trauma and leaves him. We get these long lingering, eerie shots that seem to be be conjuring a sense of dread. The whole last episode felt like a horror movie. I can't believe this is even being disputed. (granted a lot of the season has felt like that. But it has had it's more hopeful moments.) Mind you, I'm not making any judgements as to whether any of that was a good way to do it, or a bad way to do it. I'm honestly still processing it. If that's the last Twin Peaks we ever get, then much like the S2 finale, I think at the very least there will be a lot to talk about. But I am still just curious about why they made that choice. In the case of S2 they were clearly setting up the next season. But I think they knew this could be it, and they chose to end it on a downer (particularly tonally, but story-wise I think you can find things to be down or feel empty about too), while deliberately dropping almost every important plot thread that they've set up for 17 episodes. Like I said I'm still processing it, but it is an interesting choice (to say the least!)

I wouldn't exactly consider myself one of jaded or disappointed people really. This empty feeling that I'm left with is 100% the intent of the finale. And I knew it could likely end with another cliffhanger or at least a lot of unanswered questions. But I am curious as to why Lynch left it on such a sour, hopeless, and almost nihilistic (and in some ways solipsistic) note. Especially considering it would likely be the last episode ever.

Equally likely. I find myself a bit frustrated in general with this finale, and I'm sure in some way that's part of the point.. I'm just kind of a little bit.. bummed. I enjoyed the hell out of this season, including the finale. But the way it ended feels so empty, and devoid of any meaning. I'm sure that's 100% by design. I'm just not sure I understand why. I realize Twin Peaks isn't always a feel good romp. But in the past it did tackle MEANINGFUL issues/themes/moods, and could often be very hopeful. Things like Harry and Cooper's friendship, and Cooper's unstoppable drive to do good. Redemption of characters like Bobby Briggs. And just about everything Major Briggs ever said was uplifting or enlightening in some way. We haven't had much of that this season. I was really expecting the finale to drive some of that stuff home. But instead we are left with a sense of dread and despair. And the world is now just an ugly, grey place. I'm trying to figure out why I am surprised by this, given the way the original was left. But I always attributed that to the show being cancelled before it could resolve the cliffhanger. Not a deliberate attempt to leave a sour taste.

This seems likely. Diane is traumatized for life. As much as she completely LOVES Cooper with all of her heart, having sex with someone who looks identical to your rapist is probably not the best thing to do.

I think this actually supports my point even more. Leland was doomed from the beginning. He never even had a chance of resisting BOB since he was taken over so early in life when he was so vulnerable. To me, that kind of implies that he was tainted by BOB's influence and it had many many years to influence him. And yet despite that, they go out of their way in both show and FWWM to show how he was a good father and generally a gpod person. Laura was, as far as we know, already basically grown by the time BOB began to feed on her darker urges. Imagine being a child and being confronted with this god like entity of BOB. How can a child even be expected to comprehend let alone resist such a powerful force. He was flawed, yes. He was a bit of a slippery lawyer type who worked with people who weren't exactly Ghandi but deep down he had a "heart of gold".