Twin Peaks - Trying to make sense of the 2-part finale

[@GeorgMayer]

Thanks for this - I really like that you keep the frame of interpretation in a way that the supernatural entities we met so far are still "there" after what we saw in episode 18. I'm not sure this is the case, as they might have been part of the dream as well. But let's assume they still exist and they are partly responsible for what situation Coop & Laura (or whatever their names are now) are in now. My thought during the second half of season 3 was that Laura is the opposite force to Sarah/Mother/Experiment/Judy (I assume we can use these four names as synonyms). Both Laura and Sarah removed their faces and we saw the two different forces behind them. But to me it seemed that they are just different versions of the same force, two sides of a coin. Laura was 25 years in the red room, purifying the force to light and good. Bad Coop or somebody else summoned (with glass box) Judy as the dark side of this force. I guess the idea of Bad Coop was to harness the Judy-force. That's why he wanted to go to the Palmer house. This would work with what we know from the Secret History of TP book, e.g. what Parsons planned to do with the Babalon force. If Laura and Sarah carry the same force in different shades and if we look at the other names (Judy, Mother), then it is most likely a female force. And if you look at what Sarah Palmer really did in the bar, then she fought back a scumbag trucker who offended her in the most brutal way. I'm inclined to say that the Laura+Sarah-force is something pure female, it's maybe creativity and love on the one side, but could be something like destruction and deception on the other. If we go with that, then we have several different goals: 1) get (part of the) Judy dark force under control - represented by Mr. C 2) get (part of the) Laura light force under control - that's what Mike seems to want 3) save Laura and help the two powers to re-unite in a peaceful way - that's Cooper (the good guy) and most likely also the Fireman (*) - that would also be "two birds with one stone" 4) destroy Judy - most likely this is the blue rose task force, but it's not so clear on which side their on, especially not for Jeffries (*) the Fireman sent the good-side Laura force to earth once the dark-side Experiment force was created by the trinity bomb. So Cooper's plan has some common efforts with Mike and Mr. C from a certain point on. They partially work together until the stage is set to perform the final steps. In the end, the Fireman & Cooper prevent Mr. C from getting to Sarah. Still, Judy is out there, so Mike supports Cooper further and brings him to Jeffries, who got woven deep into the interdimensional reality. He offers Cooper the passage to the moment where he can save Laura from being killed. And I admit, I'm not sure why Mike is ok with that, maybe it's fine with him now as Bob just got destroyed by green-glove. But it all works out wrong. Once Cooper alters the past, Judy is still inside Sarah and howls and tries to destroy Laura. Judy finally captures Laura before Cooper can bring her home (that would be the palmer house). Laura is off to a different life now and Cooper has to find her. As this all takes place in an alternative reality, one in which TP is not the place anymore we knew (look at the RR when they drive by in ep18), this also alters Cooper. I guess we leave the scenery when Laura gets aware who she is or was. At this moment (due to the altered past) we cannot be sure if Laura/Carrie really carries (pun intended) the good force still inside her. But as she can let the house and then the screen go dark, it seems so. It could be that her scream indicates that she uses her power to break through all different confusing realities and is ready to meet Sarah/Judy on the empty black canvas. Just one possible way of interpreting. Maybe this causes some different thoughts that will lead us further. Thanks again and cheers.

[@WowLynchWow]

Excellent stuff Georg Mayer! I wish I had chatted with you on this before making the video. The ideas about a purely female force, with Sarah and Laura being polar shades of that power jives very well with the points I was trying to portray in the video. I need to think about all of this some more. But everything you mentioned sounds rock solid as a possible explanation. Thank you very much for sharing.

[@vokuvoku]

So the bomb "split the atom", the unity.

[@robbaydj]

I never thought about Laura disappearing from Coops hand as JudY capturing Laura but that makes sense. And Laura's scream is an indication that she broke through confusing realitYs to confront JudY. Nice thoughts. 8

[@thenightmancometh93]

I'm starting to think that too Ame. The real Cooper went home to Janey-E, his tulpa "Richard" is the one who went to the other dimension to find Laura.

[@davidg8851]

The Nightman Cometh I agree (for what it's worth). The Cooper we see at the end is not the same character that we grew to love during the first two seasons or the one that goes to Twin Peaks at the end of The Return. He lacks the quirkiness, coffee and pie one-liners and positivity. The real Cooper may be with Janey-E.

[@Rihcterwilker]

Lynch is like "You want answers in the final episode? Here, take more questions."

[@Noumm]

Richter WLK It's what I like with him, he didn't care of people's mind, we are in his art his mind, he does whatever he wants and then you like or you hate. He didn't gave to the fans what they wants it's the opposite 😊

[@vuktucakov1125]

I laughed so hard at this.

[@nagilumsnangilima]

Roddy Piper said it best: "Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions!"

[@MrCannalyzer]

MODUS OPERANDI.

[@MikaNeow]

It's a perfect "end" to Twin Peaks because the more you explore the subconscious the more there is to discover. You can never reach the end.

[@Ploobie86]

Kyle MacLachlan did an amazing job this season. He basically played like 6 different characters. He played Bad Coop, Good Coop, Douglas Jones (the "real" one), Dougie and a Dougie / Cooper hybrid (when Dougie was having moments of realization). I also think he played a hybrid of Good Coop and Bad Coop in the last episode. The scenes in this episode perfectly demonstrated how Cooper was a "middle ground" character. In Judy's restaurant, he drank the coffee, but didn't seem that thrilled about it. He saved the waitress from being harassed, but he was also very violent and aggressive, without being downright evil. Think about how he asked for the waitress to write down the address for him. He never pointed his gun directly at her, but he was still very threatening, holding the gun away from her while he demanded that she do it for him. Then his reaction to the dead body in Laura's house was clearly an indication that he is no longer Good Coop, since Good Coop would have had something to say about the body, but this Coop just let it go. He was also very cold and distant towards Diane / Linda, whereas you can see how warm he was with her at the Sheriff's office, and at the beginning of episode 18 when they're in the car together (and I swear there were a few shots of him during the love making scene where his eyes were dark again). There was also a lot of long, silent driving scenes, which is something that happened a lot in scenes with Bad Coop. Him being called "Richard" in that world is not surprising, because just like Richard Horne, he is a mixture of something evil and good (just like how Richard Horne was a mix of Audrey and Bad Coop). Anyways, I always love the subtleties in Lynch's work, and this quote from Stephen King should help those that are disappointed in the finale: “Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear.”

[@Ploobie86]

I also think Laura was a hybrid of evil and good in this world. After all, she did kill someone. Basically, I think in Episode 18 we ended up in the "Gray Lodge". That Woodsman said "The Horse is the white of the eyes, and the dark within", so the horse is basically the dark and the light together, meaning the gray, and Cooper sees the horse on Laura's mantle. Maybe Judy's plan to stop both Laura and Cooper was to put them in this "gray" reality where their light sides will constantly be struggling with their dark sides, and neither side will ever truly win.

[@ScarletEdge]

That Gray reality huh? Our reality? Apparently the person that inhabited Laura's home and opened door for Laura and Coop, was the real owner. :) Good read BTW.

[@stevejeffrey11]

maybe this was all part of Coop's spiritual/Soul development, as Hawk said Souls have to pass through the black lodge to be tested and then purified, 1st two seasons Coop was a bit uptight and very formal, probably not in touch with his dark side. Mr C (coop+bob) was Coop in a very negative sense, very exacting and plotting. Both Cooper, Mr C and Dougie were not fully developed, all necessary parts that in balance may make up a whole complete man

[@danielplainview2584]

Cooper's incredulity regarding the year is eerily reminiscent of Jeffries in FWWM.

[@johnspahn420]

Cooper creates a paradox by rescuing Laura. If she didn't die he wouldn't have gone to TP to begin with and therefore couldn't have traveled back to save etc. I think Laura whispering into his ear gave him the info he needed to recue her but in doing she would never have been in the lodge which explains her violent ejection. The whole return seems to deal with the consequences of changing the past or revisiting it. The effects of Coopers plan to save Laura causes tiny shifts throughout the 18 episodes ending with him and Laura being eradicated from existence and forced to exist in another world as Richard and Carrie. It's like the Arm's doppelganger said before throwing cooper into the void "non-existence" which would be the result of Cooper creating the time travel paradox.

[@cityblue1982]

John Spahn This is a brilliant theory! The closest to unlocking it all I think!

[@johnspahn420]

Thanks! I found it really interesting that Cooper, who had planned with Mike for 25 years to kill Bob, his doppelgänger and then save Laura knew that reality would change once he had done it. He told the old Twin Peaks crew "I hope I see you all again" but he knew he would most likely end up in a new reality. He told Diane that he didn't know what would change when they re-entered reality and shortly after he and Diane along with the motel all warped into something new. Cooper didn't really act like himself after either, maybe more like Richard? The fun thing to me and it makes total sense is that Cooper and Laura didn't end up in the reality where Pete goes fishing instead of finding Laura's body. His actions ripped them both from that reality, the results of which are anything Lynch imagines. Most sci-fi would suggest the entire universe is destroyed and in this case, the universe where Laura dies and Cooper travels back through time to save her seem to have been destroyed.

[@cityblue1982]

John Spahn spot on

[@rhandyrhoads12]

I've been reading all theory-comments...this one is so clever.

[@biancachristie]

YES. Aces!

[@AwayGoalRule]

Thought: Scenes with Sarah Palmer watching TV are on the same night. Her clothes don't change etc. What she is watching on TV is a reflection of what's happening in Part 17. Lions killing water buffalo = when Bob was killed. The looping boxing match is when Cooper is messing with the timeline. She then realizes what Coop is up to in the past with Laura and by smashing the photo, she removes Laura from Coop's hand, she simultaneously disappears in the Lodge screaming, and becomes Carrie Page in an alternate universe.

[@smokeylonesome4328]

Lions killing water buffalo- since lions are the predators, wouldn't the correct analogy be BOB Killing his victims?

[@smokeylonesome4328]

Anyway, great theory.

[@AwayGoalRule]

Star Fucker ahhh. True. But thx for the comment. The amount of work to be done on this show is incredible. So many clues.

[@rashmirajshekhar8806]

Star Fucker i interpreted the photo smashing as Judy being thwarted in that universe because Coop undoes the death of Laura. She vanishes because she seized to exist but we don't see Cooper vanish immediately because we are seeing his projection of reality. That's why when Cooper and Diane go into the parallel universe (which he has to because he altered the fabric of space -time implying that he might not be "Dale Cooper") he takes time to realize that he is a actually a different person in that universe but Diane realizes it quickly ( she sees a projection of "Diane" and wakes up as Linda, in the parallel universe). I looked at this as Dale realizing late that he succeeded in one universe or dimension but Judy's evil transcends dimensions which is why both him and the essence of "Laura" inside Carrie Page can sense Judy in the Tremond house, implying that the battle against Bob might be over but the battle against Judy can never be.

[@akikolehmainen88]

Greg Gomez, when the Palmer house was shown on the outside in Part 2, it preceded a scene that showed boozing Sarah Palmer watching television. We get a look at the house in Part 18, and it was exactly the same house in both scenes, not just on the outside but also in the inside as lamps and curtains and everything we saw in the house was positioned exactly in the same way. This was not recycled footage as the takes were not the same. The time of date differed, and the lamps had been turned on differently, but the exact likeness otherwise was underlined by using the same camera position and angle. The houses were deliberately the exact same house. But, when Hawk visited Sarah in Part 12 and they had a chat at the door, we are also given a good long look at the house. We can immediately see that this was not the exact same house as in Part 2 and Part 18 as the plants in the front of the house were much different. It seems that the scenes about Sarah Palmer watching television are from the Part 18 reality. Thus, the unknown person in the house in Part 18 that we see Mrs Tremond talking to was probably Sarah Palmer.

[@damienx0x]

The ending was a chilling distillation of everything I love about Twin Peaks: Laura, Dale, that house, that sense of dread and the disconcerting feeling that malevolent forces from other worlds are at work beneath the surface.

[@stephenclark6273]

Very interesting thoughts. I've said elsewhere that I think ep. 18 is wonderful. Cooper goes on a sort of existential journey/quest. He's changed, more jaded, a combination of his old self and Mr. C. We're told "Laura is the one," and Coop takes that to mean that he's got to save Laura and return her home for a happy fairytale ending. However, he overreaches and fails, as he slowly comes to realize, at great cost (his own potential happiness with Diane). We all grow old and come to regret events in our past. As you said in the video, Laura fulfilled her purpose: to resist Bob and stop the cycle of violence in the Palmer household. Cooper has a fondness for damsels in distress, a la Sir Lancelot in the King Arthur myths, as we see in season 2. However, like Lancelot, Cooper cannot fulfill his grail quest, despite his good intentions. Evil can never be totally defeated. As for the giant and other spirits, they are reminiscent of the various Greek gods, constantly manipulating mortals and often feuding with themselves. They have complex motives. I'm coming round to the idea that the Giant is not making things happen directly, but rather represents Fate/Destiny. He might not actually have created Laura, but rather he visualizes her appearing in the future as a counter to Bob. Thus, in ep. 1, he's not giving Cooper instructions, but rather just telling him what will be. Cooper says he understands, but maybe he really does not. Cooper fails, but he triumphs in many other ways. He tries rather than just being a spectator to the evil around him. There are many scenes in the series of people just watching or complaining rather than actually trying to do something positive. Cooper tries, but as Dirty Harry once said, "A man's got to know his limitations." FWIW, I think Laura whispers to Cooper that he cannot save her.

[@njwalsh11]

Great work! This is my take: With the exception of Laura’s real life experiences in FWWM (which gives the viewer context for understanding her trauma), the entire series is BOTH Laura's and Cooper's dream. In the opening credits, we see the world of Twin Peaks through Laura’s grad photo, which fades in and out of view. As well, at the end of the Finale, we hear the identical "Laura" spoken by Sarah as we hear in S1E1 when Sarah thinks that Laura is just sleeping in. Laura, mortified by her experiences with her sexually abusive father, creates Bob and Judy (constructions of her subconscious) to trick herself into thinking that her own father can’t possibly be responsible; the former representing the evil that men do, and the latter a representation of explaining away his actions. Laura dreams of being saved from the horror by the "perfect" father figure (ie. Cooper) as an antidote to her father. At the mid-way point of the Finale, we discover, upon Cooper waking up, that he too was wrapped up in a dream (his dream within Laura's dream). He awakes to the reality that he is actually Richard -- a combination of Cooper and Mr.C, a man who is not unlike the viewer, trying to figure out all the clues in the name of our lifelong quest to have good (Cooper) win over evil (Mr.C), and how we balance all this with our quest for love. Recording messages on his tape recorder was the way he envisioned Cooper, the ideal good man, to be close to Linda, while he was busy with the FBI. Audrey, Annie, Caroline were all distractions and fantasies because he couldn't actually be with Linda due to his work. Yet he was obsessed with the perfect American family unit; in his dream, he achieves this ideal through his tulpa, the Cooper that Janey-E and Sonny Jim now refer to as Dougie/dad. He was so absorbed in his dream that he could not comprehend his own identity when he awoke (Dear Richard... Richard?). His awakening at this time though functions as a foreshadowing of Laura's own awakening. We find Laura in Odessa because she has travelled there (and into an older person) via the synapses in her own brain, which is indicated by the electrical pole we see outside her home. It is not an accident, therefore, that Richard believes and refers to Carrie as a ‘girl’ and not a ‘woman’ named Laura. As Richard is driving her back to Twin Peaks, Laura is realizing that she is coming towards the end of her dream, and so tries to force herself to continue sleeping as a way to escape her inevitably waking up to reality. When Richard asks, “What year is this?” it forces Laura to think rationally and in the context of time. After Laura screams, she awakes to her mother calling for her. While she may be alive, the problem is she is now fully aware of her situation, and has to somehow overcome her own waking life knowledge of what has happened to her and the panic and dread of its potential continuation.

[@thisisnotachannel]

You fucking nailed it, friend!

[@battybatshytcrazy4365]

This is my take:) In episode 17 Gordon Cole explained how there was a discovery of an entity, an extreme negative force named Jowday over time has become to be known as Judy. I think that the thing that spewed out Bob is Judy (mother of all evil) and I think the girl who had the frog/cicada go in her mouth was Sarah palmer. I believe the mother of all evil (Judy) grew inside her. Then when the firman saw this he sent Laura to her, hoping by giving birth to a girl would help Sarah keep her humanity so evil couldn't take over completely. Killing Laura would then help sever that connection. When Cooper went back and saved Laura then you saw glimpses of the town carrying on as normal with Pete going fishing and Josie putting her makeup on then it flashed to Sarah palmer stabbing Laura's picture in a fit of rage (Judy wasn't happy). The fireman said that evil had entered the white lodge (can't remember which Episode). So what if Judy then Sent Laura to another Mother? I think Judy possibly created another reality (the name of the diner Carrie worked at was called Judy's) this way she gets rid of two pains in her but, Laura and Cooper (two birds 1 stone). So Judy can spread her evil without interference from Laura and Cooper, by trapping them in the alternate reality.

[@ProfSebastian]

The idea that the Giant send Laura to keep the humanity in Sara Palmer is great! I love that theory! Without her, Judy grows powerful.

[@wrathofmatt4298]

Ella Bee I like this, 👍

[@blameobtorto]

This makes sense

[@mauricerodriguez2138]

I thought it was Diane who ate the frog. I mean, look at the little girl's mouth movement, it's the same that Diane makes on part 16.

[@battybatshytcrazy4365]

Maurice Rodriguez Diane would be to young to be that girl. Sarah is the right age and when Sarah removed her face to reveal the evil inside her (growing from when she was a girl). That's why I believe the fireman (giant) sent Laura so Sarah could help stay in touch with her humanity. When you see Sarah in the new series you can see she is losing to the evil (attacking and killing the man in the bar) peace:)

[@Alexander1868]

David Lynch is Judy..

[@mdeschain]

Alexander1868 Trump is Judy, clearly.

[@garycottier92]

What the hell?

[@ericeast7860]

David Lynch is the dreamer. Dale Cooper is us, the audience. Major Briggs is Dr John Hagelin. Judy is man's appetite for violence. BOB was Bob Iger, president of ABC at the time, the one who cancelled the show. Laura was "The American Girl".... which gets switched to Ronnette Polaski Ronnette Pulaski takes Laura's place. She ends up being the All American Girl that gets killed instead of Laura. Which means Ronnette never crosses state lines and the case never becomes Federal. We got took on an acid trip. Twin Peaks is/was a self aware TV show. The characters sense they live inside of a dream, because they do. They are TV characters. Diane saw her real life counterpart Linda at the motel after they crossed over. They crossed over into the real world, which is why Lunch used the real life resident who lives in Laura Palmer's home. They crossed over from TV Twin Peaks, to the real life Twin Peaks. And they brought Judy with them when Dale(Richard) brought Laura(Carrie) to the home of Laura Palmer. She traveled through the electrical outlet as Sarah and the electricity went out, just as Dale had.

[@robertblackmore703]

Judy is the explanation, the death of mystery; closure.

[@shawnkavanagh2951]

I've never thought Laura looked thrilled to be in the lodge. Those are tears of sadness and a laughter of resignation. She's facing eternity and she knows it. Until Cooper changes the past, that is.

[@morbidorbits]

The Conjuration of Babalon project undertaken by Jack Parsons whilst also working on the Manhattan Project, is a huge clue to the identity of Mother (of abominations). It is such a massive clue because Mark Frost has included it in The Secret History of Twin Peaks. Whether the FBI, or the history books have renamed it, or not, does not really matter. Episode 8 explains this all so well. The atomic bomb testing, in combination with the Conjuration of Babalon is used to forcibly split reality and exploit it by inviting Babalon to join us. Jack Parsons and his use of Thelema should be referenced in any discussion on the true origins of Judy / Jowday etc.

[@akikolehmainen88]

Early on in season 3 the Arm said to Cooper that he cannot leave the Black Lodge before his doppelganger is back. Doppelganger returned to Black Lodge in part 17. So, all that time Cooper was in fact in the Black Lodge, as shown in part 18 when the events replayed from the beginning. What passed in between was in a dream that Cooper entered from the "non-exist-ent" where the Arm's doppelganger tossed him in when Cooper tried to do something to pull his own doppelganger back into the lodge.

[@jounilepisto4805]

My idea is that what if the thing Laura whispered to Coop was that "She (Judy) is trying to trick you" and that's why Coop went back to Janey-E and Sonny Jim and it was his tulpa that got into the other dimension. Of course we assumed that it was Dougie who went back to Lancelot Court but this theory would explain why Coop wasn't acting exactly like himself in Odessa. And after all Giant/Fireman had told Coop about Richard and Linda and he said he understood.

[@pilouuuu]

Cooper promised that he was going to be back. That is the ending of the series! A happy ending. Everything else is BEYOND the ending. The tulpa acted like good Cooper, Mr.C and Dougie, which proves the point that he is a tulpa indeed.

[@henkhardeman]

Also I seem to remember that when Mr. C burned in the Red Room and disappeared, a gold seed remained. Mike used this to create Cooper's tulpa, which would explain why the tulpa also acted like Mr. C.

[@MojoVince]

I like this explanation cause it can be true. If it is, Coop still has the duty to stop Judy so we may have at least a movie on this.

[@ZeroTheKnifer]

Jouni Lepistö also Diane doesn't seem to feel very comfortable with that Coop in the hotel room. Very interesting interpretation dude!

[@jounilepisto4805]

ZeroTheKnifer True! Thanks man!

[@GabrielGoopar]

What she whispers is the identity of Bob, at least thats what the missing page of the diary says, that she saw an old man and she whispered into his ear because she thought he could help her, Cooper had the same dream, also I think is worth mentioning that Cooper foresaw Mr. Cs existence, in FWWM he is obsessed with proving his dream is real by going back and forth in the surveillance camera until he is in both places at the same time.

[@mikenayers5981]

I also don't think Cooper's timeline was the least bit altered, and he created some sort of alternate by saving Laura. This is made apparent in part 18 when they show Dougie going back home to Janey-E.

[@andyb7693]

Superb videos. I believe the Fireman had a plan all along. He set a trap for bad coop to find the coordinates and then transport him to the sheriffs station once he found the location. To face his ultimate fate. To face the green glove punch. I wonder whether good coop thought he saved Laura from dying, so returned to Vegas, a family he always wanted. Coop had a plan too. Maybe the tulpa coop entered the white lodge and was the one who received the clues, he then entered the alternate universe. That's why Diane is unsure, she feels that the situation in the motel room felt to close to bad coop than good, reminding her of the incident years before. The coop in the alternate universe is a mixture of coop, bad coop and Dougie, now he is Richard. Ultimately, if one universe succeeds, it means an alternative one is destined to change and fail. The infinite nature of Judy, where one timeline will affects another. Who knows, my theory changes by the day!

[@Cosmonaut1999]

Interestingly when the giant tells Cooper at the start of ep1 "listen to the sound" and he plays a crackly ratchetty noise "it's in our house now" it's the same sound the happens when Coop tries to leave the black lodge but he is buffered and has to go a different way, it's also the same sound that happens just before Laura disappears to when Cooper is walking her back to the white lodge. I'm trawling through the episodes looking for any other times that sound happens. Something else I noticed was when Laura screams in the wood while talking to James Hurley and he asks what's the matter, cos she saw Cooper....Laura says..."Light Out." Which is exactly what happens when Coop asks her "what year is this" she screams when she hears her mothers voice..and then the house lights flash and go out!

[@Trainy2]

It was also extremely odd how Laura casually let Cooper in her house to see a guy with a hole in his head.

[@TheMediaDirectory]

Ronald Johnson what do you mean? How did cooper kill that man?

[@NF-xy6br]

how do you know he's the killer? that miiight explain why he didn't ask about it

[@NF-xy6br]

this is very interesting but its still not making sense to me lol

[@rayprill2883]

I think Ronald Johnson is onto something. It is one of many good interpretations. Richard is the real FBI and is having a breakdown due to his mistake at Carrie's, so he dreamed a backstory. OR Richard is real FBI from decades ago and is caught in a kind of "Edge of Tomorrow" loop. He may have killed the guy on his last loop through.

[@obj-g1732]

It's interesting Ronald, but it doesn't really make sense and you've had to invent a lot of stuff whole cloth. What we know for sure is that Carrie is definitely eager to get out of the house, says she's in trouble and needs to get out of town for a while -- all signs point to her as the murderer. "Have you found him?" seems pretty obviously to be in reference to the dead guy she's, until trusting Cooper/Richard, pretending ISN'T rotting in the living room. Her scream is obviously in reference to her mother's whisper, a rush of memories coming back, or something similar, not realizing the guy next to her killed the guy in her apartment she didn't even seem to care about.

[@milton7763]

One possiblity on Judy, by the way, is that she is NOT the same as mother/experiment. She could just be another creation by Mother: being created at the same time as Bob (i.e. the locust/frog/thingy from the egg)

[@TheMediaDirectory]

I am wondering how come Chet Desmond didn't make an appearance as a talking guitar..

[@78deathface]

TheMediaDirectory that would have been PERFECT

[@milton7763]

He did. He was the owl-shaped cookie jar behind Dougie-Coop in the scene where Dougie-Coop has a tie over his head and tries out coffee for the first time. Remember: the owls are not what they seem

[@dam4070]

TheMediaDirectory My guess is Desmond wasn't so fortunate... He might have been sent into nonexistence...

[@matthewalas3405]

TheMediaDirectory I was thinking that we could have seen him in the black lodge

[@Rekettyelovag]

I was wondering too. I have 2 guesses: - He was decapitated (like it was presented in season 3) - Remember Carl from the trailer park? He said "I've already gone places. I just want to stay where I am." I think Desmond is still on his journey somewhere else. He was an interesting character, so I expect him to surface again at some point.

[@VinylMigraine]

Listen too the enhanced audio so you can make out what Laura whispered too Coop. And one thing somethings miss out on is the audio of Sarah calling for Laura is the same clip from the Pilot on the day she was found dead. It's her mother waking her from a dream and her realizing it is a dream. Coop did succeed in bringing her back/prevent her death.

[@ProfSebastian]

Wonderful video! I feel that every member of the Black Lodge wanted Laura's purity for themselves and maybe Evil Cooper plan was to deliver Bob to Judy so she is complete again, maybe the nuclear blast made Judy throw up all the garmonbozia and Bob by accident and the Giant was forced to balance the Negativity with Laura's Orb.

[@davidv1273]

Fantastic analysis. More please! Let's also consider Sarah not being evil for a moment. Let's imagine Cooper is misguided (at a minimum) in his attempt to save Laura, as you suggest here with him telling her not to take the ring and Laura's "happy ending" in FWWM. Then She is "rescued" by Cooper's going back in time, and his desire to take her home. What's waiting for her at home, but more Bob, and more torment and temptation by Bob to let him in as her father did? My supposition is this: Sarah breaking the picture of Laura is NOT Sarah trying to kill Laura, or being frustrated by Laura escaping her grasp, but Sarah is trying to FREE Laura from a worse fate - hence the reason the glass shatters and is repeatedly smashed, but the photo remains inviolate. Sarah hasn't descended into evil, as may have been suggested, but rather, she has spent her time, as best she could, over the last 25 years preparing for the evil forces she is up against in protecting her girl. Hence the constant viewing of horrible television footage. Just a thought. There's also plenty of evidence to show that Sarah is actually now a force for evil, but the breakdown scene in the market, in particular, made me very sympathetic to her as one who is suffering immensely. Not to mention Grace Zabriskie's performance is to die for. P.S. I also like this theory, because it puts Judy a bit more back in the shadows. I did not at all appreciate David Lynch LITERALLY sitting there telling us what the most mysterious element in the whole series was. It seems like a very non-Lynchian thing to do, so I cannot take it at face value (plus it was a let down ;) )

[@user-sg4np5gd9x]

I love your expressions like "WTF is Coop doing here" or "Mike doesn't give a shit about 'em" so funny )))

[@letthatsinkin7879]

Your content was essential viewing while watching season 3 in real time. Thank you!

[@HokeyBugle]

My understanding is that bob's goal was to possess not kill her but when Laura put the ring on she blocked Bob out so Bob killed her. Cooper doesn't want Laura to wear the ring because it would mean Bob still has a chance to possess her and therefore doesn't kill her.

[@Ploobie86]

Well, Cooper probably didn't want to alter the past, but The Fireman wanted him to. I think Laura is the key to destroying Judy, which is why the Fireman created her, and why he wanted Cooper to bring Laura to Judy (who is inhabiting Sarah). Bob, who is basically Judy's son, was probably sent to kill Laura so that his mother would be protected. I also believe that Judy knew that The Fireman was trying to recruit Cooper to help him, which is also why Bob inhabited Cooper, to eliminate that threat, as well. This is also why Judy was so angry when Diane helped Cooper escape the Black Lodge. As for why Bob was seeking out Judy, it was probably just to be reunited with her, and maybe she could potentially keep Bob from having to go back into the Black Lodge. The only loophole I can think about with this is that Bob didn't seem to know who Judy was, but he probably just didn't know her by that name. As for Mike's role, I think he's torn between being a malevolent and benevolent spirit. After all, I always found it pretty symbolic that the floor in the black lodge has white and dark lines, as if to say the white and black lodges inhabit the same space. The Fireman even appears in the black lodge, and tells Cooper "One and the same". There are also many doppelgangers, so maybe we sometimes see a Doppel-Mike and a Doppel-Arm. Anyways, Mike said he saw the face of God (possibly the Fireman?) and said that he was changed. So he could be working for The Fireman, as well, or maybe Mike and his Arm just really want revenge against Bob, who has broken their rules, and who owes them lots of Garmonbozia. I remember watching the first 2 seasons back in 2007, and wondering to myself if the spirits that were helping Cooper were actually good, or if they were just trying to lead Cooper down the path that would eventually led him to the Black Lodge so that Bob could possess him. That kind of ambiguity makes for a far more interesting story, as opposed to fully understanding the motivations behind all of the characters.

[@degenerati]

When Coop and Mike meet up behind the ringing door beneath The Great Northern , Mike's face begins to waver between his , and someone else. I tried to pause at that moment to see who's face it was, but, I wasn't able to pause on one of the alternating frames. Perhaps seeing who's face is hidden behind Mike's will help clear up Mike's motivations for you...? Did anybody else notice this ?

[@CarseyJones]

Just wanted to point out that the room with the drapes and zig-zag flooring is not the Black Lodge. it's the waiting room to get into and out of the black lodge. The actual black lodge is where we first see cooper and the giant together in Episode 1. Great vids tho. Keep it up. ;)

[@LondonWeekendTV]

Great analysis! Your extensive detailed knowledge of the entire Twin Peaks saga including FWWM allows you to identify the contradictions and the distant motivations of many of the characters which in turn brings out the interesting questions that you pose in your video. I have heard in other analysis about the irony of Cooper taking Laura back to her parents home a place that was horrific for her and where she did not want to be, so yes, you pose a great question; What is Cooper thinking?!? Why is Coop tormenting Laura? We must have more Twin Peaks to find out!

[@BB-or8gi]

I really hope you make more videos now that this season is over - I've really cherished them along the way!!!

[@saiddarviche3432]

The first scene of season 3 is in fact the ending scene. The fireman explains to Cooper that “it” (“Laura”, the extra part of good injected in the world to fight Bob, the extra part of evil) is in “our house (the white lodge) now”. But “it” cannot fight all evil (judy who possesses Sarah Palmer). That's why his efforts as “Richard” with(out) “Linda” to bring “Laura” to Sarah’s (judy’s) house are meaningless. It’s impossible to kill the two birds (Bob and Judy) with one stone… Good and evil have to cohabitate in a balanced way. This objective is now achieved. But Cooper seems to be “far away” from admitting this (“it is?”) even if he thinks he “understands”…

[@Canttouchthis04]

I'm pretty sure the "two birds with one stone" bit is referring to trying to save Laura and destroy Judy at the same time.

[@captobasso6249]

hmmm interesting I just realized the giant saying "it is" in our house, which i thought of as a planet... but not sure anymore... chantal did see Mars and there are planetary line-ups on the map... but the opposite of "it is" is "is it" which the arm asks at the end... "is this the story of the little girl who lives down the lane?" "is it?" "it is in our house, now" sarah said to Hawk "it's a goddamn bad story"

[@edoardofantechi]

My idea is that Laura disappears from the Waiting Room (or wathever it is) because Cooper saved her from Bob after he enters the 315 door. Ok, it doesn't solve a lot, but it can be a piece in this huge puzzle.

[@ezequielgarcia8070]

The way Cooper came to this new "dimension or so" make it seem like for him it all had been a dream (or maybe it was a dream indeed). Therefore we can consider that when travelling through dimensions or new timelines, for the traveller it may seem that it was all a bad dream (that's something I would also link to Audrey's story). So what if what the ending suggests is that Cooper was able to take Laura home and save her, so all that happened (even she having the name Carrie page) was part of this dream she had. When she hears the voice calling her it's the same recording from 1st episode when her mother tries to wake her up. So therefore what if Laura was finally saved (or Maybe not, as Judy is still out there) and her final scream implies she wakes up from this nightmare her "death" was.

[@ezequielgarcia8070]

Therefore we can think cooper's mission all along was to end the obstacle between Laura and her destiny (fight Judy?): BOB. So by preventing BOB from killing her his mission would be over, but Laura's not. What the fate of this other mission is we don't know. Also, Cooper may have told Laura not to put on the ring because he knew that with it on BOB would kill her and make him have to do all he has done to save her, but without it he would try to "be her". But maybe BOB did not know Laura's real power, he may be underestimating her. She was created by the giant so I don't think she would be so weak to let BOB in. And Bob's mission all along was to get Laura out of the way. That's why he raped her and everything: by making her weaker and weaker he thought he would be able to be her, and therefore preventing her from fullfiling her destiny, that was possibly concerning Judy, Bob's own "mother". But he may have been wrong all along.

[@damienx0x]

This is deep, and open to many interpretations.

[@fuel]

If you think of Fire Walk With Me as a metaphor for domestic abuse, such as Laura being in denial that her father has been raping her, then you can think of the white horse as a symbol of other loved ones also in denial as well as a symbol of alcohol abuse. "The horse is the white of the eye and dark within. Drink full and descend". From this perspective, it seems that the ending of season 3 is about Laura facing her final demon, her mother who turned a blind eye while she was being abused and eventually murdered by her father.

[@cinemaocd1752]

I like this theory a lot, but with the added twist that I think Leland was drugging Sarah which is how she slept through the abuse in Fire Walk with Me. He gives her the milk that is glowing (a direct rip off of Hitchcock's Suspicion, in which a husband may or may not poison his wife with a glowing glass of milk) before the scene where he attacks Laura. I thought the horse which is a street name for heroin, was a symbol for drugs or drug addiction, and alcohol is a drug. But regardless of this nuance, I have felt ever since watching Fire Walk with Me and reading Dr. Jacoby's part of the Secret History of Twin Peaks, that this psychological/meta explanation, setting aside all the supernatural elements, is the most satisfying read of the show. It's great that it works on this level and at the level of superfan Wow Lynch Wow analysis. BTW, Suspicion is a really interesting thing for Lynch to reference, since it was a work that Hitchcock lost control of and the studio gave a manufactured "happy" ending, in much the same way that Lynch and Frost lost creative control and were forced to have a resolution to Laura's murder on the show. Suspicion is about a woman who believes her husband is trying to murder her for money and yet, she does little or nothing to get away from him. She has enough doubt about his intentions to keep her hanging around. Also she's really very much in love with him. I always thought this was a very powerful statement about domestic abuse, because all of the people I've ever known who'd suffered it believed completely that they were in love with their abusers and stayed because at the end of the day they believed separation from their abuser would be worse. Some part of Sarah Palmer KNOWS deep down what Leland is, but she prefers to turn away and drink full and descend. Laura MUST confront this, I think as you say.

[@CharlesStarlon]

Turning a blind eye has a ring; so many people got shot right in the eye while turning away in The Return.

[@PhantomCooper]

The electricity that usually plays over the Lynch/Frost productions credits is gone at the end. It also goes out in the house after Laura shrieks. It's a subtle yet significant ending, and a happy one in my eyes. Even if Laura had to relieve her trauma, and Cooper is lost in time with no way of getting back now that the electricity the Lodge spirits use to travel to our world is vanquished. They accomplished the Fireman's task and have cemented themselves as tragic hero's. Plus they're alive, which is nice.

[@thejetto]

Your analysis is brilliant mate. You open up excellent thought pathways which make sense and help me to assimilate all the information that i have seen through out the show. Great video editing. Great honest mix of psychological breakdown and street talk. Love the accent by the way. Lots of work there to find the older clips from FWWM and Seasons 1 and 2 and then bring them in sync with your spoken vlog. You and Pete Peppers are by far the best TP critics out there today and I thoroughly enjoy your posts. Keep up the good work mate!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@richkatanich9534]

It's been quite a while since ep 17/18 and your analysis is on the money! Looking at your linking the pieces together after 5 months or so is enlightening!! And you've got the ’style’ for your show. Enjoyable. I'm thinking Mike is a key player all the way through the whole of T P. His motivations do seem to change drastically from S 1 through FWWM and the Return. In the end though I believe he has an interest in making sure Coop does not die, as he said in one of his teleportations in The Return. Great character. Keep your videos rollin’. Like T P itself, we always want MORE!!

[@pcs3652]

I suspect the Cooper that leaves the Motel in Odessa (which is a different motel than the one he and Diane enter) and gets into his car (again different) is a version of Bad Coop. This happens at a different time and place then Richard and Linda's story. His main goal is still to get to Laura's house and to Sarah. I don't think our Coop would have reacted the way he did in the diner or have looked at a murdered body in Carrie's house and not reacted.

[@milton7763]

I also had been questioning our assumption that Mike was actually helping Cooper (especially as the arm/MFAP's and Mike's 'help' to Cooper in season 1 and 2 could well be interpreted as a sly means of getting him into the black lodge), but couldn't put a good theory around it. Great job! With the owl cave ring being the 'transporter' of dead bodies to the black lodge, I guess Mike wanted to make sure Laura and her garmonbozia would end up in the black lodge (FWWM) and Bob wouldn't run off with her garmonbozia again (after having stolen the canned garmonbozia from the convenience store). On the relation between Bob (and woodsmen) on the one hand and FMAP and the other spirits (jumping man, Tremonds etc.) on the other, I still really like the theory someone came up with that the convenience store scene form FWWM/Missing pieces is a sort of negotiation going on between the two parties, possibly right after Bob entered our dimension/was created.

[@heyklackey]

I think part of it was Lynch wanting to leave us (for good) with the same unsettled quirky feeling that hooked all of us in the first few episodes of season 1. This alternate timeline had familiar faces and tropes but was different enough to keep us uncomfortable (just like our first introduction to Twin Peaks) I also think he may have been affected by the final days of David Bowie - who very much used his last album as sort of a farewell and an anthology of a lifetime of lessons and musings. Philip Jeffries seemed to go from cool cameo in FWWM to one of the main lynchpins (get it?) in THE RETURN. So what is Lynch trying to tell us about life? That it's just a (slightly more lucid) dream perhaps? That we are born into this mystery and we travel through it having a defined sense of good and evil, yet we never understand the true motives of the universe. We see good and evil, and try to explain it by appealing to either balance or external powers above our own, but the truth is on a long enough timeline it's just as likely and inconsequential as complete meaninglessness. Because every one of us will die before figuring "it" all out. Have a lovely day everybody = ] Loved the whole series, can't wait for the final dossier!

[@birdieberry]

Another great video! Having more questions than answers is more intriguing than having all the answers.

[@colinecollard533]

"hey does this Lynch actually KNOWS to give meaningful conclusions to anything, or just hides all this time under layers of questions. " It's the latter. If anybody asked him personally what it all means he wouldn't be able to give a straight answer. When you've got people speculating and having a hundred different answers to what happens you sure know it all means whatever the viewer wants it to mean. The narrative itself is very thin.

[@ZoomReverseFlash]

I don't think BOB was trying to kill Laura. Throughout the film, he was clearly attempting to POSSESS her, so that he could "feel through her lips". The Ring sort of "seals a contract" for BOB to kill the person wearing it and send them to the Black Lodge after death. So, MIKE made sure BOB wouldn't be able to possess Laura, being forced to kill her instead - to which he screams in Leland's voice "don't make me do this". Laura is then comforted in death, since it was ultimately a better choice at that time than becoming BOB's new host.

[@colinecollard533]

Most likely Lynch just left it to the viewer to interpret what it all means and he hasn't a definitive answer himself. The fact that hundreds of interpretations already exist and each has an equal amount of supporters means anything goes as far as an explanation is concerned. He left it all intentionally vague with "clues" thrown in here and there to make people speculate and come up with "explanations".

[@riana4180]

Damn, Ronette's stunt double took a good fall out of that train car!

[@WowLynchWow]

I was thinking the same thing when doing this. I've probably seen the movie a dozen times before, but I never realized what a great fall that was previously.

[@dissidentjaws]

I don't want to spoil things too much so I'm quite torn in providing this bit of insight to everyone. When Coop & Diane get it on in the motel room, you get a huge clue as to what will happen and why. It's all about the white horse. The white horse in this specific context represents fertility. Diane after having noticed her doppelgänger just prior knows that she needs to break the chain. One way to break the chain is to conceive a child. Now I know that this version of Diane is older...but conceiving a child with Coop now disrupts the chain and throws her back to the past where she's younger and probably able to carry the unborn child to term. With that in mind, the true ending of Twin Peaks is not when Carrie(Laura) screams but rather back in the lodge with Laura whispering in Coops ear. If you notice, Coop almost shrieks in horror as she's whispering. This is significant because it's different. This isn't a longer version of a previous scene...it's new. What Laura whispers to Coop is that he now has a child with Diane. That's the true cliff hanger. I don't have much time to continue on but it still comes back to the atomic bomb and the arrogance of man and the disintegration of the nuclear family, etc.

[@cw9817]

I agree that Mike's motivations are not so clear (and really never have been -- I noticed how he didn't care about Ronette years ago, as seen by his stepping over her body, and also that just prior to that, he chortles with unsettling glee about Bob doing something wrong at the same time as Laura is being murdered). One thing that I am still mulling over: How is it that Mike essentially seems to be working (although not necessarily happily, mind you) for Cooper in the last few episodes of TP: TR? Once Cooper "awakes" from his Dougie existence, Cooper orders Mike around instead of the opposite being true. There's a dynamic going on here that points to . . . well, I'm not sure what, but there's a strange inverted hierarchy in play here. If it was Mike who told DoppelCoop he looked forward to being with Bob again instead of Philip Jeffries, is this because he wanted to get away from serving Coop And how does all this fit into the TP:FWWM cosmology, where the MFAP seems to more-or-less be in charge? I have no answers, as should be obvious, just items over which to ruminate.

[@nickcody1001]

Slam dunk, man! I think you nailed it pretty good. Thanks for the FWWM recaps because it helped me think twice about Mike and what his angle might be. Cooper, Cooper, Cooper... you might be right that he didn't clearly think through his plan with Laura. But, on the other hand, what does "two birds/one stone" mean? It must have significance. And if we aren't bringing that bit into the interpretation, we must be falling short. Here are a couple of quick points I think might be helpful: why is Cooper/Richard sometimes wearing a lapel pin and other times not? Is it a time sequence indicator, tipping us off that one Cooper is earlier and another is later? And what about that missing diary page? Hawk found some missing pages of Laura's diary, but one is still lost. Cooper/Richard finds Laura but she tells him that she is Carrie Paige. Carry Page? Head scratching here...

[@chaosdream21]

One of the best explorations I've seen.

[@shaymayo6]

i think the first scene of the season, with the giant, is in fact a part of the future still to come in season 4. by then, coop will understand the line about richard and linda, and the mother of all evil will be closing in on the white lodge ("it's in our house now"). i think what laura whispered coop was "my mother is judy" same as back then, when she said "my father killed me".

[@kowsky1]

I like this.

[@tiagocosmos]

i think the one thing we can all agree upon is: Dale Cooper done screwed up.

[@alistairdicksonartist1050]

Lynch has always said to stay with the emotions of his scenes - has a stranger ever came up to you and thought you were someone else - or vis- versa ? Or have you gone back to an area where you lived when you were a child and how different and small it looks ? In eastern spirituality, which Lynch is influenced by, there is no fixed self, we are part of the larger streams of change, where past lives can sometimes be remembered in flashes, especially by very young children. e.g. Carrie's twinge at the name Sarah Palmer. Ep18 was a like a coda to the third series, it could even be watched on its own after the 2nd series ! Laura Dern and Kyle M together brought back memories of Blue Velvet - themes run through all of DL's work - e.g the use of sex again... can take us to some strange places !

[@dawngrrrl]

I was just itching for more TP content 😁 I think Cooper's meddling to find/save Laura caused Judy to create a separate reality and stick Laura in it as Carrie Page (the missing page), and the Tremond woman is a sort of gatekeeper. Part 17 was the end for the Twin Peaks reality/dimension.

[@Calriec]

I think you've hit pretty close to the mark.

[@rhandyrhoads12]

What is it about the missing page? I don't remember it. The one that Hawk found, did contain something about Carrie Page? Nice and to the point theory, by the way.

[@davidv1273]

Ha! Great work on the "page." Totally missed that. Plus it could be "carry page." Hmmmm... I love that we're still asking so many questions.

[@RichardRingo1]

LOL!

[@Corn_Pone_Flicks]

Hawk mentions that one page of the diary is still missing, even after he found a few hidden in the bathroom door. But apart from the word "page," I don't see any connection between a missing piece of paper from a diary and an alternate personality, unless that missing page was a description of some other life Laura wanted which got magically changed into reality. The show doesn't reference any of this.

[@NerdPanic]

"I will not kill my mother" I love that. "You never left the lodge" was my guess.

[@GabrielGoopar]

Apparently she whispers that Bob is the killer and that someone needs to stop him, there is a video of this from season 2, she describes a dream where she meets old Coop in the missing page of her diary.

[@kevinfisher5492]

"My name is really Judy."

[@nichecarousel]

it seems to me that if you view laura as the dreamer and see the characters and plot as metaphors for her trauma and abuse, perhaps dale cooper rescuing laura represents denial of the reality of what happened to laura, which of course was her being killed by her father. by trying to alter the past rather than accept the trauma and depressing reality of laura’s murder, cooper unintentionally created a paradox: if he went back to the past to save laura from her murder, then it would’ve never happened and he would’ve never been able to go into the past from the future to save her, unless we’re under the impression that a whole new timeline entirely would be created in which cooper saves laura. but not in judy’s universe. assuming that judy is the faceless embodiment of evil running the scenes, it’s safe to assume that she viewed cooper’s attempt to save laura as an insult to her power and perceived control of fate. so as a punishment to cooper and diane for initially crossing over through the portal, judy banished the two of them to alternate dimensions of her own creation, separating them. probably as a cruel joke, she sends cooper to the dimension we see in the final episode in which he finds laura, who doesn’t remember her own name. cooper is hopeful that he has won the battle by finding laura and brings her back to twin peaks, but much fo judy’s amusement, coop realizes he’s lost as laura hears her mother call her name and awakens to her trauma once again, screaming and possibly truly dying once and for all as the lights go out. judy, fate, evil, or whatever you perceive it as, wins at the end when coop tries to go against fate and change the past. symbolically, this is kind of similar to the theme of the great gatsby: trying to change the past rather than accept the present can many times be self-destructive. perhaps if cooper and diane would’ve stayed in the true universe of twin peaks after freddie defeated bob, things would’ve been more or less okay. but who knows, maybe it was all fated to happen.

[@souio]

I really enjoyed this channel and I hope you'll be producing more content even after Twin Peaks is long over, whether it be a new channel, a channel dissecting original Twin Peaks, Lynch film analyses or Lynch inspired media. You have a great narration style and it's always a joy to watch and listen to

[@ashkanbashiri]

I think what Cooper didn't understand was that it's all a circle. Laura's soul is destined to be tormented forever. He did change future by rescuing Laura Palmer. But her soul exists in the past too. It's a different person but the same destiny. Cooper cannot change her destiny. Judy is in the Palmer's house and she won't go away.

[@AT-sd9qq]

She looks thrilled to be in the lodge. hahaha!

[@capnmuphy2021]

Cooper didn't want Laura to take the ring because her soul would be trapped in the lodge. She was happy at the end because, though trapped in the lodge, Cooper was there to reassure her she would eventually be free (which is his goal). When Cooper led her away from the fateful night, his goal was to take her to the white lodge and free her completely, but Judy intervened and placed Laura in an alternate timeline where Cooper could be easily confused, keeping Laura away from her ultimate goal. The scream at the end confirms it failed, as she now remembers who she is.

[@JacobDean88]

I watched Twin Peaks during its original run. And i basically grew up on Lynch. I remember seeing Dune in theaters and my parents renting Elephant Man. I have traditionally watched everything Lynch has done. So that being said. My personal opinion is i was very fine with The Return. In a Lynch universe it was perfect. Yeah it wasn't that original small town vibe that yhe original had but it was still damn good. I absolutely was not disappointed in any way.

[@KristoferProphet]

Has anyone tried taking the Audio of Laura whispering in Part 2 and clearing it up and isolating it to see if she actually says anything? Also the Gramophone sounds, has anyone tried slowing it down or trying to “clear it” up? Maybe there’s something there.. encoded..

[@beesonjoseph]

Before I say anything else, I would like to thank you for `having such a beautiful series to watch accompanying such a beautiful TV series. I would like to share with you my theory that FWWM and THE RETURN are both in separate timelines, at least in the Laura Palmer/Black Lodge story. I believe that Annie Blackburn and Cooper were giving Laura false advice that she rightly did not go with. Laura put on the ring. We never see Laura write Annie's message in her diary in FWWM because in that universe she never did. With this, she found salvation in the red room, and standing next to her was a Cooper from a different timeline who did not tell Laura to not take the ring and let Laura find her angel. He also most likely stayed in the Lodge. The timeline we saw in the return is where she didn't take the ring and wrote the message in her diary. Thank you again, Wow Lynch Wow!

[@kimmolaine8069]

Yes. This was the first scene where Evil Coop wasn't in control. To him, control was everything.

[@raaaak]

Interesting analysis and I totally go along with what you are saying about coop screwing up. It's kind of like a greek tragedy, such hubris to think he could defy fate and not pay for it.

[@triplucid3563]

Good Job! No ONE ELSE "ON THE MANY VIDS IVE SEEN" NOTES THIS!! VERY HELPFUL AMIGO!

[@billfallgravity568]

Very neat! I like the idea that Laura won't kill her mother. You made some very great interesting point.

[@trutwijd]

This is one of my favorite videos on the finale - I love that you addressed the ring which many people doing TP analysis vids seem to be forgetting about. It's damn confusing isn't it?? Even now I'm still trying to make sense of this.

[@themikka87]

Great summary! Thanks a lot!! I had many different interpretations including : Cooper is the eternal hero in an infinite loop of saving Laura who is the eternal victim which makes this a story of endless and hopeless fighting between good intentions and eternal evil. Also I had the thought that Cooper has changed in the "alternate reality" maybe by combining his bad and good self and became Richard who only tries to save Laura becaus he remembers he has to do that but he basically lost the point. This is basically a story of growing up and losing illusions. This can be combined with my other thought that the whole season was in Cooper's head and the alternate dimension was basically reality. And the last thought is that whatever happened with alternate personalities doppelgängers tulpas it all resembles to the season itself: returning with the same name but everything is a bit off it feels strange. We watched this whole season basically with the same feeling as Diane while having sex with Cooper/Richard.

[@DavidHarrisonPhD]

Great theory, there's a lot of mileage in tying all the threads together so I look forward to more videos and more theories!

[@Gittoplo]

My thoughts on the Laura's whisper which could be key to solving the mystery. At the end of the Finale, with credits rolling, we see Laura whispering into Dale's ear and he looks surprised. In fact, he says "Huh"? This I believe only happened once before. That time she whispered something along the lines that her Father is the Killer. This was key because the show was about finding BOB at the time and Dale could not recall what she said to him in the dream which would have solved the whole mystery at the time. I am pretty sure that this time she whispered something along the lines of "Judy is my Mother". This makes sense because as in the first instance, they are looking specifically for Judy and for the second time Laura reveals to Cooper who they should look for. Hence Dale's surprise at her comment. Your Mother??? Dale at the end forgets what Laura whispered and takes her back to Mother/Judy. The magic trio are Laura, BOB and Mother. BOB taken care so it only leaves Mother/Judy. The precedent was set with It was my Father whisper. It happens again and it is the Mother. I cannot see how it could be anything else logically.

[@alenyshka181]

Two birds with one stone - get Laura back and kill Judy. Judy is in there quite obviously, finally the right question of Dale awakens Laura and we know that she is the one. Her energy kills Judy with that scream. Electricity turns down at that dimension, it won't exist anymore. Happy ending for me.

[@RESISTING1]

Excellent analysis and congratulations in advance for 1 million views. My take is MIKE's end game was always to square off with BOB, he wanted Laura to take the ring because it will keep BOB from corrupting the spirit of the one "Laura Palmer". Perhaps MIKE was even impersonating Phillip Jeffries and communicated with evil Coop as Phillp Gerard and telling him that he will go back to the lodge and he (MIKE) will be alone with BOB. Cooper's end game is to keep Laura alive and prevent the unpreventable, perhaps he succeeded somehow at the end by preventing her death but fucked up the future by sending Laura and himself to a parallel universe where they exist as Richard and Carrie. The event of Laura whispering to Coop seems to be in a loop and happening over and over again. Is she whispering to him "You can't change the past"?

[@travisgray8376]

David Lynch changes the cliffhanger ending question "how's Annie" to "What year is this"?. Amazing. Lol.

[@stephengiles8428]

I disagree about The Fireman creating Laura to defeat Judy. I think Laura's purpose was only ever to offset the evil brought into the world by BOB. The way the screen froze on BOB's face before Laura was created seems to suggest this. I think when Freddy killed BOB, Laura's purpose was finally fulfilled. (Note the clock was on 2:53, 2+5+3=10, the number of completion as we were told). My guess for what we saw when Cooper tries to save Laura is that The White Lodge takes her away while he's leading her through the forest and places her in Odessa, TX (it's interesting to note that the town of Odessa is famous for jackrabbit statues!). In this alternate dimension, (which Cooper and the Carrie Page version of Laura are stuck in) the White Lodge has basically hid her in Odessa away from the forces of evil. The Black Lodge entities stay at what was the Palmer house, since they know Cooper will try to take Laura there if he finds her (as evidence by the names Chalfont/Tremond). And instead of leaving well enough alone (just like he couldn't be content with completing Laura's purpose by killing BOB), he tries to do too much. I think the yelling of Laura's name by Sarah, Carrie's scream, and the flash of electricity at the end, along with showing Laura whispering to Coop at the end, is not just Carrie "remembering" her past life, I think it represents Laura's death in this alternate dimension. So, in a way, you could say Cooper killed Laura by trying to save her. I think that may have been what she was whispering to him (remember, the parallel is young Laura whispered to Coop she was killed by her father).... and that was the reason why Cooper looked so bewildered.

[@tricklude]

Here's my take: think of the whole series (1,2, FWWM and Return) as the subconscious mind and "spirit" of a murdered girl, who was molested by her father (who we know she blamed an imaginary Bob character). Since the beginning of time, there has always been discussions as to what happens to our "spirit" or "essence" when we die. With all those memories and thoughts in our heads, surely it has to go somewhere. What if twin peaks is simply one girl's spirit or mind or "dream" as she transcends to the afterlife (whatever that may be). What we are seeing are both her mind trying to piece things together, as well as her actual aura or spirit observing what is happening in the town when her murder is being investigated. This explains all the odd inconsistencies and seemingly familiar names/faces/stories within the whole series. This also explains the "dream-like" nature of the Twin Peaks. I mean, only in your imagination or dream do you name people in your dreams familiar names like Harry Truman, or James (not Dean but Hurley) or Donna Hayward (ie Rita Hayworth) or Cooper (mistaken for Gary Cooper by the doctor in pilot epi) or Garland (Judy, as in wizard of oz). Only in your imagination do you have people speaking like smoke coming out of a kettle (which is eerie similar to the Gas Farm exhaust fumes of Ed's place in the Pilot Epi). Then there's the "electricity" thing. In the morgue of the Pilot Epi, the electricity was flickering. Because her "aura" or "spirit" or "essence" is observing all this, that theme is seen throughout the series. And the whole "who's the dreamer" thing... its herself reassuring this is all that moment before the afterlife. The last thing that is evident in my theory is Laura's scream at the very very end. You can hear a faint "Laura" before she does that blood-curdling scream. In the Pilot Epi, Sara was calling for Laura the morning she was missing. This, i think, signifies the subtle relation/bridge from the spirit state to reality. And all these lodges/ bad coop, arm, woodsmen is all in her imagination based on her life experience. As far as the ring, I think the first time she's seen it in real life is when Mike encounters Laura and Leland by the mechanic shop in FWWM. That left a lasting impression on her mind that she utilizes that one-arm Mike with the ring as story plots in her dream/spirit state. Again, all in the mind and spirit of a dying/dead girl on her way to the afterlife. Ok, this is way too long now.

[@Talalay99]

I wish Lynch put half as much effort into explaining Twin Peaks as the fans do.

[@zohebsaikia]

Talalay99 he can't ever...coz it's a community show

[@abonny]

Lynch NEVER explains. It's all up to us. According to Lynch (and most other artists), art itself means nothing. The information of the piece (in this case the show) has to go through you to mean something. It is what you make of it.

[@BartScantlin]

I know right? I've spent the last 2 days consuming fan theories. Its kinda fun but still, it would be nice if Lynch spent less time on showing Coop driving and more time on explanations.

[@nikopope1831]

That's not Lynch's style and that's now how he rolls. It's not that he lacks the effort, it's he refuses to give us the explanation. Judy herself is a symbol of that. Her original name is Chinese for "to explain" which means the ultimate evil is "to explain." This is Lynch getting everything back for what he and Frost didn't want to do in season 2. Let's not forget that Lynch and Frost NEVER wanted to even reveal Laura's killer and he wanted us to figure it out for ourselves. He knew it would anger the audience and he didn't care, that's his goal.

[@Talalay99]

I appreciate that - my comment was more about praising the dedication of the fans as opposed to knocking Lynch - in fact I suspect he takes great joy in looking up fan theories and wistfully smiling to himself.

[@jackocoobar1118]

Feel so sorry for Cooper. All he ever wanted to do was save Laura but failed miserably, what a sad ending :(

[@matthewhardwick8208]

I honestly believe that we will get another season of Twin Peaks. There are far too many questions remaining, and I know that's what the show thrives on. However, I feel that it would be a missed opportunity to potentially produce the best TV we have EVER seen. It ended in a similar fashion like season 2, which makes sense to have The Original Season 1 and 2 and The Return Season 3 and 4.

[@jayson42056]

WLW, Let me start by saying your reviews and theory vidoes on KZbin have been some of the best because of your knowledge of every episode ever of the show and the movie. So another season ends and yet again another WTF moment to spend our eternity pondering and wondering about. It makes no sense that Cooper told Laura not to take the ring, without the ring, she is Bobs new host. Yet once the ring is worn, you are eventually damned. It ties your soul into the Black Lodge. So I agree that Mike hustling to get the ring to Laura was odd, if only she could have whooped Lelands ass and put the ring on him, then it would have been a dif story. Part 17 felt like a finale for the Return and part 18 felt like some kind of new story where Cooper and Laura must somehow get to Judy. What a privilege to watch this but throwing in that Tremomd/Chalfont angle only makes us pound our fists again. Time within the show has gotten so confusing. Was I the only one who felt like the Cooper who woke up in Odessa had seemed to have characteristics of his doppelgänger. He wasn't as Boy Scout friendly and wanted "coordinates". Now, looking back, Mr. C is my character of all time, Kyle played that role as good as anyone else could.

[@ProfusionLVL]

Ring travel correction!!! Annie had the ring upon her return from the lodge, which was then taken by the nurse in the hospital!

[@Buzzode]

Great Insight as Always WLW ..... Love your Videos and please keep them coming ..... I also agree that Lynch and Frost want to continue the Story ..... and I'll Be Itching with you till it happens !!!

[@cityblue1982]

More videos??? Yes, Wow Lynch Wow! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@smokeylonesome4328]

I can't find any comments that talk about The Owl Cave Ring, so I'll comment on this one- Just to correct Wow, Lynch, Wow!- The Ring was last seen (preThe Return) when that nurse took it from Annie. It's okay, everyone makes mistakes.

[@JasonRonimous]

Only if he starts calling people scumbags again!

[@FilmflickerCinema]

Holy shit thank you so much, this just helped me understand a bunch of loose ends from the series.

[@KroneVanguard]

Hello, The "Fire walk with me" part is very simple to explain, I think... Mike is Bob nemesis. His goal is to cause pain and sorrow to Bob and what is the best way to achieve that if not forcing him to kill his desired host Laura? :) That's why he want Laura to wear the ring. When Laura wears the ring, Bob can't possess her anymore and has no choice than to kill her. You can see Bob in real pain when doing this and he is also so sad in one hidden scene... :( . When he screams: "don't let me do this", is not Leland to Bob but Bob to Mike. With Laura killed, Bob must give his garmonbozia (pain and sorrow) to Mike. "Bob! I want my garmonbozia", remember? Mike is happy. He doesn't give a shit about anything else. He was evil like Bob and he still likes garmonbozia a lot! Especially from his nemesis Bob. Mike is very responsable for the murder of Laura. Meanwhile, the Fireman has chosen Coop to save Laura at any cost. That's why I think Coop wants Laura not to wear the ring. Better be possesed than killed. Or maybe, Bob can't possess her at all 'cause she is the one and so the ring was not needed... Or was Laura sort of trap for Bob if he possessed her? Interesting... Who knows... When Bob is killed by Freddie, for Mike is ok to help Coop. He doesn't give a shit about Laura, the Fireman, or our reality that will be messed up. He lives in the lodge! So Cooper goes on in his mission to save Laura and doing so, he fucked up all the series, the reality, the timeline, the alternate dimensions and his life and the life of the ones he loved. But he saved Laura! Happy Fireman! Happy white lodge - > humans fucked up. But who cares: Laura is safe. She is the one. Or maybe is not safe 'cause you can hear "Laaurraaaa!" >:D And the evil is still on her. Thanks Coop, you saved the day... Not really, but you saved the one at least. And that's what happen when you work for supernatural creatures or powers that can't be comprehended (A.k.a the Fireman). End of the story. :P

[@TheCitizenzombie]

David Lynch himself MUST see this video! I really mean it! This video is so far is the best guidance to the explanation what was going on in his unconscious mind creating the whole Twin Peaks universe. Lynch is well known for being the "flagship" celebrity" of the international Transcendental Meditation movement for decades and whatever you might think about the organization itself, we all have to admit that by using its techniques (or any other traditional meditation techniques) a person (in this case a very creative person) can get an access to higher and lower realms of the human mind. Realms that we don't have a good relationship with and we refer to it like "Oh, it was just a bad dream..." "Oh, I've had this fantasy since I was a child..." "Oh, I'd like to sexually abuse my daughter..." Oops... :( Well, cut this short: I think Mark Frost part in the game is taking a "rational control" of Lynch's material, putting this into a "consumable" TV series, into a murder mystery context and he does a good job. We saw what Lynch did without this control in Inland Empire, has anybody watched that movie twice? :) Hey, Wow Lynch Wow Man (let me call you like this, since you never gave us your real name), thanks for the videos, really good job, Wow Lynch Wow Man! :) Thumps up! (I don't know if you are into fan edits, but I really would like to see a fan edit of The Return in a format of a 3 hour long movie, using the central story line only.)

[@berliner0]

Awesome video man

[@kaliboo60]

I love the woman under the radiator pic. Eraserhead! One of the best movies I have ever seen.

[@thisisnotachannel]

I'll never forget Mike saying "When Bob and I used to kill together..." I won't bother quoting the rest of the line, as I don't want to butcher it... but that specific line of dialogue (from season 2) has always made me question Mike's motivations. Almost seemed like revenge... which could help explain his indifference when confronted with Ronettes body, and the certain knowledge of Laura's murder.

[@pallaf100]

Just watched again ep. 17 and 18. Some more thoughts. When Coop went to see Jeffries, this one told him how he could "find Judy". Cooper had 2 objectives then: find Laura and save her from being killed (he'd have to go to the past ), and, by doing so he'd defeat Judy ("2 birds with one stone"). Coop went to meet Laura just before her murder, and saved her, changing the past facts. Judy/Sarah got mad, attacked Laura's picture and counterattacked ! She took Laura from Cooper in the woods (Laura screamed loudly) and led her to another world/dimension, where she would forget being Laura and would live as Carrie Paige a very disturbed life (the dead man in her house, her comments of her life in Odessa in the car,...), negatively controlled by Judy. But Cooper won't give up ! He joined Diane and then they followed the Fireman's instructions to find Laura: they went to mile 430, a portal to the other dimension where there would be doppelgängers of them: Richard and Linda. Richard, in fact, was Mr. C (or, the "Bad Coop"), already dead !! But Linda was still there and Diane saw her at the motel entrance. She wasn't surprised by seeing Linda, because she already knew that she lived there. Then Cooper got Carrie Page's address and convinced her to come with him to Twin Peaks, to be Laura Palmer again (frustrating Judy's plans). But, when they came there, the surprise: the proprietary of the house wasn't the Palmer family anymore !!! Why ? Cooper didn't expect that ! That happened because, when Cooper changed the past facts, he affected the future too ! Cooper was confused. And then, Laura remembered ! She "listened" her mother's voice calling her, and then everything came back, to her despair. At the very end, after Laura's scream, Judy probably counterattacked again. They went back to the Lodge. That are my new thoughts, maybe they are right.

[@ogami1972]

:"She looks thrilled to be in the lodge!" (laura laughs maniacally,twisting as though she is possessed)

[@NiMayne]

Here's what I've put together so far, I think one of the pieces to the puzzle: the episodes end up mirroring each other. Especially the beginning and the end. For instance, Mr. C is driving the same exact car Coop is driving in 18 when he finds/picks up Carrie, and It's episode 2 that Laura flies away while in the lodge, then 17 when she flies away from Dale's grasp. In episode 2 when they're in the lodge, Coop asks her "WHEN" he can leave, that's when she comes over and whispers in his ear. I think that's what he ends up remembering at the very end, why he ends up asking what year it is; I think she told him when he's free to leave, and it coincided with a date, that's why he was so displeased with the information and why it seemed relevant when he brought Laura home, but still didn't accomplish his task. The other thing I noticed in episode 2 when she flies away, is that immediately after the curtains are blown away, revealing the white horse (as seen on Carrie's mantle in 18), everything seems to start falling apart, the ground begins to shake, but then we snap back to Mike asking if this is future or past. I think it was this moment that time/space/reality had to try to fix itself with Laura coming back to life. I think that is the very moment everything turned into a dream, as it was no longer capable of being a reality; something similar happens in 17, when Dale announces they're living in a dream, and shortly after everything fades to black. I think some scenes are reality and some scenes are the 'dream'. The scenes from the original series showing Laura's body vanish is real life. Laura screaming and everything shutting to black is her waking up. Cutting to her whispering in Coop's ear is a nod to what I was saying about her telling him when he's able to leave - much like the very first (new) scene of the show is Coop being told to remember things, and the very last scene of the show is Coop remembering what he was told. Another clue I haven't quite worked out is Cooper with his FBI pin vs without. He has it while he's in the black lodge and some later scenes, but doesn't have it when originally speaking to the giant and when being Doug E.

[@jaytaylor7740]

Always enjoy your presentations, WLW. My own comment, superficial as it may be. is dig those crazy socks of Leland's at 1:42: Argyle!!!

[@dannyhicks8653]

wow thanks man I totally missed that,I was wondering why he was transported to the police station just to lose,I totally missed how he was looking for judy,and the giant changing the image of the palmer house-where judy lives-to the station...brilliant thanks man that helps alot.....makes way more sense now...woulda loved to see that confrontation though.

[@matinagalati2803]

Dale Cooper attempted to save Laura, but by doing so changed the course of events. He succeeded in saving her and her murder never happened. But Judy (Sarah) abducted her and sent her in another plane of existence, where she experiences a traumatic life. But she still has memories of who she is and can awaken. She does so by listening to her mother yell "Laura" the same way she did in the pilot episode. She realises she wasn't murdered but all her horrifying memories of her life come back. She shutters this plane of existence by screaming. Now Dale + Laura are alone, stranded in nowhere. She whispers in his ear: "You cannot save me. My mother is Judy." :'(

[@milton7763]

Your video is the first one that gives plausible answers to the question why the hell bad coop would enter the sheriff's station. It does require that bad coop, while in the white lodge(?) [I still haven't seen undeniable evidence that this actually is the White Lodge we're seeing] is not aware of the giant/fireman's meddling. And it now strikes me that his face is indeed shown inmobile in that cage - in his perecption he probably only went through the portal and ended up in front of the sheriff's station with no recollection of having been in the white lodge(?)

[@EvanFowler]

"I won't kill my Mother" is a fascinating guess. Makes a lot of sense. I love these videos.

[@ANTHONYFRANCIS12]

Awesome analysis. Let's not forget that Annie had the ring too. Then the nurse stole it. That damn ring sure is a mystery. Lol

[@johnbroadley1]

Thanks for the ride wow lynch wow. Almost as much fun as twin peaks itself. First thing I watch after the show For what it's worth I think 2 birds one stone refers to the idea of doppelgangers. Everyone has one. Mr C is actually Richard. He is not evil normally. He lives a life with Linda in the other reality. He entered the lodge when Dale did and left the lodge with Bob inside him who was the driving force. Diane's doppelganger is Linda. We saw her outside the motel. Diane couldn't stay in the other reality. Linda thought Dale was Richard and was horrified when she realised he wasn't the person she knew. Dale never left the lodge until episode 17, but it wasn't his dream either. I think his consciousness was allowed to enter Dougie, the Tulpa. His influence was weak but came through in parts, but was never going to be strong enough to get Bob to release Richard, which is why help from Freddy and the others was required. Dale messed up by taking Diane with him into the other reality, as Linda was there already = not allowed. I think that when a person enters the lodge their doppelganger does too. So Linda has been trapped in the lodge ever since Diane got put in there by Bob. The references to a never-ending battle between black and white Lodges, as shown in the infinity sign and the looped boxing match suggest that the FBI's quest is never going to be successful. Briggs worked this out (Secret History) and regretted all the years he wasted not spending time with Bobby. But the happy ending we see is Dougie, living a life of simple pleasure, oblivious to all these evils Dale et al are in battle with.