Twin Peaks - What Year Is This [Final Scene]

[@megavidaeos]

Oddly enough this is one of the most dream-like scenes in the series. Unlike the scenes in the Black Lodge for instance, where everything is very outwardly bizarre, everything about this scene is off in such a subtle way that you feel a growing sense of dread without really even knowing why.

[@berdyderg900]

It's clearly off because the last episode takes place within a tulpa or dream realm or whatever. This is where the pieces come together and they attempt to lure Judy into the trap.

[@stupendoushorrendous8258]

And like most nightmares (or at least most of mine), it ends with a scream.

[@rickyricardo9710]

@KinziruOnoroi also the unnatural pauses between each line in the dialogue, and how everything aside from them and the house feels empty, dark, and lifeless

[@apullcan]

@@rickyricardo9710 I think the pacing of the dialogue here actually feels a lot like Lynch's "Rabbits" for that exact reason.

[@JakeRanney]

Nothing can match the stress I had when I checked the time on this episode and saw only 4 minutes left

[@CanalFMTV]

especially the scene where they're just driving in the car, i was like "PLEASE SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN BEFORE THIS IS OVER"

[@joelatino3748]

@@CanalFMTV That was so painful

[@CanalFMTV]

@@joelatino3748 at least something happened, we just don't know what it was yet 😅

[@voxifera2300]

I felt nauseous the entire time, and then it ended and I was like REALLY. I'm too smoothbrain for this show

[@tesela520]

im sure that final gave me permanent brain damage

[@pinealdreams1064]

Nobody in the history of cinema has a scream like Sheryl Lee. She is a powerhouse and deserved a better career.

[@wheelmanstan]

that scream is everything, patricia arquette is good too

[@jackperson2236]

No need to talk about her like a 3 legged dog

[@pinealdreams1064]

@@lucassaykitfoo That's tragic and all, but....

[@elitamalita8123]

@@pinealdreams1064 there's no but to that

[@elitamalita8123]

@@lucassaykitfoo ❤️

[@HeroofTime6996]

Its so crazy to see how coop feels in this scene. All throughout the show, he always had a plan, whether he had a dream show him the next step, the giant, mike, etc. he always knew that something came next. But in this final scene, he genuinely looks distraught that he doesnt know what to do.

[@antonioavitabile9957]

Cause, i think, in this reality coop is not coop. He is a bit Dougie, a bit Mr.C, a bit Dale. This is the alienating fact

[@darkl3ad3r]

​@@antonioavitabile9957I don't think of him being a mix of those characters. I see this as the real Kyle McLaughlin acting as Dale, believing he's Dale, but being in the real world. On his travels before and after finding Carrie, we see tons of real brands like the gas station. Then there's the fact that this house they pull up to has the real life owner at the door instead of Sarah Palmer. It's like the actors lived a dream that they're these characters and now they're awake in the real world but still believing they're in their dream world. I also believe the real dreamer is Cooper/Kyle because he seems present while Carrie is just another character/actress, unaware of whatever Dale is talking about until the end when the dream for her crosses over into her reality, and all the horrors of Laura's fate come flooding into her mind all at once upon staring at the house and hearing Sarah call her.

[@reservoirfrogs2177]

@@darkl3ad3r Slight wrench in the theory. The previous owners were names of the people from the black lodge. Implying this is Judy speaking through them as well.

[@susannatuttapanna2010]

I feel so sad for Coop

[@Anth230]

​@@darkl3ad3rThat's stupid...😂

[@BezoRazo]

The final moments of this scene will undoubtedly haunt me till my dying day.

[@jimpublictube]

No, he's right. I've been haunted by it since I saw it. It's​ a terrifying scene that encompasses all that is Twin Peaks.

[@burritogamer3984]

Red Daikini yeah it makes me so anxious every time, like this dread that I can't avoid. Very off

[@HauntFreak13]

Got this off a comment section on some article: Cooper saves Laura from being murdered by BOB an by doing so he alters the reality. Judy is pissed, she tries to destroy Laura’s portrait and then she snatches Laura from Coop (he knew that was going to happen, hence the “430” advice from the Fireman). She puts Laura in another dimension, some sort of a limbo. There Laura forgets her identity (in Richard and Linda fashion) and lives there for decades, as Carrie Paige. Time in Judyverse runs differently, years there is minutes in reality. In the meantime, in the “real” world Cooper won’t cease to bring her back. He comes back in Glastonbury Grove to a timeline in which Laura never died, she disappeard. How come Diane waits for him there? No idea. They immediately drive towards the crossing with Judyverse. Diane warns Coop that everything might be different there. They kiss for the last time as Diane and Cooper. As soon as they get to the Judyverse something changes. It’s not an alternate timeline. It’s not what the real world looks like after Coop changed history. It’s Judy’s locker, Judy’s microverse, Judy’s pocket dimension. And It’s absolutely empty. Coop doesn’t act like Coop. They check in the motel. Diane sees herself. I don’t think what she sees is a tulpa. My take is that she starts to question who she is, starts to lose her identity. Sex scene feels awkward and uncomfortable because they don’t know each other anymore. Cooper wakes to a letter addressed to Richard from Linda. Diane is gone, she forgot who she was. Cooper remembers, thanks to the Giant. He’s still on the mission. Exiting motel it’s worth to notice that it’s a different building. Coop’s car is also different, he notices it too. Judyverse keeps messing with his brain. He’s alone in the universe that wants him to lose himself. He stumbles upon “Judy’s Diner”, doesn’t get excited about coffee, shoots a dude and still holding his gun tells the waiter to give him Carrie’s address (totally not what Coop would do - but it’s still him). Carrie is Laura but she doesn’t know that anymore, she lives as Carrie for decades now. Body inside her house is yet another test for Cooper. Judy tries to show him that the life Carrie has is even more violent than the one from her past life, that he made a mistake. Coop mentions Sarah, something wakes up in her but it’s not strong enough. They drive to Twin Peaks. Next 15 minutes is heavily reminiscent of Lost Highway. They slowly succumb to the Judyverse, getting deeper into the dream. By the time Coop knocks on the door, he hardly remembers who he is. With uncertainty he presents the FBI badge to Mrs Tremont. He did what he could, but ultimately lost against Judy. Or he would if it wasn’t for Laura. Ultimately - and ironically so - her suffering, her infinite pain from another lifetime is what snaps her out of the limbo. She screams when she hears Sarah (or Leland) calling her. Lights flicker, electricity crackles, Palmer house goes dark. Judyverse is destroyed, Laura finally knows who she is. Cooper did it, he brought her back. Here it is, folks. Presented to you in a truly unnerving and terrifying package is The Return. To what world Coop and Laura wake up? White Lodge? Timeline in which Laura never died? Angels in the Red Room in the end of FWWM? It’s all up to you.

[@patgogan7324]

Starts out as a simple murder whodunit turns into a cosmic nightmare

[@SerMattzio]

ThatHauntFreak2 - great post, like that theory. The whole conversation at the end with the homeowner really reminds me of Lost Highway as well. There's something dreamlike and totally "off" about it all - the way Mrs Tremont silently "talks" to someone out of shot feels weird, both her and Coop speak in a bizarre emotionless monotone as if what they're saying is meaningless and they both know it...and the whole time Carrie remains static. Not to mention, the fact Carrie seemingly doesn't register Coop's question at all when he asks for the year...implies time no longer has any meaning in this "fake" reality.

[@MarshalHopalop]

I think what really makes this scene so terrifying and disorienting is how close we get to something like a revelation, but it just slips from our grasp. "Tremond" and "Chalfont" are both names of one of the most enigmatic, mysterious characters in the series. She also has a strong connection with Laura. We've got so many important characters gathered at such an important place, right on the verge of some big reveal, but we only get more confusion. And that's really frightening. It's like you think you're a good swimmer, so you try to swim across a pond only to suddenly get sucked out to sea. And then you realize just how small you really are and how little you actually know.

[@hopebringer2348]

That’s exactly what it felt like. I couldn’t have articulated it better

[@CodenameClassyDan]

@@hopebringer2348 leave it to Dave and the Gang to leave us on info that we recognize but know nothing about beyond that they might be important. They bring it up and then BOOM, see you again in 25 years.

[@TheLonelyFuture1]

Hell yeah.

[@EasternRomeOrthodoxy]

Terrefying?🤦‍♂️😂😅Even the only thing of his that at least had some appeal and was engaging to people, he managed to destroy with that dumb ridiculous pathetic pretentious incoherent pile of boring garbage 😂🤣

[@michaelr00ney]

Yes, well put. The unease which engulfs the narrative as soon as Cooper and Diane pass into this alternate reality becomes suffocating here, as the previous owners’ names hint at the beings from the other place but baffle this alternate world’s Cooper. Without the real Cooper’s intuition, he dangles helplessly, baffled by a banal, awkward questioning. Here again the logic of a dream thwarts our desire for narrative closure. The sudden call of Sarah-echoing the beginning of the series-triggers a terrifying final scream that crosses realities and brings a surge of the woodsmen’s electrical power to plunge us all into darkness.

[@FromGregaWithLove]

The lady at the door, Mary Reber, is the real life owner of that house in Everett, WA, and she gives tours to Twin Peaks fans who reach out to her on Instagram. I went recently and she's a really nice lady who has all sorts of cool stories from when they were shooting at her house.

[@berliner0]

That’s sweet

[@PedroLuiz-os2ec]

This may be a clue to saying that we are seeing the real actors of Laura and Dale in the end

[@ericssonfan2000]

Having seen the whole series, I couldn't live in that house...

[@ZeroOdyssey]

@@PedroLuiz-os2ec Considering what happened to "Audrey", this is a very solid theory/idea.

[@zak_atck]

Clear of that breaking bad woman

[@rickylancaster4953]

If you keep your eyes on Laura/Carrie through the entire scene, her facial expressions, looking back and forth between Alice and Cooper, and everything she does silently, before the scream... She kind of makes the entire scene work for me. Sheryl Lee is a commanding screen presence and a very sensitive, nuanced actor.

[@kitgusto2390]

You can hear Sarah yelling out Laura's name before she starts screaming

[@jamiepaulhume1659]

There's something wrong with the expressions and the blinking right ?

[@juckjolly]

yes, and the pauses and the confused looks of both her and Cooper reminded me of the way they acted in the Red Room. It has that same eerie vibe... yet this time it's not backwards. It's like the Red Room versions of themselves found a way outside in the real world.

[@jamiepaulhume1659]

@@kitgusto2390 I reckon that's when everything comes back and she realises she's Laura and all that she went through....that scream is amazing...

[@jamiepaulhume1659]

@@juckjolly couldn't of said it better ✌️

[@calabiyou]

I love the way this season didn't do any nostalgia and just sent things further.

[@abraham3673]

calabiyou Well, there's a few bits of nostalgia, and they're so rare they're really impactful, but yeah, this season was basically "we have a story to tell without caring about what you want, fuck your nostalgia" ... And that's not a bad thing. I actually love it. Lynch and Frost continued the story without caring so hard about what people expected and wanted from this. They had a vision and stuck to it, and it's better because of that. I hate it when old things are revived to just feed off of nostalgia and make more money. This show did the opposite of that and it's amazing.

[@Jerry113]

You can't go home again.

[@dchatterley]

Strange because that is exactly what I hated about it. Loved the ending though.

[@carlosdaudt88]

calabiyou

[@Onmysheet]

I like how it went outside of Twin Peaks which Seasons 1 & 2 didn't do. I found Season 3 the best.

[@ReyaitheShadowWolf]

Now I know how people felt when season 2 ended.

[@Fannylafan]

yea they waiting a long time just to be left in the same place all over again

[@Serge9330]

I think it is worse lol

[@OscarGb]

This finale is worse for me. In 90' ending, the last minutes leaves the feeling of bad ending but you know why it happened (Cooper failed to escape), but this ending (of 3S) just let you think some theories (It's another world or it's the future and Laura remembers her other life or she's dreaming or/and Judy's controlling everything, don't know rly). The point is that this ending is not clear at all, It's so confussing and unexpected and, after watching It, don't know what really happened. I don't know if there will be 4th Season, i believe there won't be. I really like S3 finale (The travel to TP in last ep is like a dream, love that). Both finale for their season are managed in different ways (with diferent results) but both give really creepy vibes in the last minutes.

[@HauntFreak13]

I think Laura suddenly remembering who she was defeated Judy and destroyed her realm. Laura never dies, therefore Judy and the other spirits never get her garmonbozia and starve.

[@teflonmagnet]

What type of tidy ending were you expecting: There is no Disney resolution in the Twin Peaks world; there's only mystery, despair, disquietude and permanent midnight on which to hang your hat if you're in Laura Palmer's place.@@OscarGb

[@ShinyFlakesShinyFlakes]

That haunting “Lauuraaaa” gets me every time, watching this is like living in a real life nightmare

[@HauntFreak13]

psychesoulinthehole I recently started the series over and during the first episode when you hear that “Lauraaa!” it’s chilling.

[@snuke37]

@@HauntFreak13 Wait, first episode? When do we hear that in the first one? I must have missed it.

[@HauntFreak13]

@@snuke37 After Sara calls for Laura and says “I’m not gonna call again..... yes, I am....”

[@adelp5]

We live inside a dream

[@pimentocheese618]

@@snuke37 It's not the same "Laura!" I'm just comparing them right now hahah

[@tomblah]

The timings of the pauses between when people speak really make this scene…so unsettlingly good

[@nickd1978]

Lynch is a master at pacing dialogue. Always makes his shows/movies feel like they're taking place in a dream.

[@GoDioo]

Dale asking " What year is this ?" Breaks the final thread of time and space as Laura noticed she doesn't even know what year she's currently in.

[@bearserk4151]

Dale asking that question and Laura realizing her life as Carrie isn't real, is like when you notice you're in a dream and the dream suddenly collapses.

[@theongreyjoy1947]

No, she does know, she just pities him.

[@licidamarcristinadiazbamba6202]

off course, she doesn't know anything...

[@SuperJelbo]

What I love about the line it's that it was the first logical question the audience are probably thinking about. And then without a warning it just goes dark

[@patriziocuozzo4376]

@@bearserk4151 exactly

[@michaelwhalen5836]

It's like two super-fans going to a house they know from a TV show, and discovering real people live there.

[@blacklisted351]

Isnt the woman in this scene the actual owner of the house?

[@michaelwhalen5836]

@@blacklisted351 I heard that somewhere. Fascinating.

[@axebomber2108]

@@blacklisted351 They crossed over to our reality

[@Dale_Blackburn]

@@axebomber2108 I watched the return's finale on 200ug acid and when the ending credits start and we see the fading image of laura whispering into Dale's ear, me and my SO saw a devil like figure. Its eyes was crawling and spiralling in the end. It felt like the ending was produced by the evil forces or something. And Dale's eyes were darkening and flowing out of his eye sockets. The devil like figure was abstract but it was red and had a eye and a horn like forehead. My SO saw it before i told her what i was seeing, so we both saw the same thing together. It was so weird, to this day i don't know what that was but i urge others to try it and see if they will see it too. LOL.

[@Anth230]

​@@axebomber2108no they didnt

[@sovietsofia]

This scene left me with an unsettled feeling for a few days.

[@garylanderos9664]

@greenlantern699 better if you see the entire serie bro, is worthy

[@blunderabluez]

Watched the original show, but ‘not able to watch season 3. With absolutely no context, this scene is still fucking scary & actually gets worse every time I replay.

[@hans5500]

Same, I had to come back and HOPE to find closure but I’m suffering

[@tylerdurdenstronghltv8565]

We all live in a dream

[@CHodgy]

A few years..

[@greggriffin8020]

Now that I've had several months to process this---I must say that the ending creates a tense, forlorn, unnervingly strange mood that is extremely hard to describe. It's like being hit with some very, very bad news when all you wanted to do is go home. This was a brilliant ending and one that was impossible to predict.

[@ericalexander6829]

The entire episode reeks of sleep deprivation

[@skoozeblood]

Dan S Fuck is your problem.

[@francescopassero8369]

@@ericalexander6829 this comment is brilliant

[@patrickgogan3517]

@@skoozeblood ignore the meaningless trolls

[@Cicc021]

I’ve had a recurring nightterror since childhood that revolves around this split moment of instant realization that everything, is about to be obliterated. It’s something of that nature but so abstract it’s just a horrifying feeling of pure dread after a split moment of realization. This scene is one of the closest things I’ve ever seen that helps describe it

[@antarcticaresearchprogram8349]

Describing this scene, as if you were Carrie/Laura, is like describing a dream that slowly dissolves into a nightmare but helps make sense of the ending: You are you but you're not you. You are in your house, but maybe it's not your house. Nooses litter the front yard. There's a dead man in the house that looks familiar, like he's from a dream. An FBI agent shows up at your door and says you are not who you think you are, but he wants to help you. He is not himself either. You might have also met him in a dream long ago, yet he hasn't aged a day. He says your mother's name is Sarah. Why is that familiar? You need to leave this place so you go with the FBI man into the night. He wants to take you to your real home to meet your mother. He drives you to an empty town far away. He asks if you remember anything. You're not sure. Then he brings you to a house and takes your hand as he guides you to the door. It's your house, but it is not your house. The woman who answers the door is not your mother. No one remembers your family having ever lived here. The FBI man who is not quite himself asks what year it is. He's made a mistake. You look at the house that is not your house. You hear a terrified voice call out a name. The voice is your mother but she is not your mother. The name is your name but it is not your name. Your father raped you and killed you 25 years ago.

[@MamaSmeak]

This is one of the best comments I've ever seen on KZbin. It gave me chills all over my whole body. Fucking brilliant!

[@chromegnats]

This is a great take.

[@АлександрШарендо-т3б]

You’re a talented writer. Keep writing

[@trashteamracing8262]

I think sometimes very painful childhood memories are like a jigsaw puzzle. Fragmented bits and pieces we put in a box a long time ago, with no image to let us know what the puzzle is of exactly. Years later, we find the box all dusty in the back of the closet. It seems familiar, and we know it's a puzzle, but no what of. Slowly we make progress on it. It isn't easy without a guiding image, but like with all puzzles we start with the edges and match colors until it starts to be a little more clear. We begin to realize it's an image of us. It's an image of something horrible that happened to us a long time ago that we couldn't understand or reason with or fight against, so we broke it into pieces and put it in a box and hid the box in the back of a closet hoping to forget it and hope we never find it again. Yet here it is once again. The ugly truth. The thing we tried so hard to forget that it brewed and fermented in the darkest recesses of our mind without us even realizing it.

[@nobody_gtk]

You’re not a talented writer. Stop writing

[@Xipslarng]

One night, my friend and I decided to randomly choose a show to watch on Netflix. We chose three random numbers, closed our eyes, and moved through the menu right, down, and then left, according to the numbers we picked. We pressed play without looking. It was the first episode of Twin Peaks, and in my opinion it was a perfect way to begin watching this story. Totally blind.

[@BillSzany]

I just now realized that's Mrs. Tremont living in her house.

[@kentjensen4504]

That’s beautiful

[@MorphingReality]

best way to go into anything art related

[@heybella2867]

Kinda like the Tibet method where Cooper throws rock and lets his subconscious decide what person to explore

[@roystonlodge]

"Brilliant. I have absolutely no idea what's going on." - Homer Simpson

[@latinoncal2003]

Though it is frustrating to not ever have a definite answer to any Lynch film, this ending is actually pretty telling. in that for years Cooper has been obsessed by Laura and Laura has needed the Guardian from the Red room to be there for her. Here we understand that Coop and Laura will forever be the attempted savior and the tragic victim throughout time and space.

[@predalien1413]

But if together they can create the their avenger.

[@plasticweapon]

cooper was never obsessed by laura.

[@MK.DANABNORMAL]

@@plasticweaponhe went back in time to save her. Obsessed much

[@TheStateOfBeing]

Cooper was moreso obsessed in saving Laura less freaky than the other town folk obsessions, like Laura's psychiatrist. However, Cooper will never be able to rescue the Laura Palmer from the original twin peaks universe because she's already dead and it can't be change. Cooper essentially did more harm than good taking the alternate timeline Laura to a place that isn't her home in that world. Some things are better off not knowing and unfortunately that Laura perhaps saw what happened to her in a different world.

[@43nostromo]

I love this show. I don't know why. I don't understand it, but the part of my brain that doesn't talk to me understands it.

[@chonksky]

cannot relate more!

[@samugi01]

exactly this comment! you put it into words!

[@Llllltryytcc]

That is such an incredible way to describe how I feel about the return and Lynch’s movie eraserhead. I couldn’t put it better

[@johnrichtermatrix2804]

Well said.

[@aaronmichael1201]

@MrFirehouse22, nah.

[@kristianhestas5508]

Sheryl Lee have the best tv scream ever

[@ziweiyuan]

MEANWHILE...

[@Vingul]

@@ziweiyuan meanwhile what?

[@ziweiyuan]

@@Vingul I'll tell you in 25 years.

[@Vingul]

@@ziweiyuan suspense! I sure hope season 4 comes within DL's lifetime or not at all! I'm afraid he doesn't have 25 more years in him..

[@ziweiyuan]

@@Vingul You're too right. The rest of the cast isn't getting any younger, either. We've already lost Warren Frost, Miguel Ferrer, Catherine Coulson, and Peggy Lipton since season 3 was filmed.

[@TrueHikingViking]

The scream and final shot of the house is the only piece of media that no matter where I am, what I'm doing, or how long its been since I've last seen it, will give me physical chills whenever I think about it. It never fails. Truly is the definition of haunting for me

[@BroadwayMateo]

Michael Scott : Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason ever, no matter what, no matter where, or who, or who you are with, or where you are going, or where you've been... ever, for any reason whatsoever...

[@wheelmanstan]

it's like feeling someone walk across your grave

[@vectorfox4782]

Wake up.

[@thomasunderhill6174]

Serious chills

[@stewmott3763]

"Piece of media"? I think the phrase you're looking for is 'work of art'. Please don't let the bastards win.

[@jefftateii9403]

Twin Peaks season 3 was a gift beyond words. If we never get another episode, I'll be a happy camper. Thank you Mr. Lynch & Mr. Frost.

[@jimmysmom581]

Jeff Tate II : I feel you.

[@Vingul]

@Dan S "NNNOOOOO YOU'RE A FANBOY, OH MY GOD YOU'RE SUCH A FANBOY, GAWD!!". Get real.

[@IDHLEB]

@Dan S It is you who needs help. Seek some.

[@maskedking5990]

Amen

[@wheelmanstan]

It truly is a gift. Right after it was all filmed...soooo many of those actors died.

[@josefinarivia]

The beginning quote of Alan Wake fits perfectly with Twin Peaks, especially season 3. "Steven King once wrote that nightmares exist outside of logic and there's little fun to be had in explanations. They're antithetical to the poetry of fear. In a horror story the victim keeps asking why, but there can be no explanation and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest and is what we'll remember in the end."

[@CVoYager]

Sam Lake is a brain child of both Stephen King and David Lynch, he has been satisfying my need for Lynchesque story telling for sometime now.

[@ultimateblong]

This weirdly confirms Lynch's fear of Alzheimers.

[@isaiahromero9861]

Nah I feel like Lynch would actually enjoy alzheimers

[@classicpinball9873]

@@isaiahromero9861 wtf are you talking about, it’s terrifying to have it no matter who you are

[@isaiahromero9861]

@@classicpinball9873 it was a joke, alzheimer's is a horrible disease

[@classicpinball9873]

@@isaiahromero9861 alr cause i've heard people make similar remarks so i wasnt too sure

[@JohnDaubSuperfan369]

@@classicpinball9873 Thanks for making sure for everybody, you're a good pinball, Classic

[@brianshoman1723]

This last episode left me so existentialy lost, it built up so brilliant. The long driving scenes at night, the desolate shots of the town especially the Double R deserted at night, everything we loved and hoped for is gone, never existed. If existential dread exists, I felt it watching this episode.

[@triplewario]

Perfectly put. The Return, and Part 18 in particular, felt exactly like how nightmares feel. There's something familiar, but that familiarity is also very distant because something about it is twisted or missing. It's like you know there's something wrong underneath it all but on the surface it seems... fine. That existential dread from nightmares is so perfectly captured in Part 18. That warm nostalgia S1 and 2 gives us is completely gone here; it's like it never existed and was only a dream. And the long, drawn out final 10 minutes of this episode was mostly consisting of pure silence and soft talk, until that scream cut through it all like a nightmare revealing itself at last. It was brilliant, and I will never get chills agan like I got when I first watched this

[@josephrocco2954]

​@@triplewarioExactly. Laura was never killed, so Twin Peaks never existed. These are totally different characters. What year is this? 2017, and TP is just a memory. Both the show, and Laura are officially dead and buried.

[@SolidWorksCAD3D]

This last episode and the beginning had that great serious tone that I loved in the older Lynch movies (like Lost Highway), but the goofy, partly childish humor of many other episodes ruined "The Return" for me.

[@hansmahr8627]

​ @SolidWorksCAD3D I mean, there was always a lot of humor in Lynch's stuff, in the original Twin Peaks especially, but also in Blue Velvet and even in Mulholland Drive. I do think that The Return could have been improved by cutting a couple of episodes but the way I see it, a lot of the humor comes from Lynch defying viewer expectations and playing around with genre conventions. I think the last thing Lynch wanted was to turn the 3rd season into some kind of nostalgic sequel where the viewers are given exactly what they hoped for, a quirky Special Agent Cooper drinking coffee and eating pie. It must have given Lynch a kind of sadistic pleasure to turn Cooper into a bumbling idiot for most of the season and as frustrating as that arc was sometimes, I appreciate it. You never quite knew what you were going to get each episode and that's part of the excitement. I also think that many scenes are genuinely hilarious.

[@bawpsherep]

This scene left me devastated. Took days for me to get over it. I can't even bring myself to watch it again as that final scream chills me so much.

[@dontcaremate]

im not sure there has ever been a more impactful single line delivery than “what year is this”

[@thatguygabe3488]

What I love is that the “Laura” scream is from when Sarah is calling for Laura the morning after her death. So even though Cooper saved her from that in the previous episode, its like even this version of her is being pulled back to that fate, and she’s realising she’s not supposed to be alive

[@Lmarkot2]

The final minute of this show is more chilling than any other modern horror film i've ever seen.

[@kellymulderino7156]

watch Burnt Offerings

[@Lmarkot2]

@@kellymulderino7156 brilliant film

[@omegamanGXE]

@@Lmarkot2 what’s it about

[@Lmarkot2]

@@omegamanGXE burnt offerings or twin peaks?

[@omegamanGXE]

@@Lmarkot2 Burnt Offerings

[@joey6058]

At first i thought the scene went dark for dramatic effect. But the lights actually go out like an electrical outage. Electricity had a role in transferring Cooper in and out of the red room.

[@Dawid-kn6mv]

Electricity is aspect of the dark lodge.

[@BradleytheDavis]

Electricity has that role because Twin Peaks is a TV show and Cooper is a character within it that is a stand-in for the audience.

[@blahblahblahaha]

I know David Lynch is all about being open for interpretation but to me this ending was actually so cool especially as a fan because that woman is the actual owner of that home so by having those two iconic characters knock on her door it’s almost like a clash between worlds. The world of twin peaks and our world. Because in our world that woman owns that home, but in the world of Twin Peaks Sarah Palmer does. So at the very end when Laura hears that scream the world merge for a second and we get to physically experience the world of Twin Peaks as if it were real. But that’s just my take.

[@jschnei3]

But in real life that woman's name is not Alice

[@sanitorz232]

I also think the Richard/Linda universe might be our own universe. It's definitely scary since the evil Judy and Bob do is basically just the evil we do in the world so it kind of makes it more personal. What bugs me is why she's named Chalfont. Remember in FWWM that two Chalfonts owned the trailer spot in Harry Dean Stanton's trailer park. In Laura's house, Coop asks for the two previous owners of the house and of course, the Chalfonts have two names. Maybe the ending is not as bleak and dreadful as we originally thought. Alice (which means noble) Chalfont is one of the good spirits still living on even in Judy's dimension. Yet, Sarah (or Judy) still lives on and haunts Laura (maybe Coop too for trying to save Laura) forever.

[@rainbowkiss100]

I love this take!

[@reallivebluescat]

Its open to interpretation because he has no idea what his own movies mean. It works on a subconscious level.

[@keithv2974]

This is the closest I've seen anyone capture the sensation of a night terror in cinematic form.

[@ChimpytheMonkey]

Hey yeah

[@EclecticSceptic]

Yes

[@ducko5404]

It literally feels like this

[@dreigivetimpoolmassivewedg7646]

I see people say this a lot and at least for me it's nothing like it. When I have bad nightmares there is ALWAYS a clear real life fear that is behind everything. A loved one dying, me dying, losing the ability to walk, death being infinite darkness. The nightmare is always basically one of these things having occurred, me trying change it to no luck while jumping from one setting to another with random people from my life as well as random characters I don't know being loosely involved.

[@keithv2974]

@@dreigivetimpoolmassivewedg7646 I think the difference is that you're thinking of nightmares. A night terror is similar to a nightmare, except you're half awake. There is no context to the fear you experience because (this is where it gets weird) your consciousness is not directly inside the nightmare. It's halfway in, halfway out. So you experience all the terror of the nightmare, with none of the context. It usually just devolves the sensation of some kind of immediate approaching threat and frantic screaming (the person will often scream physically, not just within the dream).

[@chasehoward3559]

"She's gone, she's gone" Cooper travels to the real world to try to save Laura but they find that the world has moved on. Laura's gone, no one even knows who she is anymore. The scream at the end is Laura anticipating the end. The lights in the house shutting off and the mechanical sound are the television being turned off, ending her story. Forever.

[@Ptrrrrrrrr]

That's a really nice interpretation actually, that they've travelled to the future (it looks modern enough) and no one actually knows who Laura is anymore, nor cares. Laura was living on as a phantom, in the people of Twin Peaks' hearts and dreams, because they remembered and cared. Here, she is forgotten, and thus dies at the end of the series.

[@DeadGuye1995]

Its also the same mechanical story device used in literally Dark Souls, and the Neverending Story , as well.

[@plasticweapon]

wrong. lynch has publicly stated that the ending was meant as a cliffhanger, and that nothing was over. but with half the cast dead within a few years and everybody else getting on, it doesn't look like we'll ever know what would have happened. or maybe we will.

[@plasticweapon]

@@DeadGuye1995 it's also not what happened here.

[@commanex]

This scene man, this is the most terrifying thing I've ever seen on film. Goddamn scarier than any horror movie

[@smellypatel5272]

Honestly it's such an underrated horror scene. The sheer terror in that scream coupled with the sudden lights turning off and distant voice "Laura" convey a really deep sense of dread.

[@lewiskazinsky7334]

@@smellypatel5272 I think the key to its success is how vividly it invokes a bad dream. You think you’re in control and everything makes sense, then the world flips on it’s head and you have no context for it. The end of this episode makes me feel that loss of control in a nightmare just before you wake up with a beating heart.

[@smellypatel5272]

@@lewiskazinsky7334 that's a good way of thinking of it. A nightmare where you have no control and nothing makes sense.

[@lightscameraellie2608]

@@lewiskazinsky7334 Yeah... so many things are off. From the moment Cooper wakes up from that coma, things become more and more dreamlike. First, the completely mundane and forgettable line about needing Bushnell's gun... except for the fact that if you think about it, he couldn't have seen it through the coat... especially in a coma and especially because that's an unexpected thing to be let into a hospital (showing that things aren't quite the way they would happen in reality)... then the "happy ending" scene with all the hugs and Bob dead and Cooper seeing Diane again finally, but with Cooper's quiet, still, contemplating, and in shock face superimposed ontop of the entire scene (showing that he's only a witness to this whole resolution to things and can't quite reach the people he loves, like it's only the meer idea of his deepest desire), and the clock in that scene glitching out (ever tried to read the time, or words in a dream and find that it keeps changing and you only subconsciously understand what it means?), then the fact that he already somehow knew the hotel room key would fit the storage closet door of all places for some reason... (showing that his decisions aren't conscious ones), then the fact that no matter what he did and how many times he stared back at Laura, she still managed to disappear right before his eyes (in most dreams, doing even the simplest of tasks can be almost impossible... running to safety, getting what you want, whether it be a piece of info, or a physical object), then Diane going missing and him just casually driving away and no mention of her thought the rest of the episode (big themes tend to just vaguely disappear in dreams), and the old, rundown motel becoming a more expensive hotel overnight/his car being different (ideas tend to blend to create new realities and themes and big changes often go without notice), then finally finding "Laura Palmer", it's not quite her but there are still traces of her reality and self present (people, places, and ideas tend to become randomized and mixed with new ideas), and finally... the terrified-shock and confusion about the simplest idea, time...: "What year is this?"... (nightmares/fever dreams can be extremely disorienting and anxiety inducing... and mess with your sense of reality, even after it's over) and the terrified scream along with the power in the entire house and even whole neighborhood going out. The realization that something is terribly not right here, that these events aren't only not what they seem... but in fact, aren't really happening. It's just the pure terror of imagination, of our powerful mind, of a spiritual evil... trying with all it's might to snatch our innocence, to suck out all the joy within us, and to just excruciatingly break the shell that's left of our soul... and then we wake.

[@lannypoffo9846]

“What year is this?” is the most terrifying line, too.

[@commonsensecaucus]

What a lot of us miss here is that this is NOT the final scene. The final scene is the first scene: Dale and Laura in the lodge. Cooper is sitting in the same chair he never left . The whole thing is an infinite loop playing itself out with every possibility and incarnation manifested. This particular incarnation is extinguished when Laura screams and wakes them out of that “dream” and they are right back where they started. “Starting position”. Maybe Cooper has always been trapped in the lodge. Maybe its future, maybe its past.

[@skandarc2810]

John Brandoli ayyyyye 😔 this explanation makes me more depressed lol

[@ancientapparition1638]

Her scream in the black lodge is also the same scream as her death and this scream. Weird.

[@blacklisted351]

I think that cooper being forever trapped is hinted at in the episode before this when his blank face is shown over top the sheriff's station scene. The scene quickly fades to black as this one did, and he says "we live inside a dream". Additionally, his blank stare in black and white reminds me of his scene in the first episode of this season, when he's trapped in the black lodge.

[@bjamiork]

Meanwhile...

[@omegamanGXE]

@@blacklisted351 Oh I forgot about that part, Cooper's head superimposed on there, yeah seems clear now he’s probably viewing events still stuck inside the Black Lodge. How horrifying!

[@GMOTP5738]

Still get the chills every time that final moment hits

[@mega6815]

Every.Single.Time.

[@UncleGhoulieTv313]

Really? It... didn't do anything though?

[@zacharialewis9498]

@@UncleGhoulieTv313 lol

[@IntotheDANGERZONE]

I just binged the entirety of Twin Peaks for the first time and this scene will live rent free in my head for the rest of my days. THE CONSEQUENCES OF TRYING TO DO IT ALL, COOP.

[@ludovica4384]

Every time I watch this, I get chills all over my body. For me, this is the most beautiful scene I have ever seen. I am completely in love with David Lynch’s world. I intimately relate to all of its sounds, colours, moods and vibrations. They look very familiar to me, like a far and lost memory that subconsciously triggers my emotions and feelings. The house, the voice, the lights, the scream. I get it, I feel it, I remember it.

[@ANunes06]

I am not sure it's possible to explain *why* the still image of well lit suburban home at night set to ambient reverb'd bass drone makes me feel half a dozen strong emotions at the same time, but it definitely makes me feel half a dozen strong emotions at the same time.

[@wheelmanstan]

I think we all understand it but we just can't articulate it. It's like if someone asks you what it means to be human. That ending is amazing to me. Crazy how a show can make you care so much about a dead girl, I mean she's dead the ENTIRE show..but the show also goes deep into where life begins and ends or if it ever really ends at all.

[@CubbieBlue902]

They're in our reality... That's why the real owner is at the door. That's why Audrey wants to know where Billy is (Billy Zane,) and that's why they announced "Audrey's Dance" as "Audrey's Dance" which is the name of the song in real life. It doesn't make sense, but then again, it does. They broke through the fourth wall and now they're stuck beyond the fourth wall.

[@yourwelcome9336]

If that were the case then Richard and Linda would be Kyle and Laura. Carrie Page's name would be Sheryl.

[@BruceWayne-zj1kw]

And the owner in real life is not named Alice Tremond. Nice try,

[@ginofactap]

+YOur Welcome +Bruce Wayne exactly.

[@LiliaSahanova]

They are in the Black Lodge.

[@thesolepursuit9684]

No way. Tremond? Chalfont? They’re in the world of TP. There is no fourth wall “our reality” stuff in TP - there is meta stuff but the fourth wall is never broken.

[@imakevideossometimes9144]

I'm a bit worried my take on this is surface level and to some even wrong, but everyone seems to have differing closures, so here's mine. Coop time travelled and changed the past, meaning the version he is wouldn't exist to change it. What this final episode represents (in my opinion) is what would happen to people who stop existing after changing the future (what happened to Coop for breaking the timeline) and where, if anywhere, do they go? He and "Laura" are abandoned in a broken reality, left realising they are now effectively trapped in a nightmare forever. They are simultaneously themselves and different people, Laura died and is alive, that is not her house. It's 1987, its 1989, it 2014, 25 years later. It is everything and nothing. Laura screaming is her realising she should be dead and, because she is alive, also remembering what her father did to her. Sarah's calling is the final fading sound from their real world, now forever trapped in fiction. The lights going out is the two of them falling into complete non-existence, this reality not even able to comprehend their existence. It is akin to the ending of a fictional story, a book. A TV show. A dream.

[@rafa9200]

goes hard

[@LovecraftianToenail]

laura's moving on...and cooper stops, turns around, stands in the street. laura can't move on. cooper won't let her. it's always the past. it's all about undoing trauma, never dealing with it. "what year is this?"

[@FrankRemley]

Laura can't move on and Lynch came back to possibly posit that we, as fans, can't move on and deal with the trauma of not having neat and tidy answers to the mysteries the show left all those years ago. "What year is this?" could be a statement about fans yearning for answers to something long since ended...almost in an insincere way like "People are still talking about this show and wanting to know how it 'ends?'...what year is this!?!"

[@napoleonsolo5929]

Laura must die. The cycle must be broken so that the original Twin Peaks universe can go on as it should. "You're dead, Laura, but your problems keep hanging around! It's almost as if they didn't bury you deep enough!"

[@WestonPedestrian]

I think the implication is that our real world is a pocket universe created to trap an evil entity. We are in the show...unfortunately its the dark reality we see in episode 18. When Laura screams the nightmare ends for them but we are left here, stranded.

[@tahzibayyan4101]

Gabriel Priddy Great Interpretation !

[@patgogan7324]

Interesting..thats what great about this show its up for countless interpretations

[@illDiology]

Laura's nightmare is in the waking world.

[@tal-lancer]

notice how Mrs. Chelfont was also the name of the woman who lived in the trailer, where FBI agent Desmond disappeared from in Fire Walk With Me, which is what lead Cooper to come to Twin Peaks to investiage the Laura Palmer murder in the first place...just love it when a show goes full circle.

[@jaivas16]

if this is Lynch's final scene ever its probably his scariest scene ever

[@andrewrabon]

IMO the "surgery" scene in Eraserhead, the diner scene in Mulholland Drive and several parts of Inland Empire are scarier. This scene is definitely up there, though.

[@seanheffle5637]

A lot of Lost Highway also.

[@patrickgogan3517]

@@andrewrabon that face that pops out in IE is pure nightmare fuel same with the winkies bum in MD

[@lilkayswirl]

that weird homeless lookin woman suddenly staring back in Mulholland drive had me fuckin shook tho

[@lukereilly9844]

The corridor confrontation with the Phantom from INLAND EMPIRE is Lynch's scariest scene, but this scene leaves me feeling completely nauseated.

[@DioZaWorldo]

Interesting how Laura's eyebrows raise when Coop apologizes to Alice for bothering her, good acting throughout the scene

[@youdbettertube]

"You brought me all the way across the country to have an unhelpful conversation with someone for 3 minutes?!"

[@Housesider]

@@youdbettertube I doubt she minded being brought there, coz after all she did have a dead guy with a bullet in his head and an assault rifle on the floor 😂

[@eirikwegga]

In The Missing Pieces, which Lynch worked on right before making this series, Jeffries looks at Gordon's calendar and goes "February... 1989?" I think the implication is that Cooper might become hopelessly lost like Jeffries before him, but we will probably never know.

[@ChristianZAtheist]

Cant believe I never noticed that the shout at 3:50 was actually Sarah calling "Laura".

[@Vingul]

Essential!

[@zzyzx0788]

I never noticed it was there altogether until i saw this comment

[@13Yeared]

Fun fact, the woman who answers the door is the actual owner of that house. There’s some other evidence to suggest this new dimension of sorts is the real world

[@CVoYager]

That is the best theory I know, by going back and undoing Laura's death, they literally wiped their universe out of existence. It is a meta story telling but no more weirder than any other Lynch's work. While Laura remembers all the events and screams in agony and Cooper is confused, he probably will never understand what happened.

[@j.b.8546]

The way her scream continues reverberating as the screen stays black is haunting asf. Killer

[@2dtesseract]

honestly, rewatching the scream, it begins as the usual terror, but ends with anger. like she's finally letting it out after all these years and she's destroying her ties one last time to her trauma.

[@dont_follow5777]

Greatest ending to a season/series ever. You can watch just this one scene and it helps you relive the 18 hours of the season. It gives me chills.

[@hurrrmmhmmmhmghh8912]

this is easily one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever seen, it really broke me

[@plasticweapon]

that's a shame, because nothing heartbreaking actually happens in it.

[@Crimsonphilosophy]

It's the perfect ending because everyone gets what they want from it yet they are not sure.

[@samsocash9514]

Exactly how i felt when i saw it

[@tamasvarga9862]

I want to get a happy ending with Laura being happy and smiling and making friends with Cooper, can you tell me how do I get that from this? All I can get that the world is surreal, time is not working, the magician kid's grandma was the original owner of the house and Laura is hearing her mom which makes her horrified. So the entire thing is probably a nightmare or a vision and they are both stuck in the red room.

[@JustinQuinn623]

You get your happy ending if you stopped watching before starting episode 18. ​@@tamasvarga9862

[@CrankyRayy]

@@tamasvarga9862the ending of fire walk with me

[@peacocktravels]

I love it when Laura blinks and looks up and then screams. Its the same as when Dale as " Dougie" hears Gordons name on TV and then wakes up a bit! I dont think it matters so much as what year it is as to Laura waking up and remembering the horror!

[@jameswilliam2003]

I just remembered from the first 2 seasons that Laura let herself be killed to end her suffering. And now in season 3, Cooper brought Laura back to the root of her trauma.

[@arrivalofdoom7449]

The very moment you hear Chalfont mentioned , your brain does an internal "oh dear". And then just wait for the miniscule mic pick up of "Laura?" and imagine that fan. Absolute genius

[@omegamanGXE]

Who were the Chalfonts again?

[@aquamidideluxe5079]

@@omegamanGXE The Chalfonts were another name used by the Tremonds. The Tremonds/Chalfonts were an old lady and her grandson who were also Lodge entities. They were the ones on Laura's Meals on Wheels route who mysteriously disappeared as another "Mrs. Tremond" took their place while Donna was working Laura's route.

[@sanitorz232]

@@aquamidideluxe5079 They also lived in Harry Dean Stanton's trailer park. Two Chalfonts. Weird, huh.

[@loveadumb]

at least laura and cooper have each other and will always be together... no matter how dark the nightmare is.

[@abraham3673]

ADAM it's not Cooper anymore, though...

[@wisildur]

In eternal darkness??

[@guckn]

I don't know man. Maybe they ceased to exist when the lights went dark. Like, the final wake up from the dream that was twin peaks.

[@youdbettertube]

But Laura doesn't even know who Cooper is anymore. She doesn't recognize him.

[@napoleonsolo5929]

@@youdbettertube Laura and Cooper never met before he time jumped in his mistaken(imo) attempt to rescue her. "Carrie Page" would have no reason to know who he is.

[@keithpatrick156]

What I love about David Lynch - it looked like things were getting VERY neatly wrapped up - literally end-of-Wizard-of-Oz, fairy-tale style in the sheriff's station - and then Cooper goes back in time, changes history, gets dropped in f'n Odessa TX, and the rug gets pulled out from under us with a Chalfont/Tremond house flickering its lights.

[@ScarlettR61]

The whole episode is us slowly realizing “oh shit, we’re fucked.” I don’t think there’s any hope. Coop trapped himself in this situation. Unless Lynch says otherwise, this is the end of Twin Peaks. All we can do is try not to make the mistake Coop made. (If you’re wondering this episode represents Cooper failing to realize that the past was just as bad as the future and the lengths he took to go back had disastrous consequences)

[@leolardo]

How did you come to this conclusion? It seems merely as a dream. He was stuck in the lodge anywah

[@ScarlettR61]

@@leolardo I think much of the 3rd season is a commentary and criticism of the fanbase in the vain of The End of Evangelion. The point is that many fans, like Cooper, just want to go back to a seemingly idyllic time when in reality it was a smokescreen for evil the entire time. They didn’t even see that Cooper wins. He defeats BOB, he brings people back together. But he decides it’s not enough and ruins the entire timeline thinking saving Laura, a Christ-like martyr, will somehow make everything right. It doesn’t

[@leonardokos7721]

@@ScarlettR61where does he "defeat Bob and bring people back together?"

[@ScarlettR61]

⁠@@leonardokos7721 part 17

[@burritogamer3984]

@@ScarlettR61 yea tbh I love the ending of the Return and EoE for similar reasons, there is both the immediacy of the story to the characters being wrestled with and a metanarrative aspect that can be interpreted and they both hold credence.

[@nathanwhite3953]

The Return was an ambiguous masterwork. The doppelganger motif is about humanity in general. We are forced to lead double lives in spite of ourselves. Cooper represents the goodness in us all. Laura is the good girl who was corrupted by evil. Bob is the corruptor. The White and Black Lodge represent choice. Twin Peaks is not an accidental title. Twin means in this case two. Often the same or different.

[@AJBELL]

Well, not quite. It was initially called Northwest Passage. They kind of stumbled on the name Twin Peaks because of two mountains in the backdrop. So it is a bit of an accidental title.

[@lightscameraellie2608]

@@AJBELL But still... like Lynch would say... it was just a "happy accident". Most of the time, he had no idea where the story would lead to, and just listened intently to what is subconscious was trying to communicate. And that lead to an abstract show, that's meant to be felt and unconsciously understood... rather than thought about, and finding answers to questions that maybe just don't have answers that can quite be put into words of any language.

[@AtrocityEquine01]

Laura was corrupted..but she still stayed a good person despite it. That is why she refused to let BOB possess her.

[@youtubesuresuckscock]

It was a piece of crap. The only good season of TP was the first one really.

[@kleinsbottle]

@@youtubesuresuckscock cry more

[@szymon_konik]

i once had a dream where i was little, in which i was on my way from the lakeside to my family's cottage, to which lead a completely straight path. you could see the house from the distance, with its patio and distinguishable green roof. it was a cold november evening, you could feel the summer had deceased and there are only grey days ahead of you. the sun was very low and the skies were crystal clear. the setting sun didn't feel like a wonder of nature, more like a prelude to the primal fear of the dark. the atmosphere in the village i knew so well was very eerie, the only sound i could hear was a slight breeze coming from the lake. it felt very foreign. as i was slowly coming towards the house i noticed smoke coming out of the chimney. i crossed the road and finally stood by the gate. suddenly i realised it isn't my family's house. and i was a little kid, standing in an empty village by the lake in the middle of nowhere, as the darkness was getting ready to swallow me i felt the same feeling of dread and emptiness once again just 5 minutes ago when i saw this scene. incredibly dreamlike. just too powerful

[@thiccvlad7282]

The beauty of this is that every single viewer has a different idea of what happened after this

[@dahliasdarkside1695]

To hear that scream one more time as the end of this show though, CHILLS!

[@ely_oh]

It's been 4 years now and I'm still haunted by Laura Palmer/Carrie Page's banshee-like scream and Part 18's ending. David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: The Return" truly is one of those masterpieces that's both wonderful and strange.

[@viajantefuturo9116]

I noticed that episodes 16, 17 and 18 have one thing in common: in all of them, someone wakes up from a "coma", not necessarily in a literal way, related to the electricity. I'll try my best to explain because English is not my first language. In episode 16, Audrey "wakes up" after the dancing, and sees herself in front of a mirror, along with an ELECTRICITY sound. (In the past episodes, she says that she felt like a "different person", so maybe it was all her imagination and when she comes back to reality she remembers who she is.) In episode 17, Cooper wakes up from a catatonic state after giving himself a shock (electricity). In episode 18, it ends with both Cooper and probably Laura in some sort of different reality. Cooper realizes he spent a long time in the black lodge and has no idea of what happened and how much time he passed there. And Laura/Carrie doesn't remember anything, either, because she's not natural from this reality. She was sent to that world in part 2. So when Cooper asks "what year is this?" is because he realizes that he spent a long time away from everything. They both finally realize what happened and "wake up". again, an electricity sound when Laura screams. Electricity always suggested some kind of travel between worlds. (Diane and Cooper in the car, Phillip Jefries..) And who knows what happened after they woke up? Maybe they returned to Twin Peaks? (noting that after changing the timeline Laura is alive) (and if you notice, every end of episode there is a electricity sound after the credits. The last one doesn't. Like Fireman said: listen to the sounds.)

[@nowherebutpain]

maybe they woke up as kyle and sheryl. "the dreamer who dreams inside a dream". there are three level. and monica belluci ,who said that, is real. but its also possible that they realize they are cooper and laura. its possible in two way. ( english is also not my native language sorry :) )

[@emmanuelalejandrogonzalezm5889]

Have You seen Lost Highway? There's an electrical sound as well before we are introduced to a character's alter ego/alterned version of themselves.

[@CrankyRayy]

@@nowherebutpainwe are the music makers and we are the dreamers of the dream

[@CHodgy]

"Eeeeeelectricity...." -Captain Beefheart.

[@thoughtsurferzone5012]

This whole episode had a strange tone to it, unlike any previous TP episodes. It was very realistic and detailed. I think that added to the unnerving quality of this scene.

[@Vincenzopgl]

Because this episode was actually in the real world… at least that’s one of the theories

[@danielplainview2584]

@@Vincenzopgl it’s supposed to be a reflection of the real world but is not technically the real world because they’re still stuck in the series. There are things noticeably off about the dimension that they are in, and the fact that they all have names different from their actor names is another tell.

[@danielplainview2584]

@@Vincenzopgl also note the fact they drive to Odessa from Twin Peaks in a single night, and Carrie has been living with a decaying body for a while for no reason.

[@tamasvarga9862]

@@Vincenzopgl the woman the owner bought the house from is the grandma of the magician child fom s1 and FWWM, both of them are spirits from the black lodge. I think this is a sign that this entire scene is not reality.

[@sethd6485]

Me and a few friends had gathered every week to watch the latest episode. On the night the finale aired we baked a cherry pie. I cannot begin to express how stressed I was when I realized that there were just a few minutes left. I was shocked by the ending, in the best way. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it and yet I found it to be utterly sublime. Horrific, but masterful. It’s one of the scariest scenes in Lynch’s canon, and also one of the most depressing because Cooper failed. We almost never see films or shows where the character fails at the end, where all hope is suddenly lost and then BOOM that’s it, it’s over. In my mind it solidified The Return as a groundbreaking masterpiece in its own right that has the potential to (once again) change television (and specifically revivals) as we know it.

[@gonzothecat5901]

its was a good finale, but how did it change television? what examples post finale can you think of?

[@MarcEsadrian]

Did Cooper fail, though? Everything going dark seems to connote that some alternate universe/timeline collapsed, and this seems to have been hinged upon Dale prodding Laura to recall her former life.

[@sethd6485]

@@MarcEsadrian so i think Cooper definitely failed in the sense that despite trying, he could not cure Twin Peaks of the evil under its surface, nor could he save Laura. and Laura could not survive or reconcile her duality. BUT, and this is important, they both failed nobly as forces of good. the finale follows Cooper on two failed missions to save Laura (and the town). no matter how hard Cooper tries, Laura’s story in every universe is destined to be tragic. i think this could certainly all be Judy’s doing (that biatch) but i also think the message is that you cannot go back. you cannot undo the past (in a way this is also a commentary on revivals, right, because all the worst revivals try to recreate and recapture the feeling of the original, and Twin Peaks did the opposite by rejecting nostalgia). even in an alternate timeline, Laura Palmer would have had a tragic life. her fate is sealed and Cooper couldn’t undo it. but i still think there’s an optimistic angle here: evil sometimes does triumph in the end (something we almost never see portrayed in cinema), but good always endures, and never gives up. just because Cooper will continue to fail in future attempts to save Laura, that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying to. and good sometimes triumphs too. just not in the case of Laura Palmer. the main theme of Twin Peaks is that evil is unavoidable, but good (and good people like Dale Cooper) always perseveres. there will always be people like Dale Cooper to stand against evil when it rears its ugly head.

[@heralddorothy1165]

@@sethd6485 Wow! Brilliantly put together.

[@sethd6485]

@@gonzothecat5901 there are numerous ways in which the series was groundbreaking. but one of the most significant was its structure. in addition to the fact that non-narrative surrealism as a genre is almost never explored on a platform designed for mass consumption (television), and the fact that in the end, for now, evil prevails and the main character fails, the way the series blurs the line between film and TV (structurally/narratively speaking) is totally unique to the medium. Rolling Stone wrote a really great article about this subject and I’ll link it below. “… It’s worth digging deeper than the obvious ways in which the season broke ground: its wild shifts in mood and style, its avant-garde editing and effects, the atom bomb of an hour that was Episode Eight. Crucial to the show’s success was Lynch and Frost’s insistence that it wasn’t a TV show at all, but a film. This isn’t just about treating the season as “one film broken into 18 parts,” as Lynch put it, though that’s a welcome rejoinder to the voguish notion that any showrunner who thinks of their series in these terms is a pretentious doofus. Good television, like good cinema, can be made in any number of ways; Twin Peaks Season Three will become a textbook example of how a truly movie-like approach can pay off… particularly in its final episodes, the Return relies on a recursive, Möbius-strip structure, in which events echo and loop rather than proceed in straightforward fashion; these repetitions and reflections are distorted and gap-ridden enough, however, to keep the pattern intoxicatingly opaque.” in the way the original series broke ground by mixing genres, using television to tell one long extended story, and constantly upsetting audience expectations, this new series broke new ground by functioning as an 18-hour film. it also specifically broke new ground with regard to television revivals: rather than attempt to recapture its former glory, Twin Peaks: The Return did something totally new. it challenges the audience to alter their expectations for what a TV series should be, esp a revival. instead of attempting to recapture the magic of the original, it is a subversion of a series revival, basically forcing us to let go of the past and get used to something totally alien. it’s rejection of nostalgia is unique to revivals. it’s never been done before, but this is Lynch, so of course he refused to pander to audience expectations. i think we have to wait a bit before we see shows that take a page out of Twin Peaks’ book, though i would argue that “And Just Like That…”, as different a show as it might be, ran with the idea of making the revival completely different from SATC, to mixed effect for that show. time will tell how that method works for other shows. www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/why-twin-peaks-the-return-was-the-most-groundbreaking-tv-series-ever-115665/amp/

[@jackwinkles3050]

This “reality” in the show, is the dream, and the dream is trying to solve and remember our unresolved trauma, for all of us. And when you can’t remember what actually happened, it would feel like this to re remember it. Lynch is a genius.

[@kylenovak3745]

at 3:29 you can hear the sound the Fireman plays on the gramophone. Its the sound associated with Judy.

[@Enlazador9]

i think that is just a step from cooper. but u can in fact hear the full sound after coop changes the past and young laura is abducted into alternative reality/time

[@susannatuttapanna2010]

Sheryl Lee is an incredible actress. Possibly the most well known and most underrated of her generation

[@chai.tealeaves]

just finished all of twin peaks and after watching this i just sobbed. i wasn't even sad, i was hopeless. confused, unsettled, and hopeless. it's literally the only show i've ever watched to elicit such a devastating, guttural feeling of loss in me.

[@noahsherwood2445]

Sarah/Judy calling out Laura sent chills down my spine when I first heard it. Honestly I think it scared me more than Laura's shriek

[@omegamanGXE]

SAME!

[@CrankyRayy]

It’s not evil sounding or anything but it just gives off such an unsettling vibe. Really is like a bad fever dream.

[@haunterr0]

The Return's season finale will be forever stuck in my mind. No conclusion, just a visceral scream that seems to end reality itself This is the best ending ever made and the perfect ending for Twin Peaks, there was no better way to end the series, because it has never been about anwsers from the very beginning

[@lemerdeposteur]

Now *five* years later... and I still get chills watching this.

[@danielscott5756]

I think it’s about how people expected the last episode to bring closure to the series and wrap everything up nicely. However the core of the story of twin peaks is Laura Palmer and her story of Incest and eventual murder. She represents how incestous sexual abuse/ murder continues to happen until this day and there is never any closure the internal hell that it causes and it can never be stopped because In real life there’s no such thing as closure only learning to cope with trauma. But it never truly goes away

[@mellowbee9464]

@latex glove Seriously, dude? They make a completely valid point. The effects of sexual abuse and trauma is a key component of the show.

[@fayeleer9868]

@latex glove lol how do you watch twin peaks and degrade schizos at the same time?

[@fouadhadjali8107]

it's bit of a one-sided point of view

[@SamS-sn4uu]

I am sorry but where was the incest? I did not put that together at all...

[@wertyppl]

@@SamS-sn4uu Leland raped and killed her

[@ezrablock3218]

This ending has too much menace in it, I think, to be happy. It reminds me of the Radiohead song "Wolf At the Door". The writer of the song said that the album represents a person having a strange dream about a dystopian reality, but then waking up to discover that the real world is worse than their nightmares. If Twin Peaks takes place within a dream reality, the characters have just been thrust out of it. Into the real world...everything is dark and empty and the only people they encounter are distant and accusatory...but the Tremonds remember the Palmers, even if they refuse to acknowledge their existence...and Laura hears Sarah calling for her, like she did when Laura died...the Chalfonts were members of the Black Lodge, and they've now infested Laura's childhood home...it seems like BOB might have been defeated in this reality, but Sarah Palmer still succumbed to Judy, after her husband committed suicide and her daughter disappeared. But Sarah Palmer lived at the Palmer Home (the person in the background remembers her) but not anymore. Laura obviously repressed all her memories. Cooper brings Laura back and forces her to remember everything, because he knows that Laura can help him destroy Judy (two birds with one stone). But Sarah isn't there when they get there...maybe because Judy has already gotten into Laura. She was working a dead end job at a place called Judy's, an empty existence with no family and no hope, a job where nothing changed. What year is it? She like so many other people, have succumbed to the sickness of small towns everywhere in America, of the American dream, the drying up and the shipping out and the being left behind to die in tiny isolated communities, cut off from time. What year is it? Maybe Cooper saved Laura from the hedonism and sadism of BOB but then he abandoned her for years, and she ended up becoming hollowed out by the sorrow and disappointment of life. The horse is the white of the eyes (your pupils are holes that show the darkness inside of your skull, the windows to your soul, the white of your eyes is the sclera, the flesh around the windows of the eyes, that reveal nothing) and the dark within. This means the white horse is representative of Judy, who is the devouring emptiness, that the world of The Return has succumbed to. Carrie has a little idol of the white horse right? If Judy represents understanding, the destruction of mystery and creativity, then Laura finally has understanding, she wakes up from the dream...but then the lights go out. Electricity is what the spirits use to transmit between the world and lodges. Maybe the lights going out doesn't signify the defeat of the Chalfonts and the Black Lodge spirits. Maybe it means that the way back to the Original Universe, the Dream World, has been sealed. Cooper and Laura have understanding now and they can never go back to being ignorant or naïve again. They were both happy go lucky people at one time, but the world crushed that out of them and now Laura is trapped with her horrible past and Cooper is trapped with his thirty years of nothing. If Cooper had stayed he could have had a family, but now more than half his life is over and he has nothing to show for it. What year is it? Before Cooper's intervention, Laura got to see an angel in the Black Lodge. She got to see an angel and she laughed, maybe she was saved, maybe her soul wasn't trapped in the Black Lodge like Leland's was. Maybe the Laura that came to see Cooper in the Black Lodge, who said that she looked just like Laura Palmer, was a tulpa, sent to trick Cooper into killing Bob (the Arm and the Man From Another Place are no allies of BOB, but they are still evil, they eat garmonbosia, and the Arm encourages Cooper to kill Ike the Spike). And now the real Laura can never get peace, because they are trapped in Judy's world, empty, hollow meaning. There is no time in the Black Lodge, Laura sees Annie and Cooper there in her dreams. What year is it? Understanding Lynch's work doesn't make them better, it just makes them sadder and bleaker and the joy is replaced with that emptiness and that hunger to be a child again, to be unknowing, to see the world full of mystery and oddness. But there is no escape. The fifties wholesomeness has died, it died with the falling of the atom bomb, with the predictions of death on the radio that lulled everyone into a coma. It died with children growing up with the internet telling them that global warming was going to destroy the world and that all their hopes and dreams for the future were worthless. Cooper is intelligent and brave and kind, but even he battled his lust for an eighteen year old with an emotional disorder. He stepped into the Black Lodge and he had fear in his heart and the Black Lodge obliterated him. Even the White Lodge spirits seemed willing to let Laura be tortured, if it meant trapping and destroying the dark spirits. At best they are just as apathetic to the suffering of humans as the Black Lodgers, and even then, seemed incapable of truly destroying the evil. Understanding their plan doesn't make anything better, it just makes it all feel worse. We can't go back, we can't fix all the terrible things that have happened, because they HAPPENED. We can't watch Twin Peaks for the first time again, we can't experience the magic again, we know too much. We look too deeply. What year is it?

[@samsocash9514]

Stunning

[@samfilmkid]

Take some Lexapro.

[@infinitive7654]

@@samfilmkid you have no power here, JUDY

[@cheatswiz58]

Ohhh so THAT'S what it's aboutt, thank you for clearing that up. I just binged all of T.P and it was like trying to piece together the meaning of a "dream" (who knows what those even are, right?)

[@Rubarb51]

I'm a Radiohead fan I understand exactly what you are talking about

[@QuiteFrankly]

I come back here every few months to get ripped apart all over again

[@fishstickbye4060]

come back and watch again with this knowledge I just learned and have to share with a fellow fan: that actress who plays the homeowner is the real owner of that house, which was also used in fire walk with me. this was absolutely intentional, how do you think it effects the meta text of the work??? like maybe they were dropped off in our world ? spooky !!!!

[@samfilmkid]

Well...at least Frank found out he liked Green Tea lattes!

[@GuamoKun]

The way the lights blow out then everything flashes into darkness is some scary cinematography

[@omegamanGXE]

4:02

[@TheBermudaMan]

David Lynch prefers his audience to interpret his stuff in whatever way they choose. In my eyes, this scene cuts to black exactly half a second before Coop and Laura come face-to-face with Judy herself, a moment of such overpowering Lovecraftian terror that not even Lynch could film it.

[@Jackp2003]

I like that interpretation. I’ll have to think about that!

[@desveritas]

Lol...while I did find this scene unsettling, but not really scary...this idea makes it much worse. :D

[@marymc2554]

Unrecorded Night.

[@Dawid-kn6mv]

Lynch said that there is one proper interpretation and sometimes he refutes the worst theories (like wching episodes simultaounsly).

[@TheBermudaMan]

@@Dawid-kn6mv Eh, he says there's "one proper interpretation" all the time, from ERASERHEAD to RABBITS. I just think he gets a kick out of watching the fans come up with theories ten times crazier than anything he could ever dream up. The man loves a mystery, and so do I.

[@robertr798]

I will never, ever forget the night I watched this. Joined by a bunch of friends, coffee and cherry pie on the table, the penultimate episode was one satisfying payoff after the other. And then.. this scene. I looked at the clock and noticed that the episode had roughly one minute left. Laura screams, lights out, credits roll, and we were all just completely silent and *stunned*. Masterful.

[@sethd6485]

SAME. Me and a few friends had gathered every week to watch the latest episode. On the night the finale aired we baked a cherry pie. I cannot begin to express how stressed I was when I realized that there were just a few minutes left. I was shocked by the ending, in the best way. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it and yet I found it to be utterly sublime. Horrific, but masterful. It’s one of the scariest scenes in Lynch’s canon, and also one of the most depressing because Cooper failed. We almost never see films or shows where the character fails at the end, where hope is suddenly lost. It solidified The Return as a masterpiece in its own right and changed television again.

[@jimmystrudel]

You and your friends sound like assholes.

[@nicolabaggio1666]

​@@sethd6485io bro sono al nono episodio prima stagione e credo sia stata Josie Parker con la complicità di suo cugino ad uccidere Laura Palmer e anche Hank😊

[@willbower7014]

This scene will forever be both the most incredible and most horrifying piece of television I have ever seen

[@saltech3444]

I do think this ending is pretty straightforward. We the audience know that Sarah Palmer is possessed by JUDY, but Dale Cooper is not aware of this. JUDY is waiting for Laura to be handed over, to devour her. Therefore the Tremond/Chalfonts (who helped Laura during the movie, remember), have retroactively "squatted" in the house to make sure Sarah/JUDY never lives there so Dale cannot hand Laura over to JUDY to be devoured. Whether the Tremond/Chalfonts travelled back in time to do this, or have diverted Dale/Laura to another dimension I am not sure; but Laura is rendered safe; I read this is as a happy ending. Notice that you can hear Sarah/JUDY calling out to her at the end; but Laura is beyond JUDY's power, at least for now.

[@NerdAlert78]

oh wow. I hope this is correct. I like that explanation.

[@youbasictoxicconch]

I mean that's less depressing than the one mentioning that the alternate universe was also specifically created by Judy in order to ensure Laura's death.

[@italoblu]

Sure, an existential shriek of terror is a super happy ending.

[@Batmanrox1234]

K can’t hear it!!!

[@chaosmos24]

Whatever it is, it isn't a happy ending.

[@hipsterelephant2660]

Anyone else get depressed knowing this will never be topped?

[@johnsmith7140]

Yes

[@diegogonzales3519]

The chalfonts were the same people who owned the trailer in fire walk with me

[@porkman1838]

Also, the two grandma and nephew spirits that lived in that one house where Donna went to ask for clues. Then Donna went back to that house with Cooper later in the series and there was another person living there. Saying that the Chalfonts lived there before. If you compare the situation with the one with Fire Walk With Me is that Chalfonts are basically the Tremond (the spirits). But The Return ending is confusing, the woman who lives there that opens the door from this video is called Alice Tremond. And said that the Chalfonts owned the house before.

[@tevelgleenberg9733]

I think that the ending of chapter 17 and chapter 18 are laura palmer’s dream. It is known she had dale cooper appear in her dreams before and now she dreams about being saved by this heroic FBI figure. The house no longer has sarah and leland almost like if they never existed, all of her problems gone. In the end she is awakened by her mother calling for her and she starts to realise its all a dream. (Alternate ending: she dreams it after she dies and her mother’s shout looking for her tells laura shes already dead)

[@pedrom.1948]

This is the best explanation I have ever read!

[@Wes_5kyph1]

Was it Laura's mother or father calling her? Yes.

[@EyeoftheU]

Cooper, what have you done? You changed the future!! You've created a time paradox!

[@napoleonsolo5929]

Laura's death was a fixed point in time. You don't mess with those. The Doctor found that out the hard way on Mars. The Doctor should've let those people die. Cooper should've let Laura die.

[@chrisgetchell6337]

Goddamnit ocelot

[@Dawid-kn6mv]

@@chrisgetchell6337 There was time travel in MGS?

[@orianultimer]

@@Dawid-kn6mv In Metal Gear Solid 3 if you die or kill Revolver Ocelot you get a screen saying "Time Paradox" because Naked Snake (aka Big Boss) and Ocelot are central characters to the rest of the series

[@DZCOSENTRY]

Cooper being left so lost and confused after everything leaves such a pit in my stomach. And Sheryl's scream. It's like a part of Laura woke up inside her after hearing her mom calling from the house. And Laura being woken up into this different world causes it to implode on itself. Ugh. This scene is such a true existential horror.

[@youdbettertube]

The slightly floating camera is something Lynch used in the diner scene in Mulholland Drive. It's a great, subtle way to make a scene that much more unnerving.

[@Vingul]

I noticed that, going down the steps there.

[@selty]

Yes! I really wanted to cut away, I was so afraid of something jumping out... but the fact you never get that makes it even creepier.

[@latinoncal2003]

There are so many theories and explanations by really intelligent viewers on what TPTR meant and how to follow it, but the final two episodes made it clear to me that for 25 years, Cooper, Laura and everyone in TP had lives that they tried to reinvent and tried to change, but it all comes down to this...We are a product of our past...we move forward but we cant deny it.

[@severalgecko]

Makes me feel like Betty did in Club Silencio.

[@nowherebutpain]

no hay banda

[@patrickgogan3517]

This is the girl....

[@Vingul]

@@nowherebutpain hay ;)

[@nowherebutpain]

@@Vingul oh cool sorry aha, gonna change it

[@isaiahromero9861]

I feel like both those scenes represent the same thing imo

[@brianchicago76]

Doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, chills run down my spine every time Laura screams at the end of this scene.

[@robblaster9556]

That very faint echo of Sarah calling out to her gave me the biggest chill. It's so haunting how it sounds so distant but somewhere nearby. Definitely like a nightmare.

[@dantheawsome]

So I never really watched twin peaks(watched a couple episodes but fell off) but this appeared on my recommendations and it is the scariest thing I have ever fucking seen. I should watch the rest of twin peaks....

[@exeortegarubio]

I hadn't noticed the way Laura acts and moves as Alice and Cooper are talking to each other.

[@jimpublictube]

At first she looks at him like "you are a complete bufu" when the woman isn't/doesn't know Sarah P.

[@jimpublictube]

The more I watch, I notice that she seems devastated when cooper's answers are not what they both expect. As a director, Lynch would have been pushing this hard - for Laura to have these emotions. Its not by accident. So why would Carrie Page be so let down on this news? Any ideas?

[@jimpublictube]

What did Lynch mean by this "Alice Cooper" ???

[@heddalee]

For one thing, he agreed to help her (presumably) escape murder charges, and he seemed to have a plan. Now she's screwed - either face prison, or run around with this guy who turns out to have not known what he's doing.

[@Sternertime]

I love this ending. There is no Twin Peaks, no "Agent Cooper", no "Mike" or "Killer Bob." It has always been the story of a tormented, abused girl trying to cope with her trauma in an America that is gradually losing its spiritual integrity and has yet to recover from post-war trauma. Yet, like in Inland Empire, the "girl in trouble" has found a way to confront her demons and thus re-gain her own identity though the catharsis.

[@BlamoStramo]

spiritual integrity huh

[@davidguyette2586]

oh god thats an angle i never really considered, the ENTIRE show being LAURAS dream of herself being saved somehow, but she cant figure out the logic of it because she is dead, and the thing that caused her death is still alive and her father, "she cant go back home" Dale Cooper seems so unnaturally perfect it would easily be a dream hero for her. Could be Dale not really having his own personal motivation, he is always taking orders.

[@plasticweapon]

thanks, you're horrible.

[@CrankyRayy]

@@BlamoStramo spiritual integrity

[@farcry223]

Oh man. I'll never forget watching this live growing up because what a trip this was to experience this.

[@NicolaBernini]

Guys, raise the volume very high and listen closely to the sounds at 3:17 and 3:29 : there are 2 clicks of the kind mentioned in S03E01 The first one seems to affect Cooper, like if his personality has switched (in fact I believe after the click he's not the Cooper anymore) while the second one seems to affect Carrie Page who probably becomes Laura Both these clicks probably trigger something bad

[@SerMattzio]

Or perhaps it's a realisation that perhaps the reality they live in now isn't real? A literal sound representing the "click" of their realisation. Cooper slumps forward dejectedly after the first click, and then asks an existential question ("What year is it?") rather than treating it all as an investigation he can follow logically, as if he is confused by the reality he is now in rather than the "case" with Laura. Then after the second click (which occurs as Carrie is looking at Cooper having this revelation), Carrie stares at the house looking somewhat confused and then starts to hear the voices that apparently trigger her memory as Laura and the resulting scream of terror. Cooper's quizzical and disturbed look to Carrie when she screams implies to me that he's realising (albeit in a confused way) that he has "woken up" Laura...but at the same time he's completely unsure of how he did it or why. Everything going dark after Laura's scream definitely confirms they're in a fake reality of some sort...but I'm not sure of their fate.

[@damiandamienov4733]

"in fact I believe after the click he's not the Cooper anymore" - it doesn't make sense

[@ancientapparition1638]

That click is associated with Judy

[@lizardq23]

i just noticed the same noise i think, when sarah palmer is at the bar, and opens up her face

[@CrankyRayy]

@@damiandamienov4733 the cooper