Postby ThumbsUp » Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:42 pm
I'm still working my way through this much-needed thread, but I was hoping to discuss some of the themes that we can take from the finale.
In other threads many of us are discussing Cooper's hero-saviour complex and obsession with helping people in trouble, especially women. The examples go on and on and on: Audrey, Annie, Diane, Janey-E, Caroline, Maddy, even the waitress at Judy's.
But perhaps there is no better example than his co-hero of the show, the woman he's shared a psychic and spiritual connection with despite distance and time, The One, Laura Palmer.
Cooper and Laura are the heroes of Twin Peaks and both undergo samsara-like cycles of pain that span time and parallel dimensions - but in different ways.
I think Laura is a classic Lynchian portrayal of a woman: in trouble and a target of violence and abuse. When she's "reincarnated" as Carrie, it still seems that she leads a pretty crappy life despite being "saved" and having survived in the new timeline. She allows Cooper to whisk her away when the supposed knight in shining armour shows up at her door on his all-important quest.
Meanwhile, Coop exists as an example of male fragility and an almost exhausting example of relentless male white knighting. My friend pointed this out after we watched the finale, and mentioned reviews online that say Coop essentially views Laura as an object that needs to be saved, or as a goal that makes him feel better about himself. (His entire Black Lodge trial in season 2 was premised on the guilt he felt about failing to protect various people.) And in the end, it's his hubris and obsession with being The Good Guy that broke the timeline and screwed everything up in the season 3 finale.
Laura and Coop seem to help generate each others' infinitely looping timelines of pain and suffering, and in very Lynchian terms: that Laura still, to this day, exists as an object to Cooper that will bolster his own view of himself as the chivalrous FBI-boy scout who saves the day. (Of course, Cooper is a much more nuanced character than that, as we have gotten to know the various facets of his identity over the years, quite literally in season 3.)
I love both Laura and Coop as characters and I did enjoy the finale. But I was still disappointed, considering the weeks of build up of "Laura is the one" - and in the end, Coop still viewed her as a damsel to "find" (in Leland's words), which rendered a pretty bleak-seeming outcome for all involved.
Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the finale.
Last edited by
ThumbsUp on Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.