A Simple Poll: Is Richard toast?

[mtwentz]

Have we seen the last of Richard Horne? Make your voice heard!

[The Gazebo]

Yep. Throwaway character, it seems now (shame, though, based on episode 5 I wish he'd had an even bigger and more important role to play - a thoroughly creepy and obnoxious villain at the time).

[Mr. Strawberry]

My gut has been wrong before, but it's telling me that Dale will rue the day he sent Richard atop that rock.

[BOB1]

I would hope they make use of his character but I'm afraid they won't. Which will be one of the biggest disappointments and wastes since the guy really started off great in the show (but hasn't done anything that matters so far).

[IcedOver]

Just considering that he was mentioned to Original Formula Cooper, it feels like he may play a minor role coming up. If he is dead, that would be yet another way poor plotting/planning has damaged the show. He could have been an interesting character, but the complete resistance to cluing the viewer in on the interior lives of any of these characters, plus the extended time away from him due to the series' structure, hurt him.

[Ragnell]

I think his primary role was to set up Audrey's story, and he's dead now but the fact that he died on that particular rock will come into play. And that it'll be what he has in common with Linda that's important, and what she's supposed to do, rather than anything Richard was supposed to do.

Although, that may be just wishful thinking. Fantastically awful villain, but I think this end was particularly suiting for him and I don't want to see his story extended.

[Jasper]

I think Richard is a great and ghoulish villain, and while I found his death(?) powerful (both for being unexpected and for showing the coldness of Mr. C), I'd have liked for his story to have continued. I think that a hypothetical season 4 would be enriched by Richard's presence, as he was an excellent avatar for that mysterious and menacing undercurrent in the town of Twin Peaks, and I can easily imagine him getting up to all sorts of nocturnal badness. That said, perhaps he is too chaotic and too evil for a town like Twin Peaks to be able to overlook or tolerate his hijinks. Someone like Leo Johnson had a real sense of menace about him, but his naughty activities were mostly shrouded. Richard is so in-your-face bad that it would be difficult for him to maintain an ongoing presence in that little town without being quickly imprisoned or killed.

I'm leaning towards Richard being physically dead, but I think that we could see him in the lodge or convenience store. I hope that we see the character again in some capacity.

Eamon Farren looks like he was genetically engineered by David Lynch specifically for this role. It's not often that you come across someone with this sort of look and ability. Whether or not we see Richard again,
Eamon Farren deserves a big round of applause for absolutely nailing his role (and apparently achieving this with very little preparation).

[Mr. Jackpots]

Ooh. It's a dead heat at 3 and 3 now that I've voted.

I voted he's dead.

I don't really expect to see him again in another form. Unless there was news of another season.

[Wonderful & Strange]

I think we may see Richard again, but it will be his doppleganger. And since Richard was pure evil, then his doppleganger will be good. There's a Poe story like this called William Wilson.

As for Richard being a throwaway character, that's obviously wrong. He was a huge part of the evil that Mr. C helped to create, and we felt those effects deeply.

This character wasn't redeemable, so it made perfect sense that his most apt end was death.

[Jasper]

This character wasn't redeemable, so it made perfect sense that his most apt end was death.

Why should he be redeemable as a character, and why should that have any bearing on whether he lives or dies in the story?

[Wonderful & Strange]

This character wasn't redeemable, so it made perfect sense that his most apt end was death.

Why should he be redeemable as a character, and why should that have any bearing on whether he lives or dies in the story?

Well, when we think in terms of character arc, he's ether got to change or stay the same. I don't think he was capable of change, whether we think of it as redemption or just becoming less of an evil douche (a smarter villain).

So if we look at Richard's arc in purely logical terms, what happened to him when he met up with a smarter villain was inevitable.

From a moral standpoint, it was also a deserved end and poetic.

Lynch and Frost do believe in punishing their villains at times. That's one of the few humanistic, traditional bones in their bodies.

Also see Hutch and Chantal.

[Panapaok]

Yeah, I think we'll see Richard. He might be dead but I feel we'll see him again somehow.

[Novalis]

As a dodo.

[Mr. Reindeer]

As a dodo.

I assume you mean he's coming back as a talking dodo.

[AgentEcho]

Even if Richard is not the same Richard The Fireman referred to, there is still a little more of his story that needs to play out. But death does not necessarily mean his story is over. Hell, death may not even mean we won't see the character again. Laura and Leland remain a part of the fabric of this universe. Richard's father was seemingly dead at one point.