NON SPOILERS: Twin Peaks: Season 3 on Showtime Thread

[Brad D]

The credits are a great mystery... part of me wants an updated version of what came before with Falling, but I have a hard time thinking that will open every part this time around. So many possibilities!

[Mr. Reindeer]

A sentence struck me in my reread of MLMT today. For me, the biggest question of the new season is how Bob's possession of Dale will manifest (I expect it to be very different from the Leland possession, and very much related to Dale's specific dark side).

Well, again, according to Lynch BOB did not possess Dale; this is Cooper's doppleganger, his shadow self (which one would assume is still associated with a part of his own self), presumably in league with BOB.

Yeah, I should have caught myself using that phrasing. I've even posted the quote where Lynch says it's not possession. It's just an easy short-hand way to refer to what's happening.

The fact that it's not a straight-up possession is exactly why I feel it needs to be tied to Dale's dark side somehow in order for there to be any emotional stakes (just as I believe Leland's experience was driven by his attraction to Laura -- an attraction I don't think he would have acted on or even acknowledged without Bob's push, other than perhaps sleeping with young prostitues who reminded him of Laura). The problem is that it's so tough to conceptualize what Dale's dark side might be since he generally seems to be such an upstanding paragon of decency and kindness. I'm probably grasping at straws a bit with that quote, and I agree that your interpretation is equally valid, but it is an interesting tidbit (particularly in light of the dichotomy between Dale's seemingly boundless compassion and his Holmesian / Lynchian clinical curiosity about violence, corpses, etc.).

[mtwentz]

A sentence struck me in my reread of MLMT today. For me, the biggest question of the new season is how Bob's possession of Dale will manifest (I expect it to be very different from the Leland possession, and very much related to Dale's specific dark side).

Well, again, according to Lynch BOB did not possess Dale; this is Cooper's doppleganger, his shadow self (which one would assume is still associated with a part of his own self), presumably in league with BOB.

Yeah, I should have caught myself using that phrasing. I've even posted the quote where Lynch says it's not possession. It's just an easy short-hand way to refer to what's happening.

The fact that it's not a straight-up possession is exactly why I feel it needs to be tied to Dale's dark side somehow in order for there to be any emotional stakes (just as I believe Leland's experience was driven by his attraction to Laura -- an attraction I don't think he would have acted on or even acknowledged without Bob's push, other than perhaps sleeping with young prostitues who reminded him of Laura). The problem is that it's so tough to conceptualize what Dale's dark side might be since he generally seems to be such an upstanding paragon of decency and kindness. I'm probably grasping at straws a bit with that quote, and I agree that your interpretation is equally valid, but it is an interesting tidbit (particularly in light of the dichotomy between Dale's seemingly boundless compassion and his Holmesian / Lynchian clinical curiosity about violence, corpses, etc.).

As to Dale's dark side, I think he really wanted Audrey "jail bait" Horne, badly. And maybe he was secretly 'getting off' on going through all those Flesh World mags .

[Rainwater]

I am curious to see if shadings of the Coop in the pilot, who's a bit edgier in addition to his soft side, a bit more quick to make a colder joke to rile someone, may return in Season 3.

I love the Pilot Coop more with every viewing. That edge to his character was something I missed very much in later episodes.

[djerdap]

I am curious to see if shadings of the Coop in the pilot, who's a bit edgier in addition to his soft side, a bit more quick to make a colder joke to rile someone, may return in Season 3.

I love the Pilot Coop more with every viewing. That edge to his character was something I missed very much in later episodes.

Agreed.

[eyeboogers]

I am curious to see if shadings of the Coop in the pilot, who's a bit edgier in addition to his soft side, a bit more quick to make a colder joke to rile someone, may return in Season 3.

I love the Pilot Coop more with every viewing. That edge to his character was something I missed very much in later episodes.

Agreed.

Disagreed I prefer the lighter Peyton-era Coop, that incredible disciplined, respectful and kindess in the face of overwhelming darkness somehow made for a more original and compelling character. I think you'll see a plenty edgy Cooper for your liking this season though.

[mtwentz]

I never saw the Pilot Coop as any different than the Series Coop.

[Pöllö]

I love the Pilot Coop more with every viewing. That edge to his character was something I missed very much in later episodes.

Agreed.

Disagreed I prefer the lighter Peyton-era Coop, that incredible disciplined, respectful and kindess in the face of overwhelming darkness somehow made for a more original and compelling character. I think you'll see a plenty edgy Cooper for your liking this season though.

I like the Peyton-era one too, but he feels almost non-human due to his remarkable discipline and kindness.

[dronerstone]

Pilot Coop is fine, but he cmes across a tad more stiff in terms of acting and make-up, I think.
I enjoy the series Coop more, he's such a smooth/tight/positive character, always fascinated by all the little things. And an awesome agent.

[djerdap]

I never saw the Pilot Coop as any different than the Series Coop.

He's more sarcastic and he's a bit colder, even more detached. For instance, he actually has to ask Truman to remind him of Laura Palmer's name, which would be unfathomable for his more caring (and more bland) appearance during post-Laura s2, where he would very likely never forget the name of a murdered victim, even if a case had only begun. He's also more authoritative, blunt and cocky, like in the Bobby Briggs interrogation sequence (among my favourite Cooper scenes). Like some have already said, there is more edge to him. But he does have that optimism and enthusiasm, which make him more layered and fascinating to watch. He definitely became more saintly and less eccentric in the lighter "Peyton-era", and I speculate that MacLachlan grew increasingly bored because of it.

The pilot persona does come back in the season 2 finale - the awkward grins and the edginess were back, and the episode is all the more powerful for it.

[N. Needleman]

IIRC it was Kyle who took credit for softening Coop slightly post-pilot. But I think the series Dale was, for most of the run, the vision the creators performed.

[Clueless]

Pilot Dale also takes Harry aside at one point and gives him a stern(ish) lecture on how, as the FBI, he's the authority in the investigation and he's had local police/FBI conflicts before which he prefers to avoid. The conversation ends on a friendly note, but I kind of liked the idea that there would be the possibility of a little tension between the friends, especially when we see Truman so uncritical about Jose. Of course by the time that tension/conflict is explored after Jose's identity is revealed Pilot Coop is all but gone.

[N. Needleman]

That's standard procedure, though - I never saw that as him being cold or nasty to Harry. He was just stating jurisdiction firmly but politely. I also didn't think him asking Laura's name again was callous since he'd literally just arrived. It's other things I found a bit edgier or colder, like how he handled Bobby, etc.

We now know they had originally planned on a Coop/Josie/Harry triangle pre-series order, which would've made things very different.

[Panapaok]

I always enjoyed the small differences between the pilot Cooper and the series Cooper. If we take Deer Meadow as an example, the FBI wasn't welcome in many places. Cooper arrives in Twin Peaks and tries to establish himself as an authoritative figure. As the series progress, he gets to know the town and quickly falls in love with it and its citizens, thus he becomes more benevolent and kind.

[Dead Dog]

I always enjoyed the small differences between the pilot Cooper and the series Cooper. If we take Deer Meadow as an example, the FBI wasn't welcome in many places. Cooper arrives in Twin Peaks and tries to establish himself as an authoritative figure. As the series progress, he gets to know the town and quickly falls in love with it and its citizens, thus he becomes more benevolent and kind.

This. Always felt pretty natural to me. He was able to let his guard down a bit after realizing he'd found a Sheriff secure enough in himself to be cooperative and accommodating. I love the friendship between Coop and Harry, their almost immediate trust of and loyalty to each other.