Part 18 - What is your name? (SPOILERS)

[Pinky]

I'm convinced that Lynch and Frost have set this up for more. If it has to stand as the ending, then it works, but i'm no longer thinking that they worked on this under the idea of it being 'one and done'. Though his actions appear rash, Coop is still essentially just following the Fireman's clues, he's still on the path. It's a dangerous one, Philip Gerard was all but yelling 'this is a bad idea!' at the motel room when they're talking to Kettle Jeffries, but he's still on the path. At least that's how I took it. Was his visit with the Fireman actually then a case of the Fireman realizing that Coop wasn't going to let this go and so 'here are some clues if you insist but it's a suicide mission'?

Not a hope that we're going to get a fourth, though, and if it did happen somehow then it's going to be on a budget way smaller than this one. Wasn't everyone already working for scale except MacLachlan and maybe a few others? Logistically, would they be able to afford MacLachlan again?

If anything, it feels like some kind of booby trapped present to Showtime from Lynch. I know they read it before committing but it feels like that after reaping the kudos for taking the risk on such a crazy project, they're now in the position of having to be the second studio to kill it. It's either that or greenlight another season of a show that wants to go somewhere that much of its (dwindling) audience don't want it to go?

[BEARisonFord]

I have never felt so satisfied at the end of a series as I do right now.

Only Mad Men's supersedes it for me.

In the past twelve hours, I have gone from having significant reservations to loving it as an ending for the whole of Peaks. Can't stop thinking about it, and like it more and more.

The parallels between the artistry of Mad Men and Twin Peaks are potent. I definitely got the same feeling with both.

[tresojos]

im glad we saw josie, pete and catherine again. probably one of my favorite moments of the return

[Tailsun]

As I was sitting here continue to read and think, a song from years ago popped into my head. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal by Of Montreal. Rather fitting, the mind works in funny ways sometimes. I can't help but post some lyrics:

The past is a grotesque animal
And in its eyes you see
How completely wrong you can be

The sun is out, it melts the snow that fell yesterday
Makes you wonder why it bothered

It's so embarrassing to need someone like I do you
How can I explain, I need you here and not here too

I'm flunking out, I'm flunking out, I'm gone, I'm just gone
But at least I author my own disaster

Performance breakdown and I don't want to hear it
I'm just not available
Things could be different but they're not

The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
The mousy girl screams, "Violence! Violence!"
She gets hysterical because they're both so mean
And it's my favorite scene
But the cruelty's so predictable
It makes you sad on the stage
Though our love project has so much potential
But it's like we weren't made for this world
(Though I wouldn't really want to meet someone who was)

Somehow you've red-rovered the gestapo circling my heart
And nothing can defeat you
No death, no ugly world

You've lived so brightly
You've altered everything
I find myself searching for old selves
While speeding forward through the plate glass of maturing cells

I've played the unraveler, the parhelion
But even apocalypse is fleeting
There's no death, no ugly world

Sometimes I wonder if you're mythologizing me like I do you

We want our film to be beautiful, not realistic
Perceive me in the radiance of terror dreams
And you can betray me

But teach me something wonderful
Crown my head, crowd my head
With your lilting effects
Project your fears on to me, I need to view them
See, there's nothing to them
I promise you, there's nothing to them

I'm so touched by your goodness
You make me feel so criminal
How do you keep it together?
I'm all, all unraveled

But you know, no matter where we are
We're always touching by underground wires

[cgs027]

Diane's appearance alone at Glastonbury Grove is incredibly interesting to me, too.

Edit: Had forgotten about Cooper's "curtain call" line. But the exclusion of Cole past that point--not to mention everyone else--still seems so strange.

Yep, where was Cole? Diane wouldn't have mentioned if some crazy sh*t happened to him preventing him from joining in the "curtain call"?

[claaa7]

the 'are we being followed?' scene was great. When they turned off the road, I was waiting for the lights to reappear.

definitely reminded me of Kubrick's "Lolita", a film Lynch often has proclaimed his love for (and a movie i love as well)

[Cipher]

The parallels between the artistry of Mad Men and Twin Peaks are potent. I definitely got the same feeling with both.

I actually had major shades of

Spoiler:

Don at the purgatorial self-help retreat

as Cooper was driving with Diane to the hotel. As in, "Oh, this is absolutely the liminal setting we're going to leave this character in, isn't it?" And that sense just built and built for the final half hour in both.

[mtwentz]

At the very beginning, I thought about posting a little tongue in cheek humor that they would tell the Bad Coop from the Good Coop is that the Bad Coop would ask for cream and sugar in his coffee.

I never thought the Bad Coop would be dumb enough to tip his hand by refusing a cup of coffee. He was just lucky it was Frank and not Harry...

[Rex]

At the very beginning, I thought about posting a little tongue in cheek humor that they would tell the Bad Coop from the Good Coop is that the Bad Coop would ask for cream and sugar in his coffee.

I never thought the Bad Coop would be dumb enough to tip his hand by refusing a cup of coffee. He was just lucky it was Frank and not Harry...

That's why Andy had the vision.

[claaa7]

I was sure Evil Coop was just going to shoot Andy dead right there in the parking lot. Almost everyone who has commented on it has expressed hatred for the Freddy/BOB fight scene, but I thought everything leading up to it was a wonderful exercise in tension, what with Frank talking to one Cooper on the phone while looking into the eyes of another, and Chad's attempted escape. And the drunk picking at his own open wound. All that was brilliant.

spot on.. the entire build up and everything that happened there was great filmmaking that had you on your edge of your seat and then THAT happens (the Bob & GGF fight). i was literally hoping that Freddie would be killed a brutal death at the "hands" of VolleyBOB. the actual fight was by far the worst thing Lynch has ever directed (including any of his shorts and other projects).

[BHell]

But in the final seconds, she once again becomes aware of it, which is why she screams?

I too am confused as the role of the Fireman, who seems to have been the engineer of Laura as some kind of force of good in the world to combat the evil of Judy and BOB? Cooper seems to follow his directions precisely, and now he and Laura are when this really bleak, seemingly hopeless place as the result of his doing so. Now, if this was just the beginning, if there was more to come, maybe I could understand it. Maybe Cooper still has a chance to rectify things. But if this is where the Fireman (and Lynch and Frost) wanted Cooper's journey to end, it makes me feel like his motives are malevolent.

After my little exchange with 'Cipher' I, personally, have settled on two conclusions:

1.) The Fireman is not malevolent. He might not be conciously benevolent either, but at least he is battling Judy, who we know to be a force of evil. Just like Bob, Judy seems to be interested in pain and sorrow (= Garmonbozia), which could be a reason, why she/it chose Sarah as a host, after the latter lost daughter and husband. Where else would you find that much pain?

2.) The place, where Cooper and Laura end up, does seem bleak, yes. But Laura ending up there is probably not down to Cooper or the Fireman, but initially caused by Judy. Cooper (in league with the fireman) chases after her. And revisiting his dialogue with Diane, right before crossing over, he seems to be aware of a certain risk to himself (and Diane, for that matter) - that they could end up not being quite themselves. Considering this, it's even more perplexing that he reckons that Laura would be "awake" - or that Twin Peaks would be Twin Peaks.
But in the end, as cruel as it feels, Laura does awaken. And thus, for the first time our protagonists, both deeply flawed characters (intriguingly, here they are even more flawed than their "real world"(?) personas) are both together (outside the logdes) and presumably ready to do whatever needs to be done.

TLDR: The Ending is initially disappointing from Cooper's or Laura's perspectives, yet in a grander scheme, it could be the "ideal setup" for battling Judy.

[tresojos]

i really loved part 18. the sense of dread and that something was off made me so uneasy. the sex scene. two dianes. the letter. cooper being both cooper and mr c. the whole trip to twin peaks from odessa. the last scene. it really felt like cooper and laura were dreamers outside their dream. or maybe so inside their own dream they cant remember. anyways. the whole episode felt just like those waking up from the dream moments from mulholland drive, inland empire and lost highway. when dry, cold, cruel reality, if you can call it like that, destroys the fantasy.

also, was cooper really getting out of the lodge when diane picks him in glastonbury grove. maybe the whole return was inside the lodge? and only the last part outside?

[cgs027]

After Andy emerged from the White Lodge all serene and all-knowing, it seemed like a big step backward for him to bring the would-be agent of Naido's death nearly right to her ... and then also stumble into nearly getting killed by Chad. It was like he was right back to being old Andy. He did have the vision again, but I don't know that it helped in any way.

Agree, he basically told Lucy that the phone call was very important, other than that, didn't seem to help much. And I'm not sure that bit of advice was necessary -- pretty sure Dale Cooper calling her would have freaked her out either way given Mr. C's presence.

Reminds me of Richard Horne apparently going along with being driven back into the vicinity of Twin Peaks without any protests after high-tailing it to Montana and going into hiding for his mini-killing spree...

[sewhite2000]

I thought of another question: Jeffries tells Cooper "Say hello to Gordon if you see him again. He'll remember the unofficial version." Anyone understand what this means? Was the Mega-Happy defeat of Evil Cooper and BOB the "unofficial version" the folks in the real world will remember? Or is Jeffries referring to an "unofficial version" of events from his own life?

[BMS242]

I was firmly in the profoundly disappointed camp for most of the season but last night was special for me. I simply cannot get that final image of Coop's face while Laura is whispering to him out of my head. Lynch was forced to reveal the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer but he left us with the mystery of some terrible truth that was revealed to Coop. Some on here have done a great job of extracting some meaning out of the ending but that face still haunts me.

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