I think people have frankly always been too dogmatic about that scene and episode. I think it's very possible Lynch feels you can have both perspectives on the situation being equally valid - Leland's pain and grief and suffering as part of the well-known cycle of abuse as detailed in episode 16, and also his brutal culpability in FWWM.Mr. Reindeer wrote:Related to all this: I'm rereading Brad's wonderful book throughout my rewatch, and noticed something that I'd forgotten: on page 215, Peyton says the closing scene of Coop absolving Leland was Frost & DKL working "very, very closely," possibly for the last time on the series. That's really interesting to me. I consider myself among the camp that prefers to believe Leland is culpable (albeit in denial), and I also like to believe that FWWM proves that DKL feels the same way. However, Peyton's recollections generally seem pretty reliable. It's an interesting (and for me, slightly unsettling) revelation that DKL may have been more involved in parts of Episode 16 than is generally thought.
I certainly can have both. To me they work together, the same way the show and film do. Complementary parts of the same song.