I have to say I was very frustrated as the credits rolled on Episode 18 and it was all over. The ending of a show is always a tough one to pull off. The final episodes of the Sopranos and LOST were particularly divisive. If there is going to be a Season 4 then I will feel less angry and see the finale as a cliffhanger in an ongoing story.  There are certainly many unresolved questions and story lines. Of course, David Lynch is not concerned with resolution in the usual sense of the word.

David Lynch is very much ‘our Goddard’. Over the years he has become less interested in narrative and more abstract visual artist. These 18 episodes was certainly one masterpiece painting. A painting that referenced all his past work. It could all just be a dream. His dream. His dreams contain both the ethereal and the diabolic. Dreams don’t end with resolution. They end suddenly when we awake.

There were some resolutions to the story, Cooper makes it back to Twin Peaks, sends Evil Cooper back to the Black Lodge, Freddie destroys Bob and Cooper and Diane are reunited. But then it devolves. Another dream begins, one that overlaps with the one we just experienced. A new journey to who knows where. And it ends just as terribly as it did 26 years ago. Anguish, horror, sadness. It’s happening again, AGAIN.

I will get over my anger and frustration.  I will watch it again and I will appreciate it more. And I will hope for a fourth season. I will hope I get to see more dreams from David Lynch. Even if they are nightmares.

As I have all season, my recaps are stream of consciousness reaction to what I am seeing.  I have added some additional commentary that I have bolded. Thanks for touring the dream with me!

EP 17
“For 25 years I’ve kept something from you, Albert. Before he disappeared, Major Briggs, told Cooper and I about an evil entity called Jao Day. Over time it’s become ‘Judy’. Cooper said, if I disappear like the others, do everything you can to find me. I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone.”

OK. I’m thinking Judy is now residing in Sarah Palmer.

Cole gets the call from the FBI in Vegas that they found Douglas Jones but he’s gone.
Bushnell Mullins gets on the phone and reads the not Cooper left for Cole.
“Dougie is Cooper? How the hell is this? Pack it up!” I know where he’s going!” Cole

Everyone is converging on Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Office
The jail cells
Who is this weird guy?
All he does is repeat what everyone says
He has to be significant, right? (Turns out he wasn’t. Just a strange creature)

Dark night, dark road
Evil Cooper is on the move

The Lady with No Eyes
What the hell is going on with her?

Ben Horne
Jerry thinks he killed someone with his binoculars!
He’s in a Jackson Hole, Wyoming jail (This is the end of Jerry and Ben’s story)

Oh shit!
EC is in Twin Peaks
The spot where they found the Lady with No Eyes
He disappeared!

What the hell?
Major Briggs is a big floating head!
The Giant!
EC is in a cage
They’re watching what’s going on in Twin Peaks
On giant screen TVs
Evil Cooper reappears
The Lady with No Eyes senses him
He’s in front of the Sheriff’s Department
“What is this?” EC asks

“Agent Cooper! Is that you?” Andy says
“Hello Andy”
The Lady with No Eyes is freaking out!
Deputy Chad has something in his shoe heel
A key?
He frees himself from his cell
EC enters the station, meets the new Truman
Lucy is so happy to see him!

Andy offers him a cup of coffee
EC says ‘no thanks’
That should be a tip he isn’t Cooper
Chad gets a gun
Weird guy rips bandage off his face
Andy goes down to the cells
Chad points the gun on him
The British guy uses his ‘Hulk” hand
Pounds the cell door open and knocks out Chad (Chad’s story is done)

The real Cooper calls
Lucy answers!
OH OH
Truman takes the call
“Is the coffee on?”
That’s Coop!
Truman understands
EC and Truman draw guns
But EC gets shot
Lucy nails him!
Cooper tells Truman not to touch the body

Cooper arrives with the Mitchum Brothers and the triplets
Cole, Albert and Tammy arrive
The homeless looking guys show up and start digging into EC’s guts
A big black ball with Bob’s face inside
“Are you Freddie?” Cooper asks
This is why Freddie needed to be in Twin Peaks
He battles the ‘Bob Ball’ with his Hulk Hand.
He finally breaks it into little pieces that disappear into the air
Cooper puts the green ring on EC’s finger
EC disappears

For good this time (I think? I hope)
“Frank, give my regards to Harry”
The Lady with No Eyes touches hands with Cooper
There is a transfiguration
She becomes Diane
With red hair now
They kiss
“Cooper. The one and only.”
“Do you remember everything?”
“Yes”
“We live inside a dream. I hope I see all of you again. Every one of you.”

Cooper’s face is superimposed over the end of the scene. This will be the last we see of all these characters except for Cooper, Cole and Diane.

We never find out what happened to Audrey.

Cooper, Diane and Cole disappear
They are at The Great Northern
Room 315
“I’m going through this door. Don’t try to follow me.”
He looks back at Diane
“See you at the curtain call”

He walks through the door
The one armed man
“Through the darkness of futures past.
Fire walk with me”
They are at the Convenience Store
He meets Phillip Jeffries (what he is now)
“The date February 23 1989”
“It’s good to see you again, Cooper. Say hello to Gordon if you see him”
“This is where you’ll find Judy”
The number 8
“Cooper you can go in now. Remember.”

So it seems Cooper is transported back in time to the day that Laura Palmer was killed.

Flashback
Laura Palmer runs out of her house
Jumps on the back of James’ motorcycle
Leland watches
They stop in the woods
Cooper is there
Laura sees Cooper
Screams
“Bobby killed a guy”
Laura is acting weird
Is she a ‘tulpa’?
Is this from ‘Fire Walk With Me?
James driving her home
She jumps off the motorcycle
“I love you, James!”
She’s loco
Laura meets Cooper in the woods
“Do I know you?”
“Wait. I’ve seen you in a dream”
Cooper reaches out his hand
Laura walks to him
She takes his hand
She never meets Renault, Leo and Ronnette
She doesn’t get killed

We see Laura Palmer
Wrapped in plastic
But no
The body disappears
Maybe it never happened?
“Where are we going?” Laura asks
“We’re going home” Coop tells her

Josie!
It’s the opening scene of the first episode!
Pete tells Catherine he’s going fishing
This time he doesn’t find a body

The Palmer house
Sarah Palmer is moaning and screaming
She smashes the picture of Laura

Cooper leading Laura through the woods
He loses her
She disappears
She screams

The Bang Bang Bar
Julie Cruise

EP 18

 

Evil Cooper

On fire

Back in The Black Lodge

He disappears

I think this means he no longer exists

The One Armed Man places seeds and Cooper’s hair on a chair

“Electricity”

A duplicate Cooper is born

“Where am I?”

It’s the new Dougie!

He rings the doorbell

Janey E answers

They are so happy!

“Home!”

This brings to a close this story. A happy ending! Though we never saw a payoff to Janey E and Diane being sisters.

Cooper and Laura in the woods

He loses her

She screams

“Is it future or is it past”

The One Armed Man asks

Is Cooper in The Black Lodge again?

They begin their venture through rooms and curtains

The ‘brain tree’

“I am the arm and I sound like this”

“Is it the story of the little girl whiled down the lane?”

Back to the beginning

Laura whispers something in Cooper’s ear

Then she screams and disappears

Cooper sees Leland

“Find Laura”

Cooper sees Diane

“Is it you?”

This is the real Cooper and real Diane. Is this the curtain call Cooper spoke of?

Cooper and Diane driving down a road

Broad daylight

Is this real?

“Sure you wanna do this?”

“Exactly 430 miles”

They kiss

They drive through

Electricity

Day changes to night

What else changed?

 

They arrive at a motel

Cooper walks in to the office to get a room

Diane sees a second Diane

Is this the room 8 Jeffries told them about?

They enter room 7

They make out

They do more than that

Pretty intense

The song from Episode 8 plays

The Platters – My Prayer

She keeps her hands on his face

Cooper seems different now. They have sex in silence. She covers his face because it reminds her of the rape? This may not be Cooper any longer.

The next morning

Cooper in bed alone

Diane is gone

She’s left a note

“Dear Richard

When you read this I’ll be gone

Please don’t try to find me”

Linda

Who is Richard? Audrey’s son was named Richard. By saving Laura could he now be Audrey’s son, Richard in the future?

When Cooper leaves the room

It’s a different hotel

Cooper gets in his car

Drives away

It’s a windy morning

Odessa

“Eat at Judy’s”

Coffee Shop

Cooper takes a booth

“Coffee?”

“Is there another waitress that works here?”

“Write the address of the other waitress on piece of paper”

Some guys in another booth grab the waitress

“Leave her alone”

They approach Cooper

Pulls a gun

Cooper/Richard takes the gun away

Shoots another in the foot

He puts their guns in the deep fryer

 

He goes to the address

Knocks on the door

It’s Laura Palmer!

“Did you find him?”

She pretends not to be Laura

She’s not.  Her name is Carrie Page

“You’re father’s name was Leland.  You’re mother’s name was Sarah”

“What’s going on?”

“I want to take you to your mother’s home.”

She agrees to go with him

He walks into the house

There’s a dead man on the couch

Shot through the head

He doesn’t react

Carrie doesn’t say what happened

They drive to Twin Peaks apparently

How is she still alive?

Was the other Laura a double?

“Is someone following us?”

 

Cooper doesn’t talk the whole trip

Dark night, dark road

I hope this isn’t Evil Cooper

Laura gets pretty quiet too

They’re in Twin Peaks

Passing the Double R Cafe

“Recognize anything?”

They arrive at The Palmer House

She doesn’t recognize it

So she says

Coop knocks on the door

Who is this lady?

Alice Tremond

Where is Sarah Palmer?

The woman who answers the door does not know a Sarah Palmer

Coop asks who they bought the house from

Mrs. Chalfant?

What is going on?

And where is Audrey?

Coop and Laura walk back to the car in silence

“What year is this?” Coop asks

You hear a voice from the house

“Laura”

Laura screams

The lights go out in the house

Cooper is startled

All goes black

Are you kidding me?

Are you fucking kidding me?