Twin Peaks: The Return Finale Discussion (Episodes 17 and 18)

THANK YOU ALL FOR WATCHING!

We've reached the end of our journey. Full spoilers as always as we discuss the finale of Twin Peaks: The Return.

Our thoughts on the finale and series, feelings on what may have actually happened at the end, and what we think the thematic message to this finale and the series is (at least at this point).

Let us know your thoughts, theories, and feelings on the finale and the series as a whole in the comments!

Thanks for watching everyone, and please subscribe and stick with us as we'll be back with more Twin Peaks content in the future!

We 💗 Twin Peaks!

[nbdionne]

Honestly my first ever Youtube comment...you guys are the best. Took me a few weeks of Twin Peaks: The Return to make a decision on my favorite recaps but settled on House by the Video Store. On a weekly basis I (almost) anticipated the discussions just as much as the new episodes. Been a fan of the original series for only about a decade but as I introduce friends to the original series and to the return, I'll highly recommend these weekly recaps after each episode as part of the experience.

[aural]

You guys did the best re-cap and evaluation, IMO. Thank you for not missing any details. I know this was a really intense two episodes to watch, but it has been so frustrating watching and listening to other people's videos and they completely miss the mark - like were you even paying attention lol? Anyway, you guys are great, I loved watching your videos throughout season 3! Keep up the good work!

[aljagiello]

Shaun-Your enthusiasm is infectious! Usually, you're the more reserved of the two of you but not in this video! I agree with a lot of the theories you present. I'd love to discuss all of this. There's so much to digest. I agree 100% that this was the greatest work of art I've ever witnessed on television, film, or even a painting, sculpture, or whatnot. It's been a wonderful ride. Is somebody following us???

[aljagiello]

Thanks, guys! It's been my pleasure joining you on this journey! I'll be sure to watch for more videos!

[derekcarney]

Thank you for having this conversation in the video, guys. I find your thoughts poignant, interesting, and thought-provoking! You guys are amazing!

[georgekvolunteer]

Twin Peaks Finale Triggers Two Dreams.
I hope this is appropriate to post. After watching Twin Peaks the Return, Parts 17 and 18, I had a dream about the show, from which I woke up at 3:42 AM. After going back to bed, a second dream, also about the show, resumed where the first left off. That has never happened to me in my life (69 years).
-In the first dream I was watching more new episodes of Twin Peaks the Return, which David Lynch had made beyond 18. Showtime was airing the new episodes unannounced and unlisted right after 18 ended at 10 PM, and you had to just stumble onto them. They were apparently continuing in the Carrie Page universe, with mostly new characters. Some of it was reminiscent of the final scene in Inland Empire, in a big house with lots of rooms and many characters, perhaps most of the cast.
-The second dream was interactive, in that I could move among the characters and crew to get a better view. Sometimes I could see the back of the sets. The house apparently belonged to David Lynch. I woke up from this dream about 5 AM.
I'm sure actual narrative in the dreams was nonsense, if I could remember it, but to me that was not the point.
I never dream about events in the immediate past, and never have had a dream resume. I am forced to conclude that David Lynch created a message in that final episode which was able to go directly to the subconscious. Ruling out the use of subliminal video frames, Lynch (and Frost) came up with a story that was so fundamentally unsettling that it required an immediate subconscious response. If that is Lynch's goal in filmmaking, he certainly succeeded in this case.

[nedlangman]

Not sure how I feel about this if it's true but:

On the highway, Diane and Cooper cross the Fourth Wall into "Our World" That's why everything is gritty and mundane, and Cooper is cold.

The lights go out when Laura realises it's all just a movie that they are characters in. When Audrey wakes up, it is not her staring into the mirror, it is sherilyn fenn.

Some of the characters in the story have the ability to move between chapters and mediums using wires, transistors. This explains all the imagery of cinema screens and record players.

reddit: [S3E18] Theory: David Lynch Destroys The Fourth Wall

[PureAzure]

Saw this theory on the TP Facebook page so I wanted to see if it might have any holes in it. This is the best one I've read (props to Collin Kelley, this is his comment): Through the machinations of the Black/White Lodge, Agent Cooper erases the original timeline so that Laura Palmer not only was never murdered but never existed. Her parents Leland and Sarah Palmer - who became the vessels for evil - are also erased. That means Cooper never went to Twin Peaks. He never met Audrey or Annie. By doing so, he also erases himself and embodies another doppelgänger known as Richard. Not realizing what he's done, still believing himself to be Cooper, he continues to search for Laura Palmer. When he finds Carrie Page, the woman who received what would have been Laura's spirit, she is still in trouble. He convinces her to return with him to Twin Peaks. When Laura sees her childhood home, hears the distant sound of her name being called by Sarah, the timelines begin to collapse into each other. Rather than save Laura, Cooper had sealed her fate by bringing Carrie Page to a place neither of them were ever supposed to be. As the Palmer house flickers and goes black, Cooper asks "What year is it?" and Laura screams, it becomes 1989. And the original story of "Twin Peaks" begins again, a sickening and horrific time loop. "It is happening again." It's David Lynch at his most nihilistic.

So...you can't fight fate. The infinity symbol that Jeffries shows Cooper alludes to the vicious time loop. Cooper also might have chosen the wrong timeline with which to intervene, since the Arm asked him if this was "the story of the little girl who lived down the lane?" -- Audrey asked that question in an earlier episode. Cooper's singular attempt to fix the past ended in catastrophe, the stuff of myth.

[OnSugarHill]

Just wanted to say that I have only seen Twin Peaks season 1 and 2, and just watched 3 for the first time. I haven't watched any other David Lynch, but S3 was probably my favorite season. I love theorizing about it and how open-ended it was to interpretation. Had me hooked unable to wait to see what happened in the next episode.

[sandraleepitts]

Great job this season. I think we will have plenty to mull over for awhile. Mark Frost Books should be the next things we delve into . See you on the other side

[quarry]

The great Dr. Kildare from the 60's show was played by Richard Chamberlin . He's in cast on IMDB for season 3 . Did I miss him somewhere?

[stoppropaganda]

Since this is a discussion, 2 questions, minor points that bug me. Why did Freddie make such an obvious reference to Paul McCartney when talking about the glove to the security guard, first he names the "Firemen" (McCartney's avant garde band) and second recites Paul's line from "A Day in the Life" ... "found my way downstairs and drank a cup"? And second, why did Candy I think, make the same hand gesture in the mirror at the casino that Laura makes in the black lodge at Cooper after saying "meanwhile"? I think I got the rest .... LOL!

[thedrewsephYT]

The Finale Dossier is out!!!! I’ve read it ALL and would LOVE to hear what my fellow Twin Peaks fans here at the house by the video store thought of it! If you’ve not gotten to read it yet, get to it!!! Need to hear your reactions to the book!

[njwalsh]

Great work! This is my take: With the exception of Laura’s real life experiences in FWWM (which gives the viewer context for understanding her trauma), the entire series is BOTH Laura's and Cooper's dream. In the opening credits, we see the world of Twin Peaks through Laura’s grad photo, which fades in and out of view. As well, at the end of the Finale, we hear the identical "Laura" spoken by Sarah as we hear in S1E1 when Sarah thinks that Laura is just sleeping in. Laura, mortified by her experiences with her sexually abusive father, creates Bob and Judy (constructions of her subconscious) to trick herself into thinking that her own father can’t possibly be responsible; the former representing the evil that men do, and the latter a representation of explaining away his actions. Laura dreams of being saved from the horror by the "perfect" father figure (ie. Cooper) as an antidote to her father. At the mid-way point of the Finale, we discover, upon Cooper waking up, that he too was wrapped up in a dream (his dream within Laura's dream). He awakes to the reality that he is actually Richard -- a combination of Cooper and Mr.C, a man who is not unlike the viewer, trying to figure out all the clues in the name of our lifelong quest to have good (Cooper) win over evil (Mr.C), and how we balance all this with our quest for love. Recording messages on his tape recorder was the way he envisioned Cooper, the ideal good man, to be close to Linda, while he was busy with the FBI. Audrey, Annie, Caroline were all distractions and fantasies because he couldn't actually be with Linda due to his work. Yet he was obsessed with the perfect American family unit; in his dream, he achieves this ideal through his tulpa, the Cooper that Janey-E and Sonny Jim now refer to as Dougie/dad. He was so absorbed in his dream that he could not comprehend his own identity when he awoke (Dear Richard... Richard?). His awakening at this time though functions as a foreshadowing of Laura's own awakening. We find Laura in Odessa because she has travelled there (and into an older person) via the synapses in her own brain, which is indicated by the electrical pole we see outside her home. It is not an accident, therefore, that Richard believes and refers to Carrie as a ‘girl’ and not a ‘woman’ named Laura. As Richard is driving her back to Twin Peaks, Laura is realizing that she is coming towards the end of her dream, and so tries to force herself to continue sleeping as a way to escape her inevitably waking up to reality. When Richard asks, “What year is this?” it forces Laura to think rationally and in the context of time. After Laura screams, she awakes to her mother calling for her. While she may be alive, the problem is she is now fully aware of her situation, and has to somehow overcome her own waking life knowledge of what has happened to her and the panic and dread of its potential continuation.

[krla]

It's been a while since I watched the early episodes, but I think Todd was just talking about hiring Lorraine to handle the hit on "Dougie".

[trogoautoegocrat]

What Baudrillard once said about time in the space of simulation: "Simultaneous, instantaneous, and multitaneous." Sounds like time in this new fractal space of potential total non-linearity or multi-linearity.

[tigerburn]

Was the missing "Page" found?

[trogoautoegocrat]

It's the Conspiracy to deny the Many Worlds! When Coop and Diana enter into the Tantric Space/Chaos/Fractal egg, it transports us into an alternate reality where Laura is hiding; but she has forgotten her identity. Maybe? What a show!

[mattgilbert]

I do think that you guys are onto something with the meta/fourth-wall-breaking ideas. In many ways, S3 was a love letter (of sorts) to, and commentary on, Lynch's career and his works. That necessarily involves "our world".

[maciejsikoramusic]

I don't think that anybody mentioned this one about Judy/JumpingMan, so I'll just say it. Don't you guys think that the stairs in the convenience room are supposed to look very similiar to the stairs in Palmer's house? I've had this feeling that when the jumping man came down the stairs it looked like as if Sarah was going down the stairs in her house. That would explain those weird noises going inside Palmer's house, when Sarah is talking to Hawk. There is a passage to the Convenience Store in there. And one more thing - discussing why on earth would Coop try to change the past and save Laura Palmer. Maybe he did it not only for Laura, but for Audrey as well. "Two birds with one stone" He knows that Audrey is in coma/(black/white lodge), hospitalized. By saving Laura he altered not only his and her fate, but Audrey's as well.