Alternate Twin Peaks S3

[laughingpinecone]

That's a good observation about Truman and Albert. Their dynamic might be more interesting if they do get together and adopt a child at some point in time, but circumstances do tear them apart and Truman goes off into the woods and hits the bottle, leaving Albert stuck in Twin Peaks raising a child by himself.

I just really like the idea of Albert being a vocal townie. I imagine he's the loudest concerned citizen at every town hall meeting, and the loudest parent at every PTA meeting. He frequently complains about tourists and out-of-towners, but he himself has only lived there about 20 years at this point.

Maybe Truman lives alone in the Bookhouse. He and Albert's dynamic might actually work better as an on-again-off-again sort of thing. Realistically, I don't know how comfortable Truman's character would be in a relationship with Albert, so I could actually see it taking many years for him to become OK with it and himself.

And maybe Andy and Lucy might be more interesting apart, it would create a more conflicted dynamic for the calm and collected Andy Jr. Maybe Lucy pushes Andy out of the picture entirely, leaving Andy Jr. feeling like his father hates him.

Ultimately I am just a fanboy whose first instinct is to make the characters happy. At the same time though, I do want to see them in situations that really stretch them to their limits and advance their individual arcs.

Oh, same. My process starts by striving to picture The Happiest Ending for any given character, because I love them all so much, then doing the mental equivalent of spraying a cat with a water bottle because what am I thinking, a happy ending? in Twin Peaks??? Inconceivable.

The matter of Albert and either/both Coop and Harry poses an interesting question because his distaste for country living is legendary, but Coop has wanted to retire since well before the show and Harry is a simple country boy. Give him a horse and a guitar, don't ask him to move to Seattle or -gasp- beyond. Would Albert get over it for the sake of a partner? Would it be a long-distance relationship? I'm cheering for him to be able to settle down at some point and just get over his issues with small towns (I headcanon that he's so bitter because he comes from a small town himself. Then he ran off to Yale and never looked back) but it may take time. Being very loudly involved in the town's life would probably help, haha you're right, I can see it so clearly! And maybe having a small farm? Living a little out of town, limiting human interaction except with the few people whose company he actually deeply appreciates?
And can I also definitely see him/them adopting... most likely due to unforeseen circumstances, they just end up with this teen who has nowhere else to go and keep him.*
I think Albert actually ticks a lot of Harry's boxes as far as we can tell (sophisticated stranger first and foremost, and a Virgo like Josie, even) but there's always the question of losing Coop in the finale which IS going to wreck them both, with heavy guilt trips on the side, and right now I can't even picture them recovering in the short term. I wish TSHOTP had told us something... well, it told us we lost Harry to the bottle but other than that damn it.

Sorry for the disjointed reply!

* this goes well with my general proposal to redistribute the teens in town, since everyone's family is either horrible (Laura, Audrey) or horribly fitted (Bobby, James). Random reshuffling, mostly ending up to childless Bookhouse Boys or as additional Haywards. It literally can't worsen the situation.

[CompletelySilent]

Man I am very interested in your version of Season 3 Cappy. Your posts on this thread have been very enjoyable in the anticipation for the actual season 3

She incorrectly edits wikipedia articles in her spare time

This line brought me to a solid two minute straight belly laugh.

I'm interested to see what else you have in terms of characters like Dale Cooper and his involvement in all of this(and how he released himself from the control of BOB). I also have an interest in the concept of idiot savant Leo Johnson. It's such an absurd concept but I feel like it could work in a hilariously odd way.

Have you thought out how the narrative of the season would play out or just the concepts for each of the characters involved? Either way great work!

[Cappy]

I think Albert actually ticks a lot of Harry's boxes as far as we can tell (sophisticated stranger first and foremost, and a Virgo like Josie, even) but there's always the question of losing Coop in the finale which IS going to wreck them both, with heavy guilt trips on the side, and right now I can't even picture them recovering in the short term. I wish TSHOTP had told us something... well, it told us we lost Harry to the bottle but other than that damn it.

Truman is kind of a hard character to pin down, for me anyway. For the bulk of the show he's the stable everyman, the sensical non-zany character that almost everyone else in the show kind of ping pongs off of. He is a simple, small town guy with a simplistic worldview. But everything he experiences on the show (BOB is Leland, Josie) kind of shatters that.

I love that scene in the finale where Truman is staring off at Glastonbury Grove, just dumbfounded by Cooper's entrance into the lodge. Andy is asking him several questions, but he barely even acknowledges him. It's like Harry doesn't even know what the world is anymore. Everything he thought he knew was a lie, and everything that's true doesn't even make sense to him.

There's also that episode right after Josie's death, where Truman goes on a bender and rambles something to the effect of: "Josie came to me from China... I never went to China." There's just this sadness and regret about him. He seems like someone who always wished they could have left the small town they've lived their whole life in, but never did for some reason.

I know I'm reading a lot into Sheriff Truman, but there is something about characters that are too understated that provokes my curiosity.

[N. Needleman]

This is a blast. I may have to whip up something out of boredom myself, to procrastinate on this overnight deadline.

[Cappy]

Man I am very interested in your version of Season 3 Cappy. Your posts on this thread have been very enjoyable in the anticipation for the actual season 3

She incorrectly edits wikipedia articles in her spare time

This line brought me to a solid two minute straight belly laugh.

I'm interested to see what else you have in terms of characters like Dale Cooper and his involvement in all of this(and how he released himself from the control of BOB). I also have an interest in the concept of idiot savant Leo Johnson. It's such an absurd concept but I feel like it could work in a hilariously odd way.

Have you thought out how the narrative of the season would play out or just the concepts for each of the characters involved? Either way great work!

Ha, thanks.

It's really hard to pick up Coop's story after the season 2 finale, especially after 25 years. Has he been going around on some wild murder spree for 25 years and gets saved in season 3? Or was he cured during the interlude, without any pomp or circumstance? Either way creates lots of complications.

This is what I think Cooper's first scene of the new series should be. This would be the very last scene of the first episode of the new series. Setting, a snowy mountainside somewhere in the Himalayas. A heavily clothed figure climbs past skeletons of failed travelers. This sequence contains cuts to a separate blurry sequence, where the camera moves forward towards a murky redness that slowly comes into focus. As the climber comes closer to the mountain top, the blurry sequence comes into focus more, and a woman's hand reaches out. A hand reaches forward slowly from behind the camera (this is a POV shot) and takes the guide's hand. The climber crawls past a frozen bird skeleton, possibly an owl's. In the other sequence, the woman comes into focus as a blonde, the redness sharpens into curtains. The climber rolls onto a ledge and catches his breath. He walks into a dark opening in the side of the mountain. The cave path is lit by torches that line the walls. In the other sequence, the blonde comes into focus. It's Laura Palmer. She is smiling, and grabs the red curtain and opens it. Bright light washes over the camera. The climber gets down on his knees and takes his hood off. He is bowing before a silhouetted figure meditating inside of a circle of small candles. The climber says he was instructed to come on this date and ask the cave dweller a question. His question: "What is the meaning of life?" The meditating figure comes into view. It is Dale Cooper with a beard and long hair. He breathes slowly then opens his eyes. Cooper smiles and speaks: "Life... is like a slice of warm cherry pie."

Eventually Coop cuts his hair and shaves, but he spends most of the series in a traditional Tibetan robe. He has been practicing meditation for the better part of the last 25 years, in an effort to beat back BOB. Originally I was thinking that Coop would cut off his arm a la The One Armed Man, but Cooper would react to possession different than that I feel. I think a life of spiritual reflection is befitting his character. And now that he is 'enlightened' he asks even goofier than before.

The images of Laura leading someone out of the Red Room (Black Lodge) are simply Laura letting Cooper free from the Black Lodge. It takes 25 years for some reason, but maybe Laura's dead spirit didn't appear in the Lodge until 25 years after she died. Cooper got into the Lodge 25 years ago and tried to communicate with and save Laura ("Don't take the ring", comforting her after her death). From the Lodge, Laura also tried to help Cooper solve the mystery of her murder. But I think they both redeem or save the other in some way. Their paths ultimately converge with their individual redemptions.

Also I think with all of their time-crossed interactions, everytime Twin Peaks happens, it happens differently. Maybe after Fire Walk With Me, Cooper finds Laura's diary entry about being in the Black Lodge with Annie, and is somehow able to save himself and Annie, although he inevitably has to go into the Lodge anyway in order to redeem Laura at her death. And maybe this time he will go back and tell Laura to put on the ring. Either way, they are going to be reliving the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer forever in a kind of eternal re-occurrence. Maybe in some re-occurrences Laura was killed by Ben Horne, or Laura killed Maddy and swapped identities with her. But Cooper always redeems her, and Laura is always Cooper's salvation.

At the moment he realizes life is like a warm slice of cherry pie, BOB is purged from him and he becomes pure, quirky Dale Cooper. However, Dale's weakness is love. Love makes him possessive, greedy, selfish. He has to forever guard himself against love. If he falls in love, BOB manifests in him. So he'll be more like stoic Dale from Season 1, when he refused naked Audrey's advances and instead got her some food and talked with her all night.

How does he get from Tibet to Twin Peaks? Maybe Andy paints a picture of a snowy mountaintop, and Cooper walks right out of the painting and into the Ghostwood Mall. Or maybe he just comes down the lodge escalator that's in the mall, I don't know. He will be dismayed to find that so much of the town's natural beauty is gone, and that the Double R is closed. However, in his enlightened state he has somehow subsumed the mood and feeling that was Twin Peaks, and tries to share this with the townspeople. He is also troubled by the new murder, as he knows BOB did not do it, as he has him under control. Cooper suspects there is a worse spirit on the prowl now...

It goes without saying that peaceful monk Dale will fall in love at least once, and also let BOB take momentary control in order to find the new killer.

[Cappy]

I also have an interest in the concept of idiot savant Leo Johnson. It's such an absurd concept but I feel like it could work in a hilariously odd way.

Yeah, there's just something about it that works. A truck driver with an extensive knowledge of theoretical physics could come in handy when dealing with escalators that traverse time and space.

But yeah, even though Leo was a dirtbag, I do like the idea of him having a sort of redemption, even if it's the result of so many brain injuries that he becomes damaged into being a decent human being. Leo can be the Pete-esque character that shows up at every town event and delivers a few brilliant one-liners.

[Cappy]

Have you thought out how the narrative of the season would play out or just the concepts for each of the characters involved? Either way great work!

Somewhat. I've thought of different big plot points / moments, but haven't taken the time to figure out the best sequence of events for them.

I guess the general thrust of the story is that there is a murder. A high school girl is murdered, and this stirs up everyone in different ways. The Twin Peaks police investigate. The Pend Oreille County police hinder aspects of their investigation. Truman, Hawk and Big Ed have a Bookhouse Boys reunion and investigate. The dead girl's friends investigate. Other characters plot to steal the business interests of other characters and start fires. Maybe individual characters investigate the murder, like say James or Shelly. A female FBI agent comes to town to investigate (maybe she is Diane, former FBI secretary who joined the forensic investigations unit after discovering she had a knack for getting into the minds of bad people, but maybe it's someone unrelated). Either certain characters conspire to transport Cooper back to Twin Peaks, or Coop can somehow teleport there without telling anyone, and just starts getting spotted around town. The season ends on a cliffhanger, of course.

A big thing I want to explore this season is the nostalgia the citizens of Twin Peaks have for Twin Peaks itself. The old Twin Peaks is gone, and the town's residents all feel displaced. Parts of the town may look quaint, have a tree or two, have an edgy coffee shop here and there, but something about it doesn't feel right. It's like a hollowed out piece of wood. It looks okay, but when you knock on it it just sounds wrong. Twin Peaks has become this manufactured illusion, a contrived tourist trap, a Seattle businessman's idea of what peaceful rural life would be. The evil of the woods appears to have gone, but the magic and the innocence of Twin Peaks seem to have disappeared as well. Maybe Log Lady's log has stopped speaking to her too.

I guess I want the characters of Twin Peaks to long for Twin Peaks the way fans of Twin Peaks long for Twin Peaks.

And Cooper, on the other side of the planet, is somehow perfectly in tune with Twin Peaks, while the people that live there feel completely cut off from it.

There are no more owls in Twin Peaks, replaced with a preponderance of over-excited tourists wearing fanny packs and visors even in the grey Pacific NW weather, but the tourists are not what they seem...

[Cappy]

- continued -

- There are no more owls in Twin Peaks. With Cooper/BOB fleeing to Tibet and most of the forest knocked down, no one has seen an owl in town for many, many years. Twin Peaks is flooded with tourists though, who come to see the "quaint" restaurants, go snow-skiing on the edge of town, watch Lewis and Clark re-enactments, etc.

The tourists are not what they seem. Well, some of them anyway. Occasionally there will appear very unusual tourists, maybe an old man wearing a bathing suit and a "Twin Peaks is 4 Lovers" shirt. He has a fanny pack and a visor, and only appears at night. He takes photos on an old polaroid camera. His eyes are wide and his mouth is always trapped in a big smile, the kind where his teeth don't even touch. There are similar tourists to him. The main characters will occasionally spot one of these strange tourists, sometimes walking around at night and taking pictures. They always smile. Sometimes they run past the characters in an awkward hurry. The townsfolk frequently comment on these weird tourists.

These weird tourists are in part modeled on that creepy old couple from the end of Mulholland Drive, the two that smile and laugh and chase Naomi Watts.

These weird tourists are the evil Lodge spirits, or a new breed of them anyway.

I have a sequence in mind where Hawk is looking into some temporal anomaly in the mall, and suddenly hears stampeding footsteps. A mob of tourists is running past him, and nearly stampedes over him until someone pulls him into the designated yoga room (or smoking area), closing the glass door behind him. Hawk looks on in horror at the glass door as countless old smiling faces press into it. Then they are gone. He peaks out into the mall and people are behaving normally.

The tourists kind of behave like owls, or some sort of wild animal.

- Killer LELAND. Leland is the new evil spirit in town. Only the gifted and the damned can see him. The One-Armed Man, who now works at Foot Locker in the mall, talks about how Leland is eating too much creamed corn, and is impossible to stop. This new spirit looks exactly like white haired Leland Palmer in a nice suite. It is implied that Leland is even more powerful than BOB, being capable of influencing multiple people at once, and being more evil as well. Killer LELAND, because it is suggested that he is not tied to just one host, is almost a symbolic evil. He does however, have a primary host.

Cooper (channeling BOB) explains that while BOB corrupted Leland's soul, Leland in turn drove BOB to do even worse things and "steal the creamed corn" from the One Armed Man. Leland's soul is evil, which drew BOB to him initially, however, now BOB is afraid of Leland and doesn't know how to stop him or find him. LELAND is also immune to water now, so that can't be used to draw him out like BOB.

BOB hates LELAND though, as he feels that LELAND has upstaged him. LELAND is dapper and sings whereas BOB wears a denim jacket and growls.

LELAND is far more viscous than BOB. The initial murder the puts the story in motion is more grisly. He kills a prom queen, yes, but he kills her in her home along with the rest of her family. Their bodies are found seated around a dinner table with a nice meal on the table. The prom queen's eyes have pieces of mirror stuck in them, so LELAND can see himself in her eyes and remark "I always thought you knew it was me", recalling dialogue from just before Laura's death in FWWM. Albert finds forensic evidence that suggests he danced with some of the corpses to a Glenn Miller record. It's like LELAND is trying to re-create and destroy this idea of the perfect family, all seated before a nice cooked meal, their hands all washed several times over.

No one knows who LELAND's host is, or if he only has one host.

[N. Needleman]

The prom queen's eyes have pieces of mirror stuck in them, so LELAND can see himself in her eyes.

Nice touch from Thomas Harris' Red Dragon.

[Cappy]

Nice touch from Thomas Harris' Red Dragon.

Ditto. Manhunter is one of my all-time favorite films!

[Cappy]

- continued -

- Donna Hayward has left Twin Peaks and moved to LA and had a largely unsuccessful career as an actress. She had a brief stint on Invitation to Love, did a few yogurt commercials and recently an adult diaper commercial which has made her something of a joke among her peers. She walks down the Hollywood strip wearing Laura's black sunglasses and imagines herself to be some sort of icy, composed film-noir vixen. Her life has largely been subsidized by Ben Horne's monthly checks to her. When the checks run out, and she doesn't get the QVC hosting gig she was aiming for, she returns to TP to ask Ben what happened to the money.

Ben tells her that the Great Northern and his Department Store no longer turn a profit, and that his career as a slam poet, though spiritually fulfilling, does not pay the bills. And he has been so consumed with being a good father to Laura Horne and coaching her environmental activist career that he has just let the business fall by the wayside. Donna storms out of Ben's office, and Ben chases after her. In the Great Northern's lobby, the few people there are abuzz about the new murder, which has just been discovered. Donna's world starts spinning, as the murder brings back too many painful memories. She cries and Ben offers her a big hug. Audrey watches from a distance and makes a scornful face. Ben and Donna share their first meaningful moment as father and daughter.

Ben lets Donna stay the night in a room at the Great Northern, which happens to be infested with possums and old newspapers. Restless, Donna spends the night cleaning her room, the outside hallway, and has made a noticeable dent in the lobby by sunrise, enough so that the usual influx of curious tourists that stop by to see the infamous weird hotel are convinced to book rooms for themselves.

Donna throws herself into turning the hotel around, as she has nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. She eventually does derive a strange sense of fulfillment from cleaning the rooms and interacting with guests, although she can never fully clean up the Great Northern or get all of the wild animals out of it. She hasn't spoken to the other Haywards for many years, still upset with them over concealing the truth about her parentage. And she bonds with her sister/niece Laura Horne. In Donna and Laura Ben sees a good part of himself that he has created, and feels fulfilled.

Naturally, Audrey and Donna feud, especially after Ben puts Donna in his will.

Donna also has no alibi for the brutal murder, as she claims to was driving to Twin Peaks along when it happened.

Everywhere Donna goes she is recognized by older female tourists for her stint on Invitation to Love and for that diaper commercial she did.

And of course, Donna crosses paths with James again.

- Mike Nelson is a PE Teacher and the Football/Wrestling Coach of Twin Peaks High. After a brief career as a Mexican wrestler called "La Serpiente", Mike has drifted back to Twin Peaks. He is tough on his players, but he is an effective coach that cares about his athletes and wants them to succeed. When he has to teach sex-ed, his examples of intercourse frequently involve tales of superhuman strength. He is single. His athletes are his children, but he would never say that aloud, or even admit that to himself.

He and Bobby are still best friends, and they occasionally meet up for a cold one at the Roadhouse, and Bobby and Shelly frequently have him over for dinner. Their guest room is generally referred to as "Mike's Room". He and Shelly, the school guidance counselor, frequently have lunches in the teacher's lounge and share anecdotes about their most troubled students.

When the murder occurs, Mike shows a softer side, as he becomes deeply worried for his students. Initially Bobby confides with him about the investigation, and even lets Mike ride along on police business, but as the case begins to get dark and uncover unsavory things about the town and it's inhabitants, Bobby pushes Mike away. Also, by-the-books Andy Jr. was opposed to a civilian getting so involved in police work.

Bobby also pushes Shelly away, as he wants to shield her from the darkness of the murder investigation. She also has a bad feeling about the female FBI agent in town, who has a PhD in psychology (compared to Shelly's master's in counseling). Shelly uncovers evidence through talking with her students, and confides in Mike as she has no one else she can talk to. A mutual attraction develops between them, although their loyalty to Bobby is too strong for them to act on it.

Mike and Shelly work with substitute French teacher Harriet Hayward and concerned parent Albert Rosenfield to investigate the murder and keep the students safe. Harriet tries to refer to their group as "the PTA", which Albert rebuts with his trademark biting wit.

- Harriet Hayward is a substitute French teacher at Twin Peaks high. She is married and has a son in middle school. She is also a writer for the Twin Peaks Gazette. In her mind she is a modern day Sherlock Holmes, but she is completely oblivious to her students passing notes and cheating during tests.

"j'ai un ame solitaire" can permanently be written on her chalkboard.

Harriet is very close to her sister Gersten and her parents.

She emcees a poetry open mic night on occasion, and Ben Horne usually does his pro-environment poetry slams there.

- Gersten Hayward is a single mother and the new Dr. Hayward of Twin Peaks. The Haywards went through a rough period after Dr. Will Hayward lost his license to practice medicine following his felony conviction for assaulting Ben Horne, but they have since regained their status as one of Twin Peaks upstanding and moral families. Gersten is the level headed and responsible Hayward that holds them together. She is the unofficial breadwinner of her clan as well.

Raising a teenager and taking care of her aging parents is tough, especially when coupled with her demanding career as the town doctor. She is also the de facto medical examiner for the Twin Peaks police department.

She is a recovered opiates addict, a secret which she keeps from everyone but her loving parents, who helped her kick her habit.

She has always harbored a crush on James Hurley, her sister's one-time lover. She never gets the opportunity to act on it until he comes into the ER with mild gun and knife wounds one night, and she stitches him together. They talk during this, and for the first time James notices Gersten. They have a brief moment before James flees into the night. When the police ask her if anyone checked into the ER with gun wounds, as they are looking for people in relation to a shooting, Gersten lies and says no.

Gersten harbors a grudge against Donna for abandoning the family and for being with James, feelings that are only amplified by her recent experience with James and Donna's return to town.

James and Gersten begin tenuous flirtation with each other that almost becomes something, but when James gets in trouble with the drug dealing Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Department, they blackmail him into running product for them. A shipment from Canada that James is supposed to pick-up gets intercepted by the cops when corrupt border guard Ronnette Pulaski is arrested, and James becomes responsible for getting the Pend Oreille cops their drugs. He refuses, but then they threaten to harm Gersten.

James doesn't know what to do and tries to convince Gersten to run away with him, but Gersten tells him that running away is never an option. She acquires / steals a large quantity of painkillers from the hospital for James to give to the corrupt cops, breaking her code as a doctor, and eventually triggering a relapse in her drug habit, which causes her to overdose and leaves her in a coma.

James is devastated that he brought this on her, and Donna is furious with him when she finds out.

[N. Needleman]

Anything with more Alicia Witt makes me happy.

[Agent Earle]

Wow, some people really have extra time on their hands!

[laughingpinecone]

I think Albert actually ticks a lot of Harry's boxes as far as we can tell (sophisticated stranger first and foremost, and a Virgo like Josie, even) but there's always the question of losing Coop in the finale which IS going to wreck them both, with heavy guilt trips on the side, and right now I can't even picture them recovering in the short term. I wish TSHOTP had told us something... well, it told us we lost Harry to the bottle but other than that damn it.

Truman is kind of a hard character to pin down, for me anyway. For the bulk of the show he's the stable everyman, the sensical non-zany character that almost everyone else in the show kind of ping pongs off of. He is a simple, small town guy with a simplistic worldview. But everything he experiences on the show (BOB is Leland, Josie) kind of shatters that.

I love that scene in the finale where Truman is staring off at Glastonbury Grove, just dumbfounded by Cooper's entrance into the lodge. Andy is asking him several questions, but he barely even acknowledges him. It's like Harry doesn't even know what the world is anymore. Everything he thought he knew was a lie, and everything that's true doesn't even make sense to him.

There's also that episode right after Josie's death, where Truman goes on a bender and rambles something to the effect of: "Josie came to me from China... I never went to China." There's just this sadness and regret about him. He seems like someone who always wished they could have left the small town they've lived their whole life in, but never did for some reason.

I know I'm reading a lot into Sheriff Truman, but there is something about characters that are too understated that provokes my curiosity.

I completely agree with all of this! He's not as vibrant as the most iconic characters, it's easy to lose him in the background of Coop's soft ramblings, Margaret's enlightened-kitsch, Laura's sluggish non sequiturs, Lucy's repetitions and so many others. I hear from a lot of fanfiction writers that he's hard to get a hold of! Myself included, tbh - my first Twin Peaks fic was a Harry study from Josie's death to the morning of the pageant and I ended up writing it from the point of view of everyone else involved because even Ronette felt easier to grasp (Yikes, rereading it now, the Josie opening needs some work. Still mostly happy with the others, though)
...But he's still there, clearly defined and with a clear downward arc. His trading card sums him up neatly imho, he TRIES so hard to serve his town, to fit in, but he's always one step behind. And so he bonds with Josie, with Coop, even with Albert, all the outsiders, while his faith in his town gets destroyed with Laura's death first, then Josie, then Coop's disappearance.

[N. Needleman]

I don't think the show presents Harry as on a downward trajectory. I think he has lows and is sometimes shaken but retains a fundamental faith in the goodness of his home and the people he works with and cares for that is part of the throughline of the character throughout. He is not the kind of more internal, sometimes angst-driven hero we often see in more contemporary dramas today. And I welcome those characters in many of my favorite modern shows, I don't think there's anything wrong with those when they're more than a collection of cliches - but I don't think Harry is or was drawn along those lines. Even with Josie, Harry was able to deal with his pain and get back on the horse remarkably quickly. The pain was still there but it wasn't destroying him. I think that's the kind of noble archetype Lynch and Frost were so often keen to work in with both Harry and Coop, which was as atypical then as it is now. Were it put forward today in a vacuum without past context, it would likely be perceived as naive.

While I suspect they may deconstruct Coop somewhat in Season 3 and I totally welcome it, I don't think that approach won't have contradictions. Because I have a feeling Lynch will ultimately continue to venerate the original archetype he doggedly insisted upon while often giving short shrift to Cooper's troubled FBI backstory (which I personally enjoy). As I believe our own LostInTheMovies has said, Frost seemed more keen on the darker elements of characters' histories while Lynch chose to traffic in symbolic figures. Like others I think his view on that kind of internal depth may have broadened post-FWWM, MD, LH etc., but I don't think it will be as far removed from his past identification as we might suspect. I think he will stymie many.

Anyway: I would have no problem buying that Harry succumbed to grief post-finale, but I don't think the character as presented on the show was in a spiral at any point beyond the immediate aftermath of Josie's death. I do think Cappy is correct that there is an intense soulfulness to him that sometimes wears him down and could, with proper pressure, break him.