Part 18 - What is your name? (SPOILERS)

[richsmith]

I would kill for a final, happier ending for Laura, at least (I do not, at this point, expect her to come back to life). And to get confirmation that folks like Audrey, Shelly and Bobby turned out okay. But I don't think Cooper will ever come back from this even if the show returns. I think one way or another, at the end of this story he's going in the woods and never coming back this time.

I also legitimately fear - not dislike, mind you, simply fear, because I really liked 18 - that should the show continue Lynch will deny any closed resolution at every turn. He came as close as he may ever with 17, then pivoted back to Cooper's once and future original sin - being the Special Agent who must solve everything. There were likely other ways to stop Judy, but the only one Cooper could conceive of involved him in the starring role of literally disembowling history to save Laura Palmer from her own choice on February 23rd, 1989. I'm not sure Lynch is interested in a final ending that does not plumb another human depth like that, give another sting in the tail. I hope so, but I am not convinced.

I also think he's done. Really, this is the most perfect ending. 17 gave some sort of resolution -- a modicum, at least -- and filled in the blanks of the ultimate mythology with Judy. And then 18 swept the rug from under Cooper's feet, and ended on the ultimate enigma. As with Picnic at Hanging Rock and Donnie Darko -- two films mentioned already in this thread -- providing an answer to this enigma is unthinkable.

[Cappy]

I also think the last of Diane may have been wrestling with her memory of the Bad Dale, and realized the newly-warped Cooper from the crossover was a damaged meld of both her Cooper and the doppelganger who raped her (he looks exactly like the Bad Dale in that scene, and behaves similarly throughout the crossover material until his confusion over Carrie leaves Cooper unmanned). Both Diane and Linda could not stand to look their lover in the face.

Yeah it was difficult watching that scene, knowing of Bad Coop's assault on Diane. There is a lot to unpack in that sequence.

[N. Needleman]

"It is in our house now" - what is/was?

IMO, either Judy or the Bad Dale. The Fireman was warning Cooper about their coming evil. The White Lodge ensnared the doppelganger and BOB when they arrived, and Cooper sent the doppelganger back to the Black Lodge for destruction. Judy is another story.

[opium]

I would kill for a final, happier ending for Laura, at least (I do not, at this point, expect her to come back to life). And to get confirmation that folks like Audrey, Shelly and Bobby turned out okay. But I don't think Cooper will ever come back from this even if the show returns. I think one way or another, at the end of this story he's going in the woods and never coming back this time.

The happy ending for Laura was the ending of FWWM which Lynch has seemingly retconned to hell.

[twin-b]

Also, when the clock in the sheriffs office kept glitching, was it on 2:53 (time and again?)

Even this was messed up. The hour hand was slightky past the 3 somehow, making me question if it was even 2:53.

[N. Needleman]

I would kill for a final, happier ending for Laura, at least (I do not, at this point, expect her to come back to life). And to get confirmation that folks like Audrey, Shelly and Bobby turned out okay. But I don't think Cooper will ever come back from this even if the show returns. I think one way or another, at the end of this story he's going in the woods and never coming back this time.

I also legitimately fear - not dislike, mind you, simply fear, because I really liked 18 - that should the show continue Lynch will deny any closed resolution at every turn. He came as close as he may ever with 17, then pivoted back to Cooper's once and future original sin - being the Special Agent who must solve everything. There were likely other ways to stop Judy, but the only one Cooper could conceive of involved him in the starring role of literally disembowling history to save Laura Palmer from her own choice on February 23rd, 1989. I'm not sure Lynch is interested in a final ending that does not plumb another human depth like that, give another sting in the tail. I hope so, but I am not convinced.

I also think he's done. Really, this is the most perfect ending. 17 gave some sort of resolution -- a modicum, at least -- and filled in the blanks of the ultimate mythology with Judy. And then 18 swept the rug from under Cooper's feet, and ended on the ultimate enigma. As with Picnic at Hanging Rock and Donnie Darko -- two films mentioned already in this thread -- providing an answer to this enigma is unthinkable.

It's not the ending I want, but I think it is a very good, very haunting and brutal one on par with LH and MD. It's not the one I'd prefer for the whole of the series, but I can certainly live with it based on the incredible quality of 18, just as I did with episode 29. It's vicious, nightmarish Lynch at his best - kept me up all night.

Silver linings: My assumption is that the original timeline is still out there with all our supporting cast and townsfolk, minus Cooper and Diane on their quixotic quest who crossed over. And I am slowly coming around to the possibility that Carrie Page is just an echo of the original Laura who Cooper dragged along to his warped new timeline, and that 'our' Laura is still snug as a bug in the White Lodge. But tbh I don't believe that last, which is why I'd prefer more to give closure to Laura (and Audrey!) again if nothing else.

[Cipher]

Similar thoughts on the "in our house now":

The doppelganger is literally "in [the Fireman's] house" for a bit, though he proves as ineffectual against these larger forces as the genuine Coop, and is quickly redirected into a trap.

Judy, though, may very well be in the Palmer "house," and:

Just after Sarah stabs the picture with the odd visual edits, Laura disappears from Cooper's grasp and the sounds the Fireman invited Cooper to listen to during the "in our house" dialogue are heard. So Judy may be in "our" house, as in "reality," or otherwise ready to impede in White Lodge-related activities.

Really, then, just another reference to big, mysterious, emotionally resonant shit happening around these characters (and that's not a bad thing).

[richsmith]

I'm not sure if there's a separate thread for this, but there's been some excellent and thought-provoking writing online today provoked by the finale. Especially from Indiewire and (surprisingly) Rolling Stone. The critical response seems incredibly enthusiastic overall.

[Cappy]

The happy ending for Laura was the ending of FWWM which Lynch has seemingly retconned to hell.

I feel like the FWWM ending is still possible for Coop and Laura. If FWWM is the conclusion of their journey, then the ending of The Return is the beginning or middle of the journey. Maybe we are just seeing it out of sequence.

[N. Needleman]

The happy ending for Laura was the ending of FWWM which Lynch has seemingly retconned to hell.

I feel like the FWWM ending is still possible for Coop and DIane. If FWWM is the conclusion of their journey, then the ending of The Return is the beginning or middle of the journey. Maybe we are just seeing it out of sequence.

I'd like to see Diane get out of this, but I'm beginning to think Special Agent Galahad is a lost cause. Laura and Audrey are the folks I am worried for.

[opium]

The happy ending for Laura was the ending of FWWM which Lynch has seemingly retconned to hell.

I feel like the FWWM ending is still possible for Coop and DIane. If FWWM is the conclusion of their journey, then the ending of The Return is the beginning or middle of the journey. Maybe we are just seeing it out of sequence.

Eh, I'm not convinced, nor do I think that's Lynch's intention after the whole of The Return and also its ending. It's very implicit on Laura being trapped and unable to escape her karmic death.

I'm with the others in thinking if there is another season down the road it'll be more cynical and less concerned with reason than before.

[Cipher]

I'm not sure if there's a separate thread for this, but there's been some excellent and thought-provoking writing online today provoked by the finale. Especially from Indiewire and (surprisingly) Rolling Stone. The critical response seems incredibly enthusiastic overall.

Not sure why they couldn't go here.

The A.V. Club offers a typically excellent take.

The top comment there is also a great reflection on how the 25-year gap between the old show and this season may be reflected in some ways in its ending. (I don't think that's one of its primary goals, but it tracks -- "What year is it?", merger of humor and horror in Cooper, a yearning to undo events and return to a town that isn't. At the very least, I think it's interesting to speculate on elements that would lose at least one layer of meaning were this same season to somehow have emerged in '92. There are more satisfying ways to look at the ending, for sure, but that's worth noting.)

[EwanM]

Wasn't sure about much of the first half of Ep17. The Green Glove Guy v Balloon Bob encounter was risible, but, the last 90 minutes of this journey was absolutely mesmerising. The Diane / Coop / Linda / Richard motel scene was absolutely skin-crawling, as it became apparent that the loveable caricature that we recognise as 'Good Coop' had returned to Las Vegas to be with Janey-E (Las Vegas, with its cast of quirky and endearing inhabitants, seems to be the repository of much of the warmth and humour that seems to be missing from the more sinister Twin Peaks in The Return) and that 'Richard' is a hybrid of Coop and Mr C, with a pinch of Dougie.
The hero, so pathologically obsessed with rescuing Laura, and erasing her death, whatever the cost, is the also the sadist who compelled Diane to revisit her trauma in that motel room, irrevocably fracturing her already splintered identity, and the ruthless obsessive who insisted on chaperoning Carrie / Laura all the way back to the scene of her trauma - rescuing her from one hellish life, to plunge her into an even more nightmarish existence.
Cooper is not just a flawed hero, he is an unwitting agent of evil, allowing himself to be manipulated by dark forces beyond his comprehension into punishing the women he loves, over and over again.
A brilliantly dark and unsettling ending. Bravo, Mr Lynch!

[Nikki Grace]

Wow, that ending! I remember seeing Mulholland Drive at the cinema and last night's tops that by far.

[N. Needleman]

Wow, that ending! I remember seeing Mulholland Drive at the cinema and last night's tops that by far.

All it was missing was a miniature, tittering Leland and Sarah crawling across the lawn towards Carrie. Nightmare fuel, anyone?