We don't know that the image on the playing card is an image of Judy. You're projecting that meaning onto it. There's actually a reason to think that it isn't Judy - when Evil Cooper meets with Jeffries, Evil Cooper asks Jeffries, multiple times, "Who is Judy?" So, Evil Cooper doesn't seem to know the first thing about Judy.Saela wrote:The most tangible thing Mr. C wanted was to get rid of Cooper, and in Part 2 he showed Darya that card with Judy on it and says: "This is what I want". Later we learn that Judy is an extreme negative force, so I think it's safe to say Evil Coop's big goal was to unleash this negative force onto Twin Peaks and the world, which would obviously be an atomic bomb-level catastrophy. I admit that his motivations could have been more defined, but I was so focused on finding out when and how Cooper would wake up, that I didn't mind Coopelganger's lack of a clearly stated goal.
Also, I think the main reason why so much time was spent with the Mitchum Brothers and Janey-E (and to a lesser extent the woman at the Casino and others) was to show how much joy and positivity DougieCoop brought to the world, in stark contrast to everything the doppelganger did. (Not to mention the fact that the Mitchum's got the good Dale back to Twin Peaks just in time )
Even if it is an image of Judy, we have no idea what Judy is capable of, nor do we have any idea what Evil Cooper wants from her. "It would obviously be an atomic bomb level catastrophe." Again, you're projecting that meaning onto it. We don't know anything about it.
Our antagonist needs a clear motivation. We need to know that he's trying to accomplish something that would have negative consequences if he succeeds. We need an opposing set of characters who are aware of what the antagonist is trying to accomplish, so that they feel an urgency to stop him - this creates conflict - it creates tension - it creates suspense - it creates drama. It gives the audience something to become emotionally invested in. What did we get in The Return? Characters wandered around aimlessly, relaxed at the hotel, stumbled around in a stupor - all doing nothing of consequence. There was no urgency or drama to any of it. Yes, Evil Cooper apparently wanted to kill the real Cooper. But the series didn't give us much reason to care. Cooper was in Dougie mode, brain dead, useless, doing nothing of consequence. And, Evil Cooper didn't seem to pose a larger threat. He wandered around, got into scuffles with low level criminals, and that's about it. So, who cares? There was nothing at stake! Evil Cooper didn't seem like he was too preoccupied with killing off the real Cooper. He took a rather hands off approach to it - he just seemed indifferent about it, overall - almost like it was an afterthought. Again, there was no urgency or drama to any of it.
There was no worthwhile contrast between Dougie and Evil Cooper.
Dougie is good. Evil Cooper is bad. And? So what?
Evil Cooper didn't do much of anything. He certainly never demonstrated that he was the personification of evil, or that he was responsible for a greater suffering in the world - Richard Horne was more evil than he was!
We didn't need the Mitchum brothers to get Cooper back to Twin Peaks. The writers could've cooked up a million alternate scenarios. Maybe Cooper could've used his FBI connections to arrange a private flight for himself. And, we didn't need Bushnell Mullins to read a note to Gordon Cole. The note could've been left with a nurse, for example. The insurance fraud storyline was a waste of time - it was of no consequence to the rest of the series, and the characters involved served no purpose after it was over.