Director: David Lynch
Writers: Mark Frost, David Lynch
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Jay Aaseng, Joe Adler

Review by Gilbert Seah

Cooper’s back! After almost an entire season of the stumbling adventures of Dougie Coop, our beloved FBI agent is awake and back in action. However, Dougie’s departure from the world leaves a few loose ends. This episode was Biore pore strip levels of satisfying.

This season has had a running theme of family relationships, like in “Part 12” when absent fathers were a major theme. “Part 16” seems to focus again on fathers leaving their families in different ways.

Biologically speaking, Cooper technically has (or had, in Richard’s case) two sons: Sonny Jim and Richard Horne. Lynch likes to play with the idea of parallels and opposites, so it’s no surprise to see both Bad Coop and Real Coop departing from their children in drastically separate ways. Real Coop did save the “seed” that is apparently required to create a new tulpa, so it’s possible that he’s going to manufacture a brand new Dougie to take his place.

Speaking of tulpas: Diane wasn’t really Diane! Does that mean that all tulpas are aware that they are manufactured beings on some level? Did Dougie know he wasn’t real? And is the real Diane alive somewhere? After that long, slow look at Gordon Cole in his computer room, I was terrified that Diane was going to kill him before his reunion with Cooper. Unfairness is out of character in Lynch’s work, but anything can happen this close to the end of the series.

Audrey is officially confirmed to exist in some kind of alternate reality! I’m still banking on this being a coma or a mental health thing, possibly attributed to her being raped and impregnated by Bad Coop while she was in the hospital. That can’t possibly be good for you. I’m relieved that Audrey didn’t actually end up as a trampled version of her former self, trapped in a toxic relationship with a tiny egg man, but it’s clear that she’s still unable to escape from whatever is holding her hostage. It might be a Josie Packard thing where Audrey’s soul is physically stuck inside of an object. Maybe it’s that one
booth we keep seeing at The Roadhouse?

There is one thread that’s been dangling all season. Way back in “Part 1,” the Fireman told Lodge Coop to remember Richard and Linda. The prior of these names has already been identified in Richard Horne, but Linda’s identity still remains a mystery. It could possibly be that Linda is the wheelchairbound resident of the New Fat Trout Trailer Park that we see referenced in “Part 6,” but even if that’s the case, we still haven’t physically seen this character appear.

Next week is the two-part series finale, and things seem to be coming to a head.

Twin Peaks is the kind of series that has a ton of rewatching potential as Lynch’s work is heavily layered and tied together, so definitely consider revisiting the entire series before the finale next Sunday night

******
“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”t