Can't people still retain most of their mental capacity a quarter of a century later? Of course they can! Why does Dale Cooper have to be portrayed in such a gormless, unappealing way?

Ageing does diminish us but Cooper is in his 50s. He's not that old so there's no reason why he has to be depicted as some autistic buffoon. I think Lynch has deliberately sabotaged his own work due to senility or as some post-modern ironic statement - "look at me, I'm mocking my own work cos I can! Ha ha. I never liked my show in the first place!"

I'd posit that David Lynch hates Twin Peaks:

“The pilot is the only thing I am particularly, extremely proud of. There were great moments along the way,” he said. “The second season sucked.”

and I'm assuming he hates season three - or much of it - just as much! Self- loathing is common in very creative people so who knows, the depiction of Dougie/Cooper may be a manifestation of Lynch's loathing of the show.

People can basically be and are the same as they were 25 yrs ago- they've only aged, which is normal .

That quote is not that deep- just common sense. Who is waiting for the Dale Cooper of 25 years ago to return? Some people do age well and get better with age.

If I really want to see a young Kyle, I'll just put DUNE in the DVD player.

I want Cooper to get his mind back...but I'm not waiting on it, I'm just enjoying the ride.

I'm not the same person I was 25 years ago...I'd like to think I've grown and matured (even if other people disagree with me also I would have been 7 ).

Cooper, as a character, has been trapped in an unknown dimension for 25 years where we don't know what happens or what kind of toll it takes on a person. As much as I hate to say it, the Cooper that eventually returns is not going to snap into a happy "Damn fine coffee" mode, he's probably going to want to know what happened in his 25 year absence. If you lost 25 years of your life and returned to a "normal" life, I'm 100% sure you would not be the same "you" at all...

as the series continues. Dale Cooper can come back, but he’ll never be the dashing young man he was. That dashing young man is gone. No road, however mystical, can take him (or us) back to the past. No map can guide us into our youth again. We can only go into the future and do our best.

Lynch and Frost could have depicted the return of Cooper in a variety of ways. Cooper could have returned as smart as he was back in the 1990s , he could have had amnesia, he could have been driven by a moral crusade to rid the world of Bob and evil Cooper, he didn't have to be done the way it's been done in Twin Peaks 3. Lynch and Frost have chosen to make Cooper an autistic character (which is also a convenient way to pad out scenes and drag out the season) and fans can like or dislike it.

Perhaps Lynch is making some deep comment about the passage of time, how illness can rob us of our minds - then again 'Dougie Cooper' might be some dumb idea Lynch thought up during a moment of madness and no-one at Showtime had the courage to say "are you sure this is a good idea, David?"

@fan_of_films said:

Perhaps Lynch is making some deep comment about the passage of time, how illness can rob us of our minds - then again 'Dougie Cooper' might be some dumb idea Lynch thought up during a moment of madness and no-one at Showtime had the courage to say "are you sure this is a good idea, David?"

I think this could probably it. I'm sure Lynch is well aware that a lot of people wanted closure for Twin Peaks and that a lot of people wanted it to be a representation of the original.

@simian_ninja said:

I'm not the same person I was 25 years ago...I'd like to think I've grown and matured (even if other people disagree with me also I would have been 7 ).

I'm not really talking about the age aspect of it. What I mean is you are still you- the you that you are, even with growing older/maturity, you will always be you.

Cooper, as a character, has been trapped in an unknown dimension for 25 years where we don't know what happens or what kind of toll it takes on a person. As much as I hate to say it, the Cooper that eventually returns is not going to snap into a happy "Damn fine coffee" mode, he's probably going to want to know what happened in his 25 year absence. If you lost 25 years of your life and returned to a "normal" life, I'm 100% sure you would not be the same "you" at all...

But this is Twin Peaks, which character is not still acting the same way they did 25 years ago?

@Invidia said:

How about BOBBY??? He use to SELL DRUGS. And Now he's a COP who's job it is to BUST people who sell them for selling them.

I said "which character is not still ACTING the same way they did 25 years ago?" NOT who has a different job.

I am not talking about what they used to do, their jobs or a change of careers.

Does Hawk, Lucy, Andy, The Doc, The Log Lady, Shelly, Norma, COLE or ALBERT, Ben, Jerry, etc. ACT any different than they did 25 years ago? NO. They still are who they are and always will be- just like people in real life.

You are still talking about what he DOES NOT about how he ACTS.

I mean Who he IS as a person.

Have you EVER been anyone else besides YOURSELF?

You still are not getting it, and I can't explain it any better to you.

I said "which character is not still ACTING the same way they did 25 years ago?" NOT who has a different job or is doing things differently.

I am not talking about what they do- but who they ARE.

Does Hawk, Lucy, Andy, The Doc, The Log Lady, Shelly, Norma, COLE or ALBERT, Ben, Jerry, etc.

ACT any different than they did 25 years ago?

NO.

They still are who they are and always will be - just like people in real life.

You are still talking about what he DOES NOT about how he ACTS. I mean Who he IS as a person. Have you EVER been anyone else besides YOURSELF?

Me: Maybe.

NO.

What about when we get VERY UPSET ABOUT something and say something to someone that we later on REGRET having said? Am I really still ME at the time if I fly into a BLIND RAGE about something?

Now you are just talking about FEELINGS and EMOTIONS. Do you actually physically turn into another person? NO. YOU are still YOU.

YOU can NEVER BE anyone else but YOURSELF. <--Why is this so difficult to understand?

Surely you're not also suggesting that it's IMPOSSIBLE to change or EVOLVE from being in one state of mind to being in another completely different one?

Surely you can't be suggesting that is what I am saying. NOW you are talking about STATE OF MIND.

It's BOBBY who acts differently, which seems to indicate he has changed, and isn't the same way that he use to be back when he was still involved in CRIMINAL activity, And maybe the DEATH of LAURA also had something to do with his change of heart and the way in which he sees things differently now?

BUT he is still BOBBY though isn't he????