It was always going to be unreasonable to expect that Twin Peaks: The Return would actually answer all of the questions we'd been harboring for the past 25 years. The fact that any of them were answered was a minor miracle. We now know who Diane is, where Phillip Jeffries has got to, and what happened to Dale Cooper after he entered the Lodge.However, the return of Twin Peaks also brought with it even more questions, and the finale left us all scratching our heads. Below, we've rounded up the biggest unanswered questions from the season, and some of our guesses as to what it could all mean. If anyone knows, or would like to guess at the answers themselves, please go ahead.
The Little Things
Let's start with the small issues, that just didn't get answered at all. Why is Jacoby making those gold shovels and selling them in infomercials? Why is Nadine such a big fan? Minor points like these have precisely no bearing on the overall arc of Twin Peaks, and yet, if those bizarre moments didn't happen, we wouldn't love the show as much as we do. There will never be an answer to the shovel business; it just is what it is.
But what of some of the characters storylines that we never got answers to? That's perhaps a little more frustrating, because it would be nice to know if Becky was okay, for example. Are we to assume she's dead inside the trailer? Did Steven shoot himself in the woods? Is Shelley ever going to find happiness or is she going to keep on making the same mistakes over and over? Actually, we already know the answer to that one.
More importantly, where is Wally Brando? Michael Cera stole the show with his cameo as Lucy and Andy's son. While he's not the type of character who could have stuck around and played an important part, it would have been nice to see him once more. Still, his dharma is the road.
The joy of Twin Peaks has always been the delicate balance of the real, the supernatural, comedy, drama and horror, and Lynch has always executed that perfectly. Frustratingly, it's almost like he ran out of time with some of the smaller plotlines, or just forgot to wrap them up entirely. Of course, that's understandable when you realize there's so much more he didn't wrap up, either.
Where is Audrey?
Sherylin Fenn was woefully underused in The Return, and Audrey really didn't seem like Audrey at all. Presumably, this is because the Audrey we saw on screen, stuck in a hateful relationship with Charles and mother to the evil Richard, is not actually the Audrey we know from Twin Peaks seasons 1 and 2.
The last time we saw her, she was standing in a white room someplace, and that Audrey actually seemed like Audrey, but where is the room? Is she in an asylum or secure hospital somewhere? Is she in a white lodge, maybe? Here's a theory on the whole madness of The Return; when Monica Belluci asked us "Who is the dreamer?" is the correct answer actually Audrey? Have we been viewing everything through her eyes? Is The Return actually what she is experiencing while in a coma, or something? Guess what? We'll probably never know.
Who is Billy?
Continuing with the Audrey theme; she frequently mentions Billy, whom we are led to assume is her lover, but we never actually meet him. This screaming, wailing, haranguing Audrey who continually throws Billy in Charles' face is a stark contrast to the Audrey we remember, and once again lends credence to the theory that she's not really Audrey. As for Billy; could he be the battered, drooling man languishing in Twin Peaks jail? Very possibly, since there's no explanation for that character at all other than him existing to annoy the other inmates. And if that is the case, then who on earth put him in that state and why hasn't Deputy Hawk or Sheriff Truman, who both seem like decent men, gotten him the medical attention he needs?
Why is Phillip Jeffries Now a Kettle?
We've searched and searched, and we're still at a total loss to explain why Phillip Jeffries has morphed into a tea kettle. Obviously, the late David Bowie couldn't reprise his role, and so Lynch making his character into an inanimate object was a smart move since it avoided use of CGI or recasting to bring him back, but of all the things he could have been, why a kettle? There again, he could just as easily have chosen to bring him back as a shoe, or a spoon. We must simply chalk this one up to Lynch's imagination, something that we already know works in weird and wonderful ways.
What was the Manhattan Project?
Cast your minds back to the very beginning of Twin Peaks: The Return, to the large box in New York that was guarded at all times in case something happens. Of course, something did happen, and that something was a dark spirit entering the room and slashing a young couple to pieces. Though it's never been confirmed, we're assuming that the spirit was BOB in some form - but why was the box there, and who was in charge of the project?
At the time we were all driving ourselves crazy, theorizing over what the box meant, who is in it, and who's behind it all. Was it Audrey? That now seems doubtful, but we're still no closer to knowing who ran the project, or what purpose it served. Eighteen episodes down the line, it doesn't seem to matter, either.
Who Are Richard and Linda?
This ties into our next question, but after Diane and Cooper had spent the night at a motel, she left a note addressed to Richard, signed Linda. It seems that, after crossing the electrified line, things were indeed very different, but in what sense exactly? Did Cooper and Diane morph into Richard and Linda? Given the way Cooper then goes on to behave, are we not looking at Cooper, but at Richard Horne in another dimension (one where he's alive, obviously)? Or is Diane using code names that we, and indeed Cooper, are not privy to? Did Diane leave the note, or did Diane's tulpa leave the note? The names Richard and Linda were mentioned all the way back in episode 1, but there's been no explanation as to their relevance, or why Cooper and Diane are now known by those aliases in the alternate universe where they now seem to reside.
What is up With Cooper?
Frankly, this could be an article all of its own. Having waited all season for the real Dale Cooper to show up, we were all delighted when Dougie Cooper shocked himself and woke from his coma as the actual Special Agent. Cooper was back on form right away, and all seemed well as he headed back to Twin Peaks. His singular question to Sheriff Truman "Is the coffee on?" alerted all to the fact that it was Evil Cooper sitting in the Sheriff's office, and Lucy soon put an end to him.
Only then, when the real Cooper arrived and BOB was disposed of, Cooper announced that some things were about to change. This wouldn't be a Lynch project if we'd had our happy ending, of course; he gives with one hand while taking away with another, and Cooper and Diane drove precisely 430 miles away to cross some kind of electrified boundary, which, they both knew, made everything different.
They weren't kidding. Initially, all seemed well as they asked one another if they were really themselves. Yes, we were assured. The pair barely spoke on their continued journey, until they arrived at a motel. While Cooper checked them in, Diane saw her tulpa standing outside. Once in their room, the Cooper we saw making love with Diane was oddly at large to how it seemed Cooper would be with a woman. He was emotionless, cold, and detached, and Diane was upset throughout. There was no tenderness, and gone was Cooper's usual sweet smile. Instead, he seemed not bothered when he woke the next morning to find the note from Diane/Linda.
He proceeded to drive to the town of Odessa, where somehow he knew that a diner named Judy's would lead him to a waitress named Carrie, who looks like Laura Palmer. Before that could happen, though, Cooper had to put an end to a group of rednecks who were giving the other waitress a hard time. While standing up for the waitress was definitely something Cooper would do, the way he proceeded to hold the whole diner at gunpoint without so much as an apology was not the style of the Dale Cooper we knew before. And so we watched as slowly, the light went out of Cooper's eyes and he became a sad shadow of the man he once was. Is that because he's still inhabited in some way by BOB? Is he part Evil Cooper and part our Cooper? Is everything slightly dulled in this alternative dimension? Really, one has to assume that this is for us to draw our own conclusions, unless Twin Peaks: The Return returns, of course.
Is BOB Really Destroyed?
Freddie really came into his own when BOB was released from Evil Cooper's corpse and came flooding into Twin Peaks Sheriff's station. With his super-strength green fist, Freddie first punched BOB into the floor, and then, finally, to pieces when the spirit kept trying to attack him. Cooper (the real one) seemed very pleased with the outcome, and the Mitchum brothers declared the whole event to be "one for the Grandkids," but is BOB really gone for good?
The 'pieces' of the spirit scattered in all directions, but could they, ultimately, reconvene in another person, or in another dimension? Is this what's inhabiting Cooper now, maybe? A weakened down version of BOB? Will it fester and grow until it unleashes hell again?
What's Carrie's Story?
Cooper tracks down the mysterious waitress named Carrie, who looks exactly like Laura Palmer. He explains that he thinks she may be the same person, and asks Carrie to take a road trip with him to Twin Peaks to see if it jogs her memory at all. Oddly (or perhaps not, considering this is Twin Peaks), Carrie agrees quite happily. You see, she's got a corpse in her house, killed by a gunshot wound to the head, and she's been looking for a way out of the mess. And yes, she's just revealed that to an FBI Agent.
Anyway, we learn remarkably little about Carrie other than this little tidbit of information, and the fact that she owns two coats. During their trip, Cooper and Carrie barely speak, other than to wonder if the car behind them is following them or not. So who did Carrie kill, and why? She says she always tried to keep a nice house; did she finally snap and kill an abusive partner? Why is Cooper not remotely concerned? Our guess is he's not worried, because he doesn't actually believe the woman to be Carrie, anyway. Meanwhile, the woman who is Carrie, is convinced she's not Laura Palmer, but judging by her ear-splitting scream right at the very end, her visit to Laura's childhood home has triggered something. We'll most likely never know what that was, just like we'll never know what Laura whispered to Cooper in the Lodge.
Did Cooper Save Laura?
A tricky one, this, and really there's no definitive answer, so if you want to think he did or didn't, then go for it. Undoubtedly, that was Lynch's intention; to let us interpret things our own way. Certainly it seems as though Cooper wanted to save her, but he himself stated that the past dictates the future, so surely that indicates that she must die at some point?
It seems possible that Cooper did manage to save a Laura, though in what dimension we don't know. Carrie doesn't know a Laura, and neither do the owners of her house, but their names are familiar within Twin Peaks lore, and so it could be that all these events are taking place in another time and place (more on that in a moment). Whether Cooper saved a Laura or not, it seems as though this final scene is more a statement from Lynch on the importance of learning lessons. These events will keep happening, over and over, until we learn the lessons needed to stop them. We can't erase the damage done, but we can learn from it and use it to become better human beings, and better people to one another. That's reflected in the happiness that Janey finds with Dougie, or that Big Ed and Norma find when Nadine finds it in herself to let him go. Happiness is found in the small things that life can offer, but all too often we become wrapped up in the bigger picture, and we try to alter a path that just can't be changed.
What Year is it?
We really don't know.
We honestly don't know what year the final scene of Twin Peaks takes place in, or even what dimension we're in. We do know this, though; Cooper is not our Cooper, or if he is, then something's gone horribly wrong. Carrie is not Laura, but at the same time she is Laura, too. Cooper says he'll see everyone again at the curtain call; has he been aware of his fictional status all along? Is this an elaborate dream of his, or Audrey's, or someone else?
There are so many questions to which we will simply never have answers and you know what? We wouldn't want it any other way.