As you may remember, Nick, at my insistence, told me who killed Laura Palmer before I began to watch the series. He did NOT reveal to me the way the series ended. He did not tell me that Cooper would be going into the Black Lodge. And he most certainly did not tell me about “How’s Annie?”

I’m very glad he did not, even though it resulted in my turning to him at the end of my original viewing and shouting, “WHAT?!” (Note: I do not remember precisely what I said. I may have said something like, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”, “HOLY @&%*!!”, or, just maybe, “Gimme a donut.”)

As I am a semi-regular human being, the whole bit with Cooper’s journey through the Waiting Room and Black Lodge did not entirely make sense to me. Nick helped me understand a little more by giving me his own interpretation. Yet what really helped me solidify a comprehension of both what the narrative was trying to show–and what actually happened to Cooper–was the simple act of re-watching the series about ten more times over the next few years. As a result, most of this post is going to be a little bit different than the earlier ones. After a bit of reaction to the non-Lodge bits, I’m going to go into my scene-by-scene interpretation (explanation?) of what’s going on after Cooper slips between the red curtains in that circle of sickly sycamore trees.

So let’s get started on this final episode, shall we? [Read more…]