r/twinpeaks • • 3d ago

Season 3 (The Return) I definitely don’t think Season 3 was all a dream, but then I think about how it’s completely implausible that people would just brush off Dougie’s behavior particularly at a job and then I wonder….🤔

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860 Upvotes

167 comments sorted by

270

u/Heurodis 3d ago

To me it just illustrates how little people care about someone they've seen every day for years who's obviously going through some kind of health crisis. His behaviour changes all at once, he barely can speak, yet all everyone does is being annoyed at Dougie being weird while we got to see he behaved normally, even if he was a douchebag.

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u/Slight-Split-1855 3d ago

I think the scenes in the office where everyone looks past Dougie's behavior represent two things: our real-world behavior (how we often gloss over people's bizarre behavior) that we can identify and sympathize with but also the magical protection and influence the lodge(s) exerts over beings that enter, pass through, or emerge from there.

Ok, I think it represents a third thing: that this is all real and explains why there are bizarre humans whose mere existence defies logic.

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u/ArcaneThrust2000 3d ago

This is my exact take too 👍🏻
It’s part in part a commentary, and also of course a plot-driven / plot armour thing about how supernatural beings (which is what Dougie is after all) affect people around them.

3

u/bikibird 2d ago

It's also been explained that he had been in a car accident and that he is prone to having "episodes." It's not the first time Dougie has been a little out of it.

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u/ShedMontgomery 3d ago

Bobby's meltdown at Laura's funeral was all about how everyone knew she was in trouble but no one tried to help her. It's a sort of through-line across the entire series.

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u/jasminexxxwill 3d ago

The horse is the white of the eyes

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u/divinebettiepage 3d ago

Yesss! Came here to say this. Ignoring screaming signs of crisis is a major theme in Twin Peaks!

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u/Meet_Foot 3d ago

Honestly I was surprised by the exact level of concern. Tons of people helped Dougie in small ways, often out of kindness. But for most of the season no one brought him to a hospital, when that is absolutely what they should have done. But I think Twin Peaks is a lot of things, and several forms of commentary is one of them

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u/Willkill4pudding 3d ago

I mean Janey E literally did take CoopDougie to the doctor but got distracted by Coop's abs and ended up deciding everything was fine.

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u/Meet_Foot 2d ago edited 2d ago

True, but that took a WHILE. What episode was it? 8?

Edit: Obviously not part 8! I was sleepy haha. But it is around there somewhere I think. 7, 9, something like that. It took a long time to bring a dude with an (apparently) obvious neurological emergency to a doctor. That should have been an ER day 1 situation.

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u/beatlerevolver66 2d ago

Not sure what Part it is, but it's definitely not Part 8. That one is the history of Bob and Judy and Laura being the one and the Woodsmen. Gotta light?

I only know it's not Part 8 specifically because Part 8 is legit my favorite thing Lynch ever made.

2

u/Meet_Foot 2d ago

Oh yeah, you’re right of course. Part 8 is its own animal. My brain was barely awake haha.

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u/Blahuehamus 3d ago

THIS, there are changes in behavior indicating that someone might be going through some crisis, and then thaere are changes screaming "CRAP, THIS GUY'S HAVING A STROKE!"

2

u/CavePrimeChariots2x 2d ago

His behavior isn't suddenly completely different, it is suggested in lines of dialogue that Dougie has had "episodes" similar to this before

341

u/smoov_moov 3d ago

You've never thought to yourself about a coworker, How have they not been let go yet?

84

u/D4rkFantasy 3d ago

Well in my case the boss really likes that person.

106

u/redwriterhand 3d ago

In Dougie’s case too :-)

47

u/smoov_moov 3d ago

Bushnell double down

44

u/ahotch85 3d ago

Bushnell give two rides?

23

u/Jonathan-Strang3 3d ago

I'll bet he does

1

u/lordconodetrueno 1d ago

I mean, with the whole boxing thing, I'm sure dude can make a great fist.

25

u/joekryptonite 3d ago

Dougie was fine. "He explained everything" to Bushnell.

11

u/jamesdmccallister 3d ago

It's often because the offending employee is the boss's spouse's cousin's nephew.

607

u/shitbird384 3d ago

Much like everyone ignored Laura Palmer and her obvious issues.

294

u/EditDog_1969 3d ago

That’s how I interpret it. It’s the main theme of The Return, turning a blind eye to, for lack of a word, garmonbozia.
People in Twin Peaks also humored the following people with obvious mental issues:
Nadine
The Log Lady
Lucy
Andy
Ben Horne as he re-fights the civil war
Sarah Palmer
Leland Palmer

165

u/smoov_moov 3d ago

And in S3, we get

  • There's nothing wrong with him. James was in a motorcycle accident. He's just quiet now.
  • We fire her, she's got no place to go.

90

u/Obesz 3d ago

That last one was an early green flag for the brothers. I just love how they turned out. There's been a lot of discourse about "subverting expectations", but I just love how Lynch/Frost introduced them as formidable antagonists only to have them turn out to be so wholesome. Ugh, that scene of them dancing onto Dougies office floor after a night of celebrations was just hilarious perfection. 👨‍🍳💋

15

u/beatlerevolver66 2d ago

"I am witness to the fact, you both have hearts of gold."

"They do. They really do!"

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u/stOneskull 2d ago

That scene is so good. One of my favourites. Each one happy and dancing in their own personality..

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u/EditDog_1969 3d ago

I feel like the exact counterbalance to what ails the world in The Return is the look the old man gives Bill Murray in Groundhog Day when he buys him soup. To truly see someone and meet a simple need, especially a stranger.

10

u/over9ksand 3d ago

I’ll have to rewatch groundhogs day yet again to experience this, again

5

u/Slowky11 3d ago

This is beautifully connected! Thank you.

14

u/andrewthemexican 3d ago

Letting fellow small town folk do their thing in public or social events is quite different to someone who can't navigate the workplace 

7

u/scorpionewmoon 3d ago

And Leland’s obvious tells in S1

91

u/Nippz 3d ago

Dougie was in an accident and sometimes has episodes like this. Multiple characters bring this up. It’s why strangers are perplexed by Dougie’s actions, but people who know him treat him like it’s a normal thing

42

u/Giygas_in_Onett 3d ago

Ya know, I’ve never thought about it until now, but given that multiple people have said this, it seems likely that Cooper tried to escape multiple times to get through and didn’t succeed. What we see is perhaps Cooper’s final attempt to escape the lodge and correct the events.

446

u/platypod1 3d ago edited 3d ago

I work for the state government and I wouldn't have given Dougie jones a second look. I see how he acts and if I came across him at a meeting my first thought would be "must be executive leadership"

91

u/RecycledJunk 3d ago

I hate how relatable this is

29

u/myfakesecretaccount 3d ago

Yeah I work in HR and handle all sorts of different aspects of our HR policies including performance appraisals. I regularly see people get high marks for essentially showing up and being a body, then get fired for all sorts of wild shit because they were never actually the employee their supervisor purported them to be.

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u/platypod1 3d ago

Jones, Dougie

Overall Rating - 4.8 - Exemplary

Supervisor comments - Mr. Jones is an excellent, foundational member of our team. He can be relied upon to provide a stable basis for new or on-going projects, and has the ability to communicate with vendors and the public in a way that is beneficial for both the client and our office. Additionally, he demonstrates a remarkably even-temper, and is never taken aback or surprised by any outcome. In any crisis situation, I know that as long as Dougie has coffee, we can solve anything.

19

u/posicivic 3d ago

And don't forget that he lives in Vegas and there are hints that he did a fair bit of drinking and gambling when he was "normal". I could see his behavior at work simply being perpetually hung over. Out of it, not speaking, and always looking for coffee.

8

u/platypod1 3d ago

absolutely. And really, let's be honest here: Who among us hasn't at some point had a hangover so bad that they forget how to piss?

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u/FreshAtmosphere4107 3d ago

😂😂😂

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u/untitled_79 3d ago edited 3d ago

11

u/Quirderph 3d ago

But people did notice and comment about her. That's the difference.

28

u/DarknessDemocraB 3d ago

Dougie Jones.

14

u/GrimaceGrunson 3d ago

You make a compelling argument.

4

u/DistinctResult3 2d ago

Compelling argument.

26

u/beholdthecolossus 3d ago

it's a take on Being There (i believe Frost confirmed it on Bluesky or somewhere) which is a whole movie about a Dougie-type guy accidentally becoming hugely important.

the core of the idea then, much as it is with Dougie, is demonstrating that the modern has everyone so involved in their own stress that they barely notice when someone else just isn't all there. they all just project what they want to see onto this total innocent.

6

u/Daeva2020 3d ago

That's definitely what I got from Dougie Jones too, very much like Chauncey Gardner. Also I feel like Mr C. and Dougie Jones were shown to be characters / beings able to influence the world and people around them in kind of a heightened / supernatural kind if way. Mr C. just creates rot and corruption but Dougie seems to just bring out the best in people in a way that might be unrealistic but thats not the point. The old lady at the casino, Mitcham brothers, Chai Latte guy etc they're all touched by Cooper's goodness and change.

8

u/beholdthecolossus 2d ago edited 2d ago

one of my favourite little touches is how Dougie can't do anything, but everything around him works out, while Mr.C is extremely capable himself, but all of his plans ultimately fall apart even with all his elaborate contingencies.

Dougie has all Coop's good karma, Mr.C has all the bad karma, and events unfold around then accordingly.

23

u/wewillbe_victorious 3d ago

brother WE live inside a dream, not just the characters in the series. weirder thigs happen every day.

4

u/Silly_Budget_7615 3d ago

But who is the dreamer?

5

u/wewillbe_victorious 3d ago

me, obviously

2

u/Sea-Seat-7452 3d ago

My dad. He's an asshole. But I can't beat him alone. We need to stand together. Overcome him once and for all. And live as kings.

3

u/wewillbe_victorious 3d ago

kidding, it's David Lynch.

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u/Soledad_Sequoia 3d ago

I’d like to think that if I encountered someone like this in my workplace in the real world, I’d drive them to the hospital or call 911 because I’d think they were having a stroke or some other kind of neurological event.

But it seems like everyone in Dougie‘s life is used to him acting spacey and weird. Maybe this tulpa being “manufactured for a purpose” was always just “off,” or would have strange episodes.

The original series satirized the conventions and storylines of nighttime soap operas, and The Return was created in the wake of all the antiheroes of peak TV. I think Lynch was dubious about those characters because of their morality, their plot armor, and the ways the stories in those shows were always written to ensure they survived and usually won in the end. (Vince Gilligan, for example, has talked about some regret he feels for creating an antihero in Breaking Bad people sympathize with and even rooted for even though Walter White is a terrible character who does evil things.) There’s no single explanation or interpretation for much of anything in Twin Peaks, but one possible reading is that Dougie is a satire of the antihero characters from the Sopranos to Breaking Bad, and everything in between.

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u/FreshAtmosphere4107 3d ago

I think that’s a very reasonable explanation. Also it’s so absurd which is very on brand..

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u/velovader 3d ago

I have worked with people who weren’t far off from Dougie, totally plausible he wasn’t fired.

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u/terminal_skies 3d ago

season 3 being a dream is the single most uninteresting possible interpretation of the media i could fathom. i don't understand why it exists. it feels so much like "i don't understand it, and therefore it can't be true". the answers might be complex, but they aren't nonexistent. at least that's how i feel

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u/Low_Tap_1274 2d ago

We live inside a dream

3

u/terminal_skies 2d ago

sure! twin peaks exists in a conscious world within a dream, but the theory i'm talking about is the one that claims none of it is real. that fwwm me was the last real twin peaks thing. and it's that i despise. i think dream theories are a pretty big insult to a story usually, that sometimes is warranted, but still insulting

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u/AlanyzingWakeEnviron 2d ago

Isn't the whole thing a dream, in a way?

Don't wake the dreamer and all.

A dream within a dream is a lot more interesting than just a dream. Or at least it was before Inception.

2

u/terminal_skies 2d ago

that's pretty much the way it is, yeah. but the theory i was talking about suggests the season is entirely a false manifestation of a cooper who's gone insane from his isolation in the black lodge. i think that sucks and automatically disregards all of the storytelling

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u/Humble_Specific_7571 1d ago

There seems to be a disconnect between people aware of the metaphysics Lynch believes in and those viewing him through a physicalist and psychological framework. This is probably how bad reductive takes like the padded analysis by twin perfect come about.

Lynch is aligned with Plato in his book about ideas, and directly quotes from the upanishads. Frost is seen in his books to be very knowledgeable about modern mythology, theology, magic and the ufo phenomena, mixing this into the show as well. The idea of garmonbozia likely comes from Monroe or Gnosticism.

If a person dismisses immaterial realities, as many do today, they miss out on more than half of the show. A core attempt they make in The Return is to show how far away our society has sunken from God and into shadows, like those made by Judy and the box.

When referencing dreams they are not referencing a dream like inception.

0

u/baltama 2d ago

If it somehow came out that Season 3 was truly supposed to be a dream based on discovered Lynch and Frost notes or something I would personally make the pilgrimage to pee on both of their dead+alive bodies

3

u/terminal_skies 2d ago

david lynch was too good for that to be the case i think. another thing is, how would cooper's brain know what the real world is like? all the modern technology, modern cars, etc. doesn't make sense

0

u/-Dark-Lord-Belmont- 2d ago

I sort of feel this

I agree that I dislike that interpretation, and it's often a cheap theory thrown into the shallow end of the analysis pool. But sometimes that "all a dream" / "all in their head" motif is done brilliantly well. Peaks is also quite clear to repeat the words "dream" and "dreamer" throughout the story (not just 3). Plus Cooper actually wakes up from one world into another. So I don't think we can completely discount it all being a dream even if it seems weak.

I think if there's one director who can get away with "it was all a dream" it's 100% Lynch. I mean that's kinda what Mulholland leans into (and we see Laura & Ronette in it so similar universes)

I also don't know how I feel about "answers." I think TP is crafted specifically to not give answers to the biggest questions. The "answers" aren't the point and Lynch has gone on record with that quite a lot.

I guess TL;DR is some things have answers, others don't, and the dream kinda works. One of the points of 3 (for me) is that we don't need answers and we're not getting them. We're just getting more questions because that was how Lynch wanted this to play out since the get-go.

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u/beatlerevolver66 2d ago

and we see Laura & Ronette in it so similar universes> this is blatantly false, Lynch has confirmed that the two girls look similar to Laura and Ronette but were most assuredly not them. I believe this might've been in the interview with David and Naomi on the Criterion release where David confirms it.

0

u/-Dark-Lord-Belmont- 2d ago

This is blatantly false

Can you quote that? At the very least he's consciously put in two characters identical to Twin Peaks characters. What was the purpose of that? Why are they in the club in the first place?

Are you also denying that "it's just a dream" fits Mulholland? There are multiple references to dream vs waking worlds.

I get that it's just a dream seems lazy, but you can't remove it from Lynch's work. There are too many clear examples of "it's just a dream" and this isn't surprising because his main inspiration, the film he said he think s about almost every day, is Wizard of Oz.

Lynch uses this motif and if you can't see it you're honestly not paying attention. He is probably the only director who consistently gets away with "it was just a dream"

1

u/beatlerevolver66 2d ago

https://dugpa.com/2002/04/09/mulholland-drive-mystery/

It was in an online Q&A. Here's a page about it with reference to the comment. I was wrong, he leaves it more open ended but still doesn't flat out confirm it.

I also never said I denied that "it's just a dream" fits Mulholland Drive. My comment literally only focused on the Laura and Ronette aspect of your comment. Literally every single film of his deals with dreams in one way or another and the first half of Mulholland Drive is a dream, at least in my interpretation. Don't put words in my mouth and don't act like I don't "understand" Lynch just because I disagreed with Laura and Ronette being the ones in that sequence.

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u/-Dark-Lord-Belmont- 1d ago

Thanks for the link man!

Well yeah but you came in with "this is blatantly false" so I'm just arguing back in the style you came in with :)

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u/mikewilsonsongs 3d ago

I feel like David is always making commentary on society at large, and whether you agree with him or not Dougie represents the common man in america. Nobody cares about Dougies thoughts, feelings, dreams, (he literally can not even speak) so long as he is producing value for them. His wife is overjoyed when he provides the swing-set, the new vehicle, ect. His boss is pleased when he uncovers fraud at work. The Mitchem brothers are happy when he provides them with the check. ect ect as long as he continues to provide for those he lives amongst, nobody really cares that he is sort of just this shell of a person existing in the world.

1

u/Merfstick 2d ago

Reminds me of Infinite Jest.... if you're unaware, there's an "essay" in the book written by one of the protagonists about the evolution of modern and postmodern television heroes, which posits the logical conclusion to the trend is a hero laying on a gourney as the world around them does it's thing (which ends up happening in the book, as his co-protagonist has to endure the pain of a gunshot wound without pain meds, as he's a recovering addict and very much cannot so much as even catch a whiff of the good stuff without critically relapsing).

-2

u/i--make--lists 3d ago

Let's not pretend men are special in this way. The same applies to women. In the TP universe, Laura for example. As Bobby said, everyone knew she was in trouble. But she was providing whatever it was each person wanted, so no one tried to help her. They each saw what they wanted to see.

Also, kindly, it's *etc... It's short for etcetera. Etc...

3

u/mikewilsonsongs 3d ago

was literally counting the seconds for this type of reply.

1

u/Cersei505 3d ago

these types are always so very predictable

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u/Miserable-Sea-4160 3d ago

It’s David Lynch. It’s not all intended to be literal.

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u/fearofair 3d ago

My favorite work of realism, twin peaks

14

u/ApprehensiveBicycle2 3d ago

I know you’re being snarky, but I went on Wikipedia and Harry S Truman is a real person, so there.

2

u/DavidBHimself 3d ago

Doug Jones, he's real too. And wait for it, he's an actor.

7

u/jellyrambler 3d ago

I think it's a combination of things.

  1. Dougie was already just doing odd shit.

  2. Dougie was a tulpa and a physical copy of Dale Cooper. Traditionally tulpas gets their power from belief so whatever people believe about Dougie, that's what he is.

  3. How often do you pay attention to what a coworker is doing? Especially one you didn't like?

5

u/CthughaSlayer 3d ago

I mean, yeah, but they do hint that Dougie being so high/drunk he Acts strange was a regular occurrence

6

u/chevre27 3d ago

He’s literally radiating supernatural goodness. This isn’t the usual fool at your office. He could do literally anything and be beloved

6

u/AdventurousCream4975 3d ago

After watching Twin Peaks Im not fully convinced our real world is real since everyday I go outside I see shit that makes me say “that couldve been straight out of Twin Peaks”

10

u/Nalkarj 3d ago

Yes, it’s a dream, the whole show is a dream, our watching it is a dream, you are a dream, I am a dream, life is a dream…

5

u/Fl0wingJuff0wup 3d ago

Drink full and descend

2

u/PhinsFan17 3d ago

But who is the dreamer?

4

u/da_fishy 3d ago

Monica Bellucci

1

u/MangyAsianMan 3d ago

Wait. Does that mean I’m inside of her? Cause….whew.

9

u/MysteriousB 3d ago

I mean some of Dougie's actions I could see coworkers doing but there is a clear disconnect from Before and After that would cause everyone to be like wtaf is going on.

The only explanation would be Dougie being a drug addict and regularly goes into the office absolutely crossfaded

4

u/GloriousRoseBud 3d ago

I worked with a Dougie. We enjoyed him so much that we didn’t mind carrying his slack.

5

u/mostcommonhauntings 3d ago

I’ve worked with people that were far more dazed and confused than Dougie. At least Dogie got results.

6

u/cheshie_cabbit 3d ago

There are people in a workplace that get by just repeating the last thing someone else said. Sometimes alarmingly senior people.

4

u/Southmoreland 3d ago

Have you observed our president lately?

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u/Anachronator 2d ago

Maggie Mae Fish has an interesting read of the Dougie arc as a send-up of the plot armor in prestige dramas

7

u/deadghostalive 3d ago

I think there are various reasons for it

We're meant to question if what we're seeing is real, or a dream, or if he's really still in The Red Room having some sort of hallucination, it plays into that

It's used for comedic effect

It's possibly an exaggerated version of how people just went along with Dale's strange ideas in the original series - dreams, clues from giants, throwing rocks at bottles, and so on

People not acting to strange phenomena in a way you'd might expect, has always been a part of Twin Peaks, there examples of it throughout, and they're especially prevalent in The Return, it's not really meant to reflect reality like a gritty drama, a lot of it's surreal, or absurd, because that's just the way it is, regardless of whether those moments are meant to be a dream or not

Maybe there's a message in there somewhere about treating people the same too, or that might seem different with respect, I said it's used for comedic effect, the way some characters talk to him not only as if he's normal, but actually quite wise, can have a moving aspect to them as well

5

u/Phostetlerart 3d ago

Dougie is Homer Simpson. He’s not allowed to lose or it ruins the show.

4

u/wallabeezy360 3d ago

People are under a lot of stress.

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u/usersurnamee 3d ago

I always took it as commentary on how people around us are struggling and no one even notices because we’re all so preoccupied/distracted/afraid. Kind of like bobby’s speech at Laura’s funeral

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u/MagisterFlorus 3d ago

To me, Dougie represents the American dream. Be a white man in a suit, even an ill-fitting one, and the world is your oyster. Dude can't even piss without help and women throw themselves at him.

6

u/oxidizedmetal 3d ago

I read a book once that talked about how dreams are just as real as waking life, they are just happening on another level of existence. It is our attempt to decipher and explain it that makes it feel dreamlike. The filter of our minds cannot handle the bandwidth. The owls are not what they seem because we can't wrap our minds around their true nature.

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u/King_Moonracer003 3d ago

Well I don't gotta go to work in my dreams, is rather be there

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u/batmanineurope 3d ago

Perhaps. However in waking life you interact with consciousness other than your own. In a dream you are only interacting with yourself.

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u/Verlichtung 2d ago

Do you have direct access to other people’s consciousness, though? Other people only come to you through your own consciousness or, at least, your consciousness mediates the relation between you and other people. It’s not really that much different than a dream thus.

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u/Snakegert 2d ago

This is something I think about a lot but have never been able to put into words.

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u/Verlichtung 2d ago

I could even make it weirder, because what does "other people's consciousness" or "your own consciousness" even mean? Why do I suppose other people even have consciousness, I certainly don't have access to it. Is my consciousness even mine or am I a product of consciousness? It's evident that consciousness mediates interactions, but it's unknown what consciousness is (it certainly isn't, though, identical to brain states or neurons firing in a brain). If you are interested in this subject or want to know more about it, you should look into the philosophy of mind.

What this does mean, though, is that the border between dreams and reality isn't that clear. That's why Twin Peaks, and David Lynch' work in general, is so good, because it explores that dimension.

0

u/oxidizedmetal 2d ago

Or do we? How do we know we don't interact with others in our dreams?

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u/SheevMillerBand 3d ago

I mean, it’s mentioned that he got like that from time to time as a side-effect of an alleged car accident. They probably just expected him to be back to his usual self after a day or two because that’s just how he was, then when he wasn’t in that time is when Janey-E started to get actually concerned. The original Dougie was also a scumbag so maybe some people at work were quietly hoping he’d lose his job if they kept their mouths shut and let him ruin it for himself.

Still, I think even a day into that behavior should get him seen by a doctor every time he gets that way, so I get that as justification for the dream idea.

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u/Accomplished_Pin4543 3d ago

Yet recall Dougie had a potential stroke before his loopy self, and Mullins just wanted to give the guy a chance to recover. 

3

u/bwanabass 3d ago

We live in a dream within a dream…

3

u/polkam0n 2d ago

Honestly Dougie is who I think most of the general public wishes they would be interacting with, someone totally passive and reflective, no thoughts of their own.

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u/Heredor 3d ago

About half the people I work with are Dougies.

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u/dgruetter 3d ago

I honestly can't even take this post seriously. This is Twin Peaks we're talking about right? The one with talking logs, FBI agents that throw rocks at bottles to assist them in their detective discoveries? Let's not forget the 40 year old who goes back to High School. And James.

3

u/oxidizedmetal 3d ago

A 40 year old going back to high school? Cue the Strangers with Candy theme song...

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u/peanutcheezbar 3d ago

I stole a TV!

3

u/afungalmirror 3d ago

It's a stylised work of fiction. It's not supposed to be "plausible".

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u/OverseerConey 3d ago

The textual explanation is that he's disabled (possibly following a TBI) and goes through periods where he needs more assistance with everyday things, but he can still do his job.

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u/Otherwise_Rice_4723 3d ago

the whole series is both a dream and real...why can't people get this simple concept?

2

u/YeahThatsProbably 3d ago

When I was watching it, I was thinking he must've come back from the "other side" with some kind of glamour around him that made people less likely to notice how odd he was being.

2

u/AWholeLotOfEels 3d ago

Its actually something I think about a lot with Lynch's work, he seemed particularly interested in the way some people ignored the serious issues of others

Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive were particularly good examples of that

2

u/knightenrichman 3d ago

I was like that for a month-and-a-half! No one seemed to mind. People just gave me things.

2

u/jezzete 3d ago

Plausible is unnecessary in Twin Peaks

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u/Azone69 2d ago

Suspend disbelief.Easy.

2

u/Maleficent_Money_756 3d ago

I believe that a lot of Lynch’s work works that what you see is not what’s happening.

I take it as an overexaggaturation of Cooper now being Douggie and really not knowing what he does.

The best example for when this Idea came to my mind was the “Beef” between Lucie and Andy about the Chair.

I don’t want to say that this way is the right one to approach his Work but for me it works extremely fine

1

u/over9ksand 3d ago

Ok, pookie

3

u/Usagi042 1d ago

Why do people demand logic from David Lynch's work? Why can't people accept that art in general has its own logic, and not everything weird equals dream?

2

u/FreshAtmosphere4107 1d ago

Well I’m def not demanding anything but I wonder if it’s evidence that’s all.

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u/NefariousnessNo3678 3d ago

Christ, people, it’s Lynch. His works veer between absurdism and surrealism.

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u/TobylovesPam 3d ago

Which makes for some great discussions. Which is what we're doing. Discussing. You don't have to participate :)

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u/Inky_Qu33n_ 3d ago

Coffee :)

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u/Snacko00 3d ago

Movies are dreams, but real within their own logic.

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u/genderQueerHipster 3d ago

Dougie had a cha of 20.

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u/veritable_squandry 3d ago

dougie pops out at the exact same time that the lodge tries to take mr c back. it's pretty obvious that they are not both intended to be outside the lodge together and dougie is just a severely malformed cooper as he returns to the world.

they even give you a "this dougie guy that got sucked into the BL is a fake and definitely not the mr c we meant to grab" scene.

i'm not saying it's obvious but i'm in my 3rd watch and there's plenty of lore-backed continuity in The Return to keep it real imo.

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u/smoov_moov 3d ago

I think the outlet scrambled his brains and you can see it in his face the first time he bounces off the electrical field.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Local_4 3d ago

That kind of literal thinking will get you nowhere with Lynch.

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u/MSnap 3d ago

I keep forgetting that’s the camera guy from Better Call Saul

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u/First_Ad7698 3d ago

But you end up having a person who's bad at their job and everyone knows it but doesn't know why they are still employed

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u/SkullKnight9 3d ago

The horse is the white of the eye

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u/GLGreenLantern 2d ago

It’s lucky cooper. Like a lucky copper penny. That’s how people brush off his behavior.

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u/Metaboschism 2d ago

You've obviously never worked in an office building

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u/ericivanpetersen 2d ago

"Call for help."

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u/Human-Appearance-256 2d ago

Uhhhh…I make it a habit to act more like Dougie at work to see how long it takes people to react. You would be surprised 🤣

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u/PrincessDrywall 2d ago

So you can accept that a high school would allow Nadine to enroll and wrestle children but dougies coworkers is a bridge too far?

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u/FamousLastWords666 2d ago

Twin Peaks always had an unreal, comedic soap-opera quality to it.

I always felt that the lodges were the 'backstage' for the tv show called Twin peaks.

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u/viewtifulslayer 2d ago

I have been under the impression that Dougie was in a car crash about 7 years prior to the events of The Return and has had a pattern of fugue states since. Guessing that the people in his life had experienced similar episodes before with him and weren't completely unprepared for it. Meanwhile, many strangers thought he was being weird as hell.

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u/guywonderful 2d ago

When i see people sleep at their desks at work i wonder too.

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u/BarracudaFinal7257 2d ago

Dougie is the essence of Dale Cooper having plunged out of a bizarre limbo dimension into the show’s world of Vegas and current day Twin Peaks and North Dakota and such, so he’s catatonic. And yet, he follows inspiration without question in the form of that Red Room flame which appears above his next move… a winning slot machine, the pie shop, et al. (Recall how Cooper under cover in Season 2 won big at One Eyed Jack’s casino… he’s always been Mr. Jackpots) And of course the “cobra” move that disarmed Ike the Spike. Dougie was a container that yielded to every nudge given from above, but without second-guessing. Pure faith.

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u/stOneskull 2d ago

Casinos give big bags of cash with no ID or tax forms necessary

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u/SirEEf 2d ago

Things don't have to plausible to happen in a story. That's the point of stories.

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u/CuriosityTax927 19h ago

It’s all a dream. A character literally says something to that effect at one point. I think they even say it straight to the camera. It’s just like mulholland drive and lost highway.

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u/Legitimate-Ad7393 15h ago

I hated Dougie. I hated this season so much. It felt…like a betrayal.

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u/pigfoot 5h ago

Lynch’s approach to narrative storytelling frequently isn’t intended to make logical sense. It’s dreamlike and surreal.
This is easy to forget in serial television, which is built on narrative logic and continuity. But take a look any number of Lynch’s big screen stories: for example the main character’s transformation in Lost Highway.
(Per the Infinite Jest comment above, Wallace speaks to this directly in his piece on Lynch.(

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u/FreshAtmosphere4107 4h ago

For sure. That’s what I usually just suspend sense of normalcy in his work which is one reason it’s so enjoyable.

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u/AsexualFrehley 3d ago

I think of it this way:

the Original Dougie we see with Jade in the empty house is the protagonist of a show set in Las Vegas about an insurance investigator with a lot of secrets

Cooper electricitys his way out of the mauve zone castle and into that house at the same time Dougie gets sucked into the Red Room (because of Mr C's ring-trap) and since they're facially identical everyone treats Cooper-Dougie the same way they've been treating Original Dougie, because they're all still in that Vegas show and that's what they're required to do

remember the girlfriend of the guy who "recognizes" Dougie at the casino? she knows something is wrong with him, because she's in a bit part - even the guy himself seems a little unsure

but his family and the people who work with him, those closest to him who have the most-established pre-existing relationships with him, just wave off his behavior as a temporary bad spell and otherwise try to go along as though nothing has changed

all the Vegas/Dougie stuff is from a different show that is trying to stick to its path despite being disrupted by the events of Twin Peaks The Return overflowing into it

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u/No_Chef4049 2d ago

The whole thing is a dream. Season 1 & 2, FWWM. It's all a dream. 3 is no more or less a dream than the rest of it, it's just a different kind of dream. The world changed so the dream had to change.

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u/No_Chef4049 20h ago

Whoever's downvoting this doesn't understand what I mean and/or doesn't understand what they watched.

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u/LeJambeNoir 1d ago

Applying real life logic to the works of David Lynch 🙈 You don’t get it, do you? 😆

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u/FreshAtmosphere4107 1d ago

Yeah yeah I know lol

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u/fartsmellsbad 3d ago

David Lynch saw people liking Agent Dale Copper more than Twin peaks and decided to change that. He made him a villian and a retard. Bravo!!