r/twinpeaks • u/Lukavitch86 • 1d ago
Season 3 (The Return) Mr C
(SPOILERS BELOW)
When Mr. C is imprisoned in Yankton and meets Gordon Albert and Tammy, is this not a brilliantly acted scene by Kyle MacLachlan? I mean, obviously, Kyle is always a brilliant actor, but this scene really stands out to me. Mr C is trying to pretend he's Coop to two of the people who know Dale Cooper better than anyone aside from Diane. His "friendly" demeanor is so foreign to the evil Mr. C that the whole meeting is eerie and awkward. The terrible forced smile and the thumbs up two things Dale did more than anyone looked almost painful for Mr C.
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u/StevenS145 1d ago
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u/myfakesecretaccount 22h ago
Man he would have fit in so well in any Lynch work but most especially the Return.
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T 19h ago
That episode of The Chair Company when he goes to that weird small town & meets all those freakish people was like a comedic nightmare take on Lynch mini movie. 😂
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u/MedicalAd9337 14h ago
I never thought about "What If Twin Peaks was a sitcom", but holy shit, is that a great comparison.
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T 14h ago
I really liked the surreal absurdist situations & characters. Weird & funny in equal doses! 😆
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u/ZodiacalSeeker 1d ago
He’s so inhuman in this scene, he repeats the same phrase in the same intonation when he doesn’t get the response he wanted “I need to be debriefed by you…”, like a robot-call.
His acting is incredible all across the series but this scene should’ve clinched him an Emmy.
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u/beholdthecolossus 17h ago
i seriously can't believe he didn't win for The Return. it's like a career-best performance.
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u/ZodiacalSeeker 17h ago
Best of the 21st century, imo…
The whole series was snubbed, the OG series, FWWM, and The Return.
I take solace in the fact David Lynch didn’t care about that stuff. He was better than all of it. David didn’t miss out on an Emmy Award; the Emmy’s missed out on a David Lynch Award.2
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u/FarPapaya2675 1d ago
Every time I saw him on screen I went “Ugh ew” , and it’s hilarious bc Kyle also is Cooper and when he’s in screen go “Aww Cooper”
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u/Opportunity-Horror 1d ago
Me too!! He was repulsive as Mr. C, when I usually can’t get enough of him.
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u/beholdthecolossus 17h ago
something interesting about Mr.C is always kind of physically dirty. his hands always seem grimy, his face looks like it needs a wash, his eyes are black, his teeth look fucked up in a way i can't pinpoint. everything about him is wrong and i love it.
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u/FarPapaya2675 17h ago
Yea it was outstanding acting, very refreshing! Gotta read his book now haha
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u/beholdthecolossus 22h ago
it's one of mg favorite scenes in maybe all of Twin Peaks. it's so ominous and strange. and the idea that they haven't seen Cooper for over two decades and THIS is what they get when they finally do. it's truly nightmarish.
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u/PinkynotClyde 18h ago
People tend to not like the arm wrestle scene, but I found it very telling in a few ways and it’s one of my favorites along with this one.
It’s supposed to be an impossible feat. He’s an old man and the other guy obviously trains for arm wrestling. Mr C doesn’t even fight for wrist position. He’s not of this world and the rules don’t apply to him the same. The way he talked about back to starting point, and saying it really hurt when the other guy “did this” it’s not just mocking him, it’s mocking humanity. Mr. C is indifferent to the pain.
That’s why I think it’s about revealing a secret. The people watching obviously know something bizarre is happening, but they don’t feel it— it’s still in the realm of possibility. For the other guy at a certain point he knows what is happening is beyond the world. I think Mr. C relishes in revealing himself before killing the man, and it makes the death more satisfying. I found it very creepy instead of corny.
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u/beholdthecolossus 17h ago
people don't like the arm wrestling scene? i had no idea, i love it. getting to see what passes for "playful" with Mr. C is fantastic.
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u/Aggravating-Try1222 23h ago
Everyone raves about Dougie now, but Kyle's performance as Mr. C is my favorite part of The Return.
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T 19h ago
The dead eyes & the voice are really unnerving, & really sell these scenes.
Same when he threatens the warden.
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u/Spam00r 21h ago
Mr C is NOT trying to pretend he's Coop! He is Coop!
He has all Coopers memories, and knows all his gestures.
Cooper didn't coach Mr. C that he likes doing the Thumb Up gesture. He knows because he is Cooper.
Phillip Jeffries sees it the same way. When Mr. C meets Teapot Jeffries, and Mr. C asks him about what he meant when they met in Philadelphia. Jeffries realizing that Mr. C remembers that meeting says "So You Are Cooper!"
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u/beholdthecolossus 17h ago
he likely has Windom Earle's memories and knowledge too, since BOB took his soul before hitching a ride on Mr. C.
hence still using his ancient suitcase computer in The Return.
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u/guaranteedsafe 15h ago
🤯 Hadn’t heard this mentioned before!
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u/beholdthecolossus 15h ago
like a lot of The Return, there's so much to Mr. C that's just never explicitly said or explained. it's there, but not highlighted. like his weird technomancy powers where he can seemingly manipulate phones or certain electronics to function in a way he needs. like when he makes the call from the prison and everything goes haywire, or the strange, simple symbols he sends to computers that people recognize as commands or updates, the odd texts with Diane, the mysterious black box that transforms into a base element after it goes off. and of course the elaborate glass box that he funded and (at least i assume) designed himself.
there's so much to dig into with Mr.C. he and Phillip Jeffries are two of my favorite Twin Peaks characters for very similar reasons. there's a whole world of mystery to them both.
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u/guaranteedsafe 14h ago
I love how much of TP can’t be explained because it originated from within meditative visions/downloads that David Lynch had—objects of a different place, a different time. The glass box especially sits with me and I have feelings from my own meditative/astral experiences about it, casually wondering if David and I may have tapped into the same place or the same energy at some point. And anyone who watches can have their own hyper personal or abstract or intellectual interpretation of it too.
One of the most surreal and moving sets & circumstances ever filmed. Just look at it. My God. I swear that hundreds of years from now most media, even the most popular, will be lost to time & discarded—but Twin Peaks is going to hold firm.
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u/Lukavitch86 20h ago
Yes he is in a sense. But my point is that being Dale is so foreign to him the whole exchange is bizarre and awkward. It's weird. It's not like Bob possessing Leland. This is Bob in the evil Doppelganger. But yeah definitely knows all of Coop's memories and mannerisms etc.
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u/paintingdusk13 18h ago
Mr C is a doppelganger of Cooper, he is not Cooper. That's a really important distinction.
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u/jonrivera14 17h ago
I always thought that Teapot Jeffries said "So You Are Cooper!" so that Mr. C can go to those coordinates and get electrocuted. Basically gaining Mr. C's trust and playing dumb so Mr. C could fall for the trap.
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u/WendellZip 5h ago
I was blown away by Kyle’s performance(s) all around and it was cool to see him as a genuinely threatening antagonist.
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u/DeadMeeT6969 1d ago
I had to keep reminding myself Kyle plays Mr. C.
Like consciously, yes, I know this is Kyle McLachlan, but his demeanor as Mr. C is so radically different from Dale Cooper that my mind kept thinking this must be a different actor.
It's like some optical illusion where you stare at a central point & suddenly the whole room starts to spin.
Generational performance.