Support NeoGAF

[PolishQ]

DP.

Peter Deming.

 

[Linkin112]

I have a good feeling about this Sunday's episode. Hope a lot of things start to collide together from the plots that have been set up.

But with how Lynch works, this episode could just end up introducing about 4 more new plots and characters. I just want to Great Northern key to reach Twin Peaks.

 

[Cubas]

Kinda crazy how spot-on this rumour from 2012 was.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Bruh...

Twin Peaks S1 is cubism. It's emotionally evocative and instantly captivating, while also being surreal in a manner that both excites and unsettles.

S3 still has some good moments, but overall, it's more akin to the painter who shows off a blank canvas and says "This is art. I'm making a statement."

Listen to the most recent Idle Thumbs podcast for a pretty solid take on why patience is wearing thin (these guys ardently defended the previous episodes, but are starting to get tired of the BS): https://www.idlethumbs.net/twinpeaks/episodes/the-return-part-6

Listening to Jake Rodkin try to finish a sentence is more drawn out and painful than anything in Twin Peaks.

Edit: Good podcast though.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Listen to the most recent Idle Thumbs podcast for a pretty solid take on why patience is wearing thin (these guys ardently defended the previous episodes, but are starting to get tired of the BS): https://www.idlethumbs.net/twinpeaks/episodes/the-return-part-6

I started this podcast on the launch of Season 3 (The Return, whatever we're calling it...) and both hosts seem to miss some key things that people could spot on the first watch. They seem out of their element with 'fresh' content versus years & years of rewatches.

 

[Vyse The Legend]

I mean, when the little person assassin comes for Dougie, Coop will have to:

1. Snap out of it enough to avoid death.
2. Be saved by someone else, possibly Naomi Watts.
3. Die a horrible Red Wedding-esque death.

So, yeah, regardless of what happens it is going to be a pivotal moment in the return or lack thereof of Cooper. And that scene is likely coming this weekend or next (before the July 4th break).

 

[DJ Gunner]

I was actually going to make a post about the owl ring and Mike but I never got around to it. That ring seems to be very important and is tied to Mike. He may ahve created it. Anyone who wears it arm goes numb. Teresa, Laura, and Dougie. Chet Desmond disappears when he touches it or so it seems.

The ring protects you from Bob. Laura is given the ring in a dream. It saved Laura from possession by Bob that is why he kills her.

The last person to have it was the real Dougie and Mike took it from him when Dougie was turned into a gold ball. I assume Dougie had it to protect himself from Bob. I suspect the next person to own the ring will be Rain Coop to protect him from DoppelCoop and Bob.

I will straight up admit to not being as hardcore or learned as many fans, but I've never understood this interpretation of the ring being for protection. I've always taken it to mean you're marked. Marked for death, or worse, in most known cases. Banks wears the ring and dies. Laura sees the ring in a dream and Cooper specifically tells her not to take it. Desmond touches it and vanishes, never to be heard from again. Now we know Dougie had it- but we don't even know the full scoop behind Dougie. I mean, yes it seems obvious Bob (or the evil Arm, or who knows) created him to prevent Mr. C from being taken back into the lodge. Which is fine, but how does that tie in to protecting Dougie from Bob? All we know for sure, all we see- is that Dougie ceases to exist. As does, in one form or another, everyone who comes in contact with that ring.

Am I missing a big piece of the puzzle here?

 

[VistraNorrez]

What I was trying to say was that this isn't the type of production that always allows for that kind of spontaneous creativity, that you can't use that to explain bad special effects when they might have been made by the VFX company.

I'm not the one suggesting that technical expertise is the enemy of creativity. I'm also not saying that the creators can't view the work as personal, it's just not the kind of work where of them could claim full ownership. The more conspiratorial the plot gets, the more it feels like Lynch is making a concession to his co-creator. There are scenes in this show that look like the kind of stuff Lynch would HATE to film, especially since the realities of TV production forced him to back down on his stance on product placement. The goofy hacking sequence brought to you by Microsoft® Surface™ might have been the most painfully unLynchian thing I've ever seen.

Collaborations are collaborations for a reason. Frost and Lynch share the Twin Peaks universe. It is personal to both of them. They both bring different things to the table and understand to get TP you have to have both of those POVs. That doesn't make it any less personal. Compromise doesn't make art any less personal. A suggestion from somewhere outside yourself doesn't make it less personal.

We know Lynch thinks of getting ideas as catching fish.
Which is to say they come from out there somewhere and it's up to you to find them and use them. No one is without influence and people have these hard to explain connections to one another. That's a lot of words to say collaboration can be personal and shared. It's weird how art can do that.

As for product placement. Lynch has clearly had to change his mind on it. Whatever. I get it. I don't like it, but it's not too out of the norm. It's products where they should be.

By the way a thread on the Twin Peaks Reddit goes into product placement and someone captured a shot of a close-up of an Apple Macintosh portable in the original series. Season 2 episode 11, btw. Not too different from that Microsoft surface close-up.

 

[PolishQ]

I will straight up admit to not being as hardcore or learned as many fans, but I've never understood this interpretation of the ring being for protection. I've always taken it to mean you're marked. Marked for death, or worse, in most known cases. Banks wears the ring and dies. Laura sees the ring in a dream and Cooper specifically tells her not to take it. Desmond touches it and vanishes, never to be heard from again. Now we know Dougie had it- but we don't even know the full scoop behind Dougie. I mean, yes it seems obvious Bob (or the evil Arm, or who knows) created him to prevent Mr. C from being taken back into the lodge. Which is fine, but how does that tie in to protecting Dougie from Bob? All we know for sure, all we see- is that Dougie ceases to exist. As does, in one form or another, everyone who comes in contact with that ring.

Am I missing a big piece of the puzzle here?

The ring SEEMS TO have the effect of preventing Bob from possessing a person. But this could merely be a side effect. I haven't fully processed the ring's role in season 3 yet (or in the Secret History novel), but from FWWM I got the impression that its main purpose was to claim a soul as belonging to Mike/The Arm. Once Laura puts it on she belongs to Mike, and Bob can no longer inhabit her. Possibly, this also means that he is commanded to kill her ("fell a victim") and then deliver the resulting garmonbozia to Mike. All in all, it's very unclear whether the ring is "good". It's a matter of perspective, I suppose. Perhaps death is preferable to possession.

I imagine Bob tired of this subservient relationship, and his desire to possess Laura was partly so that he could escape the Lodge's control. But that's a whole other subject.

 

[jay]

I may be at a point of giving up on this season. None of the character development I liked from season 1 is present, everything I find indulgent and bad from the movie is. Characters with personalities and motivations interacting with each other is just infinitely more interesting than convoluted mystery purposefully presented in a nearly indecipherable manner.

 

[Dan-o]

As for product placement. Lynch has clearly had to change his mind on it. Whatever. I get it. I don't like it, but it's not too out of the norm. It's products where they should be.

Agreed.
I also find it really funny when people complain about stuff like the Surface in the show (barely recognizable unless you happen to recognize the modern Windows logo, and I even saw discussions online where people thought he was using some 90's era laptop because of what was actually on screen), when Apple or Samsung's shit is all over pretty much every TV show of the last 10 years.

I mean, at least it's not this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCh4gnIcJEM

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

It's weird to me that this episode was the breaking point for so many people. It had some awful scenes, like randomly throwing a dead kid at the audience, but Cooper made a ton of progress, Hawk most likely just found pages from Laura's diary, and we're heading to a major collision between Cooper and a psychotic hitman. It was probably one of the most grounded and plot-advancing episodes yet.

 

[Flipyap]

Collaborations are collaborations for a reason. Frost and Lynch share the Twin Peaks universe. It is personal to both of them. They both bring different things to the table and understand to get TP you have to have both of those POVs. That doesn't make it any less personal. Compromise doesn't make art any less personal. A suggestion from somewhere outside yourself doesn't make it less personal.

We know Lynch thinks of getting ideas as catching fish.
Which is to say they come from out there somewhere and it's up to you to find them and use them. No one is without influence and people have these hard to explain connections to one another. That's a lot of words to say collaboration can be personal and shared. It's weird how art can do that.

As for product placement. Lynch has clearly had to change his mind on it. Whatever. I get it. I don't like it, but it's not too out of the norm. It's products where they should be.

By the way a thread on the Twin Peaks Reddit goes into product placement and someone captured a shot of a close-up of an Apple Macintosh portable in the original series. Season 2 episode 11, btw. Not too different from that Microsoft surface close-up.

I feel like we're talking about different things. The originally quoted part of my post was referring to the idea that everything in this show looks the way it does due to Lynch's singular vision and his own style, which simply can't be the case due to the nature of collaborations (parts of it, sure, but it can't be used to deflect all criticism).
Twin Peaks as a whole is shared between Frost and Lynch, it's important to both of them and I'm not saying that the partnership somehow makes it a lesser work, but we know for a fact that both creators care to varying degrees about different aspects of their co-creation.

That Macintosh didn't appear in a Lynch episode, so it's a bit different, and I wouldn't say that the Surface appeared where it should have.
Literally everything else about Doop's comical hacker setup suggests that Lynch wanted to film his preferred kind of technology - "old timey," boxy, tactile. You've got this thick banged up leather case, a large box with wires coming out of it connected to a landline... and a sterile close-up of a pristine new tablet?
Obviously, not all product placement is equal. For example, the shots of car logos still gave us attractive shots. Close-ups of the surface or the Wall O'Dells... not so much.

 

[dan2026]

I think this might be loosing me a bit.
I feel like shit is happening all the time, while at the same time nothing really happens.

I think I am becoming tired of brain addled Cooper as well. It's cute, but I already feel it's gone on too long.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

We've only had recovering Coop for 3 1/2 episodes.

Patience.

 

[dan2026]

We've only had recovering Coop for 3 1/2 episodes.

Patience.

That's three and a half hours dude.
These aren't short episodes.

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

It's weird to me that this episode was the breaking point for so many people. It had some awful scenes, like randomly throwing a dead kid at the audience, but Cooper made a ton of progress, Hawk most likely just found pages from Laura's diary, and we're heading to a major collision between Cooper and a psychotic hitman. It was probably one of the most grounded and plot-advancing episodes yet.

The kid dying was the highlight of the episode. It was a powerful scene, made Horne an instant super heel and laid down all sorts of potential plots

I really liked the episode.

 

[Zach]

I've watched the first three episodes a second time now. Probably gonna watch more tonight. It's a lot of fun, and clearer, on rewatch. Really happy with how the show is turning out.

 

[Man with Knife]

The kid dying was the highlight of the episode. It was a powerful scene, made Horne an instant super heel and laid down all sorts of potential plots

It was tasteless, like so much else in the new Twin Peaks. Lynch is a weird old man with violence and bubble butts on his mind. Living proof that decades of meditation don't necessarily amount to anything.

 

[CelticKnight]

It's weird to me that this episode was the breaking point for so many people. It had some awful scenes, like randomly throwing a dead kid at the audience, but Cooper made a ton of progress, Hawk most likely just found pages from Laura's diary, and we're heading to a major collision between Cooper and a psychotic hitman. It was probably one of the most grounded and plot-advancing episodes yet.

Problem is it's hard to get excited for something like that with the pace of the show. For example, when Albert told Cole he "knew where she drinks" people were like "oh shit, do we finally get to see Diane!?!"... and the next episode rolls around and there's no sign of Cole, Albert or Diane.

 

[Jocund]

It's the time of season when we start to fall apart

 

[Adam_Vania]

It was tasteless, like so much else in the new Twin Peaks. Lynch is a weird old man with violence and bubble butts on his mind. Living proof that decades of meditation don't necessarily amount to anything.

sex and violence are mainstays in all of human culture. try to find a single TV show or movie that doesn't have copious amounts of both. yes he is weird yet a million cops shows about dead sex workers is normal.

you may be confused about the purpose of meditation. a lot of people are. it is about observing the observer. it is not about emptying you of all thoughts.

it is about the weird thoughts that go into your head, that are in all of our heads. it is about relinquishing control, realizing that you don't actually have total control of your mind, and seeing things that pop up, bubbling up from the culture, seeing them as worldly things, noting that they exist but aren't necessarily created by you.

 

[3rdman]

I've watched the first three episodes a second time now. Probably gonna watch more tonight. It's a lot of fun, and clearer, on rewatch. Really happy with how the show is turning out.

So much THIS. I'd argue that all of Lynch's works are more coherent a second time around...hell, the first Lynch film I saw was Blue Velvet and I hated it with a passion...little by little, I'd watch pieces of it and over time "learned" how to watch it. It's now an all-time favorite as is most of Lynch's works. Present day TP is no different....Although I've been enjoying them from the start, I do find rewatches much more enjoyable and, with Lynch, there is always more to dig into.

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

It was tasteless, like so much else in the new Twin Peaks. Lynch is a weird old man with violence and bubble butts on his mind. Living proof that decades of meditation don't necessarily amount to anything.

It's not tasteless, it's impactful. Having it be off camera doesn't make the show better.

 

[dan2026]

So who was the magic drug dealer guy with the coin?
I feel I am loosing track of all these characters.

 

[sappyday]

So who was the magic drug dealer guy with the coin?
I feel I am loosing track of all these characters.

A character that will obviously be expanded on in later episodes. But at this time we just know he's most likely in charge of this new drug that is going around Twin Peaks.

 

[PolishQ]

So who was the magic drug dealer guy with the coin?
I feel I am loosing track of all these characters.

His name's Red. We've only seen him once before, making eyes at Shelly in the very first Roadhouse scene.

 

[The Jackdog]

That's three and a half hours dude.
These aren't short episodes.

id totally agree if this season was 10 episodes.

as it stands im willing to see where it goes

 

[Adam_Vania]

imo the entire season is an 18 hour episode called "The Return".

 

[dan2026]

id totally agree if this season was 10 episodes.

as it stands im willing to see where it goes

Well so am I. I am just a bit worried.

 

[sappyday]

So much THIS. I'd argue that all of Lynch's works are more coherent a second time around...hell, the first Lynch film I saw was Blue Velvet and I hated it with a passion...little by little, I'd watch pieces of it and over time "learned" how to watch it. It's now an all-time favorite as is most of Lynch's works. Present day TP is no different....Although I've been enjoying them from the start, I do find rewatches much more enjoyable and, with Lynch, there is always more to dig into.

Yea very much this. Just rewatching the first 3 episodes helps a lot in understanding the stuff that is going on. I don't know but for me everything is straight forward so far.

The only things that don't make sense are the supernatural/surreal elements but it's always like this, The same thing happened with the original run and even other Lynch movies. You don't understand what the hell that dirty bum is about in the beginning of Mulholland Dr but you sort of do at the end of it.

There is 3 storylines going on. Dougie/Coop's return (anything that has to do with Dougie over in Vegas, and even the Hawk scenes), DoopCoop's storyline (the FBI stuff and the Buckhorn stuff falls in here), and Twin Peaks itself.

Everything will connect with each other I believe. Coop is gonna have to eventually do something about DoopCoop, and Coop will eventually have to do something with Richard and Linda who are both located in Twin Peaks.


I understand folks not liking the pacing and even the production (the extras and some of the special effects are bad) but the storylines themselves seem straightforward. Do I want to Coop to return? Of course but I'm not expecting it soon and I'm okay with that cause even though Dougie/Coop himself isn't all that interesting, the situation he's in is.

 

[MrCunningham]

I love Dougie's ridiculous one liners haha

How does Kyle do it

I think Kyle MacLachlan has been knocking it out of the park for this revival. He is showcasing quite a bit of range between Dougie and the Doppelganger.

Spoiler

The death of the original Dougie that Cooper took the place of was just bonkers.

I think I am enjoying Twin Peaks season 3 more so than any other show on TV right now. There are a few rough spots here and there, but overall, this show is very unpredictable and subverts viewer expectations at just about every corner.

 

[VistraNorrez]

One of the reasons I appreciate Mulholland Dr so much is it taught me to enjoy everyone scene for what it was. Don't worry so much about how it all adds up. Stay in the moment so when it's all done you can properly reflect on what you just saw. If you focus your mind on trying to connect the dots of what you are currently watching you are going to miss things.

That's not to say turn your brain off, just relax, stay focused on what's in front of you and take it in. Your mind will do a much better job of connecting things that way.

 

[Adam_Vania]

Well so am I. I am just a bit worried.

im not worried at all. i love the pacing. by the time he comes out of it the wait will have been worth it. if he doesn't come out of it and it's a massive twist instead it will be worth it.

Lynch is at the helm, i'm sticking by him for the long haul. if this was in establishment hands Cooper would have returned in the first episode and grabbed a coffee and said his catchphrase and there would be no mystery left. like the second half of season 2 it would feel hollow and pointless.

this is not how Lynch works. anyone who has seen FWWM and still expects him to not completely upend audience expectations is a fool

 

[PolishQ]

Ooh Criterion is putting out the new David Lynch documentary in September!

 

[dead souls]

Problem is it's hard to get excited for something like that with the pace of the show. For example, when Albert told Cole he "knew where she drinks" people were like "oh shit, do we finally get to see Diane!?!"... and the next episode rolls around and there's no sign of Cole, Albert or Diane.

Yep. There are interesting things that happen in almost every episode, it's just too bad that they're surrounded by 40+ minutes of soul destroying tedium.

 

[Blader]

Ooh Criterion is putting out the new David Lynch documentary in September!

I think you can stream it on Prime later this month too.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

The kid dying was the highlight of the episode. It was a powerful scene, made Horne an instant super heel and laid down all sorts of potential plots

I really liked the episode.

Different strokes, I guess. I really liked the episode too, but I thought that scene was one of the worst yet. It was as openly and artificially manipulative as a laugh track.

Besides, Rich was already established as the lowest of the low with his cartoonishly evil "I'm going to laugh while I fuck you!" introduction. It's like Lynch is going down a checklist of amateur insta-villain cliches. Maybe he'll kick a puppy next episode.

Problem is it's hard to get excited for something like that with the pace of the show. For example, when Albert told Cole he "knew where she drinks" people were like "oh shit, do we finally get to see Diane!?!"... and the next episode rolls around and there's no sign of Cole, Albert or Diane.

Fair point, but at least the show is moving forward.

 

[Dan-o]

imo the entire season is an 18 hour episode called "The Return".

Pretty much. I interpret it as "the return" of Dale Cooper, not "the return" of the show itself.

Dale's not breaking free of his current state until Part 17 or Part 18, y'all. Just you wait.

 

[The perfect Dark]

Pretty much. I interpret it as "the return" of Dale Cooper, not "the return" of the show itself.

Dale's not breaking free of his current state until Part 17 or Part 18, y'all. Just you wait.

But how will he survive? There's a killer.....

Spoiler

he needs a new weapon though

I'm pretty sure braindead Coop transforms to normal Coop very soon.
"the return" can also mean "return to Twin Peaks"

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

But how will he survive? There's a killer.....

Spoiler

he needs a new weapon though

I'm pretty sure braindead Coop transforms to normal Coop very soon.
"the return" can also mean "return to Twin Peaks"

Dougie's ex-boxer boss is going to throw down with the assassin.

 

[Intheflorsh]

But how will he survive? There's a killer.....

Spoiler

he needs a new weapon though

I'm pretty sure braindead Coop transforms to normal Coop very soon.
"the return" can also mean "return to Twin Peaks"

There's a third doppelganger, duh

 

[Net_Wrecker]

One of the reasons I appreciate Mulholland Dr so much is it taught me to enjoy everyone scene for what it was. Don't worry so much about how it all adds up. Stay in the moment so when it's all done you can properly reflect on what you just saw. If you focus your mind on trying to connect the dots of what you are currently watching you are going to miss things.

That's not to say turn your brain off, just relax, stay focused on what's in front of you and take it in. Your mind will do a much better job of connecting things that way.

Basically. I think some of the frustration simply stems from this show not having neatly snipped episode arcs. It's a vignette style of storytelling (not new for Lynch) that's building towards something, maybe multiple things, but not always using traditionally satisfying story beats every 60 minutes. Sometimes things occur 20/30/40 minutes into episodes that would close the ep on another show. Hell, we've already seen the Diane build and reveal be strewn across multiple episodes without the typical "DUN DUN DUNNNNNN" dramatic payoff that it would've gotten from literally any other show on TV. These are pieces of a whole that are slowly coming together, but scene to scene atmosphere takes priority over a clear procedural and dramatic throughline.

 

[The perfect Dark]

Dougie's ex-boxer boss is going to throw down with the assassin.

hahaha, awesome.

There's a third doppelganger, duh

But he's in prison.

 

[Flipyap]

Pretty much. I interpret it as "the return" of Dale Cooper, not "the return" of the show itself.

Mainly you should interpret it as a marketing tagline, only slightly more "official" than the nonsensical German episode titles. According to the creators, it's just "Twin Peaks."

Besides, Rich was already established as the lowest of the low with his cartoonishly evil "I'm going to laugh while I fuck you!" introduction. It's like Lynch is going down a checklist of amateur insta-villain cliches. Maybe he'll kick a puppy next episode.

And then what? Is the stupid mutt going to kill itself because it couldn't take being a puppy?

(Chad is wayyy worse than Little Dicky)

 

[Airola]

Basically. I think some of the frustration simply stems from this show not having neatly snipped episode arcs. It's a vignette style of storytelling (not new for Lynch) that's building towards something, maybe multiple things, but not always using traditionally satisfying story beats every 60 minutes. Sometimes things occur 20/30/40 minutes into episodes that would close the ep on another show. Hell, we've already seen the Diane build and reveal be strewn across multiple episodes without the typical "DUN DUN DUNNNNNN" dramatic payoff that it would've gotten from literally any other show on TV. These are pieces of a whole that are slowly coming together, but scene to scene atmosphere takes priority over a clear procedural and dramatic throughline.

The Diane scene puzzles me. What was the point in the way that was done?

First they told they need to find someone and they know where she drinks. So, there's some sort of a mystery, but not really in any other way than that maybe superfans want to discuss if the woman is Diane. No other viewers really care.

Then nothing about that happens in the next episode.

In the next episode Albert goes to a bar where he ominously reveals he's looking for Diane, which, again, is not interesting to anyone else than the superfans.
We see the back of her head. The superfans anticipate who plays Diane. THe actress likely doesn't interest anyone else.

Then she slowly turns her head.
We see Laura Dern and that gets the superfans so excited. But there isn't anything more to it. She just says "hi, Albert" and that's it. And that it's Laura Dern.

It's as if the whole mystery about Diane was made for the superfans of both Twin Peaks and David Lynch. The Twin Peaks fans could be interested in seeing Diane but only Lynch superfans are interested that it's Laura Dern.

So, what's the point?



Personally for me that reveal was an anti-climax. Dern was expected and I was hoping for more surprising casting like Watts being Dougie's wife and Chrysta Bell being Tamara Preston. Everyone thought Bell would be a minor character somewhere and everyone was expecting Watts to be... well... something else than a normal housewife

Oh well, I'm not a Dern fan anyway so that could be one of the reasons I wasn't so excited about that reveal.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

And then what? Is the stupid mutt going to kill itself because it couldn't take being a puppy?

(Chad is wayyy worse than Little Dicky)

Chad is like Statler and Waldorf crossed with 4chan.

 

[Fuu]

The Diane scene puzzles me. What was the point in the way that was done?

First they told they need to find someone and they know where she drinks. So, there's some sort of a mystery, but not really in any other way than that maybe superfans want to discuss if the woman is Diane. No other viewers really care.

Then nothing about that happens in the next episode.

In the next episode Albert goes to a bar where he ominously reveals he's looking for Diane, which, again, is not interesting to anyone else than the superfans.
We see the back of her head. The superfans anticipate who plays Diane. THe actress likely doesn't interest anyone else.

Then she slowly turns her head.
We see Laura Dern and that gets the superfans so excited. But there isn't anything more to it. She just says "hi, Albert" and that's it. And that it's Laura Dern.

It's as if the whole mystery about Diane was made for the superfans of both Twin Peaks and David Lynch. The Twin Peaks fans could be interested in seeing Diane but only Lynch superfans are interested that it's Laura Dern.

So, what's the point?



Personally for me that reveal was an anti-climax. Dern was expected and I was hoping for more surprising casting like Watts being Dougie's wife and Chrysta Bell being Tamara Preston. Everyone thought Bell would be a minor character somewhere and everyone was expecting Watts to be... well... something else than a normal housewife

Oh well, I'm not a Dern fan anyway so that could be one of the reasons I wasn't so excited about that reveal.

I think a Diane reveal is justified on the basis that even non-superfans who watched the show would be somewhat shocked to finally see the woman Cooper was referring to whenever he recorded his tapes.

She wasn't exactly a mystery per se, but he does mention her name a lot in the original show and she never appears, so I don't think you'd need to be super into it to feel intrigued. I couldn't care less about the actress playing her either since I purposely didn't keep up with casting news, but it was still a cool scene for me in a "oh wow, that Diane!" sort of way.

 

[The perfect Dark]

Chad is like Windom Earle. I hope he ends up in the lodge with Bob.

 

[VistraNorrez]

In regards to Diane, I'd also like to add we don't know where it's going yet. We are pretty sure they will take her to see Cooper's Doppelgänger, but we don't know how that will play out or what other role she will play. I imagine a Cooper and Diane reunion meeting too. The dramatic reveal is warranted because it's an appearance 27 years in the making. We can now put a face to that character.

Also, It's impossible at this time to say if anything is pointless. We have 12 more hours to see how plotlines unfold. But at the very least each scene is there to set a mood.