MacLachlan has pointers for Twin Peaks finale
TORONTO — Kyle MacLachlan isn’t surprised to hear viewers were confounded by the finale of Twin Peaks.
“You heard the collective fork drop with the pie,” says MacLachlan, who over a span of 28 years has enjoyed damn fine desserts and coffee as eccentric FBI agent Dale Cooper.
The 58-year-old Washington state native was in Toronto Tuesday to talk about — but not exactly decipher — Sunday’s final episode of the series. Viewers who missed Showtime’s continuation of Twin Peaks can catch up with all 18 new episodes, as well as the original ABC seasons, on streaming service CraveTV.
While CraveTV makes bingewatching possible, MacLachlan cautions some viewers might find screening several episodes in a row as disorienting as a trip to the series’ nightmarish Black Lodge.
“Take a break between shows,” he suggests. “It’s a lot to absorb.”
Spoiler alert: The final scene finds Cooper — or an altered version of the steadfast FBI agent — standing on a darkened, residential street with a look-alike of the woman he’s been tracking all along: Laura Palmer (played by Sheryl Lee). Cooper’s original mission was to investigate Palmer’s murder. Their bizarre journey seems to come full circle 28 years later — or does it? Facing the house, now occupied by different owners, a bewildered Cooper staggers forward and asks, “What year is it?” Palmer lets rip with a loud, long, blood-curdling scream. Fade to black.
“We shot that very early in the production, we were in Seattle,” recalls MacLachlan of the shoot, which wrapped in April 2016.
“I had never been to the Palmer house,” the actor continues. “There was a wonderful little crowd of interested locals and neighbours who were gathered around. It was a little chilly; I remember because it was October by them. When Sheryl let out that scream, the neighbourhood cleared. It was frightening.”
MacLachlan, who saw the finale a day after it premièred, says he is still processing the message behind the madness. He thinks Lynch is asking a simple question: “Where are we now in this world? What year is it, where are we? It’s that simple a question.”
He admits the finale brings up a whole host of other questions, “which I’m not qualified to answer, I’m afraid.” That there is an ongoing conversation about the ending will likely please Lynch, says MacLachlan.
“It’s going to be like this itch that you will continue to have to scratch, I think.”
The actor hadn’t spoken with the director since seeing the ending, or heard from Showtime about any possible extension of the series.
“I love working as the character and I love David,” says MacLachlan. “But beyond that, I don’t know.”