The Mental State of Dale “Dougie Jones” Cooper
In Twin Peaks, season three, Dale Cooper acts with deliberate cognizant purpose and intent both while he is still in The Lodge, and then when he is in the Power Station. It is only after he travels through the electrical outlet at the power station and is transmitted through the bell shaped transponder above the station and then out through the wall outlet into the house for sale at Rancho Rosa Estates, where Dougie Jones was with Jade, that he becomes a passive rather than purposeful participant with his environment. It is, therefore, obvious that the mental state of Dale “Dougie Jones” Cooper is not a result of having been stuck within the lodge for 25years, but rather a direct result of the effects of electricity its self, which seems to have scrambled his cognitive faculties and put him into an unthinking, nearly catatonic, state of existence. Perhaps this is a commentary on the effects of technology on the world, and the ability of the people to think independently and for themselves as a result of this technological revolution. It is Coopers re-interaction with electricity, through the poking of a fork into a wall outlet in his house, that descrambles his cognitive abilities and allows him to return once again as a cognizant and aware Special Agent Dale Cooper. Perhaps this its self is a commentary on our need to re-think and reshape our relationship with technology as a tool for our betterment rather than as a commodity, or drug, for our consumption. This would then link Coopers mental state directly to the greater theme of drug abuse which is rampant not only in season three, but throughout Twin Peaks as a whole.
