"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I believe they always thought the killer was who he ended up to be. They certainly didn't plan to solve the case but I think they would've given some clues about the killer as the show progressed. If you remember what Jennifer Lynch said about the Secret Diary she wrote, she told us that she knew the killer and was forced to edit the book a bit because there was something that gave a too obvious clue about the killer. And that book was made between the first and the second season, basically before any kind of serious pressure from the television network.

Nevertheless, I think it ended up being a good thing that they were pressured to reveal the killer as without it there wouldn't be that episode we now know as the final episode. We wouldn't have Fire Walk with Me.

 EDIT: And thinking of what Mark Frost said on the Gold Box documentary, they should've started the new plotlines much more quickly and with a harder punch after the killer was revealed and died. I think the biggest mistake wasn't the reveal but it was the fact that they were doing movies and didn't have the time and interest to continue. If they would've been there with the same enthusiasm as they were during the final two or three episodes, I believe the series would've been continued.

Given the creative process that takes place in his other features, i.e. general lack of narrative, not really. 

"watch out for my cousin.."

I disagree that Lynch always has solid narrative. FWWM is an exception, not a rule. Eraserhead. Mulholland Dr., and Lost Highway are largely bereft of actual narrative, and are more a series of events depicted, not necessarily in any order, for the viewer to interpret as a way of experiencing something.

That's fair enough.

I personally didn't think Lost Highway, Mullholland Drive or Inland Empire really went out of their way to let you know what's going on?

But that's what I love about Lynch.

Nuff said.
 

IE is a strange case.

However, with the movies I named, I don't think it is a lack of narrative that makes them confusing. I think the confusing part is what the narrative means. For example, in lost highway, we get 3 very straightforward narratives: the videotapes, pete's story, and the kidnapping of mr. eddy.  The question is: how do they fit together and what do they mean? 

Even Eraserhead has a pretty clear narrative. I am having trouble thinking of any movies that are totally narrative-free. Maybe Un Chien Andalou or The Mirror?  

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I never thought about it that way. I'd also like to add that I agree.

I must admit I am one of those people who were obsessed with the show up until Laura Palmer's killer was revealed. I kinda liked making up my own mind on what I thought was happening.

ive always interpeted the ending of TP as taking place in the final moments of FWWM, not TP ep29.
meaning after the killing, and after the black lodge and garmonbozia scene,(and the monkey who says judy) we see laura and coop together, and her angel has come back, and laura is weeping out of joy, and coop places a kind hand on her shoulder. i interpet that to mean that both laura and coop have finally reached the white lodge, which would take place after ep.29. i guess you could make the connection to the line laura says in ep.2(ill see you in twenty five years) as a possible connection to the end of FWWM but im not sure its even necessary to make it a specific time. just the fact, that, as brief as it is, the last scene in FWWM possibly shows them no longer trapped in the black lodge.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I am the same way! I wonder if it has to do with the age you started watching. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I was 12--quite young actually, my oldest is 11 and I don't know if I'd let her watch it at 12, I digress....--. Have most people on the board been a fan for long or are there any recent converts?

Maybe it speaks to a part of our character like nothing else has: it is dark, but funny; quirky; intelligent; it brings up questions of spirituality; and has awesome dialogue. Hmmm, deep thoughts.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I'm pretty sure that when you watch the extras on the gold box (the one where Lynch talks with McLaughlin, Amick and Wentworth) David Lynch said that he and Mark Frost intended for the killer to be Leland Palmer, they just didn't intend to reveal it.  I find it interesting to watch the show now before the reveal and see all the blatant clues that Leland did it.  He get some pretty f-ing creepy looks on his face and it seems that the whole mental breakdown after Laura's death is symptomatic of his internal guilt, even if he didn't consciously realize what he had done.  Check out Leland's face in episode 6 when Maddy sneaks out of the house to meet James and Donna.  He looks seriously evil.

From an emotional/storytelling standpoint, Leland makes the most sense. #2 would be Sarah. #3, I guess, would be Doc Hayward (raped and murdered by your best friend's dad) and #4 would be Ben Horne, but only if they really played up the "broken, middle aged man desperately in love with his best-friend's barely-legal daughter" angle. Not sure who #5 would be; James or Bobby would be too cliche to have any real weight. Dr. Jacoby, I suppose, although "the evil psychiatrist" is almost as much of a trope now as "evil butler." 

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper