COOPCHICK LYUBIMIY

Cooper from episode 16 is not our Cooper, and here is why.

He does not act like our old beloved special agent. He jumps into creating a doppelganger straightaway, borrows a gun from Bushnell (and he, knowing the borderline vegetative Dougie, let's him have it), makes friends with gangsters et cetera.

He might have been swapped out the moment he stuck the fork in the socket, or perhaps even Cooper from episode 3 was already not our guy. Why? Because he's doing weird shit straight off the bat:

1) Coop asks Mike to create a tulpa. Straight away, the good old FBI guy asks for something only (supposedly) a bad spirit can do. He had spent about 25 years sitting in the waiting room, and the day he finally gets out he doesn't even remember about Earl or Annie? And what's even more weird, he's got some pull with the inhabitants of the Black Lodge/Waiting Room, knows all about their mumbo-jumbo, tulpas, doppels and such? Remember the first season, when Coop was getting prepared to face his fears in the parallel reality, and yet failed miserably? It's not as if he would have stayed sane after all those years of living beside all sorts of maniacal spirits. At the very least he would have had to become more harsh, cynical and weird. 25 years just don't pass you by like it's nothing. (Although, time does flow weird in those places huh? Considering that old guy at the end of season two who was testing Cooper with a cup of coffee).

2) Bushnell lends him his gun. The whole scene just doesn't feel right. Autistic Dougie gets electrocuted, then suddenly he's all jumpy, giving orders and claims he's "the FBI"? Give the weird new talkative Dougie your gun, why not? Way to go.

3) Makes friends with gangsters. The same people that have beaten up and probably killed a guy for letting Dougie rip them off before. They would have killed Dougie. too, if not for Belushi's dream & that cherry pie.

4) He ran away from the FBI. Controversial. It is of course the most logical thing to do, but wouldn't Coop just stay to explain and probably acquire some help, too? Considering Cole and Co. already know things got messed up and that Evil Coop is definitely not their old colleague.

If it IS Cooped, however, his awakening scene is much more disappointing than that of Audrey's:
1) Audrey's walking into the bar and we're all like "oh, so all of those theorists were wrong, huh?"
2) Eddie Vedder stops singing, "Audrey's Dance" kicks in and we're all like "well it doesn't feel right. What's going on?"
3) Audrey starts dancing and a fight breaks out. She freaks out and wakes up in some sort of a white room (a nursing home? An asylum?", and you're just left there to try and make sense out of it.

And again, Cooped is just like "Oh I'm the FBI, oh, I woke up, gimme your gun, I came here to chew gum and kick my doppel's ass". If it is Cooped, it's the most disappointing "main character wakes up from coma" cliche scene ever. (But I did shed a tear when he smiled at Bushnell, though).

Any thought?