First of all, sorry if this has been posted anywhere else. Please link me the discussion and feel free to delete this post.
Yesterday I finished Delores. I’m sure I’m missing something about the ending, so I’d love to read your impressions and theories.
What about the flashes during the game? Are they the bugs mentioned during the final cutscene?
Why Ransom himself appeared?
In the ending, Ransome said he had a corrupted save file, and that Delores was “never meant to reach that point”. To me it seems that he tried to edit the game on purpose, altering and removing certain things to create a different version of the past - one which leads to a future that each person deserves, according to him. At the end of TWP Ransome says he wants to redeem himself, and goes back to the flashback of one of his performances to do so. This could be the beginning of a series of alterations to the past that ultimately lead to the game Delores.
The buildings that keep flashing are remnants of the past that Ransome tried to remove, but that persist somehow. Delores herself can find a few objects that go against her altered memories, for example in the cabinets of the Sheriff’s and Coroner’s offices, and reading them also makes the screen flash.
I think the conversation between Ransome and Delores shows that their existence is somewhat separate from the game, as they are aware of what’s going on and how to edit the code. Unfortunately, their efforts are again in vain, as when the game resets it all starts over… 
Our dear teacup friend perfectly expressed my idea.
But I’d also like to add that this may open the possibility for a new TWP-themed game… 
An early interpretation of the film uses dream analysis to argue that the first part is a dream of the real Diane Selwyn, who has cast her dream-self as the innocent and hopeful “Betty Elms”, reconstructing her history and persona into something like an old Hollywood film. In the dream, Betty is successful, charming, and lives the fantasy life of a soon-to-be-famous actress. The last one-fifth of the film presents Diane’s real life, in which she has failed both personally and professionally. She arranges for Camilla, an ex-lover, to be killed, and unable to cope with the guilt, re-imagines her as the dependent, pliable amnesiac Rita. Clues to her inevitable demise, however, continue to appear throughout her dream.
This is a “problem” I have with several Ron Gilbert adventures. 
It seems that the developers have a clear story in mind (like “at the end the car crashes at a tree”) but then they only present a part of that story to the player (like showing only the interior of the car and then ending the game). This drives me crazy because I get/got the feeling that I’m something missing. And this feeling will last forever because I’ll never be able to have a look in Ron’s head.
But that’s what keeps the forum alive 
Interesting, I tend to feel exactly the opposite.
@tasse-tee Btw, did you converse with the voodoo lady after some of the flashes and/or going through the cabinets? 
Yes, I did! So she’s partly aware of what’s going on as well.
You mean… this doesn’t drive you crazy because you have the feeling that you aren’t missing anything. And this feeling won’t last forever since you’re able to look inside Ron’s head?! 
I guess not everyone is a Lynch fan… 
I think Ransome escaped to the upper world at the end of the first TWP, bought himself a copy of TWP and hacked it, so he wouldn’t be stuck in this loop of being a *beep*hole forever. That alteration of events lead to no-one getting murdered and thus time advancing (from 1987 to 1988!).
This kinda makes Ransome’s foul mouth responsible for all bad things that happened in TWP.
Not unlike another orange, foul-mouthed clown… (combined with the end credits, this may be the controversial real meaning of the game… perhaps subconsciously…)
Yet, the game is about redemption and making things better, as Delores knows a way how to fix it… clearly she is not going to patch things to the bad timeline where TWP is in decay, where her dad is dead, where her sister doesn’t get her karmic payback, where nice Willy is down on his luck, where S&D is a cheap way of losing weight…? So her walking off with Ransome into the black empty sunset is an image of hope. With the help of some nerds (that’s us) we can make the world we live in a better place (but never perfect).
