Theories & Speculation

[dronerstone]

Regarding 15/3:

the age hypothesis is a good thought, but what came to my mind first when watching this was 15:00 equals 03:00 PM the way europeans put it (24 hr day).

[sackboy97]

Regarding the different timeline/alternate reality for Good Coop, I don't think that really fits with Mike's message he sees in Part 04. Wouldn't he say something about it? Instead he just says that one of them has to die, implying that they are indeed in the same "world".

[Northman]

Noticed upon second viewing:
there is an eerie similarity between the body/bodies in Ruths appartment and how evil-coop leaves Daryas body in the bed with the pillow covering her head neck up.

[Wonderful & Strange]

Regarding the different timeline/alternate reality for Good Coop, I don't think that really fits with Mike's message he sees in Part 04. Wouldn't he say something about it? Instead he just says that one of them has to die, implying that they are indeed in the same "world".

Exactly.

[wxray]

Was watching that Mr Jackpots scene in the casino again...

[img]e2.JPG[/img]

It looks like vapour at first glance - it dissipates as vapour does. Smoke lingers. Certainly wasn't any electronic cigarettes in 2003.

Then I noticed this...

[img]v1.JPG[/img]

What is that? It looks to me like an ashtray with lots of butts in it. Or is it just drink straws or what?

If smoking is still allowed inside casinos, then it must be before 2006 or so when the smoking ban in public places came in. If its vapour, then it must be post 2010 or so.

Yes, and generally in USA states, vaping is considered smoking and falls under the same bans.

There is also a shot in the casino of a guy lighting up a regular, near the end of DougCoops time there. The problem with the timeline isn't smoking, it is vaping.

Also, for our international friends be aware of this. Smoking and Drinking laws are a US State concern. There is no national standard. The various US states have been phasing in the laws at different times. Also, each state has various exceptions. For example, California is very strict about it, but has an exception for the movie industry (smoking in the workplace).

The point being that Nevada and Las Vegas have always been WAY on the liberal side of drinking and smoking in gambling establishments. 2006 means NOTHING with regard to indoor smoking in Vegas. Smoking today in a casino is more limited (confined to gaming areas), but still allowed.

Man and wife dialog:
Wife: "Your clothes smell like smoke. Were you smoking again?"
Man: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

[windh]

Regarding 15/3:

the age hypothesis is a good thought, but what came to my mind first when watching this was 15:00 equals 03:00 PM the way europeans put it (24 hr day).

Yep, same here.

[windh]

What do you all think about the characters which are only listed for few episodes? I can see Gordon and Albert both having done their (on screen) parts, but someone like Hawk? To me, he, if anyone, should be the one who finds Good Coop.

[Normonaut]

What do you all think about the characters which are only listed for few episodes? I can see Gordon and Albert both having done their (on screen) parts, but someone like Hawk? To me, he, if anyone, should be the one who finds Good Coop.

I'd say there's no way we've seen everything from Cole and Albert. They even said what they're about to do next (talk to "her").

[N. Needleman]

The IMDB listings are notoriously false/unreliable. Don't go by them.

I think the ring still makes sense. I do not think Dougie is a ref to Dougie Milford, but I do think the implication is that somehow the doppelganger manufactured Dougie - an artificial person or golem - to be taken to the Lodge instead of him on this set date. The ring ensured that.

[windh]

What do you all think about the characters which are only listed for few episodes? I can see Gordon and Albert both having done their (on screen) parts, but someone like Hawk? To me, he, if anyone, should be the one who finds Good Coop.

I'd say there's no way we've seen everything from Cole and Albert. They even said what they're about to do next (talk to "her").

Sounds good. Thanks.

[Hurley]

I have a theory about the opening scene with The Giant.

We know in the credits his character's name was listed as ??????

The scene being in black and white but still with the distorted speach makes me think this could be the White Lodge. I think that the Giant might represent God. Perhaps the White lodge being black and white represents good whereas the Black Lodge being in color / red room represents evil.

I am wondering if this scene fits in the timeline towards the end of Season 3 since the Giant says "It is in OUR house now." Apparently he considers this place a house that belongs to him and Cooper. Has Cooper learned the ability to transport himself to and from the lodge similar to Philip Jefferies in FWWM? Cooper seems to understand exactly what the clues mean that the Giant gave him. He then says "You are far away". Perhaps that means its time to go because Cooper disappears.

The One Armed Man / Mike said, "When I saw the face of God, I took the entire arm off." Could he mean that he saw the Giants face?

The Log Lady said that "Fire is the Devil hiding like a coward in the smoke."

Could the Devil be in charge of the Black Lodge? The glass box got dark before we saw the outline of the figure. Could that box be filled with smoke ? The figure didn't appear until Tracey and Sam started having sex. The One Amred Man / Mike said that Bob feeds on fear and the pleasures.

The figure runs into the glass and it doesn't break. Tracey screams and they both have a look of terror on their faces. The figure is then strong enough to break the glass. This is similar to Bad Cooper ramming his head into the mirror at the end of season 2.

The figure then flies over to where they are sitting and kills them. There is a sound effect that is used that is from the original series that was associated with Bob / Owls.

I found some information on how Owls kill their prey. "It makes a “basket” out of its open feet and drives eight daggers through its victim. Death is nearly instantaneous. "

Is the Giant God and he controls the White Lodge? Is the figure in the glass box the Devil and he controls the Black Lodge?

"It is in our house now." Is this the Arm trying to get into the White Lodge? Perhaps a battle between the two lodges is shaping up?

Agreed that the Coop/Giant scene takes place late in the timeline. Not sure if it is the White Lodge; perhaps. My gut says that the location is in some way connected to Owl Cave. I also had the feeling that they are under assault from an outside force. Maybe the Black Lodge, maybe a new entity. The door-banging "Mother" from part 3 is a candidate.

[wxray]

Regarding 15/3:

the age hypothesis is a good thought, but what came to my mind first when watching this was 15:00 equals 03:00 PM the way europeans put it (24 hr day).

Yep, same here.

But the prong-hole patterns are wrong on the plug for 15:00. Oh wait, the plug for 3:00 is ungrounded. Never mind.

[derekfnord]

I do not think Dougie is a ref to Dougie Milford, but I do think the implication is that somehow the doppelganger manufactured Dougie - an artificial person or golem - to be taken to the Lodge instead of him on this set date. The ring ensured that.

I wonder if the name "Dougie" could be a reference to "dugpa."

[claaa7]

just posted this in ep. 3+4 spoilers but this is so brilliant that it needs to be restated. posted by seriouslynotcool on Reddit 11 hours ago

Within the room Cooper enters at the beginning of the episode, we see a massive electrical outlet on the wall, and time appears to alternate forwards and backwards. This alternating direction of time is, I feel, meant to represent alternating current. Alternating current is how we deliver electricity via the wall sockets in our homes. Rather than having to send electrons in one direction for miles to their destination, we just reverse their direction over and over 60 times a second (50 outside of the US). This allows for the transmission of electricity over long distances as safely as possible. The opposite of alternating current (AC) is direct current (DC). DC is what comes out of a battery, and - which is important, here - out of a car's cigarette lighter.

The switch that the woman (called "Naido" in the credits) pulls on the top of the building changed that huge socket on the wall from AC to DC. The room is no longer going back and forth in time. The building is all set to DC mode. Naido did this to help Cooper enter the car where the Doppelganger was. He was nowhere near an AC wall socket, he was in a car in the mountains away from civilization, with only a DC car lighter socket nearby.

What Naido (or Mike or The Arm) didn't know, though, was that Dougie had been created. He was basically a double-doppelganger who the ring from the lodge somehow made possible. So when Coop was all set to go through the DC outlet in the car, he actually ended up going through an AC wall outlet to where Dougie was. This made it so that his mind is now all kinds of scrambled up. That gold ball which (I'm guessing) represents what Coop needs to function properly was filtered out and left in the Red Room. Coop is trapped in a body that can't even seem to retain memories, as we see when he just repeats the last few words of somebody else's sentence.
Thankfully, the inhabitants of the lodge have imbued him with extraordinary luck. The slot machine spree was one very obvious form of it, but also his interactions with certain people have shown them being seemingly unable to process his behavior objectively. So things aren't completely hopeless for our Special Agent.

EDIT: Oh, and Lynch has talked about alternating current electricity before, specifically regarding his script for Ronnie Rocket.
"[Ronnie Rocket is] about a three-foot tall guy with red hair and physical problems, and about 60-cycle alternating current electricity."

[Driftwood]

I don't really see what the purpose is of it being an earlier time period in the dougie parts and also hiding it from viewers. and putting in little clues according to smoking laws or cars or license plates or whatever seems like the last thing lynch or frost would care about doing. they don't even care that much about continuity in their own show let alone nevada smoking laws per year, and just to do a remake of a trick westworld already pulled.