I haven't been too invested in learning anything more about Judy as kind of felt like the next foreshadowed big bad after an unsatisfying payoff with Bob in episode 17. (
I made my case for what thought about this here here: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3808) Is Judy just a meta way of replacing a previous story based big bad? (
Edit: initial reaction to this personally is thinking if Judy becomes defined then will maybe have similar unsatisfying conculsion like Bob had but in retrospect Bob ingrained into 90's Twin Peaks like Judy is in the new Twin Peaks I suppose).
So I guess there is no credible proof that Judy could be interpreted to mean "to explain"?
The meta-commentary discussion here is interesting. I like what Cappy just said elaborating upon what OP is trying to sum up in a nutshell.
That being said, I'm kind of suprised people haven't been looking into the sequence of images Phillip Jeffries puts the owl ring symbol into. It seems to change to a number 8 which is then flipped around (for a moment narrowed into what looks like an infinity symbol) with a ball that then moves around within it before settling into place. Does this relate at all to the explained vs. unexplained meta-discussion and/or carry specific story significance?
Going away from this area of discussion and focusing on few other things brought up:
by gladhand
Some of you who are more on the ball might be able to answer these questions....
I thought Judy was meant to be based in Seattle (that's what Jeffries said in 1989) so why didn't Cooper go to Seattle if he was looking for Judy? Who told him she was in Odessa? It didn't really gel in my mind, when he saw Judy's diner in Odessa, that it was really related.
I'm under the impression that this question had perhaps a more accurate answer if another prequel film would've been made back in the early 90's. As it wasn't, I'll just go with notion that Judy was originally (
not talking how presented in "The Return" series MANY years later after FWWM) conceived as a woman and there may/may not have been some association she had to a convenience store in Seattle (
whether she was going to be Josie's sister or not writers were perhaps leaving to decide on if a follow-up to FWWM had occurred).
Of course, many years later when the TSHoTP book came out giving enough background info. on Josie, little room was left for having a sister as Mark Frost probably knew that Season 3 ultimately decided going against some of the creative notions it seems that may have been tossed about to some small extent in the early 90's. Season 3 of course has no mention of Seattle nor any woman who perhaps lives there (
or perhaps is associated with a convenience store) let alone any connection to Josie. Of course this is not a retcon as the answer to the questions Jeffrie's scene in FWWM raised when the movie came out were just questions. However, I do think that perhaps with Season 3 we of course got a somewhat variant take to the question of Judy's identity, perhaps a different backstory on the convenience store, as well as no mention of Seattle.
That being said, having a Judy's restaurant owned in Odessa, TX I wonder if perhaps is Lynch's way of sort of offering an alternative take on who/what Judy is than the backstory we get on Judy in season 3 (pre-episode 18) perhaps re-visiting some of the original unfinished creative notions never really able to be explore due to nothing being made after FWWM in the 90's. Perhaps the Judy's restaurant in Odessa sort of draws off the originally conceived idea of Judy perhaps being associated in some way to a place of business in Seattle which of course raises some questions about the restaurant such as who owns it, if there's a room above it, and so forth.
by gladhand
It then, at a later date, turned into a gold ball (Wikipedia is calling them seeds). Why? Was the box also Phillip? It seemed to be able to receive telephone calls.
Later on, still, Phillip was represented by a sort of talking kettle / teapot, in the convenience store. When did he transform from the wooden box to a kettle? Or is he two things, in two different locations? Two Phillips
by Deep Thought
The box doesn't turn into a gold ball, but rather something more like an iron nugget. The box is a relay, like the one Mr. C. has in his case, which transmits communications between worlds. It was manufactured for a purpose, and when that was complete, yes, it reverted to its seed.
Jeffries we know breifly appears in Beunos Aires for some reason in FWWM
(Jeffries prequel movie never made after FWWM so hard see his connection to Buenos Aires exactly) before/after his appearance in Gordon Cole's office. The static fade-out and scream we see in the theatrical release upon disappearing from Cole's office I took as a cue that he's become lost totally and utterly but of course in Season 3 find there's some essence of him left in some dispersed manner.
Mr. C
(who came by lots of money presumably through criminal activity) buys a mansion down in Beunos Aires at some point. Why this location? My theory is that it seems he was able to track where Jeffries had shown up from (beunos aires) placing a relay device in an appropriate location here (
in his mansion I'm guessing originally before concealing it in pan in alley after deciding to leave perhaps knowing 25 yr loop almost up where may be sent back to lodge).
As we see in episode 2, Mr. C. carry's a portable relay device with him as well. I guess this device he uses in his hotel room can be likened to a modem (not actually a modem but just comparing to one) which linked up to various devices at set geographical coordinates like the one in Beunos Aires. The box at Beunos Aires is like an ISP central hub/internet server but in this case there's only 1 channel of contact which is Phillip Jeffries. Presumably other boxes could be placed elsewhere on earth with specific purpose of contacting displaced spirits that have once wandered our earthly plane of existence based on my interpretation.
by Mr. Strawberry
Unfortunately I cannot determine what this box is, what purpose it is supposed to serve, or what significance in the story it has. However, I can identify elements of the setting in which it appears because I happen to live in Gold Country / Mother Lode Country and the scene presents a very familiar sight.
The box is resting in a gold pan which prospectors use when panning for gold in streams. The pan is resting between the rails of a track used by mine carts to transport ore and materials related to mining, therefore it seems that the box is located within a gold mine in Argentina. These observations lead to the conclusion that the box transforms into a gold nugget.
Material Type: I think the material can be likened to the material mentioned in TSHoTP book. While Lynch hasn't read it, Frost is privy to some of the planning behind Season 3. There's mention of metal flakes found at a UFO crash landing site that are put into a cereal box and lost. The material appears to be argent. It's also the key word used to destroy this box in Beunos Aires (
Mr. C presumably gave to the lady to send to box by text message once hit on Dougie finished).
Seed?: When the box is destroyed it balls up but I'm not sure it can be likened to a "seed" but rather due to the material type and fact it's sort of a transdimensional contact point being suddenly cutoff.
Pan: The pan being compared to a prospectors plate for gold is a fitting analogy. Perhaps there's some sort of Eastern cultural connection too?