I'm not a hundred percent sure that Bob's memory is right about this. Okay, I wasn't there when the series was made, and I should take his word for this, but I have read many interviews and seen all the episodes and the whole BOB/Black Lodge element did not seem to take center stage until the 2nd season. For the first season it seemed like, while David was interested in the supernatural elements, the other people in charge seemed to be taking it as a grounded in real life kind of tale. For instance, they tried to explain the whole dream Cooper had with the MFAP and Laura away by the appearance of Leo's cabin etc...TheArm wrote: - He claimed that, from the beginning, 6 of them knew altogether that Leland killed Laura - himself, his wife, David, Mark, Harley Peyton, and Mark's wife. But he said this was definitely set in stone when they began work on the first season (after the pilot), and that they had sketched out the broad strokes of the BOB/Black Lodge mythology at the very beginning as well. The rest was pretty much made up as they went along.
It really seemed like Lynch was more into that aspect. It was only in the 2nd season after Leland's death that a Black Lodge was even referenced. On the flipside, I do think that calling it the Black Lodge was probably determind by Engels and Frost. They seem to be into metaphysics and theosophy, and I wonder if Lynch would have called it something different if this hadn't already been established.
