The final two episodes are gonna leave me spinning forever. Im gonna rant a bit here. My personal theory, and heavy spoilers obviously, is that when Laura disappears as Cooper attempts to take her to the Fireman (white lodge I guess?)  and Judy makes her big push to take her by force herself (I think this is pretty clear) the timeline fractures, and some of the scenes we saw of Cooper earlier in the red room happen again. Just like the Fireman said with Laura’s cousin, it is happening again. 

Only this time, with no body (and no death) everything’s screwwy. With the evil Coop also in the lodge now, it seems his soul is consumed in a different way to other Tulpas we’ve seen forcibly returned. And the Cooper that exits has not only his memories and habits, but those of his darker version as well. As if he is now willing to do everything in his capability to “save” Laura, regardless of means. When he and Diane enter into Judy’s terrain (a pocket universe maybe?) everything is wrong. The sex is wrong, the city is wrong, the motel and car are wrong (they change overnight). Laura is wrong. She is supposed to be “the one” but she’s killed a man in her living room. 

I think this situation is mirrored in Aubrey. I’m pretty sad how little of her character we get to see, but I think her plot line is the key to understanding Laura’s in the finale. She is also trapped in some sort of pocket dimension, whether it exists in reality or only her dreams/psyche is beside the point, we know this entire story is a tv show, and Lynch himself confirms as Cole that they are all like the dreamer. Aubrey is also led, like Laura, to the threshold of her home. Aubrey finally pushes through, eventually dancing and breaking the illusion, waking up. It’s hard to tell where she is, but it’s pure white. Maybe she is in a psyche ward, or maybe she is in the real white lodge? It’s hard to say. We don’t know the effect of being raped by a doppelgänger possessed by BOB might be. 

By contrast, Laura does not quite pass the threshold. Where Aubrey must push out of her home, Laura must return into her home. Aubrey’s is primarily an internal struggle, and certainly there is one for Laura as well, but Laura is also met by an agent of Judy’s. The Tremond women who gets her cues off screen (from who, I wonder) living in the Palmer home that was sold by Mrs. Chalfront, who we know is also Mrs. Tremond. Clearly, Alice Tremond is related to this being, and I believe represents a final barrier for Laura to break through. Is this Alice that we see a younger version of the elderly lady? The one who gives Laura the painting, saying it would look good in her room? Does she know this because she herself lived in her house once? And had the painting there? The painting is hugely significant too, it is what originally takes Laura in her dreams, giving her the ring (a wedding ring, mind you). 

Mike mentions when Cooper (good Cooper, or maybe Cooper who now contains both sides of himself) talks with Jeffries in the kettle. He mentions that two worlds are crashing together, and when Cooper and Diane have sex, Cooper awakens to a new world. Is this Cooper from a different world of the red haired Diane? She doesn’t recognize him anymore, and clearly Cooper now has some of the tendencies of the doppelgänger, and this entire sexual encounter is eerily close to how Diane’s rape was described. Is this that first rape? Or is it too, happening again? Is it a sex magic ritual to conjure forth Judy’s pocket dimension? Like the couple in front of the glass box in episode one? If that’s the case, isn’t Cooper merely using Diane to reach Judy by any means, much like his evil self? Maybe evil Cooper isn’t just an evil version, but a future version of himself as well. Desperately trying to break this loop? Understanding that any action he makes is of little consequence, because it will happen again? 

I’m not entirely convinced that last part, but it’s just a thought. I think the wedding scene is really important too, who exactly is married in this scene? Bob obviously, but to who? The arm is announcing the marriage, so it’s be a little weird for it to be him. Is it Chalfront/Tremond? The camera does cut to her after this is said. There’s also the matter of why we see this scene alongside our introduction to Phillip Jeffries and this event that Cole and Albert seemingly forget, then remember, years later. They begin to remember much the same way as Laura Palmer remembers the original reality. So is this event one that took place in another timeline? Just how many loops have occurred, and has the cycle broken now that Laura remembers, or is it merely the same. We end, after all, back in the red room. 

Lot to think about, and this is only part of the story. What Jowday is, what the Fireman is, what Senorita Dido is, what Major Briggs is, what Laura really is, hell what the jumping man and the woodsmen are, there’s a lot of questions I’m left with. I really hope Lynch is able to return one last time, but even if he doesn’t, this show has truly consumed me, and will be in my head for the rest of my life.