Maybe a bit of shoddy storytelling. But it could be taken that they had all met and spoken about this before Garland was kidnapped by Windom Earl? Obviously a stretch, but only way I can see it making sense. 

Posted by: Chris Mitchell

 This revelation didn't sit well with me once I got to thinking about it in the sense that it may literally be shoddy storytelling.

1. Just before Cooper goes into the lodge at the end of Season 2, Garland escaped from Windom Earle, found his way back to Twin Peaks, and was in a state of shock. He wasn't able to really convey everything that happened to him. By the time he's recovered, we see him at the Double R with his wife, but Cooper is already in the lodge. This can only mean that if the meeting took place just before Cooper and Briggs disappeared, then it would have been with Mr. C, not the real Cooper.

2. Major Briggs disappeared a few days after Mr. C left the lodge, presumably after the meeting with Mr. C, which then leads to the disappearance of Dale Cooper. Cole seems to point to the idea that the meeting took place just before the disappearance.

3. When Mr. C talks to Jefferies, he asks "Who is Judy?" and Jefferies replies "You've already met Judy." This suggests that Mr. C wasn't the one who met with Cole and Briggs or else he wouldn't be asking about Judy in the first place.

Basically, the only time this meeting could have taken place with the real Dale Cooper is when Cole was last in Twin Peaks. The problem is that Cole specifically says that him, Briggs, and Cooper put together a plan to find Judy, but "then something happened to Major Briggs, and then something happened to Agent Cooper."  

If I've missed something in the timeline or the logic, feel free to tear it apart.

If there is more than one dimension/universe that we have been witnessing then it would make sense when you view each one's own timeline because there would be variations.

I hate to leave the comforting illusion of the story and treat it as a piece of work, but it does seem kind of shoddy. I'm sure it's a hard task to take a couple of 25 year old stories and tie them into a new one. But with the way the show ended, why even have Judy be so important to the plot? It would make sense if they knew there was going to be another season or a movie to follow. That's my hope!

I actually took it as they had a plan well before Cooper ever went to TP.  Maybe even before Theresa Banks died, but in my head it makes more sense that it happened after Chet disappeared, perhaps as they learned of Laura's death and sent Cooper on his way.

This is probably just my Gestalt psyche trying to fill in the blanks.