So in the last episode of series 2 we see Doppelganger Dale and BOB standing beside each other laughing. At this point they are definitely 2 separate forms.
At the very end of this episode we see Doppel-Dale smash his head against the mirror and BOB in the reflection. We’ve only seen this before with people BOB has possessed.
I originally assumed that BOB had hitched a ride in Doppel-Dale and was back in the human world.
But another possible idea came to my head. What if the Doppelganger’s are somehow linked to BOB?
We know it’ll be very hard to film new scenes involving BOB as we last saw him.
I have two theories/ideas:
1) BOB and the Doppelgangers are working together. Maybe the Doppelgangers are creations of BOB?
OR
2) The Doppelgangers and BOB are the same entity.
The Evolution Of The Arm shouts Bob (not BOB) three times and he seems to be having an influence on the Black Lodge.
One of the questions that keeps me thinking is:
Why was Dougie wearing Mike’s ring which protects the wearer from possession by Bob?
Possible answers:
1) Based on BOB and the Doppelgangers working together. Doppel-Dale has developed his own ideas, he’s somehow got rid of his possession by Bob. Bob is back in the Black Lodge still creating Doppelgangers but he no longer has his physical form. Doppel-Dale created Dougie as a way of escaping return to the Black Lodge and has given him the ring to prevent Bob interfering with his plans.
OR
2) Based on BOB and the Doppelgangers being the same entity. Dougie was given the ring to prevent anyone else in the human world wearing it, Dougie is left to do his own thing as part of the longer plan and a BOB possessed Dopple-Dale can go about his business with one less obstacle in his way.
Apologies but this seems to have turned into more a brain dump than I first intended.
Thoughts anyone???
Slightly related but does anyone think that Dale in the prison when speaking to Gordon sounded like the voice on the phone who told Bad Dale that he was going back in and "I will be with BOB again?"
Outside of the Diary of Laura Palmer has Bob ever been officially written in all caps? I always just thought that was a fan thing
I thought LMFAP referred to him as BOB (in the subtitles) as well but I may have misremembered.
Slightly related to this theory: I was thinking about how the return, so far, has put an emphasis on these "lodge spirits" (for lack of a better term) existing as actual beings rather than abstract entities and these beings seem to be attempting to mimic human behavior as evidenced by BOB/doppel-dale/Mr. C's comment. So what if the tree/nervous system is them getting closer to fully understanding human anatomy (evolving from the arm - an appendage) and what if the reason that everyone has a doppelgänger is because each being just picked a human to mimic and at some point they decided there could only be one being mimicking each person. Even further, what if these beings are harvesting humans for garmonbozia the same way that humans harvests forests for lumber for various uses (the show seems to overtly emphasize this parallel with the mill and the emphasis on forests and wood in general - Josie's "soul" in the wood of the great northern, the log lady, Phillip Jeffries traveling through wood into the hotel in Buenos Aires, etc). Following this theory, the giant (if he is indeed trying to help cooper) could effectively be an environmentalist trying to save Cooper from being harvested the way Leland was at the end of FWWM. Also, this could explain the Venus de milo statue in the red room/black lodge as a reference for these beings mimicking the way humans look. Just ideas and sorry this post is way longer than anticipated. Lemme know what you think! Also shoutout to Petier Dom for these forums they were much needed and are much appreciated!