I recently re-watched Seasons 2 and 3 of Twin Peaks. I'm making this post in order to provide a general framework for appreciation of Twin Peaks, which I see as the most explicit expression of Lynch's core concerns. To my mind, these concerns are spiritual in nature.
I hesitate to say too much, because spiritual truths are like jokes: if you explain them, they cease to be truths. The reason I'm making this post at all is that I believe a proper understanding of Twin Peaks can provide real and lasting benefit to one's life.
This post will likely be spoiler-heavy. I haven't read either of Mark Frost's books in their entirety, so I won't be making reference to them. Since I don't want to come across any spoilers myself, I may not pay close attention to the replies to this post.
1. TIBET
I think a familiarity with the basic framework of the Tibetan Book of the Dead is essential to understanding Twin Peaks. The aim of that book is to help a dying individual realize his or her true nature, which is endless, luminous, and void. Anything less than total unification with this endless luminosity is considered shy of the mark. Therefore even an auspicious rebirth is a type of misfortune: one is still trapped within "the darkness of future past."
In Season 2, Cooper's failure in the Black Lodge is directly attributable to his forgetting the basic tenets of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. He becomes increasingly ensnared in images drawn from his own karma, and fear overwhelms him. He repeated attempts to flee from the images only makes things worse. Since fear feeds Bob, Bob is able to empower Bad Dale, who overtakes Cooper and grabs him from behind by both shoulders.
Messengers from the White Lodge attempt to arm Dale with signs while he is still in the waiting room. Specifically, the coffee (life force) offered by the Giant and the palindrome uttered by Arm both point out the reversibility of phenomena. The practice of reversing dream images from frightening to soothing and back again (for example) is an integral part of Tibetan dream yoga, the aim of which is to reveal the essential emptiness of all phenomena. (I highly recommend the book Dream Yoga and the Practice of Essential Light to all Twin Peaks fanatics.)
My understanding of Twin Peaks: The Return is based on the premise that Cooper's true goal is realization of rigpa (unification with endless, empty, luminous awareness). He loses sight of this while in waiting room (when he doesn't believe that he can "go out now") and at the end of the series (when he returns to Laura Palmer). Therefore he remains lost in the darkness of future past. 708 = karma + samsara, surrounding basic emptiness.
For those who are skeptical of this interpretation, I'll point out that Cooper recites the Tibetan Book of the Dead to Leland in his final moments. Therefore the book is evidently important to him. I believe this scene (Leland's death) is central to a proper understanding of The Return. After Cooper recites a key passage from the book to Leland, Leland reports that he sees Laura smiling. This is auspicious - but since it's still a filtering of basic luminosity, it's still shy of the mark.
Twin Peaks: The Return opens with a series of images that encapsulate the increasing constriction of karmic rebirth. This series of images also mirrors Cooper's struggle in the Black Lodge. There is 1) a ring of light within fog; 2) a world; 3) a factory; 4) hallways; 5) a self-identified being covering her face and fleeing; 6) images encased in glass; 7) the image of Laura Palmer.
Remember that images (and also fire) have no intrinsic identity: it is the intention that matters. Laura Palmer is an especially potent image. Even while alive, she fascinated almost all who encountered her. An image such as that can guide one out of the depths of hell ("you can go out now") or draw one into the near-impenetrable darkness of samsara.
2. THE ARM
Remember the words of Mike from Season 1: "when I saw the face of God... I took the entire arm off." Remember also the words of Mike from The Return: "You were tricked. Now one of you must die."
Who tricked Cooper? I assert that it was The Arm. Laura tells Cooper unequivocally, "You can go out now." The Arm tells him something different: "Before you can go out, he must go back in." One can defensibly assert that it's Leland's doppelganger who tricks Cooper ("Find Laura"), but the basic point remains: the Black Lodge and its agents have an interest in introducing delay into Cooper's process of realization. The reason I assert the Arm is the agent responsible for deceiving Cooper is that it continues to do so throughout the series: Naido cautions him away from the electric socket, for example, and she also becomes Red Room Diane, who ensnares Cooper in karma by means of sexual attraction.
This is part of the reason why there is such an air of tragedy to the sex scene between Richard and Linda: this act is the wrong prayer ("to linger with you") when it's more important than ever to wake up and avert further tragedy. There are other reasons: the coercive undertone of the lead-up to the sex scene, for example, likely feeds seeds of Bob that linger within the newly integrated Cooper. Still, I assert that the basic problem is the failure to realize that one had the power to go home all along. The delusion that doing "one more thing" will counteract, rather than perpetuate, karma is Cooper's core problem throughout the series.
I understand the dramatic events of The Return as a competition of sorts between agents of the Black and White Lodges. Garland Briggs, Laura Palmer, and the Fire Man are quintessential White Lodge agents. Bob and The Arm are the quintessential Black Lodge agents. While Bob is setting up shop in Twin Peaks, The Arm repeatedly distracts and waylays Cooper. (For example, while a manifestation of the Fire Man is showing Cooper how light can suddenly appear "just like that," a manifestation of the Arm commands him to descend and then shows him images that imbed him in karma.)
3. SEEDS & MESSAGES
The episode of The Return with the atom bomb explosion does much to elucidate the multiple timelines and levels at work in Twin Peaks. When the atom is split and unity is divided, much trouble results. Luckily there is a factory within the blood spilled that fastidiously responds to such trouble. It sounds out gold seeds that hep one see the light in the world.
Of course the agents of the Black Lodge delight in diverting, perverting, and destroying these seeds. "What really is creamed corn? Is it a symbol for something else?"
Recall that the White Lodge does its work by sending out elucidating images. These might be called clues. But images also have the power to distract. If one fails to see the forest for the trees, one will forever be chasing after details and piecing them together. It might be better to disappear altogether.
Luckily, one always carries the blank page of basic luminosity within oneself.
Looking over this I see it suggests that the Arm is an agent of the White Lodge. This is not the case. While the palindrome uttered by the Arm points at a basic truth that can contribute to one's realization, this is true of all images. The fascination expressed ("Wow, bob, wow!") is harmful.
I want to apologize for saying in my very first post that I wouldn't pay attention to replies. That was rather imperious of me, even though I didn't intend it to be.
I'm learning a lot from the things I read here, and the different theories/questions have got me thinking. A discussion re: astrological symbols in the Red Room helped me think of something that I think bolsters the argument made above.
Venus is plainly represented in the Red Room (statue), as is Saturn (lamp). I'm comfortable concluding that The Arm, as killing agent, represents Mars. I'm likewise comfortable leaving the Sun and Moon out of it, since the Red Room is "between two worlds" (night and day, Black Lodge and White, etc). This got me thinking ... where's Jupiter? I think the representative of Jupiter is Cooper.
"There is a time, when Jupiter and Saturn meet: they will receive you." I learned today that Jupiter and Saturn conjoin once every 18-20 years. To my mind, this suggests that Cooper and Windom are pawns in a bigger game, even though each believes he's entering the Lodge for more or less personal reasons. This also explains why anything less than total realization is insufficient: the stakes in this game are double or nothing.
Here's my model of the game: at the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction, the White Lodge offers up the best it has to offer. If the representative(s) of the White Lodge passes through the trial by fire, he/she/they will pass beyond the time-bound world and rain untold blessings upon it. If the representative loses, he/she/they is forfeited to the Black Lodge.
In the S2 finale, there's a number of clues that the Cooper/Windom showdown is a supra-personal ritual performed by time and space itself. There's the 12 rainbow trout (offering to the 12 sycamores) that neither planned on bringing. There's the multiple references to King ("The King of Romania was unable to attend") and Queen (Miss Twin Peaks contest). I think it's significant that Annie is selected as Miss Twin Peaks even though the contest was fixed: this is the White Lodge intervening to select her as its representative. I think it's also significant that Annie is captured by Windom even though Doc Hayward had already led her to safety. She inexplicably turns around and returns to center stage, where she is then grabbed by Windom. Also, when Cooper and Truman reach the 12 sycamores, Cooper listens intently a while and says he must go on alone. Annie, Cooper, and Windom: each is playing a part in a cosmic game.
One reason I think Cooper's entrance into the Black Lodge is a rigpa-or-bust proposition is that it's precisely his attempts to turn back that screw things up. Every time he does so, the intensity of the Black Lodge illusions intensifies. (Also, in the FWWM Missing Pieces, Cooper asks the Arm how he can get out of the Black Lodge. The Arm replies: "You are here. Now there is no place to go but HOME.")
There's some missing pieces in this model - no pun intended. Specifically:
1) Is Cooper the White Lodge representative, or Cooper and Annie both? If it's Cooper, what's Annie's role in the contest? And after?
2) What would the contest look like if Cooper hadn't run?
3) Is Windom a selected representative of the Black Lodge, or simply a tool used to set the contest in motion?
4) If Windom isn't the Black Lodge's representative, who/what is?
I don't have this entirely worked out, but it seems that to me that the Windom/Cooper showdown is actually a sideshow compared to the White Lodge/Black Lodge contest - it's not even a microcosmic analog of it.
Rigpa or bust!@!
“O, Alas! Alas! Fortunate Child of Buddha Nature,
Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and delusion!
But rise up now with resolve and courage!
Entranced by ignorance, from beginningless time until now,
You have had [more than] enough time to sleep.
So do not slumber any longer, but strive after virtue with body, speech, and mind!
…
For, at this singular opportunity, you could attain the everlasting bliss [of nirvana].
So now is [certainly] not the time to sit idly,
But, starting with [the reflection on] death, you should bring your practice to completion!
…
How needing of compassion are the ignorant and the deluded
[Bound] in this confining dungeon of egotistical attachment and the subject-object dichotomy,
Who, like wild game, are trapped in this snare, time after time!
Grant your blessing, so that cyclic existence may be stirred to its depths!”
That's a lot of insight. Thanks for taking the time to put it all down.
More and more, I'm drawn to the "Cooper in the Bardo" idea, with "dig yourself out of the shit" being the ultimate theme.
I guess part of me resists it because for my full enjoyment I want the story to be "true." Flesh and blood people interacting in our world (and dealing with other worlds/entities from time to time) independently of Cooper.
But maybe both ideas are ultimately "one and the same."
One question: when you wrote: "(For example, while a manifestation of the Fire Man is showing Cooper how light can suddenly appear "just like that," a manifestation of the Arm commands him to descend and then shows him images that embed him in karma.") what scenes were you referring to?
That's a lot of insight. Thanks for taking the time to put it all down.
More and more, I'm drawn to the "Cooper in the Bardo" idea, with "dig yourself out of the shit" being the ultimate theme.
I guess part of me resists it because for my full enjoyment I want the story to be "true." Flesh and blood people interacting in our world (and dealing with other worlds/entities from time to time) independently of Cooper.
But maybe both ideas are ultimately "one and the same."
One question: when you wrote: "(For example, while a manifestation of the Fire Man is showing Cooper how light can suddenly appear "just like that," a manifestation of the Arm commands him to descend and then shows him images that embed him in karma.") what scenes were you referring to?
I really appreciate your positive feedback, KingDaddyDog. It's a pleasure for me write like this, since Twin Peaks is pretty much my favorite thing in the universe. I've had some misgivings about posting these long-winded interpretations, since the joy I feel comes from "vibing with" the show. I'd hate to inadvertently transform it into something stilted and wooden.
In my opinion, you don't have to worry about the show losing anything when viewed through the lens of the bardo. I understand your concern, but this is not some "Tyler Durden" scenario we're talking about here. In fact, the show can become MORE real when the concept of the bardo is taken seriously.
Consider this: colors exist because light is reflected incompletely. An object "out there" absorbs certain components of the light spectrum and reflects others. The more components that are reflected, the closer the color is to white. If we transfer this model to perception as such, we're thinking seriously about the concept of the bardo. If the goal is total transmission, perfect transmission, that entails an erasure of all borders and boundaries. It's faith in the boundaries that feeds the bardo.
Concepts perform an analogous function in cognition: they set up boundaries, but they also transmit. So perfect cognition would be something that allows total transmission. The concepts/images would be permitted to interact and play (that's transmission), but faith in their boundaries would no longer obtain.
To me, Twin Peaks presents an arena of interacting concepts and images. It begins as a microcosm, grotesque, or analog, but it has the power to dissolve boundaries. You feel what you feel when you watch Twin Peaks because it's transmitting to you - and you also are transmitting to it - and really you're all just flotsam and jetsam of dream in a dream without a dreamer. It's so beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWKJ2FUiAQ
I'm happy to answer your question, but I want to do so obliquely. I left it deliberately vague because I didn't want to rob you of the fun of seeing such things for yourself. Thank you for asking.
I think FWWM fleshes out a possible answer to question #1 posed above ("Is Cooper the selected White Lodge representative, or is it Cooper and Annie both?").
Annie as she appears in FWWM is wearing Caroline's dress. This leads me to believe that it's an emissary (or tulpa, if you like) who appears in Laura's bed. Significant in this regard is the fact that she repeats a rote phrase ("My name is Annie Blackburn etc"), just like Dougie. The "real" Annie is either still in the Black Lodge or has advanced beyond it.
I prefer the latter interpretation, for several reasons. 1) This fits the Garland/Laura model of "ascended" beings offering clues and blessings. 2) Annie proved her ability to keep cool in the lead-up to the Black Lodge showdown, using the mantra of Psalm 141:10. She also appeared relatively calm when she appeared/disappeared during the Black Lodge showdown, wearing her own dress, almost as though she were waiting for Cooper to catch up but was barred from intervening directly 3) It provides a satisfactory explanation as to why Annie isn't in The Return in any recognizable fashion.
The "Annie + Cooper = White Lodge representative" theory also jibes well with the theme of non-duality that I feel undergirds the series. It's almost as though it's the LOVE of Annie + Cooper that the White Lodge selects as its champion, rather the combination of two supposedly separate beings.
More and more, I'm drawn to the "Cooper in the Bardo" idea, with "dig yourself out of the shit" being the ultimate theme.
What's truly great about this angle: it is about the bunny! Even "sham" gold images can act in a remedial fashion, provided that they're used with healing intent and/or reveal LOVE.
The flip side of this: a "sham" sun used with destructive intent (atom bomb) wreaks untold havoc across space and time.
This thread is very engaging.
This forum in general has been fantastically thorough on 'what happened', but my appetite for 'what does it mean' hasn't yet been sated. I keep looking at Twin Peaks from different perspectives and I can always find some rhyme and reason, but the Tibetan Book of the Dead is not something I have even faint familiarity with. Do go on.
This thread is very engaging.
This forum in general has been fantastically thorough on 'what happened', but my appetite for 'what does it mean' hasn't yet been sated. I keep looking at Twin Peaks from different perspectives and I can always find some rhyme and reason, but the Tibetan Book of the Dead is not something I have even faint familiarity with. Do go on.
Hi Joseph - I appreciate your appreciation. It might be the late hour, but I really don't think I can say much more. Luckily I've been jabbering on about the same basic themes (Tibet, Arm, Seeds) in pretty much all my posts here.
I don't think it's a cop-out to say that the images mean what you need them to at the moment you perceive them. This series of posts is designed to plant some seeds that will hopefully unfurl within you. One little gem I noticed today: in the FWWM finale (don't watch just a clip - let the experience grow to become that particular blossom), the light flashing on Laura's face is eerily similar to that of a television screen.
Most of my understanding of Tibetan Buddhism per se is gleaned from secondary sources and used bookstores - and Twin Peaks. I think it's a testament to the showrunners' mastery that they communicate these ideas in a seemingly effortless fashion. You feel their power as you're watching the show.
Wikipedia on Tibetan Book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol
Cooper reciting from Tibetan Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3sZI8k20D0
Log Lady Intro on "Tear Ducts": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za2_Br_zJUY
"Fear is the Mind Killer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJsYKhEV6o0
David Lynch on Pursuit of Wisdom & Permeability of Boundaries: https://youtu.be/MIlmdLPUdpg?t=716
...my apologies for the Dune clip...
... copy-pasted from another thread for the sake of unification...
I hope I won't seem pedantic by putting forth the following argument.
1) I do think the entire series (but especially The Return) is a set of bardo chambers. This doesn't act as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card re: causality, however, since everyday life is itself a bardo. Realizing that everyday life is a bardo is Cooper's real mission. By repeatedly looking for Laura, Cooper loses sight of his real mission.
2) I think the possibility of a Red Room "ringer" is a very fruitful thing to consider. I'd suggest that the swapping-in process begins even earlier, however. Reconstitution of the Red Room is first depicted immediately following the scene where the curtains give way to reveal the White Horse. Following this reconstitution, Mike probes Cooper's understanding again ("Is it future or is it past?"), just as he had earlier. To my mind, this is the first Red Room "ringer," and it is a direct consequence of Cooper's balking. The quick cut to Mike parting the curtains is yet another "ringer": the guide is trying to lead Cooper to the exit in a way he'll understand.
Laura tells Cooper he can go out now. He attempts to do so, going beyond the curtains and beyond the White Horse. Since "there is some pain in letting go," however, he balks and turns around. This same mistake (hesitating and turning around) is repeated again and again, throughout the series. Hence the series of bardo chambers. The White Lodge keeps sending guides and messengers to a) lead Cooper "out" b) remind him his task is to "go out now." Cooper's failure is two-fold. He a) can't overcome the fear of letting go and b) can't get it into his head that he's in a bardo.
One quick example: after the curtain call at the sheriff's station, Cooper cries out to Gordon (fear in letting go). The White Lodge obligingly allows a manifestation of Gordon to accompany Cooper to the threshold. Cooper then wills himself to see Gordon and Diane again, even though he knows that after crossing over "it could all be different." He even turns around after unlocking the door and crossing the threshold. Then he returns to Laura Palmer as if she needs saving, when the finale of FWWM (and the white face of endless luminosity revealed in E1) suggest that Laura is just fine. This is Cooper failing to recognize that he's the one in trouble. He then makes the same mistake when he manifests as Richard.
This is a long-winded way of saying that in my view, the exit in E1 is not actually locked, even if the static appears insurmountable. It's quite possible that if Cooper had pressed on, the duration of his passing through the static would have been perfectly timed to allow Mr C back in.
3) I do think it was Briggs who willed a physical manifestation of himself to act as a clue. The ring in the stomach is a subversion of Bob's letters in the fingernail, and Mr C has no interest in leading the Blue Rose Task Force to Las Vegas. The reason I think this is significant is it's a window into just how much energy expenditure Cooper's hard-headedness is costing the White Lodge. If Cooper had maintained wakefulness during the 25 year hiatus, Laura's appearance in E1 would have been sufficient to get him back on track. Since he allows himself to be pulled deeper and deeper into karma, the White Lodge needs to scramble and do some truly out-there stuff(e.g. the appearance of Laura Palmer at Gordon's front door)to get him where he needs to go. Since the White Lodge has been dealing with Cooper's hard-headedness for at least 25 years, it makes sense that they'd come up with a contingency plan ("insurance") in the form of a suitable tulpa.
4) I concede that Mr-C-as-Dougie-manufacturer is the theory that makes the most sense. I still have misgivings, some of which I've outlined above. a) I think the Black Lodge can subvert gold seeds but not create them. b) I think the "insurance" angle is not insignificant. c) Carrie Page's manifestation follows the same template of 3-day disappearance followed by attack from the Black Lodge - and this in the absence of a pre-ordained exchange.
Here's how I see it: Cooper's mission is to overcome karma completely ("go out now"). He repeatedly fails to do so, because of forgetfulness/ignorance and fear of letting go. Whereas Cooper ought to see through such things and "ascend" to become a clue-giver like Garland and Laura, his forgetfulness and hard-headedness trap him in the role of clue-receiver. The bardo therefore reconstitutes itself in ever-more-familiar guises. The Black Lodge, whose quintessential agent is the Arm, wants to keep him trapped. Laura et al want him to go out NOW. Both assume multiple guises. As the bardo becomes ever more coarse, the "types" become less pure: therefore Janey-E (for example) is a mixed manifestation of Laura and Arm, imbedding him in karma (by e.g. shortchanging his debtors) but she also reminding Cooper of the liberating power of love.
I see Dougie as a White Lodge insurance plan and Jade as a manifestation of Laura Palmer. She's a sex worker, she actively transports Dale out of trouble, and she tells him "You can go out now." To my mind, this raises the possibility that the Dougie/Dale exchange is a type of sacred activity that the Black Lodge is powerless to touch. (Otherwise, why not simply have the assassins enter the house to dispatch Dale?). Mr C did what he could to ensnare/subvert Dougie, but Dougie's existence was not a part of his master plan. I realize this makes less real-world sense than the alternative, but I just can't discount it.
As an aside: I see the Carrie Page manifestation as a similar White Lodge insurance plan. She's there to remind Richard he can "go out now," but he flubs it up by telling her she's Laura Palmer, thereby feeding the dark seeds of karma that linger within her. That's why, of her 2 jackets, she chooses the one that looks like Bob's. (Note also that it's a pink jacket and that she wears a necklace like Janey-E's: echoes of the Arm.) Even here, the White Horse serves as a reminder of Dale's true mission, but he remains obstinately addicted to "the darkness of future past." As an aside to an aside: if the scary bumping noise in E3 is indeed the Laura/Arm's mother, reuniting this version of the Laura/Arm is a very bad idea.
5) One last word on the White Horse. It is seen by the gifted and the damned. To my mind, it is a symbol of total capitulation: the White Lodge offering one last image before everything changes. That's why Cooper must go beyond the White Horse in order to truly "go out now." It's understandable that he fails to do so - that's scary! - but balking is still a failure. After all, all images are merely reflections.
"Anyone who saw the horse knew that from that day on he had a new king ... [T]hus does the Buddha appear to his companions - and risks not being recognized. The horse too reappears from thick forest, to find himself once again in the place of sacrifice from whence he set out, as if he had come back by chance, but behind him, imperceptibly, his escort has been guiding his wanderings. "
(from Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India)
... copy-pasted from another thread for the sake of unification...
http://welcometotwinpeaks.com/discuss/twin-peaks-season-3-forum/loose-ends/paged/3/
I think we should trust our collective gut on this one: the Cooper/Diane romance is just too clunky to be trusted. Especially when you consider how expertly the rest of the series dealt with complicated relationships, including unrequited and long-smoldering feelings of love, there's something fishy here.
It might be that Cooper is able to remember that he loved someone, but he's unable to remember who. Consider: when Laura and Cooper speak in E2, there's definite signs that Cooper's acuity has regressed. For example, his objection to believing he's talking with the real Laura is almost comical when you stop to think about it. "But Laura Palmer is dead." Yes, Cooper, but the ONLY time Laura's spoken with you is when she's dead! And you had that conversation IN THIS VERY ROOM. And it was actually RIGHT ABOUT NOW (25 years later) that the conversation took place!
I think Cooper's romantic affection for Diane is a result of this mnemonic decay. And if Diane is indeed a manifestation of the Arm (my view), then she is only too happy to feed his fantasy.
This makes me think of another almost-comical error on Cooper's part: in E17, he asks Red Room Diane, "is it really you?" That's a question that even an inveterate liar can answer honestly! Yes, it's really me, the liar. You don't know I'm the liar, and I'm OK with that. Compare this to the question he asks in FWWM: "Who are you?" That's the question that a discerning practitioner of dream yoga would pose. (In fact, in "The Missing Pieces," he is savvy enough not to answer the the Arm when it asks, "Do you know who I am?" This gives him the opportunity to observe the Arm as it identifies/explains itself, so he can guage its trustworthiness and tailor his questions accordingly.)
Guys... guys... it might have been Annie who manufactured Dougie Jones. Or Laura.
Think about it: Mike says "Someone manufactured you... for a purpose... but I think that's been fulfilled." This statement suggests it wasn't Mike who manufactured Dougie, even though his acquiescence to Cooper's request ("I need you to make another one") suggests he has the power to do so. Cooper makes this request when he's about to cross over. Therefore it's reasonable to assume that one must advance to a threshold/checkpoint before gaining the power or earning the right to make such a request. The existence of the (helpful) Annie-in-a-Caroline-dress tulpa from FWWM suggests that somebody sufficiently advanced is trying to get Cooper out of the Black Lodge.
Since FWWM suggests that Laura has had traffic with Mike ("He seemed ... familiar"), I don't think it's Laura who requested Dougie's manufacture. Otherwise the request would have gone through Mike, and Mike wouldn't need to guess as to Dougie's purpose. Garland is another option, but it seems that his MO is manufacturing emissaries using his own form as template. I think it was Annie who requested that Dougie be manufactured, then Laura helped out by overseeing the "rebirth" a.k.a. the Dougie/Dale exchange. There's three main points that bring me to this conclusion. 1) As I said above, I think Annie is barred by the rules of the game from interacting with Dale directly. 2) This type of cooperation (Annie + Laura) is characteristic of the White Lodge's mission of overcoming division. 3) Jade's status as sex worker corresponds more exactly with Laura.
And! And! In FWWM, the Annie tulpa says, "I've been with Laura and Dale." Also, there's precedent in the series (Leland death scne) for Laura overseeing rebirth.
Holy shit, this line of reasoning suggests that Carrie Page might be a manifestation of Annie Blackburn, not Laura Palmer. The most significant detail in this regard: Carrie's line, "Did you find him? You didn't find him???" This is exactly the question that Annie would ask if she'd been sending out emissaries, especially if one of the emissaries took Dougie/Cooper's form. There's multiple reasons Annie might assume this form: Laura's fascinating power, Dale's obstinate focus on Laura, etc. Or it might be an unintended side effect of cooperation between Annie and Laura.
That's why Richard/Cooper's insistence on telling Carrie she's Laura, bringing her to Twin Peaks, etc is such a terrible mistake. The whole point was that they, Annie and Cooper, were destined to go beyond Twin Peaks. It's not the story of the little girl who lived down the lane! Cooper has not only forgotten his own mission/story, he's now caused Annie to forget hers. He's inadvertently brought Bob to infect Annie, when she'd already conquered him and advanced beyond his realm! It's a tragedy!
This makes Richard and Carrie's rest stop at the Valero gas station extra creepy. I remember being puzzled by this, since it echoes Diane's story too well, and they're leaving the place simultaneously (which wouldn't make sense for a bathroom break). That means BOB GOT ANNIE! ? ? ?
I think I might cry...
Actually, I just realized, this means Bob got an Annie tulpa, not the real Annie. That means Annie and her White Lodge pals are still able to turn the contest in their favor. Cooper's just made their job that much harder: now he's not only deluded by Black Lodge phantasms, he's actually internalizing them and transmitting them to others.
Bad Dale. Bad, bad Dale.
Fire walk with