Third Day Theories: A Recap of the Latest Theories, Analysis and Predictions Generated from Season 3 Part 6, “Don’t Die”

Welcome back, dear reader.  Rough episode this week, a lot of people were pretty shaken up by some of the dark happenings. The game has begun and it was Black’s turn to make a few moves.  From a theories standpoint, not an especially busy week.  A couple of big payoffs on past predictions though, maybe a few new hints on other working theories, and then we’ll end with a speed round for a bunch of wild theories and fun callouts that clever fans have discovered.  Let’s rock.

—–

Prediction: Laura Dern is going to play Diane.

Analysis: Boom.  The most uneventful reveal of the Season.  OK, maybe that’s not entirely fair, but if you’re not catching on yet, Frost and Lynch are not being quite so cryptic this season.  The obvious answer is turning out to be the right answer, more often than not.  Personally, I’m good with that.

In My Life, My Tapes, Diane is described as a cross between a saint and a cabaret singer. I’d say they nailed it, so far.  Now that the enigma of Diane has been resolved, we can expect Lynch and Frost to have some real fun with her.  And when Diane faces off against Bad Cooper, we’re going to see just how much of our Cooper is in there.  I predict a lot more than people realize.

While we’re on the subject, here’s a little tidbit about the bar Diane was found in: “Max Von’s Bar naming in-joke best guess… 1) Lynch loves Sunset Boulevard 2) Max Von Mayerling is the director (character) in that film 3) film’s most famous line: “I’m ready for my closeup…” 4) and the bar is where we see Diane’s face after 27 years.” [Source: Sam Cleveland, Twin Peaks 2017 FB group]

—–

Prediction: ??? is the missing thing Hawk needs to find.

Analysis: Looks like we have a winner.  If you haven’t seen the screen captures of the pages Hawk found, they look very much like the pages of Laura’s diary.  Lined paper, written in cursive, right page size, etc.  And prominent on the top page is the name “Annie”.

But before we go there, let me first reiterate something I’ve been posting all over the place. How cool is it that bumbling sidekick Andy, with his prompting Hawk to be looking for Indians, indirectly solved the puzzle, once again?  Love that.

This reveal has led to a lot of new theorizing as to who might have hidden those pages in the Sheriff’s station bathroom door. Front runner would be Philip Gerard, under the control of MIKE.  That does seem to be the same stall we saw him in back in the original series.  Other possibilities are Leland / BOB (he likes to leave clues to play cat and mouse with the police), Bobby Briggs (as far as I can tell, merely because he had to go to the bathroom a few Parts ago), and Major Briggs (working behind the scenes in hiding; though really, if he had this evidence, why not just mail it in or something more obvious).  Again, I’d go with the obvious answer.  We saw Philip Gerard / MIKE in that stall.  It’s him.

The heartbreaker will be when Hawk reads over those pages and voices the question I’m so dreading to hear: “Who’s Annie?” I hope it doesn’t play out that way, but it’s a pretty solid prediction at the moment.

—–

Theory: Good Cooper is a magician.

Analysis: This week brought us another message from the Red Room and new magic insurance auditing sparkles.  The question is though, are these things coming from inside Good Cooper, or from some force outside trying to help Cooper?  I think maybe we got a small hint in the scene with Carl Rodd.  When the boy was hit and died, Carl saw a little flame float up into the sky.  Not too different from Cooper’s floating slot machine icons.

On the other hand, there is an opposing theory that it is the Red Room / White Lodge helping Good Cooper along, and they are doing so to right any wrongs committed by Dougie Jones, who either should never have existed, or has taken the place of a living person at some point. Dougie got his family in debt, he maybe was in on the insurance fraud or at least turned a blind eye, that kind of thing.  This is compelling, and would give some meaning to our hanging around in the life and times of Dougie Jones.  Hmm, could be.

We also have the possible introduction of another magician character. The magic coin trick Red performed on Richard Horne could have just been us viewing the scene through Richard’s drug-induced haze.  But note that red is a color that has been associated with magicians in the past.  The Grandson, The Man From Another Place, and The Jumping Man all wear red suits.  And now we have a character named Red.  We would do well to pay close attention.  There’s even a theory going around that Red *is* The Grandson, all grown up.  The age disparity seems a bit off there for me, but if time is distorted in the lodge, who knows?

—–

Theory: ??? is the one who took out the hit on Dougie Jones.

Analysis: So, the $50K debt turned out to just be red herring, more or less.  Certainly not the reason a hit was taken out on Dougie Jones (now Good Cooper).  Glad we can stop talking about that now.

However, the saga of the hit took quite a turn in this Part. Mr Todd puts another hit man, Ike the Spike, on the job, both to take out the incompetent Lorraine the Worrier, and to take out Mr Jones.  Couple of interesting things about that.  For one, Mr Todd was prompted by seeing a red square appear on his computer.  Another instance of technomancy?  The other thing is that the mystery employer at the top of this chain of command knew that Lorraine’s guys had missed their target before even she did.  She was receiving a phone call explaining about the three burnt bodies that the police found when Ike burst in on her office.  Again, more magic at play?

While we’re on the subject, here are a few interesting tidbits about Ike the Spike:

• His spike actually says “Ike’s Spike” on the handle [Source: u/spooninthepudding on r/twinpeaks]
• “Obscure reference to Markoff Chaney from the classic Illuminatus! trilogy? We see the midget ice-pick maniac rolling dice in his opening shot – which was one of the randomizing tactics in Operation Mindfuck for which Markoff Chaney, true to his name, was an originator.  (Illiminatus! covers much of the same conspiracy material as Frost’s dreary Secret History, but in a manner approximately 5,000 times better).” [See http://www.rawilson.com/illuminatus.html#midget for more info; Source: u/EddyEdson on r/twinpeaks]
• The pictures Spike was given in the envelope also included a business card – for Lucky 7 Insurance! Uh oh.

—–

Theory: Dougie Jones’ family is not real.

Analysis: We talked last week about the theory that Sonny Jim Jones is the reincarnation of Señor Droolcup.  While that may be a bit on the wild side, there have been a lot of instances of weird behavior and backward scenes that are starting to pile up, pointing at least to the possibility of them being agents of the Black Lodge, manufactured beings, or some other type of non-human entity.  Sonny Jim may have had a backwards moment in his bedroom.  Janey-E may have taken a backwards bite of her sandwich.  Something weird happened when she stacked the sandwich plates that I still don’t understand.  When the police brought him home, she said yes, this is my husband, Dougie Jones (using his full name, weird).  And of course, she’s going to meet the blackmailers at “noon-thirty” (also weird, though some people think this isn’t so abnormal).

Does this all mean anything? Well, Cooper would probably urge us to pay strict attention, at least.

—–

Theory: ??? is Richard Horne’s parent.

Analysis: Two new points to ponder.  He seems to indicate he’s either not from Twin Peaks, or has travelled around a bit and just recently returned, when he talks to Red about little towns like this one being easy (maybe pointing to Jerry Horne).  Also, it’s been noted that in that scene from the Roadhouse, he just might be sitting in “Donna’s booth”, where she had a cry over Laura’s death in Season 1 (pointing to Donna Hayward/Horne).

—–

More wild theories:

• Shelly wears a ring on a chain around her neck. This could just be for good hygiene as waitresses sometimes do, but it’s also a common thing widows do. So her husband, Becky’s dad, may be someone who is now dead. (A redeemed Leo, perhaps?)
• Miriam, the teacher from the RR Diner scene, might be in on the school drug trade. She works at the school, of course, she’s leaving big tips when she ought not be able to afford it, and she eyes Richard Horne when he drives by as if she might know him.
• I forgot to mention this before, but is Betty, Bill Hastings’ secretary, Betty Briggs? This could be why we haven’t seen her in person yet. Could this be why Maj Briggs was in town? Could he have even planted her in that position?
• If Dougie could be controlled by lodge entities (something we talked about last week), is it possible that Dougie Jones was used to give Mr Todd instructions? This would make for an interesting twist if Mr Todd ever runs into Good Cooper and freaks out.

Other miscellaneous observations:

• The statue is left handed, and Cooper makes a gun to match with his left hand.  Is he left handed?
• Sharp eyes think they have spotted Moby in the crowd of onlookers at the hit and run. It is known that he did sign a non-disclosure agreement, meaning he will appear in the show at some point. But other sharp eyes are pretty sure that’s not Moby.
• The Diane podcast brought up how much probability is playing here, especially in this episode: Red’s coin flip, Ike’s coin flipping, casinos in general (games of chance), an insurance company (which amounts to legalized gambling).
• Coins also played prominently in this episode, with the two instances of coin flips, and also Hawk’s buffalo nickel.
• Good Cooper’s child-like scribbles highlighted to his boss that his coworker Tony (the liar) was linked with two particular investigating officers on a number of claims. Presumably evidence of the insurance scam they are perpetrating.
• u/burpen on r/twinpeaks has analyzed the prison phone call scene in Part 5 and decoded the buttons Bad Cooper pushed (see https://www.reddit.com/r/twinpeaks/comments/6h46y4/s3e5_the_phone_number_mr_c_dialed/), and u/FineFlowingTableSalt, in the replies to that post, has also decoded them by the tone sounds.  Amazing detective work, but alas, meaningless.
• The scene in the park, idyllic with mothers and children scampering about, was much like Windom Earle’s description of the White Lodge. Maybe this is why Carl goes to this park every week, to try to recreate that feeling from his childhood abduction.
• A Richard was introduced in Part 5, and now in Part 6, a Linda was introduced (the wife or girlfriend of Mickey, Carl Rodd’s friend hitching a ride into town with him). Could be the “Richard and Linda” of the not-Giant’s message to Cooper in the black and white scene, but at the moment there seems to be no real link between them.
• The hit and run occurred in the same intersection, Sparkwood and 21, where Gerard/MIKE accosted Leland/BOB while he was driving with Laura in FWWM.
• The telephone pole numbers match the one shown in the Fat Trout Trailer Park (in Deer Meadow, Idaho) from FWWM. But be clear that was not the same park that was shown in Part 6. This is the NEW Fat Trout Trailer Park, as indicated on the sign. Apparently Carl moved to Twin Peaks and opened up a new trailer park? Sure, why not.

—–

As always, please reply below with your own comments and corrections, or give me your own well thought out theory. You can catch me on various Facebook groups, such as “Twin Peaks (2017)” or our own “25 Years Later” page, on the Reddit r/twinpeaks forum, or email me at catnapspirit@gmail.com.  See ya next week.