Long time lurker here, recently re-watched the last ep and the movie, and had a few questions I don't think I've seen here:

1) What's the significance of Jimmy Scott and his song right after Cooper enters to Lodge? Is it just a 'welcoming song' of sorts?

2) Why does the MFAP get a doppelganger, while no other Lodge inhabitants seem to? Does this imply he was once human? That the real MFAP is actually good?

3) Leland saying 'I did not kill her', is this just a trick, or is this further pushing what FWWM seems to say, that Leland had a reasonable idea what he was doing?

Thanks.

 1. i dont think there's any signifigance to jimmy scott singing "sycamore trees" other than it being an amazing scene(one of my favorites) and the introduction to the black lodge.
2. i always thought of MFAP as the host. notice when cooper first backtracks after leaving the waiting room. MFAP is right where he was last seen, and gives coop directions. but with the doppleganger, im torn between what i just said, that he acts as a host or guide, or somehow, possibly something to do with mike and MFAP saying "i am the arm", could have something to do with him having a doppelganger. i dont think theres enough info to make any real indiction of the reason. also, it was a simple way of sort of telling viewers what was going on with the eyes of the laura, maddy, caroline, and then cooper.
3. it could be taken three ways. leland was not in control of his mind or body while killing, or since that is leland's doppelganger, maybe he, the doppelganger, didnt kill anybody. or most likey what you said, a sick double entendre, which is backed up by his laughter and the slightly aggressive moves towards cooper.

1) I thought as such, it's actually the creepiest scene for me for some reaosn in all of TP.

2) I always found it funny that no one mentions the fact that the MFAP has those white eyes as a mystery, consider he's on the cover of Season 2 Part 2's DVD (in Australia at least). How exactly does it relate to the 'arm' line?

3) I guess all of those could be right, but the last explanation the most right, as you said.

I just thought of another question. Why are Laura, Maddy and Leland in the Lodge, or at least Waiting Room? I mean, was it established that when you are killed by Bob or another spirit, that is where you go? Why no Josie, or anyone else?

1. creepy? man, i smile wide and get goosebumps everytime MFAP comes out from behind the curtian backwards. you have to remember, when viewing this when it first aired, it was like a year and a half until they got back to the MFAP, never letting us know what context of the show he occupies. there's the dream in ep.2(i know he's recalled in memory at some point later as a clue in relation to leland's compulsive dancing, but thats just a remembering of cooper's dream). and then dancing on josie's bed in cooper's vision in ep 22 or 23 or 24, i cant remember right now, appearing just as BOB disappears, then dancing to his own song. so, for me, there's kind of a magic to that "sycamore trees " scene, as in finally, MFAP gets some real screen time.

2. i was just fishing for any possible reason that MFAP could have a doppelganger. i dont actually think that. i think its more to do with him guiding cooper through the black lodge.

3. first, laura, maddy and leland are definitely in the Lodge, or at least their doppelgangers are. the waiting room is a distinct room at the beginning of the red rooms. and  i thought josie was trapped in the wood at the great northern. and died of fear(coop says this in next to last episode). not sure BOB killed her, rather, it think he was just attracted to the pain and sorrow. as for the others, teresa banks was only alluded to, and not by name, in the pilot, so i doubt she was thought about much for ep.29. the easiest way i can explain it is that i think when the owl ring is worn, that person's garmonbozia(pain and sorrow) goes to mike and/or MFAP and BOB collects it. in FWWM,  MIKE says that BOB stole teresa's corn(she wore the owl ring in that picture on her fridge), thats why he throws the ring in the train car, so he and MFAP can have laura's garmonbozia as payback for BOB breaking the rules. BOB seems a subordinate of MIKE/MFAP, but one who acts against them at times.
 

3) But why is it only them in the Lodge? Discounting Teresa and the like, why do we only see them? Is it because they are the only ones that have anything to do with Cooper? Does this mean that if you are killed by BOB, you go to the Lodge?

And was there any Garmonbozia that came from Maddy, or is a long time of torment needed to produce it, such as Laura's death or Teresas?

id say yes, if you are involved with the lodge spirits and they kill you for the garmonbozia, then your doppelganger is stuck in the black lodge(i still maintain cooper and laura made it to the white lodge at the end of FWWM).

by what the show implies, i would think her garmonbozia went to BOB. there was never anything going on with maddy and the ring.
 

I recently was lucky enough to see a screening of the final episode of the series coupled with FWWM in a movie theater and i feel that i had a bit of a revelation in regards to the Jimmy Scott scene (which has always been one of my favorites). I believe that D. Lynch knew that after Dale enters the lodge, he would be trapped forever in a cycle (as the viewers see it). The order of TP viewing being non-linear: 1.) Pilot/series 2.) FWWM which brings the viewer back to the beginning. So once Dale passes through the red curtain, his fate is sealed forever (i believe that D.Lynch knew it was extremely unlikely that there was going to be a 3rd season).

As I watched this sequence playing out (for the umpteenth time) it seemed clear to me that this was D. Lynch's final ode to Dale Cooper. As the haunting lyrics: "I'll see you in the branches that blow in the breeze. I'll see you in the trees. I'll see you in the trees. Under the sycamore trees."

I don't think it was a welcoming song, but more of a farewell to a character that was close to his (and the viewer's) heart.

I think the LMFAP having a doppelganger makes sense. The normal LMFAP is not an inherently evil character. I remember reading online after the whole series was over that some people were calling him evil. I talked with my mom who I watched teh entire series with (on it's initial run) and she too thought it was weird that people were calling him evil. I think people call him evil because he's just confusing and people have a need to lump him in a category to understand him. To me he's just a character that exists and he's not really good or evil (though he does help cooper telling him about the gum). Yes, he is around after Bob kills Josie, but to me, his appearance there is more the fact that some sort of cosmic order is being restored. Like in FWWM, he says to Bob that he wants back his pain and sorrow, because Bob took it. That doesn't mean that he's only pain and sorrow, just that he's trying to keep the balance, and Bob made things off Balance.

Yes, the one-armed man says he cut off his arm, and later the LMFAP says he's the arm, but that doesn't mean he's evil, just that when Mike and the LMFAP were one, they were evil. We just never see the LMFAP doing anything evil.

This is all just my opinion obviously. And anyway, that's how he can have a doppelganger.

As for the Sycamore Trees seen, I totally don't see it as creepy! I too get a big smile. Again, it's just Lynch doing his thing, and again, he doesn't let the viewer know if it's meant to be good or evil, so some people feel they have to pick a side of how to feel about it. You see this same effect when watching Lynch films, sometimes people laugh a lot in his movies, and others sit there thinking "why is the douchebag next to me laughing all the time?" :)

I too don't think MFAP is evil, or overly good for that matter. He is, as you said, a complex character. But, why don't the Giant or Bob have doppelgangers? They are good and evil respectively (well, the Giant is *most likely* good). Could this demote MFAP to being under those two in terms of power? Could he be, as we saw in the FWW convenience store scene, just a mere master of ceremony, there to ensure everything goes smoothly, no one cheats for Garmonbozia, a policer of sorts there to ensure everything is fair?

This could explain Mike's behaviour in the real world, as he is watching Bob/the Giant. Maybe Mike decided to cast the 'evil' side of himself (MFAP) off in order to be able to be in both the Lodges and the real world at the same time. MFAP is 'evil', or more tough, strict, whatever, and is the side of Mike that is able to reign in the other two better, hence he is needed more in their 'home', the Lodges. As I'm writing this, I'm scared at how much this is explaining. I'll have to compile some things, and if anything contradicts this, tell me please.

1) The minstrel welcomes you

2) There is only one MFAP - He was just playing with Coop's mind when he said " the next time you see me it won't be me"

3)Leland is right - he didn't kill anybody - BOB did.

I do believe that Mike and the Arm are the same. In the script to FWWM, MFAP is referred to as Mike sometimes. I also believe that he is good. To me, and this isn’t widely accepted, the garmonbozia he refers to is his own pain and sorrow not anyone else’s. He does not say “her”, “yours” or even “our” but rather “my”. It never states that BOB feeds on pain and sorrow but does state that he feeds on fear and pleasure. When he feasted on Josie it was stated that her fear attracted him. I think the stolen garmonbozia was the pain and sorrow Mike felt over Laura’s death. The corn was only stolen after Cooper had told Laura not to take the ring.

1. The sycamore trees song relates the narrative in it's lyrics.

"And I'll see you
And you'll see me
And I'll see you in the branches that blow
In the breeze
I'll see you in the trees
Under the sycamore tree"

I thought it tied in nicely with the lines of the little fwwm poem:

"Thru the darkness of Future Past
the magician longs to see
one chants out between two worlds
Fire - walk with me."

As long as you enter in the right spirit, you will be able to discern the truth. Only Cooper didn't enter in the right spirit and as a result he got trapped there and his doppelganger walked out.

It also seems to me that there really isn't any linear timespace in the Red Room, which is why Annie appears to Laura before Cooper has even come to Twin Peaks. This actually means that Not!Cooper could have been discovered by clues planted before any of that happened.