I posted this elsewhere here, but I thought I'd flesh it out a bit:

"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 in the Lodge? 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."

I'd like to talk about FWWM's convenience store scene, almost the integral scene in understanding how Lodge characters interact with each other. Interesting to note, that since in involves *only* Bob and the stolen garmonbozia, the Giant is absent. This is purely a Black Lodge matter, and as such, the Giant is not in his usual place, the empty couch next to Pierre perhaps (not that this is relevant, it's only important to note he isn't there).

The room appears to be set up as almost a hearing, with BOB on trial for something. We find out BOB stole garmonbozia from MFAP (Teresa Bank's), and MFAP both wants reparations *and* to develop a system to stop this occurring again. MFAP rubs the table in front of him and BOB, saying it's Formica. Perhaps this means it is a table of commencing trials and rulings, much like a judge's in a courtroom. The fact that MFAP goes out his way to say exactly what type of table it is (Formica) shows that it is a crucial fact.

"With this ring, I wed thee". With these words, MFAP reveals that BOB cannot inhabit someone with the ring on. Anyone with the ring on must be killed by BOB, not possessed. Thus, MFAP reveals himself as a policer of sorts, making sure that all harvesting of garmonbozia is done correctly, and within Lodge law. The matter appears to be settled, and both MFAP and BOB leave through the red carpets.

What makes me sure of MFAP being a lesser being in the Lodge hierarchy, and not in charge of either Black or White Lodges, is the fact that in the last episode, we see his doppelganger. Not strange, as we see several in the episode, but more strange in the knowledge that no other Lodge inhabitant gets a doppelganger. No shadow selves of BOB, the Giant, Tremond, Pierre, Electrician, Woodsman, even Little Jimmy Scott, we see doppelganger versions of none of them. It lends credence to the fact he is less then at least the Giant and BOB in terms of overall power, much like how a policeman has power, but the government/king/dictator has more. MFAP/Mike's was potentially a Dugpa/other person who found the Lodges, that the two leaders decided could be of some use as a policer/judger, perhaps a man with a strong sense of morals, but how it happened isn't relevant now.

In a side note, I'll try to explain why the Giant is the leader of the White Lodge, and BOB the Black Lodge. BOB is easy enough to understand why; he is evil incarnate, he represents the animalistic side of nature. He wants garmonbozia, and he wants it now. He is willing to bend the rules to achieve it. The Giant, on the other hand, is hardier to read. I think a big clue is in the last episode, when he disappears from the Red Room before MFAP says "Fire walk with me". At that moment, it turns into the Black Lodge, and the Giant disappears. Considering that is his only appearance in any Lodge scene, it is significant. As leader of the White Lodge, he cannot rightly appear in it's opposite. I have more interesting ideas to do with him, but they will come later.

Where does Mike fit in? We know he was BOB's 'partner' in killing, until he decided to cut off his left arm to 'rid himself of the dark one'. I feel that Mike was originally someone who found the Lodges, as detailed above, but instead of wanting the Lodge's power all for himself as Windom Earle did, he is willing to learn off of BOB and team up with him. BOB likes this, because it allows him to kill more and at a quicker pace, hence collecting garmonbozia far more easily and promptly. After a while, Mike, of strong morals of fairness (if not of violence) as mentioned, grows tired of BOB's constant flouting of the correct way to collect/distribute garmonbozia, and decides to be a stablising force of BOB, to make him more accountable. He lopes off his arm in the Lodge, which turns into MFAP. MFAP is the 'evil' side of Mike, the side more likely to punish BOB for any indiscretions, the side better equipped to deal with BOB in the Lodge. He leaves MFAP to police the Lodges, whilst he pursues BOB mainly in the real world, watching him to make sure he doesn't steal any more garmonbozia, and even possibly collects his own. Another indication that MFAP is the evil side of Mike is that fact that after the "wed thee" line, he laughs at how much this is annoying BOB, over the other side of the table, squirming and leering at MFAP.

This goes well, until the original version of 'Mike', Philip Gerard takes back over Mike's body via use of strong drugs, using these drugs to suppress Mike, and thus he loses track of BOB. Who knows how long this lasts? I'd say long enough for Gerard to develop a life as a wandering shoes salesman. All Gerard knows is that he needs to head towards Twin Peaks, and subconciously does so, knowing BOB is there. Days before FWWM, something stops him taking his drugs, whether it be forgetfulness, or whatever. He confronts Leland/BOB when driving, "You stole the corn" (from Teresa, remember, he was unaware as Gerard when it happened), and tries to tell Laura that her father is BOB, the one who rapes her. He shows her the ring, the one created in the convenience store, tries to convey that putting it on means BOB cannot possess you, which she is realising will happen eventually.

She fails to heed his advice, and when in the train car with Ronnette, he manages, with help from the Giant taking the form of an angel (stay with me), to get her to put it on. She does, BOB cannot possess her, and her resulting death garmonbozia is now MFAP/Mike's. BOB takes Leland's body to the Lodge, removes the garmonbozia, with (this is important) MFAP touching Mike's armless area (He already said "I am the arm" earlier in the movie). Together, in sync, they say "BOB, I want all of my garmonbozia". BOB is forced to release it, and MFAP is seen eating it. Not Mike, because Mike is inherently human, and cannot eat it. MFAP eats the garmonbozia eating for both of them, being still linked as the same person. And that is why Mike does not appear in the last episode; he isn't needed, because MFAP is there. And MFAP is part of him, the part that stays in the Lodge. Mike is there with MFAP in the Lodge, because while he cannot directly eat the garmonbozia, he is reprimanding BOB for stealing it, showing a form of dominance over BOB so it does not happen again. We don't see if it does happen again, with BOB in charge of Cooper at the end of the series.

Anyway, Mike wakes up in hospital in the Pilot (Episode 1?), having been found in a delirious and possible near death state because of the lack of his drugs for so long. They shoot him up, and send him on his way, and that is when Hawk sees him leaving the hospital, back in his Gerard state. Cooper, using his uncanny initiative sense, realises that Mike/Gerard was in his dream and is important, so withholds his drugs from him. Gerard slowly reverts back to  Mike, but for some reason forgets who BOB really is (Perhaps the drugs were still working somewhat, blocking out the last time Mike was out, or he has memory loss from his near death experience?). We see him in a weakened feverish state near the end of his appearances in Twin Peaks, which shows how he can't go long without his drugs any more, for whatever reason, and how he reverted back to Gerard earlier. After he helps Cooper, he isn't seen again.

Why did he help Cooper? Because he felt that without his supervision, due to his weakened state, BOB would kill again (and did, when Leland killed Maddy), and in BOB's bloodlust, he would break the rules again. He wanted BOB removed from Leland, because it was too easy for him to kill in an unlawful-to-the-Lodge way, and this can be seen with the large amount of victims accounted for when Mike is either Gerard or in a weakened state. With BOB in the Lodge at least temporarily, Mike could recover to his former self after getting through the drug withdrawals, and be ready to watch BOB again.

Why did the Giant help Cooper if he is the White Lodge leader? Well, he saw Mike was of no great use in helping Cooper, and wanted his counterpart reigned in somewhat. However, when BOB was stuck in the Lodge during the Windom Earle saga, he appears only once; when Cooper is with Annie, to try to tell him *not* to get involved with her, because he knew she would inadvertently lead him to the Lodges, where BOB awaited to prey on his insecurities and fear of failure. And exactly that happened; BOB possessed Cooper, and was free to kill indiscriminately again, most likely not under Mike's watch.

The Giant, much like BOB, can take many forms. Whilst BOB chooses something that is scary to most humans, wanting them to fear him, the Giant wants love. He appears to Sarah Palmer as a white horse, a warning that BOB/Leland is raping Laura, he appears to Cooper as something close to his real self to help him find BOB, and importantly appears to Laura twice as an angel, once when she is helped in the train car, and secondly at the end of FWWM, when he takes her to the White Lodge. Unfortunately, Cooper is still stuck in the Black Lodge or Red Room.

Wow, that was really long, a novel even. Well, more a very short novella, but still. A few parts might be factually wrong, I've only seen the movie twice and the series all the way through once with a few repeat episodes here and there. I hope it's not too fan-fiction-y, I tried putting in as much facts as I could. If you have any questions, feedback, criticisms, fire away.

I am surprised that no one has bothered to reply to this posting yet as I think it's very well-
structured, although mainly a summary of what has been speculated before, and does
contain at least one idea - that the Giant is Bob's White Lodge counterpart - which I think
is novel and worthy of more exploration. I think it is also important to restate that LMFAP
cannot be seen as good or evil, but is a complex (or really simple) rule-keeper of a
character who can laugh maniacally or dance soothingly in his little domain as long as
things are going to plan.

However, I thought you were going somewhere more interesting with your useful analysis
of the relationship between Mike/LMFAP, Cooper, the Giant and Bob. You seem to come
the same conclusion as the charmingly-named Masturbator in his recent “critical analysis”,
that the ending of the series is unambiguous and presents a cooper defeated and a BOB
victorious. I have said before that I think the ending is ambiguous in terms of what has
happened/will happen to Cooper - and it don't look great, I'll grant ya, but let's deal with
what we know: the “ending” was designed as the ultimate cliffhanger (I'm sure Mark Frost
had Sherlock Holmes' plunge off the waterfall with Moriarty in mind when it was chosen)
and the subsequent ?lm hints, not strongly but undeniably, that there is some hope for
Cooper (Annie's message to Laura; the brief reappearance of Phillip Jeffries AKA the
Jumping Man IMHO; the ?nal scene.)

I'm going to ?esh this out further in another thread, because it ties in with another idea I
had about the “doublespeak” in the ?nal episode, but couldn't a much larger plan be at
work here, in terms of Cooper's envisioned role in the lodges/real world? We know that
Gerard seemed feverish and worn out the last time we saw him (when he seemed almost
to confer some kind of special status on Cooper by touching him) and that LMFAP/
confused dream-Laura had helped Cooper track down both of Laura's killers (and realizing
the nature of the duality in the process. Interesting to note too that after her own red room
dream Laura - no spiritual simpleton herself it would seem - thought that Cooper was Mike,
the “only person BOB was afraid of”. What I'm getting at is could it not be that Cooper is
intended as Mike's replacement, with Gerard looking like a goner? A new curb on BOB's
destructive, rule-bending powers. The end of the series shows a twin-?gure, a ?gure
composed equally of BOB and Cooper - I know people might object that it was his
“doppleganger” that got out but I still think the evidence of the head-smashing (while BOB
gloats at his mini-victory of squeezing some toothpaste down the plughole) shows that the
Cooper-in-the-lodge has some control of the body. Why would BOB want Cooper to be
revealed instantly as insane/damaged if he could go out and wreak havoc under his
mask? I think it could be said that even the GIant could be said to be involved in this plan,
and that his appearance, and that of others, in the ?nal episode add up to a sort of
“damage limitation” stalemate move against BOB. More of that in my new post...

This is a very interesting and very well-written analysis indeed, and I agree with much of what both of you said. Now, I'd love to write a long reply to all this, but it's late and I need to get some sleep. I'll try to write something later.

However, I must say that I really appreciate your theory of Cooper being some sort of replacement for Mike - which is emphasized by Laura mistaking Coop for Mike in her Red Room dream. I know most people think that the Cooper we see at the end is his evil doppelgänger, but I never really agreed with that theory. To me - like you said - the head-smashing shows us that Coop, the real Coop, still has some control of the body, and that he's not going to go down without a fight. Wangster, I think you're right about the toothpaste scene too (Bob's "mini-victory" prior to Cooper's violent counter-attack).

Indeed, if the head-smashing was controlled by Bob, why the Hell would he want Coop to be suspected immediately ? That wouldn't be a very bright idea. Bob has chosen the perfect body to possess - if he wants to go out and kill again, the body of an FBI agent is the perfect disguise, right ? So yeah, in my opinion, it's definitely not Doppelgänger-Coop but the real Coop sharing the body with Bob, and trying to fight against him.

QUOTE :

With BOB in the Lodge at least temporarily, Mike could recover to his former self after getting through the drug withdrawals, and be ready to watch BOB again.

 That's a good point, seems plausible. I'd never thought of it that way.

I like your ideas Wangster and Coop's, and I never really considered the end of the show in that way, in actuality, I more accepted for the time being anyways Coop is now BOB. For me, there are two reasons why Coop smashed his head:

 It was BOB showing Coop what he could do, and how he controlled him (same with the toothpaste)

 It was Coop almost powering out of BOB's control momentarily, until BOB regains control. Maybe Coop chose such a drastic act to help let Harry/Briggs/whoever that he isn't normal anymore.

Who knows, Season 3 could have delved further into Project Black Book, and maybe Briggs knew a way to remove BOB from Coop without him dying. Or maybe Mike did, but Leland was far too gone to help before.

For me, the doppleganger scene in the Red Room was just BOB entering Coop (it's obviously far easier in BOB's domain, as there wasn't any rituals or the like that we saw with Laura), not Coop staying in the Lodge. Well, potentially the part of Coop stayed there (an inherently good part maybe?), but that's getting too bogged down in potentials and not what we see.

Ooooo never seen it before! So good job, bumping your own thread after all

Now I've got to find a way to get myself a day off so I can read it, think it over and respond... or perhaps it's got to be two days... ;)

Anyway, it's definitely not now so I'll leave you with a promise 

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

The toothpaste/head-smashing I always saw as ways to show that Cooper's gone mad. Windom pushed him over the edge that time with Caroline (as he said himself in the final episode) and he did the same in the lodge. In FWWM we're told that the good Cooper is in the lodge and can't leave so I find it hard to believe that he should be able to even partially control the possessed Cooper in the real world. But it's an interesting theory that you have though.

Btw. did you notice the sound when Cooper smashes his head into the mirror? It sounds like a woman's scream. It always scares me when I hear it and I wonder what it means.

Very well thought out, but I do disagree with most of it.

For starters, Mike clearly states that Bob was his familiar. If there was a 'leader' of the Black Lodge, I hardly think it would be another's familiar, considering the implied subserviant position.

In fact, I don't think either Lodge had a leader, so much as represenatives. 

I also think that The Giant is a one of the represenatives of the White Lodge, and not all connected to the denziens (users?) of the Black, thus his absence from the meeting in FWWM. 

Finally, I don't see how the LMFAP could, or even would be, a policing force of the Black Lodge. My interpretation of him has always been as a manifestation of Mike's former evil. After all, he is 'the Arm'. I took that to mean that he was literally the link between Mike and Bob.

 Yay!

Finally someone who's heard it too! :D

I recall mentioning it once or twice here but no-one seemed to have heard it. Or at least no-one commented on it at all.

To me, that scream sounds very much like Laura's scream from the Lodge scene (the scene with the sofa). It sounds like it's a really short piece from that scream.

EDIT:

oops, just checked it out and noticed that at least geoffr111 had replied when I mentioned it. He had heard it too.

isn't it the scream of annie from earlier that episode (29)? after "come in / come in / to the circle" by windom (around 7:40).

 and davindragul, i surely would love to answer but i disagree regarding an integral assumption of you. to me, the lodge entities know of no hierarchy / chain of command / order and therefore there can't be any struggles for power, any substitutes and counterparts. only chain of command is between lmfap and bob. but in my mind bob just makes lmfap up, lmfap sort of is a personified illusion (common illusion, many share it). also an illusion commenting on himself in a tv-show, a thing illusions normally don't do. so bob wants to serve the lmfap, but the whole lmfap-thing is a thing within bob. mike/bob are to me personified patterns of human behavior, with mike being an enhanced bob. so mike is bob, but a bob who stopped killing, i mean: actively and purposeful stopped killing, not just ceasing to do so.

First of all, don't call my theory baloney and blah blah blah. What a strange and intolerant thing to say. You are free to disagree with me but such replies I do not accept. There is no proof that the good Cooper can't control the possessed Cooper just as much as there is no proof of the opposite. We're all just speculating and there should be room for all views here so that maybe we can gain new insight.

About the scream: yes, it does actually sound like Annie just before she is taken into the lodge. I never thought of that and I will have to think what that could mean, if anything.

I think it is also interesting what the log lady says as intro to the last episode: "...Where there was once one, there are now two. Or were there always two? What is a reflection? A chance to see two? When there are chances for reflections, there can always be two - or more. Only when we are everywhere will there be just one..."

I certainly think I understand this independently of Twin Peaks. On a logical level, when we are everywhere, a reflection of us will be mapped into ourselves and there will still be just one - since we contain our own reflection. On a more human level, could it mean that once we dare look at ourselves (our own reflection) and face our own flaws and accept ourselves for who we are, only then are we whole? What it means for Cooper I am not sure. But I do believe that there were always two of him. I feel throughout the show that Cooper has weaknesses and fear. Fear of failing, fear of letting someone down. Someone that he loves. Fear of himself and his own imperfection and fear of facing them. That is his weakness and Windom knows this.

One can view Twin Peaks on many different levels. BOB can be viewed as a demon or energy creature from the black lodge or he can be viewed as the dark side of people. One can view the end as Cooper being possessed by this demon or one can try to relate it to the real world which I tried to do above. His fear of facing himself consumed him and he surrendered to it. But being broken doesn't mean one cannot rise again and I do believe that in the end, Cooper will become "one".