I never understood how Ronette was able to see Bob in the train car scene instead of Leland.  I know she did see Bob because she recognized Bob in the sketch in the hospital scene and freaked out.  Plus if she saw Leland at all during that night i'm sure she would have turned him after she escaped. 

So was she counted among the gifted or was there some other explanation that i missed???

It's possible, but I think she was among the "damned"/intended vivtim that Mike spoke of. (Even though Coop and Albert said didn't know/care).  Remember she was with Laura in the train car when he revealed himself to both of them.  I think she was intended to be another victim because they were trapped, but that's when Mike appeared and saved her in a way.  (Ok, she got attacked and chucked out of the train car, but BOTH girls were attacked by BOB so I think if she'd still been there after he killed Laura he'd have killed her to because of the risk associated with knowing who he was.

I  thought maybe Maddy was gifted at first, but because of the visions of BOB and the way they happened, in hindsight it also probably mean t she too was damned.  She saw BOB in the same kind of way Ronnette (and possibly Laura) did. Again after the killer revealed himself, he'd have felt he had no choice but to kill her to keep his identitiy secret.

I think probably Cooper and Sarah Palmer (and also Hawk, Log Lady & Major Briggs) were the gifted ones.

"watch out for my cousin.."

Don't you think Maddy that Bob would have needed to reveal himself since the cabin when he took them?  I mean i know we as the viewers saw Leland looking in the window and then grabbing them but they had to have seen him as Bob then, especially Ronette.

Also with the gifted and the damned, do you know which episode that's found in and in what context its said?  I kinda remember that being said by Mike I think but I wonder how Ronette fits in with the damned since she was never killed

Once upon a time there was a very inspiring theory, the author of which I don't remember anymore... It said that BOB took Ronnette along for her to be the first victim of the possessed Laura (!). He wanted to try for the last time to possess Laura and he kind of prepared all the ritual - the mount of dirt, the necklace, the "fire walk with me" chant, this theory said. Now if he had succeeded, Laura would replace the worn out Leland Palmer as BOB's vessel, Leland would probably be left dying as it in fact happened those two weeks later after BOB left him, and Ronnette would have been the first Laura/BOB victim.

Even though I don't think BOB had any chance - Laura was strong enough, she was fully aware that "this was the night she had to die, cause it was the only way to stop BOB" and she was ready to die, as Jacoby later pointed out (doctor Jacoby, Laura Palmer did not commit suicide... - no, but doctor Jacoby showed great intuition when he said that perhaps she let herself be killed) - and moreover BOB did not have a chance because MIKE interfered, still I think this theory is excellent. Brings in a whole new perspective, something the characters in the series never really thought of but we can, can't we? It's a hypothesis alright and we can't in any way prove it but it really is thought-provoking, don't you find?

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

pretty sure it's Mike Frost and Danny Lynch.

Could the sentence always be taken as "the gifted and the damned" meaning the same?  the person would have to be gifted and eventually damned.

Nice theory on Ronette.  good read.

That's something i also wondered.  I did hear somebody say but i can't remember who that the gifted and the damned are the same thing, it just depends on the person's fate.  Also this is kinda going a little off subject but perhaps even Leland was gifted (or damned) as well.  Maybe the hosts and or victims need to be for the lodge spirits to manifest themselves and interact with them or something like that.

Just something else to think about although im not sure how somebody like Josie would fit in to that  

I think people tend to put too much into the Ring. It was important but it's not a mathematical thing, like: you have the ring on --> something happens, you don't --> something else happens.

It is a story about people and their souls, not about magical objects.

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

Interesting idea about Ronette and the ring Lodge4.  I'd have to watch FWWM again because to be honest I don't recall seeing Ronette at any point ever wearing the ring, unless maybe you're saying she just kept it and never wore it or something. 

"watch out for my cousin.."

Hmm, I think the theory of Ronette being the first victim of the possessed Laura makes the most sense.  She was damned to die that night... but since Laura refused to be possessed and was killed, BOB killed Laura.  Why didn't BOB kill her on the same night, then?  Maybe wrapping two girls in plastic on the same night is hard work.  Heh.

But BOB did try to kill Ronette later on, but in a chickenshit kind of way, tainting her fluids at the hospital.

Ronette was definitely damned, seems most logical to me.

On a side note, I think it would have been interesting if Nadine became possessed.  That high school Nadine crap really annoyed me.

Bobi 1 Kenobi

B. Beware
O. Of
B. BOB 

BOB-possessed Nadine... Good Lord...

That dude she 'corkscrewed' (in without a doubt the BEST scene ever...) would have reached Missoula or Tacoma...