by Mr. Strawberry
Interesting theory, but would that mean that this is an alternate reality as well? Valero was created in 1980, yet Richard and Carrie make a stop at one of their service stations. It might seem trivial but surely there was a reason for having avoided any ambiguity in this regard.
Alternate Reality?: I think this is sort of a Lost Highway sort of Purgatory Coop has crossed over into that's kind of an amalgamation of things. Other possibility perhaps can be found in terms of what school of eastern religious texts Lynch may be privy to and what their notions are about other realities. Notion life is a dream then limitless possibility as every moment has multiple outcomes we go down each day. It makes it simpler for me just to think of this as a sort of purgatory realm though as easier for me to make sense of in terms of situation both Coop and Laura seem to be in and can make some sense of from Lost Highway.
Valero Issue?: If leave out notion of alternate reality and/or amalgamated purgatory like Lost Highway then going with fact Valero openned in 1980, I suppose we could use same logic for 1970's date and replace 1970 with 1981 (rationale below) as the year that Coop and Cassie are currently in.
Problem with that is the Tremond lady not old enough then but I suppose maybe there's a possibility she's related to the Tremond lady we see in FWWM and the series; also it doesn't jive as much as Laura would've then been about 10/11 (
born in July) at that date as opposed to right before she concieved in 1970 nixing out the re-incarnation angle.
1 additional peice info. could be concrete clue: Does it say in "Secret Diary of Laura Palmer" what year the Palmer's bought the house?
Dates Played Around With (1970 favored one):
Laura:
Birthdate (Actress Birthdate 1967):
1971 July Birthdate+18=1989; 1971+25=1996; 1971+43=2014 (year re-meets Dale Cooper in Lodge 25 years after died 18 yrs old)
Death (died age 17 not 18 but as about 18 used this number; subtract a year whenever say 18 if wish)
Year 1989+25=2014 (projected age 43); 1989+18=2007 (projected age 36)
Year 1989-25=1964; 1989-18=1971; 1989-43=1946
Re-Birth?:
Year 1945+25=1970; 1945+18=1963; 1945+43=1988
Year 1956+25=1981; 1956+18=1974; 1956+43=1999
Dale (McLachlan the actor is 5 years younger birthdate 1959):
April 1954 Birthdate+25=1979; 1954+18=1972
Post-Note:
25 Years=Time Laura Re-Unites with Coop in Black Lodge from 1989 to 2014 (No idea why 25 years chosen; if correlated with Dale's age then would've been 35 not 25...)
17 Years=age Laura died (before 18th birthday but as about this age used 18 instead of 17 in dates above as unsure what month the 25 yr mark falls on exactly)
The 25 year mark seems to correlate roughly with age Laura died. 1989 Coop 34 going on 35 and Laura 17 going on 18 at date of her death. Coop's age divided by half is 17 while three quarters of his age is 25.5. Laura meets him at 25 yr mark.
by Nighthawk
The car Cooper drives in the final scenes is a Lincoln model which went into production in 2003. So mid noughts seem to be the lower boundary of when the action takes place, disregarding the possiblity that alternate reality could be different in various ways.
Just thought of something: I have a theory Richard is Coop's past self before he was born in 1954. Diane of course then used to be Linda. Their love story in a past life; both have been displaced in the lodge for many years; identity has become dispersed overtime. The Coop we see in episode 17 is merely an emanation of his Cooper identity (real one not tulpa or doppleganger) but one we see in 18 is a more dispersed emanation from dreamer self crossing over taking on characteristics of past self Richard (
Diane's already at this point when freed from Naido imprisonment perhaps as that how know to search for Coop's re-emergence from lodge knowing it about to happen).
As we know, Coop exits the black lodge as coop and "crossover" into alternate reality and/or purgatory realms occurs at a set point (
turns dark instantly show realm polar opposite to earth as day is night; further support this is a purgatory realm to my thinking) with time displacement (
seems go with identity switch) upon waking the next day.
Do you know which car Coop drove to the motel with? It's probably not totally helpful (like 2003 Lincoln) due to amalgamation effect within this purgatory universe but may be worth looking into.