7-Fold Theory of Dale

The motif is derived from William Burroughs’ 1987 book  The Western Lands. It’s an old Egyptian system of seven ‘souls’ needed for spiritual survival. Complicated? Yes. It combines mind and body with other entities and forces. Lodge visions in FWWM and ABC series from 1990-92 seem compatible, suggesting an influence going back to the creation of Twin Peaks. I think Lynch/Frost used the Burroughs model exhaustively in 2017 as a narrative scaffold governing Dale Cooper’s arc. The pattern can be recognized over and over again if you know where to look.

Parts 1-7: terms, synonyms, characters or props.

1. Khaibit = Memory = Dale’s shoes, lapel pin and wallet.

2. Sekhu = Body = “Dougie Jones”. 

3. Ba = Astral Double—Doppelgänger = Mr C.

4. Ka = Magical Child—Clone = Sonny Jim.

5. Sekem = Energy—Initiative = Janey-E; Phil Bisby; Jade; Limo Driver; et al.

6. Khu = Protection—Guardian Angel = Philip Gerard; EOT Arm; Mitchum Brothers.

7. Ren = Direction—Secret Name = Gordon Cole; Bushnell Mullins; BRTF; et al.

Parts 1-4: the personal components, scattered by defection of the Ba.

1. Khaibit = Memory = Dale’s shoes, lapel pin and wallet.

The Khaibit is in Dale’s missing personal effects, left behind in the Mauve Room. The missing wallet technically merges his Khaibit with Ren by containing the secret name (identification). It’s possible Ren destroyed the pin and wallet containing Dale’s badge, signaling an end to his term at the FBI. He will need his shoes.

I think the American Girl will eventually find and return Dale’s things*—his Khaibit— from the Mauve Room by passing them through the wall socket.

2. Sekhu = Body = “Dougie Jones”. 

(I refer not to the manufactured Dougie Jones, but the role Dale plays in Las Vegas without his Khaibit.) As far as I can tell, Dougie operates by consistent rules reflecting the presence or absence of Dale's six other parts. Seeing it this way may hopefully lead viewers to reevaluate any premature dismissal of the Dougie portrayal. 

Dougie is almost completely without memory (#1). I believe his mind is fully present in each moment, leading to isolated bursts of clarity followed by nothing. He can’t deliberately manage his own energy (#5), protection (#6) or direction (#7) and is largely dependent on others. Dougie's emptiness allows his Khu to channel complex doodles busting fraud but his own comprehension is apparently lacking.

Dougie covets the shoes of the office park statue and has a taste for badges in general betraying his nostalgia for the Khaibit. Meanwhile, Ren guides him uncannily in to fulfill his overarching purpose in lieu of lost memory. Major Dougie themes hinge on the inherent goodness of Dale’s Ren… and the audience’s love for Dale’s Khaibit. Dougie also tears up with an inscrutable recognition of something in Sonny Jim (#4) which may yet be revealed.

Dougie’s inability to remember colors everything about his very special way of moving and speaking. Within a very limited timespan he can copy movement, and he speaks in a faint echo with inflections hinting at momentary agency. I think he means what he says, then forgets.

Somatic responses spark Dougie to life and torture viewers with anticipation. Dale’s lingering addictions to caffeine and sugar give Dale energy (Sekem) when they are fed and rewarded; and Dougie can deftly summon FBI combat training when necessary. These sequences are all about dopamine, adrenaline, endorphins, oxytocin, etc temporarily hooking up Dale’s Khaibit. Chemicals animate his corpse but only tease a return that never outlasts the rush. It’s excruciating. A really, really good pie slice, cup of coffee, melee or powerful orgasm will lend him a momentary epiphany, but do not expect it to stick.

My guess: Dougie must be formally greeted by Gordon Cole* to get his things back from the Mauve Room.

Sekem, Khu and Ren will perpetually thwart Mr C (#3) in his plot against Dougie during the wait for Cole. Dale may actually be more vulnerable once he’s responsible again for managing his own energy, protection and direction. 

3. Ba = Astral Double—Doppelgänger = Mr C.

My contention is that Mr C began his strange, twisted life as Dale's Ba: a magic entity serving as an astral double or remote agent in dreams and other worlds. Dale created his Ba by dreaming. The image of Dale seen in the Red Room sequences of S1-2 would technically be his Ba. This same being was later overtaken in the Lodges and turned against Dale by Bob, Windom Earle et al, eventually becoming Mr C. The pejorative “doppelgänger” refers to the path Mr C took when he crossed Dale in the S2 finale’s ‘Two Coopers’ Lodge fiasco. 

In Egypt, the Ba’s job was to move between dimensions for its owner. It was used to secure favor in the afterlife and guard against sorcery, wage magical battles, etc. Despite their origin as mirror-image doubles, Bas were autonomous and infamously unruly. Spells were often cast to control or replace them, so apt were they to rebel and betray. (Bas can also take the form of hawks with human heads, by the way, evoking vague association with owls.)

The Ba does have access to hidden things, dark desires, etc. but this is only an aspect of its spooky nature. I don’t think Mr C is the repressed shadow of Dale. He only gives this impression because he is broken and inhabited. The mind inside Mr C now seems to be an uneasy amalgam concealing an elusive, unnamed outsider operating the body. His mission  to defy the Lodges and replace Dale is desperate, but Mr C is very capable. He apparently made 1997's 'manufactured' Douglas Jones from Dale's disowned parts and hidden fears leftover inside himself.

Dale became trapped in the Lodges when he lost his Ba. Negotiating his own return without a Ba led to the accident severing his Khaibit from Sekhu in the Mauve Room. Once Dale finds his memory again, he will likely need to kill Mr C.

4. Ka = Magical Child—Clone = Sonny Jim.

The Mitchum Brothers conspicuously gift Sonny Jim with an outdoor temple where his parents worship him. Dougie weeps early on at the sight of Sonny Jim and later offers him a potato chip.   Janey-E hides Dougie’s jackpots away for Sonny Jim’s college fund.

Ancient Egypt had a major economy built on funneling disposable income toward maintenance of a Ka. It’s another double: a type of clone gestating magically in the afterlife. It can be a guide or an actual vessel meant to give its owner a young body for eternity. It must be well fed and kept happy with offerings to properly mature.

The Ka’s part in the saga is untold so far. Dale is moving from Lodge exile back to earthly life and may just need a kid to help anchor him. Dougie and Sonny Jim mark the first reunion of Dale’s personal components following the Mauve Room accident. While I doubt Sonny Jim is a literal clone, I do anticipate some kind of supernatural reveal (e.g. the gym set has implicit Lodge elements). Something also may be happening on a competitive level with Richard as a possible Ka for Mr C; and I think the two sons may even square off before the story is over.

Parts 5-7: forces channeling through multiple characters supporting Dale in his plight as Dougie. 

5. Sekem = Energy—Initiative = Janey-E; Phil Bisby; Jade; Limo Driver; et al.

Someone is always there to show Dougie what to do and place him where he needs to be. Sekem flows through dozens of characters moving him along. Janey-E is chief custodian covering a range of activity.

6. Khu = Protection—Guardian Angel = Philip Gerard; EOT Arm; Mitchum Brothers.

Dale’s Lodge spirits protect Dougie by way of influence from their dimension. To this end they orchestrate an elaborate scheme enlisting the Mitchum Brothers as their unwitting representatives.

7. Ren = Direction—Secret Name = Gordon Cole; Bushnell Mullins; BRTF; et al. 

Ren unites and directs all the parts toward one raison d être ruling an entire life. Ren will manifest unerringly and channel Dale’s unifying directive to some extent through everyone surrounding Dougie.  

Gordon Cole is currently steward of the secret name: Special Agent Dale Cooper. Mullins acts as his placeholder in Las Vegas assigning Dougie’s cases at Lucky 7. 

I anticipate Cole and/or BRTF will say the formal, “very, very good” Blue Rose greeting and give the secret name to Dougie to synchronize the return of his things from the Mauve Room*. 

2017.8.7-11

JVL

(Note: a related excerpt from The Western Lands read by Burroughs and backed with music was used to score an opening montage for The Sopranos S06E01 “Members Only” in 2006.)