12 Monkeys/Headscratchers

• I do understand the Stable Time Loop premise of the movie and all the things related to it, even the "insurance" woman at the end. But I just don't understand the meaning of the "Bob" guy and the prison guard who shows up on the escalator near the end. Were they time travelers too? And, if they were, how's the story of their travels? Or where they only fragments of Cole's imagination?
  • My brother had this idea that the Bob guy started out as a time traveller, but ended up going back so many times that he became a "part of time" and could speak to Cole in any time or place, his memories were fragmented as a result.
    • Your brother's watched too much Doctor Who.
  • My assumption has always been that the "insurance" scientist and accompanying guard are there to prevent wayward "volunteers" from bucking the system, as Bob apparently has. (And I don't mean the penal system, but the linear-time system.)
• The guy in the next cell. Well, maybe he's in the next cell. Maybe he's in the Central Office. Or maybe he's just in Cole's head. Well, which is it? And if he were just another "volunteer", why would he be fucking with Cole like that? Why for that matter if he's a spy?