‘Lodge 49’ Recap: ‘Full Fathom Five’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

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When we lose someone near and dear to us, the pain in our hearts and our souls overpowers everything. It’s why we have trouble sleeping after they’re gone, why we cry until there are no tears left to spill and why we find ourselves struggling with our day to day actions as we try to our best to move forward without that particular person in our lives. But what we rarely think about, is how long it will take for us to recover from a particular loss so that we can in fact get back to feeling like our old selves, and we don’t think about that for one good reason; because there is no solid timeline. Sure, there are people that believe that there is a specific timeline for people to heal and that after said timeline, it’s time to get back to regular life, but…they’re wrong.
 
You heal as you need to heal, and it may take you a little bit of time to put yourself back together, or it may take a lot of time. What matters more is that you eventually come to a point where you realize you’re ready to move on. Because when you’ve reached that point, you’re able to move forward quickly, and still carry the memory of the person now gone and all of this is important to reflect upon because it just so happened to take the center stage in the season one finale of Lodge 49, and focusing upon this made ‘Full Fathom Five’ quite the powerful and emotional and beautiful episode to watch. For in this tale, after ages of aching over the loss of their father, the Dudley twins finally came to realize that hanging on to this pain was no longer helping them in life and they slowly shed it in their own unique ways.
 
Liz though, took a little bit more time in getting to that point, but she got there in the end, thanks to a little bit of assistance from both of her former places of employment. Because a quick stop at Omni corporate allowed for her to learn about the fallout that came about from her going overboard in the harbor and the anger that Corporate Guy sent her way surprised her and gave her pause to say the least. And another stop at Shamroxx to get her old job back ended in disaster when she was told there was no more room for her at the restaurant and that…is when Liz finally decided to take matters into her own hands and with a unique threat at the bank, she was finally able to settle her debt and find closure when it came to her father and at long last, she was ready to move on in life to whatever adventure awaited her next. 

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​As for Dud, well the fallout from the Orbis deal and the fact that the Lodge was closing was enough for him to realize that he too needed to move on and start looking toward tomorrow and that prompted him to make some changes in his life, like shaving his beard to look more mature, and speak with Temp Joy about getting a career going and he even let go of his car and paid Liz back before finally opening up to her about how much he believed his dad’s death was his own damn fault and this…this was hard to watch. Because man, he really does believe that he should have stepped in and done something to save his pop. But his wonderful sister reminded him that there was nothing that they could do, and that ‘it is what it is’ and well, that was enough for Dud to find closure as well and he continued on his journey stronger than ever, and he even opened up to Ernie, letting him know how important it is to have him around and the two of them figured out a way to keep their friendship going, regardless of what happened to the Lodge.
 
Speaking of the ol’ 49, its precarious situation allowed for the story to explore once more the power of believing in something since every single member of the Lodge struggled with its pending closure, including Blaise, to the point where it seemed that life had no meaning for the quirky alchemist anymore. But a unique set of circumstances made for quite the wonderful resolution when it comes to the Lodge. For an impassioned plea from Jocelyn and a little writing magic from Connie while she was on sabbatical, wherein she made Larry’s wild story known while abroad, allowed for Lodge 1 to come to the conclusion that 49 should be saved, and for now, the home that so many need will continue to stand, in large part due to the fact that it was the resting place of the all-important scrolls, something that Ernie is working with El Confidente to reclaim…
 
But alas, while that twist should be cause for celebration, this episode does end in supremely bittersweet fashion. For just when Dud was able to go back out on the water to surf once again, he found himself injured from a shark bite and we are left to wonder as to whether or not he passed out on the beach from the resulting blood loss from the bite, or if he’s going to be a reason for Liz to grieve once again. Thankfully though, we will get the answer to that question sometime next year since Lodge 49 is indeed getting a second season at AMC and I couldn’t be happier about that fact. Because this show really is something special, and it’s incredibly intelligent and down to earth and this kind of unique story deserves to be told and I cannot wait to see where this magnificent tale is going to take us next, now that our main characters are ready to move on to the next phase in their fascinating lives. Until next year.   

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