‘Lodge 49’ Recap: ‘The Solemn Duty of the Squire’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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There’s a solid reason why some old sayings have managed to stick around after all this time; because they still ring true. Every word of these phrases strike a chord within all of us because we’ve felt their gravity and their reality at some point or another in our lives. Case in point, ‘when it rains, it pours’. For that little saying, seems to come about more often than we’d expect, because when good things come into our lives, they seem to wash over us in giant waves, providing us with a peace we never expected and well…when the bad comes, it hits us hard, sometimes changing our lives as the ugly just keeps on coming. Oddly enough however, these phrases also find their ways into storytelling, because stories reflect our world in their own special way and the phrase, I just made mention of, definitely applies to the next episode of Lodge 49.
 
For the next episode in this awesome series, ‘The Solemn Duty of the Squire’, saw the darker themes that reared their head during the last episode appear once again and, challenge the characters in new ways as the bad stuff continued to tighten its grip upon the story. Take for example Blaise and the whole storyline involving Avery from ‘London’. Because it was eventually revealed when Jocelyn arrived from Lodge 1 that this man was nothing more than a common thief, one who robs Lodges blind in the hopes of learning the secrets to making gold and well, his outing at the hands of a real Emissary was the just the beginning of the bad news in this tale.
 
For once Jocelyn got his hands on the books at the Lodge, he came to discover some seriously chilling news in that…Larry did a lot of shady things during his final years as Sovereign Protector. Not only did he spend his last few years living off of everyone’s membership fees, in turn neglecting the health of the Lodge, but he also made one incredibly shady deal that has put the Lodge’s future in jeopardy. Because Larry took out a massive loan from a Chinese bank to keep the place afloat, and the $300k he owes said bank is about to require a hefty payment, one that the Lodge cannot make and one that will likely put it into Foreclosure and well, this news more or less shattered Ernie. For his lifelong hero was now a villain and he tried his best to deal with this news and keep up a strong front for his loyal subjects. 

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​Yet, despite his best efforts to keep his spirts up, Dud recognized Ernie’s pain and tried to step in as a Squire and help Ernie feel better…with mixed results of course. In fact, Dud’s plan to get Ernie his T.V. back, quite literally fell to pieces, leading to fallout in their friendship and if all of this wasn’t harrowing enough, even Liz went to some dark places in this tale. Because despite signing up for the management program at work, and passing every interview with flying colors, a checkmark on her past forced her to once again walk away from a wonderful opportunity, leaving her future in a seemingly precarious place and well, I’ll be honest, this is the bleakest episode the series has put up to date since everyone was seemingly without hope. But there were some rays of sunshine in this tale when all is said and done.
 
After all, corporate guy did swing by Liz’s apartment to see what was eating at her, and eventually, on a pseudo date she did open up to him and let him know some of her troubles and it was nice to see that she’s finding a little romance at last and that someone finally reached out and made her feel as though she matters and…there is the whole matter of the ending of this one as well. For early on in this tale, Jeff went off to find the elusive Captain, and ended up dehydrated and in the hospital at the end of his hunt, only to reveal to Ernie that he found the man at last, and told him where he was hanging out, leading Ernie to quite the surprise. Because at Captain’s property development out in the desert, was Dud, handling some paperwork, bringing back the notion of fate and destiny. But more importantly…Captain was there, in the pool out back and at long last, Ernie is about to get his shot at the deal of a lifetime…
 
Okay, so, before I start digging into my final thoughts on this episode, the inner fanboy in me needs to take a moment and freak out over the fact that Bruce Campbell…THE Bruce Campbell is freakin’ Captain! I had my hunches he was in this show after that conference call, and I was right, and I couldn’t be happier. Because Bruce is one of my all-time favorite actors and now here he is in a show that I am utterly falling in love with. But now that I have that out of my system, wow, what an episode. This was one was heavy, and it’s heartbreaking to know the Lodge is in jeopardy and well, at this point, I’m not sure how Ernie is going to save it and that sense of the unknown is fascinating to see in a television series since a way out is usually present for the characters in just about any story, but here we are, and well, with three episodes left, I’m dying to know how this is going to end and whether or not the Lodge gets saved. Which means it is time to hit ‘play next episode’ once again, and dive back into this magnificent story. Until next time. 

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