‘Lodge 49’ Rewatch: Paradise Lost

Written by John Edward Betancourt

How ‘Paradise’ Explores the Chaos of Life and How We Sometimes Get Lost While Healing

‘You're the first person in a year who's looked at me the way that people used to. Like I was a normal person, walking around normally. And I saw you. It took me awhile because I'm an idiot and you were hidden behind all this stuff... but I saw you.’
- Sean ‘Dud’ Dudley

​Normally in storytelling, the protagonist’s journey is a fairly straight forward affair. They run into a problem in life, they confront it in complicated fashion and they eventually overcome it, leaving the audience or the reader in a satisfied place. Because someone that matters to them and resonated with them accomplished wonders right before their very eyes. Granted, that’s a bit of a generalization, but the overall structure has merit and well, there’s a reason that publishers and Hollywood continually offer us such simple journeys. Because they sell, they work, and they help us to embrace the wonder of a story.
 
Because that lack of complexity helps us just straight up escape everyday life, and relish in a wonderful world where a controlled and safe story takes us on an overall journey. And the escape portion of it is the real key. For everyday life is a chaotic and scattering venture, the kind that demands so much of us and it’s just great to take a break and enjoy some popcorn or sip some tea as we are outright entertained. However, when a story is well-crafted and beautifully written, the audience is just fine with having an injection of real-life placed within the framework of the tale. In fact, it’s almost welcome since it can enhance the story and for proof of how well this works, look no further than the next episode of Lodge 49.
 
For ‘Paradise’ truly examined the chaos that is life, by offering up a veritable cornucopia of concepts. After all, it took the time to remind us that sometimes, we are quick to shy away and hide from our problems, as evidenced by Blaise and Ernie’s journey in this tale. For Blaise did everything he could to avoid speaking in public, and it took a surprise moment of healing to change that and his confidence. But the lesson was clear in that, sometimes we commit to something that makes us nervous and we shy away from it in an instant. And of course, Ernie used his dream of getting in front of Captain to hide from his problems at work, and to not deal with the mess involving Connie and well, we’ve all buried ourselves in work to avoid things and it was just refreshing to see a story put a habit that so many of us fall into, on display, and not offer judgment.

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Yet the story had so much more to offer than a quick analysis on a bad habit we all partake in. It also showed us how sometimes, we close ourselves off to the pain we carry within by taking on other people’s problems, and this was explored by way of Dud’s journey in this tale. Because he worked hard to serve as everyone’s rock and beacon and it was incredible to see him immediately dive into everyone’s problems to give them a sense of peace, including his girlfriend. And what made this decision so fascinating, is the sheer fact that it spoke to a couple of things about Dud. For example, this helped to teach us how much he believes that paying it forward will heal one’s soul, and while he’s not wrong, that’s the kind of thing that’s a tad more beneficial once we’ve healed. And since he’s not quite there yet, this becomes a horrible façade that comes crashing down when he realizes he can’t help those who don’t want to escape the darkness they reside within, as evidenced by his stunning conversation with Gloria. Yet while this doesn’t heal Dud in the way he hoped, what matters more is that his actions here do teach us how good of a person he is, and it definitely reminds that there are many ways to hide from what we need to fix.
 
However, there was still one more concept that story wished to explore and that would be how we can straight up lose ourselves on the road to recovery, and that exploration was handled by Liz in this tale. Because letting loose like she did and not being in control when she so desperately wants to be, brought shame to the forefront of her mind. And when shame oozes out of our very being like that, we simply let go. We say the things we shouldn’t, we do dumb things all out of anger at ourselves and the situation and that’s why Liz made a move on Jeremy and why she unleashed her fury on her brother later on in the episode and this was just another powerfully relatable moment. Because we’ve all been there at some point or another and what the episode has to say about all of these elements is what impressed me the most.
 
Because the story offers nothing commentary wise. It just presents the situation as it stands, since it is trying to provide us with nothing more than a slice of everyday life. For this is just how grieving and healing goes. Some days are good, some days are bad, but we go on. We try new things; we make mistakes and the sun still rises. And the fact that this story didn’t offer a solution, nor did it judge or try to take a side on the matter, makes it a brilliant tale indeed. Because in the end, this one is just an experience. One that evokes memories and emotions in all of us and sometimes, just sharing in the power of pain and the struggle itself, helps us to recognize things we need to work upon and most importantly of all, seeing this on display somehow provides us with comfort, and helps us to heal.

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