‘Lodge 49’ Rewatch: Shaken Up

Written by John Edward Betancourt

How ‘The Solemn Duty of the Squire’ Reminds Us That Life is Unpredictable

‘It’s you and me, man! We’re gonna save the Lodge!’
‘The Lodge is gone!’
- Sean ‘Dud’ Dudley and Ernie Fontaine

​There are a great many reasons to love and celebrate the now cancelled series, Lodge 49. For not only is a powerful story about grief and loss and how we come back from the darkest parts of our lives, it is also a technical marvel from a screenwriting standpoint. Because there are few stories out there as carefully layered as this particular one, and I am hard pressed to think of another show where multiple themes are injected into a specific story in seamless fashion such as this one. And for proof of how well this series pulled that off, well look no further than its next episode, ‘The Solemn Duty of the Squire’.
 
For this particular tale blends together so many themes, with the primary one revolving around how life, or the universe if you prefer, likes to shake things up and rattle us from time to time and that our responses to the shakeup are rarely perfect. And it accomplishes this particular feat by injecting some chaotic and thoughtful plot elements into the story, many of which involved Mister Ernie Fontaine. Because Ernie was lost early on in this tale, stunned by the fact that his longtime friend and mentor was gone from this earth. And really his pain here, while chaotic, also served as a fine reminder that death stuns us and the emptiness that we feel when those we love disappear from this world is powerful and the silence from their exit is deafening, and this was just the bare beginning when it comes to the many layers present in this tale.
 
Because this story also took the time to examine how the secrets we keep in life, come out in death and that was explored by way of what Jocelyn uncovered in Lodge 49’s ledger. Because we came to learn that Larry went above and beyond to keep the Lodge going in desperate fashion by taking out all kinds of ridiculous loans to fund the Lodge and well, not only did that change Ernie’s opinion of his friend and what Larry stood for in a matter of seconds, it also brought instant chaos into his life. Because talk of the Lodge shutting down and seeing his role as Sovereign Protector disappear are some serious curveballs and they fully explain his fury by the end of the story.

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Yet while all of that would have been enough for the audience to chew upon, there was still one more chaotic plot thread for the series to dive into. For Liz encountered quite the curveball in the midst of her attempt to change the course of her life, since Omni was going to run a background check on her, something that struck fear in her soul and prompted her to escape Omni HQ post hate and she firmly believed that her past would forever ruin her future. But a quick visit from Corporate Guy helped remind Liz (and the audience) that we can never escape from yesterday, and we need to own it and the feelings that come from it and a good chat with her new suitor seemingly helped to release some of the angst buried in her heart at last.
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However, perhaps the best part of this particular episode, is that it stayed true to a foundational notion for the series and found a way to stay positive amidst all this chaos. For Dud’s journey in this tale, wherein he worked hard to pay it forward, and enjoy some quality time with ‘The Parabola Group’ served to teach the audience that no matter how much chaos comes into our lives, we have to find joy. And if that involves doing something nice for someone, or just going out to put a smile on our faces, so be it. But find that happiness and revel in every single second of it and that was a wonderful theme to have lying beneath the tougher moments in this one.
 
But what truly is impressive about this episode and the handful that preceded it, is that the series is simply diving into stuff that most shows don’t even think about exploring. Because a fair majority of these themes take serious time and careful writing to bring to life, and most shows would rather focus on the juicy stuff over anything else. But this series, clearly wanted to chronicle every struggle in life, be it good or bad and these past few episodes show us how successful it was in achieving that goal, and it’s wonderful to see the series focus on so many various topics and I am supremely excited to dive back in and gain fresh perspective on a pair of episodes that truly served as my favorites from season one, and the saga with Captain (played brilliantly by the one and only Bruce Campbell) is where we will pick up next time. Until then.  

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