‘Lodge 49’ Rewatch: What Comes Next

Written by John Edward Betancourt

How ‘The Door’ Examines What Comes Next When We Deal With Trauma and Loss

‘It’s weird. I couldn’t be happier than I am right now. Truly. I knocked on a door and it changed everything. I feel so lucky. The things that I’ve seen and done, I mean, I never imagined. Mexico? Come on. And I am so excited to see what happens next. But right now, I… I don’t know. All I can feel… is this shadow. And I wish my dad were here, to see where I am, see where I’m going. But I know that that only reason that I’m here is because Liz and I lost him. And sometimes I don’t know how to square that. I don’t know if I can handle paying that kind of price. Everything is all tangled. The good stuff, the bad stuff. And it just seems unfair… that on some days… all of the beautiful things in my life break my heart. Will it always feel this way?’

‘Yes. Always. But that’s the deal.’
- Sean ‘Dud’ Dudley and Ernie Fontaine

Over the course of the past couple of months, our rewatch of Lodge 49 has allowed for us to revisit some genuinely powerful moments. The kind that remind all of us, how much it hurts to lose someone we dearly love, and how their exit can bring us to our knees and rattle our souls in ways we never thought possible. But this journey back through the Lodge has also helped to remind us, how strong we are and that the darkness surrounding us doesn’t last forever, and that there are steps that we can take to reclaim the joy in our hearts that we believed was lost forever. Which has made this rewatch a powerful experience since it has reinforced the sheer brilliance of this series and the fact that we may never see anything like Lodge 49 on the air, ever again.
 
But while that seems like the perfect opportunity to go on a rant regarding the early end of this series, there’s no point in doing that. What’s done is done, and the work stands on its own, and what’s truly amazing about ‘The Door’, is that its inadvertent conversion into a series finale, actually helps the story examine an important question that we discussed at the beginning of this particular journey. For this series was always designed to ask and answer a particular question that all of us ponder upon on the days and weeks after we’ve lost a loved one, specifically; what comes next? Because our lives have been upended at that point, and we are without direction or understanding, making that question paramount to the healing process. 
 
Because without those three little words, we have no idea what to look for, or what to work toward and after spending two seasons examining the healing process and pondering upon that question, this story finally lets us know what comes next for us after we’ve healed from a traumatic life experience. But what makes the answer so special in this particular episode, is that it really isn’t all that epic, and that should honestly come as no surprise. Because emotional healing doesn’t have discharge paperwork akin to a hospital visit, where you spent a little time mending a broken leg. Nor is there a finish line that says you’ve made it through hell and you’re all better now, and you definitely won’t receive a certificate in the mail that you can frame, broadcasting the fact that you’re finally healed.

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No instead, what actually happens, is that the days suddenly become tolerable again. In fact, you wake up feeling refreshed and calm inside, and the air tastes better and the sun is a little brighter and your cup of coffee goes down smooth because you’re looking forward to the day and you cannot wait to see what it brings, and that is quite the change. One that you oddly barely notice, because you don’t miss the sadness or the isolation, and shaking that off motivates you to go out into the world and make memories with your friends and family. If anything, it simply means that what comes next for us when we’ve recovered from trauma and loss, is more life. We get to live it, we get to enjoy it and we get to cherish every single second of it and while that sounds storybook in its own right and overly simplistic, that’s really all there is to it, and for proof, look at all the journeys in this finale.
 
Because everyone in this story is feeling exactly, what we just discussed, and that’s a wonderful way to wrap up this series. Because it gives these characters the second chance, they’ve craved, and it was also quite lovely for this finale, to remind us to pay the kindness that we received when we were down and out, forward. Because you never know if a gentle gesture on your part, is exactly what someone needs in that moment, or if that’s the final piece they need to complete their own complex healing puzzle. Yet, what is truly phenomenal about this finale, is that it doesn’t promise you endless happiness when you’ve found your way back. Because Dud’s monologue above, reminds us that losing someone we love dearly will always hurt, and it sucks that they can’t be there to make new memories with us and when that reality crosses our mind, or something reminds of us them, sadness will return and it will give us pause for certain. But we are better prepared to handle those moments in this next phase of our lives and we honor them and make them proud by continuing to stay strong when those moments pass, and by living our life to the fullest and enjoying every single moment that comes our way.
 
If anything, this is a brilliant albeit unexpected way to end a series, since it reminds us to ignore tomorrow and live for today. Because heaven knows we cannot control the future and well, those are really the last words to write about this magnificent series. Because that’s it, we’ve reached the end, and there’s little else to analyze. Which means the time has come to close the doors to the Lodge and move onto the next story, but this is most certainly not, a permanent goodbye. Because stories like these, the kind that capture the best parts of the human condition, always find a way to resonate with us and inspire us when we absolutely need it. Which means that if we’re feeling lost as we are wont to do from time to time, we can reopen the doors and invite our fellow Lynx back in. For this story is a safe place, a place for healing. Because as Ernie and Dud once said, ‘in here… it’s different’.

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