Lodge 49 Plot Summary:
Sean “Dud” Dudley (Wyatt Russell) is down-on-his-luck, broke, and has no purpose in life. However, all that seems to change when he discovers a ring belonging to The Lynx — a fraternal order a la The Masons or Knights of Columbus. There he meets the equally down-on-his-luck Lynx Knight, and salesman Ernie (Brent Jennings).
To be 100% transparent, I went into the premiere episode of Lodge 49 with a lot of trepidation.
Can you blame me?
A series premiering in a 10 p.m. on a Monday night in early August? And let’s be honest with each other — AMC hasn’t exactly thrilled audiences with new shows. Anyone want to talk about The Son, or McMafia? I reviewed them, and I’m never getting that time back.
Thankfully, Lodge 49 is absolutely fantastic.
The series is an odd mix of The Big Lebowski, and Twin Peaks. There’s well-placed comedy, an air of lightheartedness, and this yet-to-be-explored supernatural weirdness. All this is welcome, especially since AMC has produced some of the darkest, heaviest shows on television for the past decade plus. Simply put, AMC needs a show like this.
However, it’s not the comedy alone that makes Lodge 49 so damn good. It’s the series’ ability to balance genuine comedy, with sadness, tragedy, and harsh realities. Dud and Ernie might be funny, but they’ve also got a lot of real, honest-to-goodness sadness in their life. It’s the shows ability to balance comedy and tragedy that make it something really memorable.
The performances from Wyatt Russel and Bret Jennings are the reason this balance can be struck. They take the script and portray their respective character in such a low-key, realistic manner. There’s an everyman aspect to both characters that make them highly relatable and lovable both in moments of ridiculousness, and in moments of near tear-inducing drama.
Russell is the most impressive player amongst a sea of impressive players. He’s able to channel the same lovable laziness of The Dude, and yet imbue him with this bewildered sense of loss that makes Dud jump off the screen. His speech at the end of the episode where he recounts his terrible year, is tear-inducing.
The premiere episode does a really nice job of world building, introducing us to the majority of the series’ characters, and giving us a hint that something weird is going to happen in this series. It’s a pleasure to watch it unfold, and I cannot wait to tune in next week.
Rating: 8 out of 10
