Loggia 49

Cancelling Lodge 49 will go down as one of AMC's most regretted mistakes. It's a delightful multi-faceted series that I'd been meaning to give more attention to here. It's just hard to sum up what a charmingly esoteric experience it is if you've not seen it. (The Prague Paradox by L. Marvin Metz is off the flippin' chain!) Early ads focused on the superficial The Big Lebowski similarities so I didn't expect it to grow on me exponentially with each episode. The ensemble cast & their dialogue sparkled. It's about alchemy, economics, & the friends we made along the way. I was pleasantly surprised it wasn't cancelled after its inaugural season. The second season was even more superlative, featuring a dumpling eating contest between Sonya Cassidy & Paul Giamatti! Apparently AMC only wants to be The Walking Dead Channel now. Please join me in campaigning alternate outlets to pick up Lodge 49 for a third season! I won't let the cancellation bear deprive the world of its idiosyncrasy!

Jim Gavin's sadly truncated characterful odyssey Lodge 49 is a really beautiful bit of television - a grandly eclectic musical score (their music supervisor was the editor of Shindig! Magazine), a magnificent cast and some truly bold set pieces make it one of the more interesting shows of the era but it is inconsistent. Tonally it's something akin to a Coen brothers' approximation of the allegorical "John From Cincinnati"- with semi-mythical coincidences and strange occurrences mingling with everyday drama and human pain.

There are some really strong moments here but the pacing can drift into the glacial and the fundamental issue with portraying groups of people who meander through life looking for meaning is that this listlessness also seeps into the episodes themselves. Looking back across the two seasons it's sometimes hard to see the justification for whole chunks of it, but when it does coalesce into something it can be legitimately breathtaking.

The backbone of the show is the "knight and squire" relationship between Jennings & Russell - the evergreen latter now making well-deserved waves in the Marvel omniverse. The whole cast is glorious though from the magnetically listless Sonya Cassidy to David "Knifeman" Pasquesi's starry-eyed apothecary to the magnificent Bruce Campbell and the deeply underrated Adam Godley. There's a strange existential melancholy to a prematurely cancelled show - a public story perennially unfinished - that sort of works for Lodge 49 and the Lynx lodge and its cultish trappings will stay with me for a long time.

There are a lot of TV shows, an overwhelming amount, really. But some of them... well, some of them tell a deeper tale than most. Lodge 49 is one of those shows. If you haven't already given it a chance; please consider watching the first 3 episodes and allowing them to wash over you, to draw you in. I think you'll see why this show is so special. Stellar writing and nuanced performances make Lodge 49 one of a kind, and just gets better from the first to second season.

I've been thinking about the TV shows that have resonated the most with me this year: Russian Doll would be one, and Lodge 49 would be the other. On the surface they may seem very different, but both of them operate in mysteries, and both of them have a basic message of the importance of human connection, that we are in this together and that we need each other. It may seem like a simple and obvious thing, but this non-sappy, non-manipulative, genuine heart is missing from much of what's out there, and it's why Lodge 49 has inspired such a passionate fan community.

Watching this show pulls you into a world of drab mediocrity. It's characters are funny and complex. There is an element of suspense and mystery that keeps up interest. But the characters are the story. It has the kind of humor that makes you feel you are there with the characters when they crack you up without doing anything particularly outrageous. Great timing. Good gags. Subtle absurdity. The dingy atmosphere of many scenes enhances the profundity of some of the dialogue. Great writing and delivery by the cast.

I really enjoyed the show and watched all 10 episodes in a weekend! The story is deeper than the usual show out there and the characters make you jump right into the story. The actors do a great job, the pace might be a bit slow for the average viewer but i think Jim Garvin did a great job and i look forward to a second season.