Lodge 49: All Circles Vanish

August 16, 2019 8:16 AM - Season 2, Episode 1

The pool shop is under new ownership. Dud recuperates while searching for Ernie. Ernie deals with the aftermath of his adventure. Liz seeks additional finances, while Connie finds herself in a new, supportive environment.

"No Grand Tour. London's phasing it out. It's, uh it's too expensive. Although, there is, um, a CD-ROM you can send away for. It's a kind of virtual interactive tour of various Lodges around the globe."

posted by filthy light thief (8 comments total)

Favorite lines from this episode:

- "The rat is the king of history. He always wins." (related: "Champ has a fever. He's hoping it's bubonic plague and says he wants to take that ride.")
- "You can't see stars in Long Beach."
- "The shark was a gift, and it changed my life."

And if you're looking to build your own Lodge 49 library, The White Lantern (Goodreads) is one book I noticed this episode.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:33 AM on August 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

I saw that book too, and might have to check it out.

Champ continues to live up to his name.

"I'd like an advance on my future shark earnings." I can't wait to see what kind of mess Dud's law provider gets him into.

I recall a fight between Ernie and Scott last season about who'd end up Sovereign Protector, but did we ever see a clear decision being reached?
posted by heteronym at 9:56 AM on August 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

I can't wait to see what kind of mess Dud's law provider gets him into.

Mary Elizabeth Ellis! I love that after her confident pitch to Dud, her expression shows she's not really certain of big earnings in the pawn shop, and realizes that Burt is waaay more savvy a businessman than Dud.

I also love that Herman Pola, the pawn shop enforcer, is supporting Dud's sudden urge to get back into the pool cleaning business (in Dud's own/former car, natch).

Ooh, and Bronson Pinchot as Dr. Kimbrough ("I have a PhD in accounting.") ... yes, this looks to continue to be delightfully weird.

TV/AV Club review: A-
posted by filthy light thief at 10:34 AM on August 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

Oh, poop! I had no idea a new season started. I thought the show had been canceled.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:27 PM on August 16, 2019

I hope (and assume) we'll see more of Pollyanna McIntosh. Good cast additions all around.
posted by ahayika at 11:26 AM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY

I haven't watched this episode yet, so I'm not reading the comments, but this was my favorite show of last year in 1E+6 ways!!

Lodge 49 was a weekly "unfolding mystery" show, so I'm glad you decided to make a weekly episode post rather than a full season. I couldn't take part in the last one because I was avoiding spoilers.

I'll be back later on to spew my thoughts all over your nice purple background, like a surfer who inhaled a lungful of ocean.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 12:58 PM on August 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loved the hallucinations in the hospital flashback. I kept pausing to look for clues. Then I had to remind myself that it's not the clues, it's the themes, the mystery's solution is in the themes.

And Paul G. at the beginning. These were actually the best lines of the episode:

The Writer: Gentleman, the dream is over. I pushed something and sort of set the engine on fire, so we need to need to jump.

Ernie: You said you could fly a plane.

The Writer: In my heart, I thought I could.

posted by Stanczyk at 2:03 PM on August 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

Right on! I forgot how much I love all this unexplained weirdness, and all these characters that make no attempt to be anything but their own cranky selves.

However, I have to say the writers really annoyed me at the end of season 1 by suddenly cancelling all hints of deeper, bigger revelations and going with "It was all a hallucination caused by toxic fumes...", while at the same time portraying the show's dreamers as fools who finally realize they have to grow up. Because then at the end of that episode when they went "...or WAS IT??!!" by showing some more wacky shit which didn't look any more convincing than the previous shit we'd just been told to blow off. So I'm glad they've seen fit to ignore that "resolution" and keep on with the Mysteries!

I tracked down the psychedelic song that plays during Dud's rotating vision: it's the opening track, "The Be Colony", from the album Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age. (Note the line from that review: "It doesn’t make perfect sense, but the sense of mystery is a key in itself.")

If you're looking for something else with the same vibe as Lodge 49, check out the movie King Of California.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 1:59 AM on August 18, 2019 [3 favorites]