"Lodge 49": An Artifact of the Times

"Lodge 49" is a new AMC series that's available on Hulu. We just watched the first season, which was meditative and interesting while also being entertaining. It's a pretty good cultural snapshot of the United States today and actually hits on many of the same themes as this blog.

The United States is suffering from a protracted hangover of the post WW2 era. The end of the cold war basically destroyed any reason to hang onto the empire, except for crass commercial reasons, and crass commercial activity started to dominate every aspect of life. Actually, a good way to look at the present day western world's controversies is it's a protracted quarrel about how to live in the post cold war paradise we actually have.

The show is about the brother and sister survivors of the solar family the Dudleys. The mother died young, and the father died recently in mysterious circumstances. (There are countless shows, movies, and stories with the same starting point, and at least as many characters, e.g. Lex Luthor in Smallville, Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural.) The children are struggling with debt and dead end jobs, and the nagging idea that they should be doing something else.

The main character Sean "Dud" Dudley through a series of accidental circumstances ends up as a "Lynx" (Stand-in for the Masons) Fraternal Order. The show follows the typical pattern of a "slowly revealed secret" show, but it keeps things moving and doesn't get too bogged down.