Prestige TV often feels scared of it's own shadow. Very eager to please and be immediately understood. Lodge 49 is not that, but it's also not trying to "weird" for weirdness' sake. That's a long way of saying this show feels strikingly confident in how low key it is. Most characters in Lodge 49 have pretty shitty lives, but not in the romantic way you'd see on, say, This is Us. They're shitty in the way that you rarely see on TV: the horizons of these characters' futures feel like they're quickly shrinking, and no one knows what to do. The past that Dud holds so dearly isn't one of extravagance, it's very modest: running a pool supply store with his father, surfing, living comfortably as a family. That possibility slipped away, just as it did for his sister. Most of the characters are dealing with a version of this. The life they want, one filled with a sense of community and love, is always around the corner and out of reach. This makes the show sound depressing, but it's not. The scripts always have the lightest of touch, not forcing narrative momentum where you'd usually expect to see some. This can make for frustrating viewing at first, but once you lock into the tone of the show, it opens up a world I want to spend time in. I care about these characters a lot, I find them popping into my head often. I came for the promise of some mind bending magical realism mythology, but I stayed because I really cared if Ernie was able to escape his plumbing supply job.