Lodge 49's low stakes are what makes it so appealing

Slate

"For the past year, while trying to explain to friends why AMC’s Lodge 49 is the only TV show I really care about, I’d say it was because, in this series, the stakes are so refreshingly low," says Laura Miller. "No one in Lodge 49 has superpowers or special abilities. All of the characters are broke, living in Long Beach, California, and in no position to save the world. They eat breakfast in a strip mall joint called Donuts and pawn their flat-screen TVs to pay off debts they should never have taken on." She adds: "The eccentricity of Lodge 49 is never merely gratuitous. It is a story about how ordinary people try to get by, have a bit of fun, and sometimes save each other’s lives on the ragged fringes of a post-industrial economy. And it’s also about alchemy; the credits are a radiant collage of turquoise swimming pools and esoteric medieval etchings and glyphs." ALSO: Lodge 49 is unlike anything else on television, in a really good way.