AMCs indescribableLodge 49wrapped itswonderful first seasonMonday night.
Dud (Wyatt Russell) finally got back into the water, astride a surfboard off the SoCal coast.
And then he was attacked by a shark.
Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/AMC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Lets start with the ending.
It was definitely well-planned.
Throughout the season, theres little clues and prophetic statements.
If you go back, youll see.
We shot about 10 percent of it there.
But that whole entire sequencewasshot in Long Beach.
GAVIN:That was at Cabrillo Beach.
Its very much a locals beach, in San Pedro.
We have to give a lot of credit to our director, Randall Einhorn.
Hes had a lot of experience shooting out in the water.
Right before the shark attack, theres a great moment with Liz [Sonya Cassidy].
Whats going on there?
Its sort of twin intuition.
Theres moments in life you just dont know why.
Peter, youve worked on shows with straight-up supernatural elements, likePushing DaisiesandThe Leftovers.
Thats our guiding principle.
Theres the Above and Below, the high and the low.
In this show, we live in the real world.
Jims created a world that is both fantastic and grounded.
We try and find that balance, so that we can enjoy both worlds.
For me, first and foremost is getting it right.
Getting what a mood in Southern California feels like.
All the jobs Ive had, different experiences.
Thats something all our actors do so well.
They have such a lived-in quality.
I was a toilet salesman.
Ive had many a Dud-like temp job.
I worked as a journalist back in the day.
Ive had many failed careers.
Which, as a writer, is a nice thing to have.
All those careers I intended to bethecareer.
I was just very bad at all of them.
When you find out youre bad at everything, you become a fiction writer.
When I left the company, some new guys came in.
They were these really handsome dudes from Cerritos.
They kind of inspired Beautiful Jeff.
I think going forward, therell be this temptation to get off his horse.
It allows Wyatt to go and give us this wonderfully varied and interesting performance.
But Brent gives us a rock on which to build the other things.
Were speaking just a couple hours after AMC officially renewedLodge.
Have you been working on season 2?OCKO:Weve been at it for a couple months now.
We are so happy and relieved that it will be seen by people besides ourselves.
Lodge 49s Long Beach feels overpopulated with great characters.
GAVIN:Were an ensemble cast.
My hope is that youre kind of in love with all these characters in some way.
We want them to be memorable.
We owe that to such a great cast.
The last time we saw Ernie, he was meeting a El Confidente, played by guest starCheech Marin.
GAVIN:Well see more of El Confidente.
All the things that viewers are clamoring for in this television environment.
You have the surly uncle Burt in a pawn shop, and Alice and Paul at the donut shop.
There is a community there.
And one of its members has fallen on hard times.
OCKO:A lot of our show is about the upside of catastrophe.
Alchemy is based on the four elements.
This first season is our water season.
We will move on to other elements going forward.
That kind of mood haunts Dud, and thats what hes chasing.
That pool might be a picture of Eden.
And I think in many ways, were all chasing some Eden in our heads.
A moment from the finale that just killed me was Ernie on the golf course giving Dud a promise.
Ill be here at the same time every week, so youll always know where to find me.
Maybe this is way off, but I almost interpreted that as Ernie talking to the audience.
It reminds me of a lot of the shows I grew up on.
I spent a lot of time in front of a TV as a child.
It certainly influenced the direction I took in my life.
There seems to be such a frenzy to grab onto peoples attention.
You mentioned that this seasons element was water.
What is season 2s element?GAVIN: Dare we spoil it?
OCKO [at the same second]:Fire.
