Lodge 69 Was Double Booked review

The setup

After a near-wipeout on the icy steps, a couple reaches their mountain rental to find another pair already unpacking. Both hold the same booking. The rental office has no spare rooms, the only road down is closed, and the line goes dead mid-protest. One of the four shrugs it off, tallying bedrooms and grown-ups and pointing at the hot tub. By bedtime the other wife is modeling a new outfit for her husband, Brad, who answers by asking where his goggles went. She then makes sure our man knows Brad will spend tomorrow on the slopes.

Episode 2

Before the ski roll call even starts, Brad's wife murmurs that she has a better ride in mind than the chairlift. Brad wants everyone on the first lift at nine; our man blames the long drive, she suddenly feels awful, and Brad leaves alone, due home by four. Her illness clears up the moment the hot tub comes up. The water is disappointingly cold, his wife retreats indoors for a real shower, and nine to four comes to seven hours.

Who's who

• The husband: half of the first couple, wary, polite, and tracking his wife's whereabouts
• Brad's wife: dressed up for a husband who only notices his ski gear, and done waiting
• Brad: first lift at nine, home by four, oblivious in between

Verdict: 6.4 out of 10

The double booking is a gift of a premise, and the show locks the doors efficiently: closed road, dead phone line, no exit. The sharpest moment belongs to Brad, whose response to his wife's new outfit is a question about goggles, a whole marriage summed up in one shrug. Episode 2 is blunter. Her come-ons run on chairlift-grade puns, and the cold tub gag does more work than the seduction. Still, a seven-hour window with a spouse just indoors is a sturdy engine for what follows.

Episode guide