Being Erica – The Best Show You Probably AREN’T Watching (But should be . . .)

 

If you had the opportunity to go back in time and relive any moment in your past.  Where would you go?  Would you change anything about the experience, or would you simply let things remain as they always were?  If you did decide to make changes, what would those changes be?  How would those changes affect the way your life is now?

Last night marked the U.S. premiere of Season 2 of the Canadian television show Being Erica.  The show airs exclusively on Soapnet, which is why many of you have probably never heard of it.  However, for those of you who are curious, you can catch the entire first season on Hulu.com.  New episodes will air on Soapnet Wednesday, nights at 10 . . .

The show chronicles the life of Erica Strange, a woman in her early thirties, who, like most of us, leads a life that is plagued by past regrets.  When we first meet her in Season 1, Erica’s regrets have paralyzed her, hindering her ability to find love and success in her life.  Sounds depressing, right?  Wait . . . just hear me out.

It is at this point in our story that Erica meets Dr. Tom, a therapist who specializes in managing regrets.  However, Dr. Tom isn’t just your average therapist.  He has the power to send Erica back in time to face her regrets head on.  During her time travels, Erica has the unique opportunity to either change her past, or simply come to terms with it, so that she can better cope with her future. 

Each week, Erica tackles a new regret from her past, usually in relation to some problem she is facing in the present day.  Part of the fun of the show is trying to pick up on all of the past pop culture references, as you watch Erica shuttle through different stages of her life  (bad eighties hair, and cheesy early nineties music are some of the show’s main staples).  Erica is a deeply flawed, but intelligent and highly relatable character.  The actress who plays her, Erin Karpluk, does an  excellent job of illustrating a wide range of ages and experiences.  Karpluk has a sort of agelessness about her that makes her believeable whether she is playing a grad student in her early twenties or a thirty something junior editor at a publishing company.  (Although, admittedly, she looks just a bit long in the tooth for those obligatory high school flashbacks.)

One of the cool things about the show is that, as viewers, we are given the unique opportunity to watch Erica evolve and change with each passing episode.  The result is surprisingly therapeutic.  In fact, it is difficult to watch the show without pondering your own regrets and the way in which they impact your life. 

And in this economy, free psychotherapy sessions are nothing to sneeze at . . .