Being Erica – Season One
Rating: 5/5 – Love, Love, Love

The Premise: We all have regrets and we’ve all made mistakes. But what if you could go back in time and fix them? Erica Strange can – and desperately needs to. She’s 32 years old and facing a premature mid-life crisis. With no boyfriend, no job, no prospects, her life is in shambles, and she often blames her past mistakes for her current predicament.

Enter Dr. Tom. Part therapist, part mysterious rogue, he comes into Erica’s life at a time when nothing seems to be going right for her and offers one simple proposition: whatever she is unhappy about, he can fix it. And with that they begin their extraordinary journey together, as he sends Erica back in time to excavate her past, to relive her regrets, and to make different choices this time around.

Thoughts: How did I not know about this show?! Someone mentioned it to me in passing when the topic of Canadian genre TV came up, so I had to do a little research, and I’m so glad I did. I devoured the entire first season in less than a week, and that was with me trying to pace myself.

Erica is a thirty-something Torontonian with A LOT of regrets. When the series begins her life is kind of no where. She get’s fired from her job in the first five minutes, she’s single, and she feels like she has wasted A LOT of time. There are things that keep her up at night as she wonders about all the ‘what ifs’, something I’m sure anyone and everyone can relate to. After an especially bad day, she meets Dr. Tom. Yadda-yadda-yadda, he’s a magical therapist with the power to send her back in time to relive (and alter) key mistakes Erica feels like she’s made. Great concept!

The time-jumps in the first season range from visiting eleven-year-old Erica to thirty-something Erica, and I love this character at all stages of her life. She’s wonderfully flawed and I can see so much of myself in her. Sure, it doesn’t hurt that her dream career involves writing & working in publishing, but I think it would be difficult not to relate to this character. I mean, who ever feels like they’ve gotten everything 100% right in their lifetime? Really?

But what I really love about this show is that while it not only makes you think, it manages to do it without being obvious. I’d love to point out all the “brilliant” observations I’ve made about how things are playing out, just after watching the first season, but I don’t want to ruin it for you. I’m also really enjoying the Canadianess of Being Erica, it’s fantastic. Not only have a lot of familiar faces cropped up already, but the “issues” are all handles in a very Canadian light. One episode touches on a few different issues of sexuality, and manages to do it without being in your face, making a point or shoving ideals down your throat. There were issues about sexuality that existed without making sexuality an issue. Kudos.

Which brings up another fun thing about this show. As adorable as Erica and the shows concept are, this is television for grownups. There were three sex scenes in the first season, all of which were handled very differently, there’s also pretty blunt (heh, this is about to be punny) discussion of weed. Again, they aren’t handled like issues, just as parts of life. It’s all really quite realistic for a show about magical therapy.

AND, wait for it, the season finale had be all kinds of weepy. I’m not a big crier–I’ll get a little misty for the odd commercial or at an especially happy scene, but it’s contained–it takes the BIG scenes to get the tears flowing. I can count on shows like Grey’s Anatomy to get me going, but Being Erica managed to pull off a major moment in its first season finale by… well, I don’t want to ruin it. Life is hard.

I can’t believe how much has come pouring out of me just typing about one season of this show, but that should definitely tell you how much I loved it. I didn’t comment on the acting, so I’ll throw in that it was great. I  love Erica, her friends, her family and even her crazy, bitch boss. I cannot recommend this show enough, even to those who might not be a big fan of fantasy on TV. I loved it! and I can’t wait to start season two. Must. Purchase. Now.