Created by Jane Sinyor
Aired on CBC from 2009-2011
Have you ever wished you could turn back time? Of course you have- who among us could honestly answer otherwise? We all have moments we regret in our lives, those tiny little mistakes that gnaw at us from their fabled place in the past. What if you could eliminate them, though, erasing them and replacing them with decisions that your hindsight assures you would have been the better course of action? Would you? And if you would, how do you imagine these events would change your situation in the present day? These are the myriad of questions proposed by Being Erica, a Canadian series that centers around a troubled 30-something who enters into a sort of metaphysical therapy after being approached by a mysterious therapist.
When the series opens, Erica Strange is in pretty rough shape. She’s been fired from her job, stood up by the guy she’s seeing, and has an allergic reaction which leaves her in the hospital. It is at this point that Dr. Tom enters her life. Charming, confident, and intelligent, Dr. Tom seems to have all the answers, and he offers Erica a deal that sounds too good to be true: If she agrees to enter into his therapy program, he can help her come to terms with the moments that she struggles with to this day–but she needs to agree to be 100% honest, and to commit fully to the process of his unorthodox treatment.
When Erica agrees, she does so flippantly and intuitively, with no concept whatsoever that Dr. Tom’s metaphors about fixing her life and changing her bad decisions could have any place in reality–that is, until she finds herself back in high school. You see, Dr. Tom doesn’t just give advice and insight on the events of your life, he can literally help you change them for good. When Erica makes a list of regrets at his behest, he asks her which one is eating away at her the most, at that very moment, and when she chooses a drunken night from high school, she blinks and finds herself taken back to that fateful day without a moment’s notice.
This becomes the essential formula for the series, with Erica’s handwritten list of regrets more or less serving as the episode list. That we are only privy to a few of them is a strength of the series, and that they never become any more important than her present circumstances, and her attempts to build a real adult life for herself, allows the show balance itself between the real struggles of growing as a person and the more fanciful science-fiction and fantasy elements of time travel.
Of course a high concept drama such as Being Erica could easily fall apart without some excellent performers to ground it, and it finds them in Erin Karpluk and Michael Riley. While the show does begin with an already expansive cast of regulars, it is the characters of Erica Strange and Dr. Tom that anchor it firmly while it builds upon its initial foundation. The easy wit and grace with which Karpluk inhabits the titular character makes her always relatable, even when she’s not particularly likable, while the dry self-assuredness of Riley allows his character to inspire trust and confidence in the viewer, allowing him to feel capable of legitimately changing lives. That the two share a quick and profound charisma, one that only strengthens through Being Erica‘s four seasons, serves to endear these performers to the audience further.
Whether dealing with heady and dark emotional issues, as the show was sometimes wont to do, or more whimsical and humorous narratives that offer the levity to carry it through, Being Erica maintains a careful tone that echoes through every episode, only growing with weight and meaning as the writers gather their footing. Anyone familiar with the general woes of network television will have a good idea of the weaker points like budgetary restrictions and recurring musical cues that can plague a drama like this, but viewers who can get past these small qualms will find a richly rewarding experience just waiting to envelop them.
Strong, unyielding, and real, Being Erica is one of the best television shows that has ever come out of the great north, and as such, is much deserving of your attention. It can be watched for free, in its entirety, here.