Inspired by Enlightened's main character Amy, exuberantly played by Laura Dern, I'm going to try to drop some of my cynicism for this review. Sure, I could talk about how this is another in a long line of half-hour cable shows fronted by middle-aged women who also executive produce, and which attempt to walk the tightrope between comedy and drama. There are so many now that it seems like a cliche - however, that's not the real issue. The problem is that some of these shows (Nurse Jackie) are only concerned with treading water and being neither here nor there. Understandably, it can be hard to get excited about them anymore, especially since it's mostly what cable has to offer now after partially moving away from hour-long dramas. Just like the 70s New Hollywood film period ended, this golden age of television will come to an end, and I think we're getting closer to meeting it. End cynicism.
Amy Jellicoe is an executive at a big, soulless company named Abaddon (wink, wink...). The show opens to her emotional breakdown at work when her boss, Damon, with who she was having an affair, has her transferred out of her position and department. She overhears some co-workers bitching about her and works up the nerve to busy out of the cubicle and put them in their place. This becomes a catalyst for her storming through the office irate and crying while she tracks down her boss to confront him. He denies her allegations and closes the elevator on her. In a feat of strength that could only be fueled by a mental breakdown, Amy manages to open the fully-closed elevator while screaming a barrage of death threats at him. Laura Dern plays this sequence brilliantly as she immediately attains the vulnerability needed for the character and I empathised with her straight away. Seeing someone at their lowest point must do that.
What follows is a brilliantly directed sequence with Amy having retreated to Hawaii in order to heal. There's a calm voice-over delivered by Amy talking about change and positivity. The sequence doesn't make fun of New Age spirituality, it seems to embrace the cliche activities Amy takes part in. This ambiguity of whether or not the show is an indictment of New Age enlightenment or an embrace, and in turn the ambiguity of the main character is the driving force of the show, and probably it's strongest asset. These half-hour shows really need something intriguing and dramatic at their core, so they don't have to be so reliant on fluff. This is why United States of Tara worked so well. Sure, Nurse Jackie has drug-addiction at it's core, but it's too bogged down by other things and never wants to push the story or the character.
Luke Wilson plays Amy's ex, and seems to be a negative influence on her, and there's not much more I can really say at this point. I'm not sure he had enough screen time in the pilot to rate his performance.
Another of Enlightened's strong points is the mother/daughter dynamic. Amy's mother Helen, played by Laura's real-life mother Diane Ladde, is skeptical of her daughter's new found happiness in their first scene. During their second scene it becomes apparent that Helen doesn't want to fix their relationship, she just wants to avoid. It's a depressing scene, especially when Amy, reaching out, probably worked hard to write something truthful and even her mother won't support her. To make matters worse, Helen takes her dog outside in the middle of Amy's letter. She baby-talks to the dog, "Come on with Momma", and you wonder what kind of mother she really is - and what a mother's duty is. Her simple mothering of her dog is more attractive than being a real mother to her daughter. Subtle bits of dark comedy like this are found throughout this first episode and they feel distinctively Mike White - that stark and awkward realism intertwined with dark comedy. Without this the show would be far more generic, I hope viewers notice these little things and don't write the show off too soon. We'd hate to have another The Comeback on our hands, am I right? Now that I think about it, the two shows are quite similar.
I'm not going to discuss plot-points at this time, because we're dealing with a pilot some people might be on the fence about watching. So to close, Amy's heart is in the right place, she's relentlessly positive and wants to heal old wounds but nobody else in her world seems to want any of it and even act as an antithesis to her. The way she behaves is a little overboard and off-putting, and I'm sure we'll see more and more of a contrast between Amy and the society she is a part of, as fuel for cringe-comedy and also to see how much Amy really can change with all of these influences in her life. Enlightened deals with very big themes that haven't been explored much on television and for that, and its many subtle touches, it's a deserving show.
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