ORBzine - Being Erica TV Review
[Season 1 !Season 2 !Season 3 !Season 4 ]
Season 1
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 1]
Dr. Tom
Shown 05/Jan/09
Erica Strange is the kind of girl (okay, she's 32 years old) that her show's target audience can relate to. Attractive (in a non-threatening way), college-educated, but her love-life is miserable and her career is non-existent. She blames choices she made earlier in her life ...
Erica meets a man who claims to be a psychiatrist. Then she finds herself back in High School, reliving events that happened 15 years previously. Can she prevent the mistakes from happening?
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 2]
What I Am Is What I Am
Shown 12/Jan/09
Erica tries to get a better job, but discovers that she missed an opportunity at college. She goes back to make things better.
Erica's college buddy Ethan Wakefield (Tyron Leitso, who played an identical role in Wonderfalls ) is destined to fall out with his wife-to-be. Should Erica interfere?
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 3]
Plenty of Fish
Shown 19/Jan/09
Erica gets to lose her virginity all over again.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 4]
The Secret of Now
Shown 26/Jan/09
Erica gets the kind of Editorial Assistant job she wanted a couple of episodes ago. Unfortunately, she has issues with authority figures. Can she go back to College and deal with her poetry professor?
Strangely, with the exception of Erica and her best buddy none of her college acquakintances from the other eps are present here!
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 5]
Adultescence
Shown 02/Feb/09
Erika's best buddy is preggers, and Erika gets roped into holding the baby shower. She's very keen when she hears the term godmother mentioned, although she predictably relies on an assumption and never gets clarification.
Naturally, this follows the show's formula and leads to a disappointment that forces Erika to time-travel back to the Nineties again.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 6]
Til Death
Shown 11/Feb/09
Erika's sister is getting married. The best friend is still pregnant (though not showing), and Ethan the male flatmate is patching thing up with his ex-wife. Erika has chosen Ryan (her brother-in-law's best man) as her BF, even though he is far more attractive than her. Yes, everything seems fine.
Erika doesn't think that her sister has chosen a suitable hubby. She goes back to enable them to break up.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 7]
Such a Perfect Day
Shown 18/Feb/09
Erika's relationship with her sister is pretty much over. Her job isn't going so well - she can't shut up and do what her Boss says, even though the rest of us have to.
Erika goes back to the happiest day she can remember. Her mother and father (James Woods?) were fighting, so the three teenagers headed out and hung out all day. She's over-protective of her brother, who's a care-free idiot,
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 8]
This Be the Verse
Shown 25/Feb/09
Erica's relationship with her mother is worse than ever. Luckily she can travel back in time to meet her mom when she was younger, to better understand her.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 9]
Everything She Wants
Shown 04/Mar/09
Erica's relationship with BF Ryan is getting more complicated. Ryan is getting jealous of her friendship with Ethan.
Erica goes back to New Years Eve 1999, when she had some UST with her lesbian best buddy ( Anna Silk ). Can she sort out that love affair, to deal with her current one?
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 10]
Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma
Shown 11/Mar/09
An old friend is in town. Once Erica's sidekick, the girl is now a successful writer.
Erica goes back to the event she blames for their friendship changing - a High-school Hallowe'en party.
Token Black Chick's pregnancy is in the ninth month.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 11]
She's Lost Control
Shown 18/Mar/09
Erica is given responsibility for her friend's book-launch. Naturally, things go wrong. Worse, she snaps at Clare when the silly girl gets patronising. Has nobody learned yet what a bitch Erica is?
Her regret is kissing Ethan. She tries undoing things, in her recent past and in her college days.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 12]
Erica the Vampire Slayer
Shown 25/Mar/09
Erica is promoted at her job, but with great pay comes great responsibility. She must WORK for a living, and that includes giving some doddery old lady the sack. Erica can't bring herself to do it, which only postpones the inevitable.
Erica's flashback is only a few years. Ethan and Claire are planning to get married, though Claire is still bossy and Ethan is still a wimp. It's doomed, as Erica realises, but what can she do?
Erica had a chance to go on a Live Action Role-Play, where she plays a Vampire. This is a reasonable portrayal of the hobby, and helps Erica get to grips with one of her many mental issues.
Being Erica [Season 1, Episode 13]
Leo
Shown 01/Apr/09
This is the Season finale, so it features the biggest regret of Erica's life - her brother's death. Will she resist the impulse to save him from himself?
It turns out that everyone else's life is better if he survives. But much like the Doctor Who (2005) episode Father's Day, the universe has a way of correcting itself when someone messes with it.
Season 2
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 1]
Being Dr. Tom
Shown 22/Sep/09
Erika is given more responsibility at the publishing house. She's put in charge of a new project - a sex book! Naturally, she is prudish about this. Her shrink can't help, he's taken a leave of absense. Time for some time travel!
Apparently Erika wasn't always boring. Apparently she was once a dancing waitress in a Coyote Ugly bar. Wow, this is a character derailment, but who cares? One of the customers in the bar is the younger, hairier and more virile incarnation of her shrink. He's taken a leave of absinthe. Can Erika put him back on track?
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 2]
Battle Royale
Shown 29/Sep/09
Erica has problems with her perfect BF, exacerbated by a family get-together with her sister and brother-in-law.
Erica goes summer camp, to get over a nasty falling out with her BF there. He was her best friend, but when she tried to pressure him into a relationship he turned against her.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 3]
Mamma Mia
Shown 06/Oct/09
Erica babysits for the first time. Will she obey the ONLY thing she was specifically told to do? There wouldn't be much of a story if the writers avoided the incredibly predictable cliches, would there?
Erica finds herself back in college, to the first time she let her baby-mama friend down.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 4]
Cultural Revolution
Shown 13/Oct/09
Erika does research for her sex book. She's offered the opportunity to actually write it ...
The flashback is to a summer break in Taiwan. Erika has to TEFL, while partying with her crazy friends. Naturally she's a fence-sitter, simultaneously letting down everyone who trusts her with responsibilities while at the same time being a total thrill-kill.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 5]
Yes We Can
Shown 20/Oct/09
The editor sends Erica to a local sex club for research. All she discovers is that her BF is a prude!
The shrink gives Erica a do-over day, so she can do whatever she likes with no consequences beyond her own memories. She and Kai, the other patient, go for a joy-ride.
Will she learn an important life-message about not being a prude? Or will she merely be re-affirmed in her constant stance of stagnancy, inaction and overly conservative spinelessness?
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 6]
Shhh...Don't Tell
Shown 27/Oct/09
Friedkin is cheating on his GF (Julia the Boss) with the office coffee-maker. Nobody points out how Julia is abusing her power by sexually harrassing the writer and bullying her assistant.
Dr Tom sends her back to High School, where her slutty pal Jenny bullied another girl (Hanna from Todd & the Book of Pure Evil ). It turns out the two girls both had a crush on their Chemistry teacher. The teacher looks about 12 years old, while the actresses are all in their mid-20s.
Is Erica a judgemental bitch? Does she rat people out just to make herself superior? How many lives will she destroy?
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 7]
The Unkindest Cut
Shown 03/Nov/09
Erica's mother, Barb, is now dating Norm (Rob Stewart - Amazon ). She invites him to be her plus one at her grandson's Bris. And lucky old Erica gets to hold the baby while her dad, the Rabbi, slices it off. Despite being proud of her Jewish roots, she is opposed to genital mutilation of children.
Erica is summoned by Dr Fred. She has to go into Kai's future. He will end up facing the same Rock-star cliches as Charlie did in Lost .
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 8]
Under My Thumb
Shown 10/Nov/09
Erica has problems understanding her BF's sexual interest in porn. She tries to pull him down to her level, with mixed results.
Julianne suffers payback for her bitchiness in Shhh...Don't Tell. But what goes around comes around, and she may yet get the upper hand in office politics.
Erica's sister is in town, trying to get things sorted out with her husband.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 9]
A River Runs Through It...It Being Egypt
Shown 17/Nov/09
Julianne is twisted against Brent. Erica has decided that Kai is a selfish asshole. Will they be professional, or let this get personal?
Dr Tom sends Erica back to a party that her brother Leo held. Erica believes Leo is a victim, just like she believes Kai and Josh are the villains in her sister's life.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 10]
Papa Can You Hear Me?
Shown 24/Nov/09
The publishing office has cold war underway, and Erica finds herself on the opposite side from Brent. He has Friedkin's book, and the office Doxies, while Erica and Julianne are working on the sex book.
Erica's sister is getting divorced. Yes, Erica's personal life is a battleground now too.
Kai quits his job and his band. Erica has acknowledged her feelings towards him, and now she must face the backlash.
Erica dumps all her problems on Dr Tom. But he has to work through all his problems with his daughter. Yes, we finally get to meet Dr Tom's boss, his daughter and his wife. Is he trying to make Erica's decisions for her?
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 11]
What Goes Up Must Come Down
Shown 01/Dec/09
The None gets its official book-launch! But it gets one bad review on the Internet. Well, more than one. But the big one stings, so Erica contronts the reviewer. Yes, how immature can you get? The terms unorthodox and Crazy get used.
Erica also meets a new writer, who wants to publish his story about living in a religious Cult.
Erica and Julianne carry on their vendetta against Brent. But it comes back to bite them.
Erica's regret is that she quit working at a DotCom circa Y2K, just before it got bought out. She would have been seriously loaded from her stock options. Unfortunately, this means changes in her private life. She has a different BF - and her best buddy doesn't talk to her any more. But at least she has all the money, right? I mean, she couldn't POSSIBLY waste it all. Right?
Back at the coffee shop, Kai learns that while he regrets making the band successful, he also forgets that his buddy Travis had free will.
Being Erica [Season 2, Episode 12]
The Importance of Being Erica
Shown 08/Dec/09
Erica's BF tries to talk her out of starting a publishing business. This leads her to have a real crisis of faith. Dr Tom gives her a metaphysical challenge ...
Erica goes back to her Masters course, when she needed the help of her bisexual buddy Cassiday ( Anna Silk ).
Kai writes his song, thus completing his regret. But he and the band have to play it in the coffee shop, in front of some Record company executives.
Erica realises that her BF, who she spent Season One trying to be with, is dead weight holding her back. His lack of ambition suddenly makes him unattractive to her. He has been her fixer-upper, like in The None. So will she suddenly become impulsive?
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 1]
The Rabbit Hole
Shown 21/Sep/10
Erica is now in group therapy. A bunch of strangers sit around and talk about their feelings. She also joins another patient in a trip into his past. He's an Oirish-American feller, whose mother is dying of Cancer. He's also a gangster, but luckily for Erica she can outrun a cop while wearing high heels!
Back in the real world, Erica chooses bossy bitch Julianne over sneaky pal Brent. Erica and Julianne are starting their own publishing company - or rather, hanging out in the coffee shop with their Gay Best Friends. The plan is to concentrate on e-books so save money. Apparently Julianne, the supposed expert, has never heard of the benefits of print-on-demand!
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 2]
Moving On Up
Shown 28/Sep/10
Erica is having trouble getting over her breakup with what's his name. Dr Tom sends her back to Claire's bachelorette party. Yes, Claire - Erica's arch-enemy from Season One. But as wossname's ex-wife, she's the one person who Erica has something in common with.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 3]
Two Wrongs
Shown 05/Oct/10
The new publishers are screwed over by ex-minion Brent. But Julianne has some juicy blackmail material on him. Will they use it to crush the uppity minion? They seem too stupid to just THREATEN him with it ...
Erica and the Oirish guy go back to 1994. Erica visits her brother in his first weeks at college. He's getting a lot of hazing from his Frat brothers. Will Erica learn that violence (psychic as well as physical) is naughty?
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 4]
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
Shown 12/Oct/10
Kai returns. Yes, he ignores the Doctor's injunction on Spoilers. His disclosure leads Erica to believe she has a mere NINE entire years to live. Poor thing.
She becomes paranoid, so Dr Tom puts her in a time-loop. eventually forgetting the previous ep's condemnation of violence
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 5]
Being Adam
Shown 20/Oct/10
The Oirish guy Adam gets a chance to prevent his younger self becoming a gangster. It's obvious he will sabotage himself. But how will he do it?
Erica's mother has cancer, but she dresses like a menopausal woman on the pull.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 6]
Bear Breasts
Shown 27/Oct/10
It's Gay Pride Day. Erica dresses like a Drag Queen, and hangs out with her Lesbian friend Cassiday ( Anna Silk ) from Season One.
Julianne the skinny blonde gets a new love interest of sorts.
There's no Time Travel to speak of. So why bother with the ep?
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 7]
Jenny From the Block
Shown 03/Nov/10
Erica meets her old friend Jenny, last seen in Season 2. Erica hires her as publishing assistant. But she's not very good at her job.
Erica goes back to Frontier days - well, to the days she worked in a wild west pioneer theme park. Her slacker friend Jenny bunks off and gets high instead of doing her chores.
The moral of the story? A friend in need isn't a friend indeed - they're a burden, so ditch them.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 8]
Physician, Heal Thyself
Shown 10/Nov/10
The Doctor discovers what happened to his daughter. This just puts him under more stress than ever. It also begs the question ... if he died and became an angel (as was implied in previous episodes), how can he have a wife and a home life? Well, it is actually explained in the episode.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 9]
Gettin' Wiggy Wit' It
Shown 17/Nov/10
Erica goes back to help another therapy patient run a wig shop for Hassidic Jewish women. She discovers that her publishing company's star author fictionalised his autobiography - he wasn't in the Pink Door Cult, he was in Hassidic Judaism. Erica objects to Hassidic Judaism being compared to a Cult. She's pretty much a lapsed Jew herself, and a supporter of Gay Pride, so it's hypocritical of her to criticise someone who escaped a genuinely repressive religion.
Erica's dilemma is simple. Should she publish and be damned, or pull the book and lose the money? It's a work of fiction, but have they never thought of publishing it as such? Most autobiographies are heavily fictionalised anyway, to be honest about it.
Dr Tom can't let Erica change her own past, but he cheats and changes it for her himself.
Erica's sister and her BF try to get some alone time at work, but this wasn't a good idea.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 10]
The Tribe Has Spoken
Shown 24/Nov/10
Things are going badly for the wannabe publishers. Erica is offered a great job at another company, and Julianne is fending off Brent's overtures.
Adam meets the perfect woman of his alternate future, as seen in Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 5]Being Adam. Should he try to have a relationship with her?
Dr Tom maroons Erica and Adam on a desert island until they learn their lesson. Hence the episode's title, a reference to Survivor.
Erica's sister and her BF have to make decisions of their own. Split up or settle down?
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 11]
Adam's Family
Shown 01/Dec/10
Adam tries to have a relationship with the perfect woman of his alternate future. But thanks to the magic of time travel, we discover that he has insecurities due to his parents.
Brent and Julianne try working together again. But there are still depths to be plumbed between them.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 12]
Erica, interrupted
Shown 08/Dec/10
Erica thinks she has her whole life sorted. Then she wakes up, and discovers the last few years were a halucination while she was in a coma.
Being Erica [Season 3, Episode 13]
Fa La Erica
Shown 15/Dec/10
Erica blows off her family's Hanakkah party in order to run the office Xmas Party. Her BF Adam is unhappy about Xmas for his own reasons.
Dr Tom Quantum Leap s Erica into the teenage Julianne, so she can enjoy Xmas. Then she re-lives a family Hanukkah, so she can see how intolerant her father the Rabbi is.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 1]
Doctor Who?
Shown 26/Sep/11
Erica has her life sorted out. She has settled down with her new Oirish boyfriend. The publishing firm is expanding, and they need to hire an assistant. And she is now a trainee Doctor.
The first patient is her sister's husband, who is getting divorced. He is reluctant to accept Erica's help - and with their history, who can blame him? She does not tell him he is a patient - the flashback to their holiday to Florida together (with Jenny the Party girl) is hers, not his. But then, her real patient is herself.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 2]
Osso Barko
Shown 03/Oct/11
Julianne's over-achieving sister is in town, and pitches a book to the publishers. They are desperate, after all. The author is her Professor, who turns out to be the token black serial killer from the TV show Hannibal .
Julianne is giving the office assistant a hard time. The girl may have a few problems, and Erica doesn't believe in her psychic schtick (although Erica is a time-traveller!) ... but Julianne is a complete bitch!
Julianne is the patient this week. Erica time-travels back to Season Two, and realises just how badly Julianne treated everyone.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 3]
Baby Mama
Shown 10/Oct/11
Erica's Oirish BF goes on the gay Bear's stag weekend.
Erica's mother has a lot of issues about her younger daughter's pregnancy.
Dr Tom Quantum Leaps Erica into a schoolgirl in 1969. Her job is to befriend her mother, and find out what the cauise of her mental issues is.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 4]
Born This Way
Shown 17/Oct/11
Brent tries to fit in with the new regime at Riverrock. But despite being the most experienced member of staff, having spent ten years on the job, he is something of an outcast in the new regime.
Can Erica give better advice than Friedkin the lifestyle guru?
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 5]
Sins of the Father
Shown 24/Oct/11
Kai is back in town. Erica's Oirish boyfriend is unhappy about her hanging out with him.
Dr Tom has started to re-awaken his relationship with a former fiance. His shrink sends him back to his engagement party, and we discover that he was a workaholic who sabotaged his own life.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 6]
If I Could Turn Back Time
Shown 31/Oct/11
Erica and the Oirish BF hit a rough spot in their relationship. They attend couples therapy, but the BF avoids conflict by storming out every single time. Dr Tom gives Erica a one-day pass, to relive the day as many times as she needs. But the BF is so obstinate that he always gets offended!
Apparently the BF knows his way around Dublin, so she takes him there. It's just Guinness and dodgy food, all the typical cliches.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 7]
Being Ethan
Shown 07/Nov/11
Erica's broken up with Adam, but she still dreams about him. And Kai ... and her white-bread vanilla BF from Season 2. Speak of the devil, she bumps into her old ex completely by chance. Her next mission, she suggests to Dr Tom, should be to fit her ex up with a girl she knew in college.
The college flashback sequence involves a double-date. Erica sets up her boring ex with her boring pal. And she is dating a hippie dude who looks like he is in his mid-30s.
Brent and Julie-Anne are still working together on the acronym book. Yes, after several Seasons they finally sort things out!
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 8]
Please, Please Tell Me Know
Shown 14/Nov/11
Riverrock offers the girls a deal. They get half a million each up front, a half-million bonus in six months time, plus a high salary for the next five years. All they have to do is sell their company so it becomes the female-friendly imprint of Riverrock.
Erica confronts Dr Fred, who tells her what her fate is. She also meets a Doctor from the future, who comes from a different potential timeline than Kai and Dr Fred.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 9]
Erica's Adventures in Wonderland
Shown 28/Nov/11
Dr Tom is late for work - he's distracted by his new GF. The Oirish patient also has a new GF - or at least a hot date he takes to the gay wedding.
Dr Tom sends Erica to a Parallel universe, where she has what she defines as her perfect BF. Will she remember the moral of The None , the book she lost her job at RiverRock publishing for defending?
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 10]
Purim
Shown 05/Dec/11
Erica and the oirish fellow are back together, better than ever. HE was the one who dumped her, not the other way around, so it was his mind that had to be changed.
Erica is shocked to find Julianne and Brent have ironed out their differences. She is angry enough to dump Julianne the way she dumped her best buddy, Jenny.
Dr Tom is seriously thinking about quitting. But there is no such thing as partial retirement. If he quits, he is out for good. No more time travel, no contact with patients, etc.
Being Erica [Season 4, Episode 11]
Dr. Erica
Shown 12/Dec/11
Erica is becoming a Doctor. But Dr Tom is having second thoughts about quitting. Can she help him make up his mind?
Brent brings his dog to work, and Julianne has trouble with the bitch. In many ways, the contrived breakup is just a repeat of their conflict in the previous ep.