This Be The Verse: Analysis

Season 1, Episode 8: This Be The Verse

Analysis

I feel like I don't say this enough on here, so let me begin by repeating it: Being Erica is an amazingly written show. In particular, Episode 8 - while containing some genuinely comical moments - is, overall, really sad and moving.

Just consider for a moment some of the emotion of the different storylines. Erica discovering her father's affair, the break-up of the Strange family, Sam and Erica's argument, Sam realising she isn't pregnant, and Erica's strained relationship with her mom.

Then the ending. No matter how many times I see it, it always chokes me up a little. Credit, too, to the musical directors who, whether with commercial music or the incidental tunes and melodies, always seem to find the right music for the right occasion.

Despite all this emotion though, the writers also pepper the drama with moments of great hilarity.

Don't ask me why, but Ethan confessing: "I don't really like spectator sports," is one of the funniest lines in the whole season. Maybe it's Tyron's delivery, perhaps it's the phrase "spectator sports," but it cracks me up every time.

Then you have the brilliance of Dr. Tom quoting Yoda, which Erica can barely believe, followed by confirming it was Yoda with an impression. Love it.

We then have Erica on a magic mushroom trip hallucinating and having all sorts of visions, Julianne pretending to like Erica's coffee, and Erica throwing away her disgusting lemonade drink.

Even Ryan, yes Ryan, manages to do something funny when he claps at the end of Yom Kippur only to realise it's not the done thing.

Let's be honest though, it's the raw emotion which makes this episode so good, all set on the back drop of Yom Kippur.

Now, I'd never heard of Yom Kippur before watching Being Erica, so learned quite a bit. I can't help but agree with Josh's comment of so many past mistakes and misdemeanours being forgiven and the slate wiped clean in one day does seem quite convenient.

Especially for Erica, who is able to make some headway in patching things up with Sam. Although not as much as she first thought, leading to their heated argument in the Synagogue.
I've been there - nothing like a family disagreement in public.

What's really amazing, when you think about it though, is how Barbara has kept a dignified silence over Gary's infidelity - sacrificing herself and even her relationship with Erica because she wanted her kids to have their father in their life.

While I don't have such experience of that, a familiar tale to my own growing up was living in a house where, more often than not, my dad would put work before family. The same argument between my parents as the one between Gary and Barbara were the soundtrack to my childhood.

Of course, things are even worse for Erica, who then has to discover her father's infidelity. I remember being shocked the first time I watched the episode and finding out what had really been going on.

You can certainly sense the pain, guilt, and hurt in Erica when she realises all the times she has been on here dad's side, she has backed the wrong horse. Every time she pointed the finger of blame at her mom, she was misguided.

However, as Dr. Tom says when he tells Erica about 'Einfuhlung', I guess Gary found himself in an unenviable position, caught in a marriage where he had an obligation to his kids but in love with someone who wasn't their mother. It doesn't make what he did right, but it can't have been easy.

It's a really nice moment when mother and daughter make up therefore, and there's also progress at the end as Erica gets things back on track with Sam, who discovers she isn't pregnant.

Throughout the present day and time travelling though, we continue to see the bad sides of Josh. It does make you wonder what Sam sees in someone so often coarse and, particularly, who isn't there for her. All the time it appears Erica's warnings become more and more true.

We also see the writers further experimenting with the time travelling in this episode, with Erica first going back to 1997 and then to 1974, before she was even born. This allows for a Back To The Future style meeting with parents unaware they're talking to their future child.

I have to admit, the whole hippie thing is not, and would never have been, my kind of thing. Indeed, I've never been outside camping in my life, let alone having taken all kinds of experimental drugs.

It allows for some nice moments, jokes about how much Erica knows about these two strangers and their habits, her comments about what will happen in the future in regards to the Berlin Wall and phones, and her prior knowledge of the sex of the baby Barbara is pregnant with.

There's also a good scene where Erica, tripping out on magic mushrooms, is guided back to the van by her two future parents.

Although, during that exchange, she does tell Gary that Barbara will pick at him only so he can become a better man. Seriously, what is it with women and doing this?

I once heard someone say that all women set out to change a man but it ends up being the other way around. Not sure how much truth there is than that, but I don't understand why they make it their mission to?

This time travelling of Erica opened up the idea of seeing your parents the way they were before they were parents is a bit of a strange one though. I'm not sure I'd want to. Parents is a recurring theme throughout this episode though.

From Dr. Tom's quoting of Philip Larkin - a poem I was aware of from my own English Literature studies - and his views on parenthood, to 1970s Gary telling Erica that parents don't have all the answers and are just figuring it out like everyone else.

I'd never thought of it like this. For one reason or another, I have pretty poor relationships with both of my parents. I'm certainly not as close to either parent as Erica is to hers. Maybe I should cut them more slack than I do though.

Indeed, cutting people slack and forgiving them for their sins is what this episode is all about I guess. We all make mistakes, all the time, every one of us, probably every day. It's how we learn from them and what we do afterwards to make amends that counts though.

I don't think I've ever really felt betrayed and massively let down by someone so much that I have been left wondering whether I can forgive them or not. Perhaps that's because I don't ever let anyone get close enough.

If we ourselves would want to be forgiven for a wrongdoing though, then I guess the least we can do is do the same to others. We're all human after all. All trying to find our way - however much our respective parents screwed us up.