The Importance of Being Erica: Analysis

Season 2, Episode 12: The Importance of Being Erica

Analysis

It might be because I'm reviewing this episode after seeing Season 3, but I'm confident that the finale to Season 2 stands by itself as an excellent episode packed full of the substance and terrific acting that characterised the first two seasons.

It does the necessary job of wrapping up loose ends - notably Kai completely his prolonged stay in 2009. It also sets the scene nicely for the beginning of Season 3, as well as showing Erica's life being turned upside.

Unusually for Being Erica, it begins straight off from the cliffhanger ending to the previous episode. In doing so it immediately sets up the other crucial aspect of this episode - the end of Erica and Ethan's relationship.

Now, it's easy to paint Ethan in a negative light - as dull, safe, and boring. Maybe it's because I'm quite a cautious person like him though, that I think that would be a little harsh. After all, was he keeping Erica in the box, as she said, or was she trying to drag him out?

Or was it the simple case that one's a box dweller and one lives outside the box, hence their not right for one another? Perhaps it took them entering a relationship to find it out about themselves, although Erica must have known well that Ethan was a steady guy.

The eventual break up scene, towards the end of the episode, was superbly acted and incredibly sad.

For anyone who's been involved in such a break up, they will recognise just how realistic it was. This wasn't a break up full of hate and anger, where one of the people has done something wrong and brought things to a close.

This was the separation of two people who cared and loved about one another immensely. Two people who were friends first and foremost, who took things to the next level, but were unable to make their friendship translate into a relationship successfully.

Not because one of them wasn't trying or wasn't compromising, but because they ultimately wished for different things from life and were in different places. It's the very definition of separating - like two people who come to a fork in the road and need to take different paths.

Ethan was clearly devastated and Erica too - particularly at the hurt she was causing him. Note how she just keeps apologising and chooses to hug and comfort him. It was nice, too, how they slept on the same bed that night together before the slow goodbye.

I guess in a world of rationality and logic, the different things they wanted out of life would be things you discuss before embarking on a relationship, as they're the kinds of things which ultimately end them. But then we don't act on logic in relationships, but emotions.

Of course, it was the events of a very clever episode that led to her making the break with Ethan. It's an episode clearly about going your own way and thinking for yourself - as denoted by the title.

However, it's also clever seeing as Erica was studying The Importance of Being Earnest in her college time travel, and then you've the pun on Erica needing to be earnest in her career goals.

We initially see her torn on what to do - pulled between following Ethan's advice or going with Julianne into business. Culminating in that scene at the yoga class, where the mental and emotional torment she's under becomes too much.

That lack of direction, uncertainty about the right path, materialises itself in the corridor of doors Dr. Tom takes her to - a great concept, and surely echoing the opening titles to the start of Season 1?

In the end it took some enlightening time travel to solve her problems. It was good to see a return for Cassidy - who is always entertaining and her and Erica spark well off one another. Her disagreement with Ethan was a direct parallel with the present day too.

Note how she decided to follow Ethan's advice in how to deal with Professor Hogan only to see it make things worse. I wonder how much that played a part in Erica's decision in the present day?

In fact, the writing is superb in this episode. How easy it is to miss the clever link right at the start between Erica's narration of a "heaviness in her heart" she can't name, followed by her calling out for Ethan. I think she just named it, you know.

Anyway, Hogan provides Erica with the catalyst to make her decision - to do what she's known she's needed to do for a while in regards to her relationship, and to aspire to what she wants to do.

In all, a short, but key, time travelling experience, and the college ones are always some of the best and most fun ones too.

From a short experience to a long one, and it was a huge relief to see the Kai story brought to a close. It had dragged on and his on-off friendship with Erica became monotonous.

Still, this episode gave us some good scenes, with "Dr. Erica" on her first case helping Kai. It was a little sad at the end, after Kai had returned, how he had no longer remembered her. It was interesting to see that from a different perspective for once though.

Interesting, too, how she insists he doesn't look her up in the future or tell her about it - having seen Season 3 we know that's not the case. It was good of Dr. Fred to provide some closure for Erica on the matter - although why he was still back in the past from 2019, I don't know.

Then, that great conclusion - with a terrific sense of drama. Erica's compulsion to push the chalk outline on the wall again - and enter the corridor of doors herself showed her newly found confidence and assuredness about her future.

I'm sure that scene with Dr. Tom in the corridor will go down as one of the classic ones in the series, where we see the growth over the past two seasons to someone now not showing fear and having a desire to take the leap.

She has the confidence and bravery to chase her dreams and follow her own path. Not following Dr. Tom, not being held back by Ethan, not bowing to Julianne, but now knowing what way she wants to go. Through the door - and into the Rabbit Hole.