Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Erin Karpluk, Michael Riley, Vinessa Antoine, Tyron Leitso | Created by Jana Sinyor
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 540 minutes | Directed by Holly Dale
Erica Strange is a 30-something who, despite being intelligent and attractive, finds herself jobless and without a boyfriend. Feeling she has made a series of bad decisions in her life, she is constantly reminded of her perceived failures by her judgmental family and successful friends. Then one day she meets someone calling himself Dr Tom who offers to help her but only if she really wants to help herself.
Help from Dr Tom takes an unusual form. Ostensibly a therapist, he asks Erica to write down the decisions she regrets and pick one. He then gives her the chance to go back and redo her life, chapter by chapter, event by cringeworthy, painful, desperate event. Along the way she has the help (and occasionally hindrance) of her best friend Judith and recently divorced former college roommate Ethan for whom she holds something of a candle. Their ‘will-they won’t-they’ relationship forms an important part of Erica’s ongoing quest for a better life.
As well as the time travel element – there’s more than a hint of Quantum Leap about Being Erica – the show’s unique selling point is really that Erica is an everywoman. For all the aspirational, super successful go-getters on our screens, sometimes it’s nice to be able to find someone a bit more down-to-earth, flawed and unsure of themselves. Erica is just that person and Erin Karpluk plays the role to perfection. It also works because while escapist fantasies are all right once in a while, we all know that in reality life is full of difficult grey areas. Dr Tom doesn’t pretend to have a magic wand or even to be able to fix everything. In fact, this tends to be the secret to Erica’s progress.
With its focus on relationships this is squarely aimed at the female market but it’s sufficiently well put together to appeal to everyone. The personable Dr Tom sprinkles his philosophical musings with famous and not so- famous quotations and there are some genuinely amusing moments – Erica quoting Britney Spears is a personal favourite. Generally though it’s played as a straight drama, albeit with the emphasis on the emotional side of life, and that it doesn’t sink into the territory of overwrought melodrama is credit to the writers and also to Karpluk, who is eminently likeable.
It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff but as far as dramas go it’s intelligent, engaging and addresses some interesting (as well as some fairly standard) issues about life in a novel, none-too-predictable and endearing way. Well worth a look.
EXTRAS ★★ Erica's Weblogs. Of which there are 17. Each running about a minute and a half. Which involve Erica sending a video letter to Ethan, her former college roommate. With titles such as Day 1 – With My New Webcam, Day 6 – Online Dating and Day 14 – The First Date. Quaint.