Being Erica and Wanting to be Better
The moral case for trying to improve yourself by examining how you failed.
Author’s Note: This is a bit of a preview of where I’m going next in my series analysis, in case you want to get a head start and know what it’s all about. After this, I will be diving into Smallville.
All of us fall short on something in some way.
No matter how much effort we put in or how much we might want to be perfect, there will come a point where we just don't measure up. Whether it's running a marathon, helping someone in need, or achieving our own goals. We can't be perfect at everything and even if we did, that wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. Failing at something allows us to work harder next time. To do more and to try just a little bit more. It can be incredibly motivating to know that there are still things you need to achieve in this world. If we got to do everything we wanted all the time, life would get very boring very quickly if you didn't have to put any effort into things.
Where trying to improve can get complicated is if you have too many failures over too long a timeline. This can destroy your confidence in yourself to actually achieve things. You can feel like you're not moving forward in any serious way. Maybe even feel like you're moving backwards. It becomes something of a vicious cycle the more it happens. You start to look back on the decisions you made that lead you to this tragic circumstance. Reliving them over and over again as if you'll find some insight you never considered before that will somehow make you into a better person. This can lead down a dark path.
If you can't find your way out of this cycle, you might need some kind of intervention from someone else. Hopefully it won't be someone with authority like the police or the legal system in general. Although they can be beneficial in a serious situation of a downward spiral. They can help you get back on your feet. Especially if they can give you the kind of emotional support you might need to make yourself feel better. In extreme circumstances, what you need is psychiatric help. Someone to talk to about your problems and give you an outside perspective on your problems. On the memories which you can't let go of.
Being Erica is fundamentally about what it's like to go down that spiral and how to get out of it. Erica Strange, as played brilliantly by Erin Karpluk, feels like she's failed way too many times. Her life hasn't gone the way she wanted in any way. She's stuck in a dead end job and a life she didn't really want. She feels as though she can't find a way out of it. Her life is one endless repeating cycle of failure. It's hard for her to find any way out on her own. She needs someone to come along and show her a better way forward.
Thankfully, the universe is willing to give that to her. Through meeting Dr Tom and the counselling he provides, she learns to feel differently about the mistakes she's made. In some cases, he helps her to see that she didn't make a mistake at all. She actually prefers some of the things she did in the past and will sometimes make new mistakes instead.
It's a beautiful process and you should do yourself a favour and explore wanting to be better by checking out Being Erica as soon as you can.
You can check out Being Erica on CBC Gem in Canada as well as Hulu elsewhere and the first episode is available on YouTube.
Excellent essay! It's awesome you wrote about Being Erica. It's one of my most beloved shows and got me through a rough patch in life!