1. pierre29177

   10

   Just saw the 5 episode of season 2.It's just amazing. I hope the show will continue as great as this last episode. Definitely, my favourite for this year.… Expand

   • Helpful? 4 of 4 users said Yes.
2. Sisyphus

   8

   Even as a kid I disliked (I still do) characters on Cinema or TV who the audience was supposed to identify with you know the people next door. I’m the guy who loathes just about every sitcom. I do not have a malevolent view of the Universe but I’m unable to enjoy shows or films which aren’t dark (there is nothing even remotely dark in Enlightened). I remember I had to stop watching Pushing Daisies (a perfectly Ok show) after 1 episode because it had such a feel good vibe about it and the color pallet hurt my eyes literally. To hold my attention you had to be Walter White, a Tony Soprano, Dexter Morgan or a Tyrion Lannister perhaps. I never could get bring myself to like characters combating dilemmas of everyday life. My heroes had to be combating conflicts of Shakespearean proportions and dilemmas Kafkaesque in magnitude.
   Amy Jellicoe is the Heroin in Enlightened. I don’t think I’ve watched on screen anyone else portray someone like Amy the way Laura Dern has. She is such a miserable creature, you mostly hate her or just pity her. I don’t know how else to put it she is a person of such extraordinary mediocrity that it becomes fascinating! A woman so out of tune with the way others perceives her that she doesn’t even realize that her behavior is intrusive and annoying, people are usually trying to gently let her down, a fact she is oblivious to. A thoroughly unlikeable character, her enthusiasm and positivity is cringe inducing because it’s phony, the interesting bit is that I don’t think even Amy realizes how joyless she really is she goes through the motions of appearing positive, believing that is how she’ll get to a “higher self”. The show isn’t a comedy, I wouldn’t call it a Drama either really because there is no Drama sans conflict the show definitely is not a case study, truth is I’m not really sure what to make of it. I don’t think the creator Mike White is trying to say something, if he is I can’t discern the meaning I just see it as a portrait of a woman, and a remarkably ugly and magnificent one at that. For some reason I was thinking about Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground” while watching this and I remember telling myself this is what she would have sounded like had the narrator in that novel been a woman.
   In one scene Laura’s character tells another that she used to manipulate men with her sexuality earlier but doesn’t do that anymore. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you it was heart breaking to hear her say that, as an audience you realize how pitiful she really is and wish for her own sake it is true.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 2 users said Yes.
3. boredbychoice

   5

   What I don't understand about this show is whether it wants us to appreciate its lead character as a heroine or dismiss her us a complete train-wreck? Does it want us to laugh at her or root for her? Because frankly, I have tried and I find it increasingly difficult to root for a character so horribly self-unaware, selfish and oblivious to those around her. Clearly, it says a lot about a show where the best episodes are the ones not focused on the lead character (episode 9 in season 1 and episode 3 in season 2).… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 5 users said Yes.
4. Oinker

   2

   OMG, this show sucks! Who wants to watch this bag full of crazy we call woman? The script is utter hippie-dippie tripe. Enlightened? No. I could feel the IQ points being sucked out of me as the hour ticked away. Men, don't let your ladies talk you into this one. They slobber over the show because of a woman they can relate to and they'll want you to relate too. Yeah, right. Dern is good as the neurotic schizoid torn between her true self (read lunatic woman) and the enlightened zen-master hippie she professes to be. But the years haven't been kind to Ms. Dern. Don't be a sack-less eunuch. Turn the channel to Game of Thrones or Walking Dead instead.
   PS Proof, once again, that the critics will praise any garbage about an empowered woman.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 10 users said Yes.

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