Being Erica - Season 4

[intrinsical]

As a scifi aficionado, I would enjoy seeing Erica and Kai together.

However, I understand the writers wanting Erica to remain grounded as an ordinary woman that the audience can relate to. I am pretty sure many young women look towards Erica as a role model. Giving Erica a boyfriend from the future may be pushing the non-scifi audience's suspension of belief, and risks turning Erica into some kind of super heroine. In fact, this is part of the reason why I suspect Erica will ultimately abandon being a Doctor in favor of putting all her efforts into her family and 50/50.

I also suspect we won't know what that future disaster is. However, I do hope the producers do answer why Doctor Nadiaa keeps trying to interfere in Erica's therapy, and how Doctor Arthur fits into the whole scheme of things.

See, here's the thing: a story's direction should never be determined by the artist's perception of what the assumed demographic may want. What, women supposedly don't like sci-fi? Then don't write a sci-fi show for them! A story has to go where a story wants to go, and clearly Being Erica's most fascinating, most compelling, and most unexplored plotlines at the moment are precisely those sci-fi questions that the show itself did indeed bring up. Everything else now is done. Erica is a healthy human being. She has dealt with her regrets. She has gained confidence in her abilities. That plotline is finished. It just is. They finished it.

Actually, I was more thinking along the lines of Doctor Who, where The Doctor always has a human companion who travels with him but ultimately returns to live the rest of their lives relatively normal life back on Earth. The Doctor is alien and can do all sorts of wierd stuff, but it is through the human companion that the audience relates and empathizes with.

In Being Erica, Erica is the "human" aspect to all the time travel strangeness. Her role in the show is to simply improve her current life, not to do strange things like permanently change the time line or have a boyfriend from the future.

Now, the macrocosm is left. There's a disaster coming up. Do I believe that Erica could just forget she knows she may be dead in 10 years? Not in this universe. No way. It should be foremost on her mind. Also foremost on her mind should be the question: why me? Why anyone? Why are the Doctors doing this? What's the catch? What's in it for them? She would no longer be satisfied with evasive answers. The show has asked compelling questions. It has one season to answer them.

When Kai first revealed this future disaster and the possibility that Erica dies in 10 years, I was thinking "how is this different from her mother suffering cancer?". Lots of terminal cancer patients have a limited period of time left to live. These cancer patients can go asking why me? why anyone? why is god doing this? but ultimately this is a futile line of questioning that give no answers. Ultimately most choose to live their lives to the fullest and/or settle their affairs. I believe this would be Erica's response too. Live life to the fullest, fulfill any incomplete dreams and spend whatever time she has left with loved ones.

Erica won't be tearing through time and space seeking to "find out why". She just isn't that kind of person and this isn't that kind of show.

Maybe it's just me, but the second I heard Kai say that he couldn't find her in 2019 I thought to myself...

"She's probably a Doctor now and living outside of time in the conventional sense."

The other thing I keep coming back to is... Dr. Tom jumped off that ledge. As far as I can imagine it, the Doctors are not dead per se, but no longer a part of the mortal world.

This is somewhat spoiler-ish, but Doctors including Doctor Tom are alive and part of the mortal world.

 

[Ubik]

When Kai first revealed this future disaster and the possibility that Erica dies in 10 years, I was thinking "how is this different from her mother suffering cancer?". Lots of terminal cancer patients have a limited period of time left to live. These cancer patients can go asking why me? why anyone? why is god doing this? but ultimately this is a futile line of questioning that give no answers. Ultimately most choose to live their lives to the fullest and/or settle their affairs. I believe this would be Erica's response too. Live life to the fullest, fulfill any incomplete dreams and spend whatever time she has left with loved ones.

Erica won't be tearing through time and space seeking to "find out why". She just isn't that kind of person and this isn't that kind of show.

Every human being is that kind of person. This is not the same thing as her mother dying of cancer. Her mother has no idea whether she will live or die, and nobody can tell her.

Erica's situation is entirely different. She knows she is NOWHERE TO BE FOUND less than a decade from now. Think about that. And she knows that Dr. Tom can find out IN TWO SECONDS why that is. Do you think ANY human being would just take that lying down? No way. This is not about zen-like acceptance. This is about a person who knows, or has the capacity to find out, whether you will live or die in the next handful of years, and who refuses to tell you. Do you really think you, in such a situation, would not constantly be thinking about that? It's human nature. Storytellers going back to the ancient Greeks knew that - to know the date that you are going to die paralyzes you. It ends your ability to live.

The series can't bring up something that potent, that urgent, that serious, and then expect us to shrug our shoulders at it and concentrate instead on who her next boyfriend is going to be.

 

[intrinsical]

It can and it did. I still say its no different from a doctor telling a patient, you've got 3 years to live. The doctor is not given an absolute "you are going to die in exactly 3 years, 0 months, 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds". It is more of a probabilistic "based on past patients I have seen, you have more or less 3 years."

Likewise for Erica, Kai just speculated that Erica may have died in some future disaster. For all we know she is alive and well in 2020. So to me, Kai isn't saying Erica is definitely going to die, but that there's a possibility she may die. Kai's prediction is at best as good as a cancer doctor's prediction.

In any case, it seemed very clear to me that there were rules against a Doctor checking on on a patient's future and while Dr Tom was angry about the reveal, he made it very clear that he wasn't going to violate those rules for Erica. And I agree with Dr Tom, no good will come from knowing exactly when Erica will die. There's only now and the only way is to live now to the fullest.

 

[Ubik]

It can and it did. I still say its no different from a doctor telling a patient, you've got 3 years to live. The doctor is not given an absolute "you are going to die in exactly 3 years, 0 months, 0 days, 0 hours and 0 seconds". It is more of a probabilistic "based on past patients I have seen, you have more or less 3 years."

Likewise for Erica, Kai just speculated that Erica may have died in some future disaster. For all we know she is alive and well in 2020. So to me, Kai isn't saying Erica is definitely going to die, but that there's a possibility she may die. Kai's prediction is at best as good as a cancer doctor's prediction.

In any case, it seemed very clear to me that there were rules against a Doctor checking on on a patient's future and while Dr Tom was angry about the reveal, he made it very clear that he wasn't going to violate those rules for Erica. And I agree with Dr Tom, no good will come from knowing exactly when Erica will die. There's only now and the only way is to live now to the fullest.

I think you're missing my point. I agree with everything you're saying about how people ought to live their lives. Of course people ought to live their lives to the fullest, regardless of what may happen.

My point is that I simply don't believe that Erica would. She's way too curious, way too headstrong, way too passionate, and way too realistic. She's very much the everywoman. And no matter what Dr. Tom's rules are, I just know it's more realistic that Erica wouldn't be able to concentrate on much until she found out the truth about Kai's warnings. It's also, by the way, the more interesting choice dramatically. Acceptance may be good psychology, but it sure makes for dull drama.

 

[intrinsical]

She did fall apart. Heck, she almost exploded very dramatically till Dr Tom tired her out with 11 full days of non-stop, repetitive time travel.

And I have to admit, it was very enjoyable watching Erica break down. It reminded me of the early episodes in season one when she was still very Bridget Jone-sy.

 

[Owain Taggart]

She did fall apart. Heck, she almost exploded very dramatically till Dr Tom tired her out with 11 full days of non-stop, repetitive time travel.

And I have to admit, it was very enjoyable watching Erica break down. It reminded me of the early episodes in season one when she was still very Bridget Jone-sy.

Yeah, I agree. I found that to be one of the best moments of Season 3. And it was refreshing because it showed us a character that had faults that couldn't simply be fixed when timetravel is present. Or that a magical solution isn't necessarily the best road to take even though it's there and tempting. Too many shows would cave and take the easy road.

My other favourite moment of Season 3 was the gay pride episode. It was fun and hilarious. And I don't know if I'm the only one or not, but I love the gay couple/owners. They're great quirky characters.

 

[Technobuilder]

I'm still only in the middle of season 3, but I could of sworn that Dr. Naadia said that Dr. Tom broke the rules and checked on Erica's future anyway for his own reasons...

So he didn't do it for Erica, but for himself.

 

[Technobuilder]

Okay, so I've now finished the last episode of Season 3.

Hmm. Not sure I was much a fan of that egg chair. lol.

Adam wise I didn't hate him. Didn't love him, but certainly a much better fit than Ethan.

Julianne became a favorite character which still amazes me after our introduction to her early on.

Brent is remorseful and still holding back, I'm interested to see where that goes.

I was enjoying the relationship developing between Sam & Lenin, but it always felt like a side story since Erica was usually elsewhere dealing with other stuff.

Overall. I'm happy, and eagerly awaiting season 4.

Part of me wants the American Version to cast Erin Karpluk all over again. They're never going to find another one like her.

 

[Worf2DS9]

^ Wow, you sure got through all 3 seasons fast. Do you have a lot of spare time, or did you just pull a few all-nighters?

I've also warmed to Julianne as well. She certainly wasn't very likable when Erica first met her, though that "quotation mark" thing she does to emphasize things was always cute.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Hmm. Not sure I was much a fan of that egg chair. lol.

I know! That's what I keep saying.

Part of me wants the American Version to cast Erin Karpluk all over again. They're never going to find another one like her.

I haven't heard anything about the U.S. version in months. Makes me wonder if it'll ever get made. When it was first announced, I thought that maybe they should put it in the same continuity as the Canadian version and that Erica or someone else could make a guest appearance.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Part of me wants the American Version to cast Erin Karpluk all over again. They're never going to find another one like her.

Exactly. She's just so perfect for the role. It will be quite hard to find someone who can be equally as good for the American version.

And yeah, Julianne undergone quite a transformation. She was quite snarky and unfriendly towards Erica when she first got her job at River Rock, so it's amazing that they're close friends to this day.

 

[Technobuilder]

^ Wow, you sure got through all 3 seasons fast. Do you have a lot of spare time, or did you just pull a few all-nighters?

I've also warmed to Julianne as well. She certainly wasn't very likable when Erica first met her, though that "quotation mark" thing she does to emphasize things was always cute.

Just a lot of spare time. Currently unemployed, so I can only clean the house so much.

To be fair, I actually watched this series more slowly than I could have. Towards the end, I just wanted to save them so I'd have something to look forward to.

Hmm. Not sure I was much a fan of that egg chair. lol.

I know! That's what I keep saying.

Part of me wants the American Version to cast Erin Karpluk all over again. They're never going to find another one like her.

I haven't heard anything about the U.S. version in months. Makes me wonder if it'll ever get made. When it was first announced, I thought that maybe they should put it in the same continuity as the Canadian version and that Erica or someone else could make a guest appearance.

Now that would be a nice twist to maintain continuity. Don't think it'll fly though, the American Producers
usually want the freedom to do their own thing. But I'd love to see more. I'm really surprised they'd end the series at just 4 seasons. Is it not very popular? Also, that egg chair just didn't seem comfortable to me.

Part of me wants the American Version to cast Erin Karpluk all over again. They're never going to find another one like her.

Exactly. She's just so perfect for the role. It will be quite hard to find someone who can be equally as good for the American version.

And yeah, Julianne undergone quite a transformation. She was quite snarky and unfriendly towards Erica when she first got her job at River Rock, so it's amazing that they're close friends to this day.

I'm really hoping we get to delve more into Julianne's life in Season 4. She's Erica's partner now and we should really see more of their out of work mode interactions.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I know that at one point, nobody was sure if we'd get a 3rd season as the ratings weren't so hot, so it does struggle even here. It does surprise me why it isn't more popular.

 

[intrinsical]

I know that at one point, nobody was sure if we'd get a 3rd season as the ratings weren't so hot, so it does struggle even here. It does surprise me why it isn't more popular.

I think its mostly because Being Erica's concept cannot be easily described, nor can it be easily pigeon holed. Its not completely sci-fi, nor a rom-com, nor a soap opera nor anything. Most guys get turned off by the "fixing regrets" touchy feely stuff, and most girls are not exactly warm towards the "time travel" aspects. And I know that when I try to describe Being Erica to my friends, they look at me all confused and have no idea what the show is about. So far I've only managed to convert one friend, and that was by getting him to watch the first episode.

I'm really hoping we get to delve more into Julianne's life in Season 4. She's Erica's partner now and we should really see more of their out of work mode interactions.

The producers are hinting that Julianne could be Erica's patient in season 4, so your wish may be granted.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Here are the ratings. What surprises me is that viewership went down. I thought the show was getting better as it progresed. I wonder what caused people to tune out. Anyway, I think they made the right decision to pull the plug. Why risk having the show get pulled after a cliffhanger?

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, at least they're getting to end it properly, which doesn't happen too often.

 

[intrinsical]

Wow, I'm surprised by such a drastic drop in the number of viewers in season 3. And all because it was shifted from Tuesday to Wednesday??

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I have a theory that Erica disappears in 10 years to travel 10 years into the future to be with Kai, she now being about the same age as him.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Hah, did anyone see the commercial for the Upcoming Flashpoint commercial with Erin Karpluk in it? Threw me for a loop, cause I thought it was advertising Season 4, and it's the first thing we see in the commercial. And I was like, 'Oh, this is Flashpoint!' Threw me for a loop as I wondered what on earth Erica would be doing with a squad team, and wondered if perhaps it was some kind of future Erica.

 

[Agent Richard07]

I saw the promo. Maybe I'll tape it and watch it. It's a rerun of an episode that aired months ago.