Being Erica - The 4th Season

[Guy Gardener]

Alan Moore wasn't allowed to write a story about John Constantine meeting an older version of himself in a bar. Old John says "In 5 minutes you're going to meet the girl of your dreams, but if you take her home and do all the nasty things we do to women, you're basically going to cause the world as we know it to end. Old John goes into it for 12 issues explaining the superhero apocalypse on the horizon, afterwhich Young John cruises over to the little blonde girl and says "Not worth it. Go fuck yourself."

(And old John evaporates in a paradoxical puff of discontinuity marveling at what an asshole he himself is, was, and always will be.)

Do I expect such "complicated" plotting from Being Erica?

Basically a mirror war like over in the soon to be canceled Fringe?

Yes.

Yes I do, but am I going to get it?

I'm highly suspect.

Remember Josh Kirby Time warrior? they get to the second to last last episode and we finally find out that the kindly professor who has been leading them through time is the master villain using Josh Kirby Time Warrior to fulfill his nefarious plan to take over time and it is the villain in the mandroid like time armor they have been running from for four hour and a half episodes who is the virtuous hero they misunderstood the nature of...

There's two timelines.

(At least)

If Erica never disappears/dies then Kai never comes back to frakk her.

However these guys remember redundant timelines, so even the impossible time and destroyed time has happened from their perspective...

But mark this.

What if Erica only dies because Fred told her she was going to die, and that forces her to leap into the face of fate to preserve some necessary event, such as Kai getting worried and coming back to frakk her, so that a second time line could occur which Doctor Erica is from that she never found out (to some degree) about till after she hadn't died. That the only way for Kai to survive and meet her and fall in love with Erica is for "a" Erica, one of the infinite cross time Erica's in the multiverse to die in this very specific way.

Kai spends months in the past on his regrets.

Erica spends minutes.

Fred's into a different sort of therapy or, does Fred just lose his patients and forget about them?

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ There were a lot more than two timelines.

I watched the scene with Future Dr. Erica again. She clearly stated that there are futures where she lives and others where she dies, the lesson being that she can choose her future and even change what she doesn't like. There's nothing about accepting her fate and no indication that Dr. Erica is about to die. When I watched on Monday night, I got the impression that the future Dr. Erica had already survived the incident. Last season, Erica was afraid that she'd be dead by 42 and Dr. Erica said she was 43. And Captain Fine, good on pointing out that we didn't get an exact date. I didn't notice that. Guess she'll have to avoid Union Station for a whole year. Either that or she'll have to get more details so that she'll know the day.

I wonder what Dr. Tom saw when he checked up on Erica's future last season.

As for Tom's income, he used to be CEO of some financial company? Its a very well paying job and I would imagine he will still have at least a million or two in the bank.

That makes sense.

 

[Guy Gardener]

So a time therapist falls on hard times.

bankrupt and homeless, but still a timetherapist.

Too ethical to exploit time travel to make money but... Working in that office, and then sleeping on the streets?

Too ethical to sleep in the office?

"Dead by 42"

Thank you, missed that line.

I just think it's sexy when women lie.

 

[Owain Taggart]

^ There were a lot more than two timelines.

I watched the scene with Future Dr. Erica again. She clearly stated that there are futures where she lives and others where she dies, the lesson being that she can choose her future and even change what she doesn't like. There's nothing about accepting her fate and no indication that Dr. Erica is about to die. When I watched on Monday night, I got the impression that the future Dr. Erica had already survived the incident. Last season, Erica was afraid that she'd be dead by 42 and Dr. Erica said she was 43. And Captain Fine, good on pointing out that we didn't get an exact date. I didn't notice that. Guess she'll have to avoid Union Station for a whole year. Either that or she'll have to get more details so that she'll know the day.

I wonder what Dr. Tom saw when he checked up on Erica's future last season.

Yeah, exactly. It might just be that it was very emotional for her and that she was trying not to explode with tears as she visited him. She was holding it back, hence why when she closes his door you see her tears. Those aren't tears of sadness. They're tears of joy of seeing an old friend again, a friend that she likely lost touch with over the years, I don't think it has anything to do with anything happening to Dr Tom. The way I see it, he likely knew she'd die but couldn't be the one to tell her. It's also likely why he appears so surprised to see her when Future Erica visits him. So, I peg Dr Erica as just having witnessed the accident while having avoided it herself. The message here would be that, if someone tells you your fate, you can never be too sure if your life will have that outcome due to the choices you make in life.

 

[intrinsical]

^ There were a lot more than two timelines.

I watched the scene with Future Dr. Erica again. She clearly stated that there are futures where she lives and others where she dies, the lesson being that she can choose her future and even change what she doesn't like. There's nothing about accepting her fate and no indication that Dr. Erica is about to die. When I watched on Monday night, I got the impression that the future Dr. Erica had already survived the incident. Last season, Erica was afraid that she'd be dead by 42 and Dr. Erica said she was 43. And Captain Fine, good on pointing out that we didn't get an exact date. I didn't notice that. Guess she'll have to avoid Union Station for a whole year. Either that or she'll have to get more details so that she'll know the day.

I wonder what Dr. Tom saw when he checked up on Erica's future last season.

Yeah, exactly. It might just be that it was very emotional for her and that she was trying not to explode with tears as she visited him. She was holding it back, hence why when she closes his door you see her tears. Those aren't tears of sadness. They're tears of joy of seeing an old friend again, a friend that she likely lost touch with over the years, I don't think it has anything to do with anything happening to Dr Tom. The way I see it, he likely knew she'd die but couldn't be the one to tell her. It's also likely why he appears so surprised to see her when Future Erica visits him. So, I peg Dr Erica as just having witnessed the accident while having avoided it herself. The message here would be that, if someone tells you your fate, you can never be too sure if your life will have that outcome due to the choices you make in life.

Would Tom and Erica willingly loose touch with each other? I don't think so. Something stopped them from seeing each other despite both having the ability to time travel at will. Even if Tom gives up being a TTT, Erica would still be able to pop in once in a while. So short of death, I can't really see any other possibility for Erica's tears.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ That's what I ws going to say. Losing touch is a stretch for these two, and Tom leaving the business isn't enough to make her break down. It has to be something bigger and death does fit the bill right now. The whole scene was put there to hint at something happening to Tom.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That's where I disagree. They invoked the multiple timelines, and to be honest I wasn't too sure what to make of it at first, but they have to be more important than just using them once. Consider that perhaps in Dr Erica's timeline Dr Tom is still alive. I admit when I said "losing touch", it's not quite what I meant, as they're too close for that to happen. Consider that Future Tom and Future Erica still keep in touch, yet with Dr Tom in retirement. We have Dr Erica telling present day Erica how she can change her fate by the different choices she makes in life, ie that it's not constant. Is there only one door to Tom's office? Is there a different Tom door for a different timeline? She knew what she was doing, obviously. In walks Dr Erica and it's like Dr Tom's seen a ghost, as he likely knew that she was going to die, yet here she is. She didn't need to say much, but the message was clear: "Look Tom, I'm alive! I've survived. Things can change for you too." Now, it's entirely possible that Dr Tom is supposedly going to die in the current timeline, but given the speech she gave present day Erica, it's likely the same applies to Dr Tom, unless we learn that he has a terminal illness that he's been keeping from everyone. The fact that she was even there, in that office, was meant to be a message in itself. You could see that as they looked at each other, something was going through both of their minds, sharing on a similar level like all therapists are likely to do.

 

[intrinsical]

Its funny. While I enjoy watching Doctor Who for all the "Time can be rewritten" temporal mechanics stuff, I can't say the same about Being Erica. I think I'll be alright with Dr. Tom rewriting his own timeline IF it serves to teach Erica or Tom something, but I'll be sorely disappointed if the changing of timelines is just to keep Dr. Tom alive.

The latter would certainly prove that the producers are just coasting by in season 4 like what you said. And I'm already starting to side with you... As an example, it used to be that episodes with the word "Being" in the title were hard hitting, gut wrenching, life changing important life lessons for the person involved. This season's "Being Ethan" just felt tame compared to episodes like "Being Dr. Tom", "The Importance of Being Erica" and "Being Adam".

 

[Owain Taggart]

Oh definitely, I agree with you, and like I said, I wasn't sure what to make of what Dr Erica was telling her about the multiple timelines. I just think that since they did invoke that, that we can't totally write it off, that they'll somehow use those cards. It wouldn't be so much that it's changing timelines, but that Dr Tom would be forced to make better decisions to escape his supposed fate. Again, like I said it might be that he can't get away from that, but we don't know. The multiple timelines thing just felt cheap and I thought they could write better than that. I kind of believe that they wrote themselves into a corner with the whole idea of Erica dying, which is leading them to come up with stuff like the multiple timelines. Though I thought the doors were neat, and somewhat of a parallel to season 1 and 3 with the different doors.

Yeah, Being Ethan felt more like a season 2 episode. While there's nothing wrong with that, it just felt too routine. Felt like a regular break-up and get back together story and there was nothing groundbreaking about it aside from seeing Ethan again. This episode in comparison felt like a completely new ballgame, something which I would have liked throughout the season, but it's felt like they've been dragging their feet. I'll say, if we get more in the caliber of this week's, I'll be happy, but I'll be disappointed if it ends up being too little too late.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If all time lines don't play out themn these peopel are infinimuderers.

I saw "Before you say I do" last night.

About a guy, Christopher (Rori's spermdaddy)from the Gilmore Girls, who makes a wish and goes back and time to stop his fiances first marriage to an asshole.

His Rupert Murddoch like boss was played by the same bloke who plays pappa Strange in Being Erica which was nice to see the fellahs range. But then the whore wedding planner who was sleeping with the groom looked familiar...

Julianne from Bieng Erica with a flirty Southern Belle Accent.

Ridiculously provocative.

 

[Agent Richard07]

...it used to be that episodes with the word "Being" in the title were hard hitting, gut wrenching, life changing important life lessons for the person involved. This season's "Being Ethan" just felt tame compared to episodes like "Being Dr. Tom", "The Importance of Being Erica" and "Being Adam".

Although a lot of the episodes so far do feel like a step back to the season 1 format, the learning process has grown on me and I do think the lessons have been well done. 4x01 was especially good with Dr. Tom's line... "You place Josh down here and you place yourself up here. You say... That is not me. I could never be like that. That person is other. Undeserving... A monster... Same old story. It's how wars begin. It's how people turn on eachother." Then there's Erica not being able to change her fate with Adam because she didn't change her basic intent. They've had a lot of good stuff that's stayed with me. What season 4 has lacked so far is the feeling that things have been pushed to the next level like what we got in season 2.

Oh definitely, I agree with you, and like I said, I wasn't sure what to make of what Dr Erica was telling her about the multiple timelines. I just think that since they did invoke that, that we can't totally write it off, that they'll somehow use those cards.

I think they already did with the lesson that the future is full of possibilities and you can choose. As for the multiple timeline bit being bad writing, it's something I've always believed in or entertained anyway, so I don't see it as a cop-out or a bad plot device.

It wouldn't be so much that it's changing timelines, but that Dr Tom would be forced to make better decisions to escape his supposed fate. Again, like I said it might be that he can't get away from that, but we don't know.

I don't think they plan to make this arc all that complicated, especially in the time they have left. They could I suppose, but that's not the feeling I was left with. Plus, neither Tom, nor Erica have any clue that something might happen to Dr. Tom and they can't change something they aren't expecting. From what I saw, only future Erica knows and we the audience got the benefit of being let in on that. Was Tom at the station with Erica? And Did present-day Tom see that when he saw Erica in the future? It's possible, but if that's the case, Tom could just change his future as well.

If the show does go to a 5th season, I wonder what that will mean for Dr. Tom/Michael Riley. That's assuming he dies of course. If he doesn't, or if something is changed, then case closed I guess.

 

[Agent Richard07]

On the IMDb boards, they're suggesting that Tom chooses life with Amanda and has his memories of being a doctor erased which is why Erica broke down. She misses "Dr. Tom".

I've been thinking... If he dies, then he won't have that life with Amanda. He could die of course, after making the choice to give up doctoring, the important part being that he made that choice, but who knows. A lot of good ideas being thrown around and no easy answers. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. Only a few weeks left.

 

[Owain Taggart]

...it used to be that episodes with the word "Being" in the title were hard hitting, gut wrenching, life changing important life lessons for the person involved. This season's "Being Ethan" just felt tame compared to episodes like "Being Dr. Tom", "The Importance of Being Erica" and "Being Adam".

Although a lot of the episodes so far do feel like a step back to the season 1 format, the learning process has grown on me and I do think the lessons have been well done. 4x01 was especially good with Dr. Tom's line... "You place Josh down here and you place yourself up here. You say... That is not me. I could never be like that. That person is other. Undeserving... A monster... Same old story. It's how wars begin. It's how people turn on eachother." Then there's Erica not being able to change her fate with Adam because she didn't change her basic intent. They've had a lot of good stuff that's stayed with me. What season 4 has lacked so far is the feeling that things have been pushed to the next level like what we got in season 2.

I suppose you're right. It's also something I expressed earlier. This season in contrast to others has a lack of progress, with a lot of standalone episodes that don't necessarily add anything like what we're supposed to have by now. Episodes that could have been done any season as compared to a final season.

Oh definitely, I agree with you, and like I said, I wasn't sure what to make of what Dr Erica was telling her about the multiple timelines. I just think that since they did invoke that, that we can't totally write it off, that they'll somehow use those cards.

I think they already did with the lesson that the future is full of possibilities and you can choose. As for the multiple timeline bit being bad writing, it's something I've always believed in or entertained anyway, so I don't see it as a cop-out or a bad plot device.

Ordinarily, I'd agree with you, but considering the show has never used any of the multiple timelines in the past, coming up with it so late in the game feels like they've written themselves into a corner and looking for a way out. I thought they'd be smarter than that. Invoking it cheapens the impact the course of events have.

It wouldn't be so much that it's changing timelines, but that Dr Tom would be forced to make better decisions to escape his supposed fate. Again, like I said it might be that he can't get away from that, but we don't know.

I don't think they plan to make this arc all that complicated, especially in the time they have left. They could I suppose, but that's not the feeling I was left with. Plus, neither Tom, nor Erica have any clue that something might happen to Dr. Tom and they can't change something they aren't expecting. From what I saw, only future Erica knows and we the audience got the benefit of being let in on that. Was Tom at the station with Erica? And Did present-day Tom see that when he saw Erica in the future? It's possible, but if that's the case, Tom could just change his future as well.

I'm just saying that, on a bigger picture, usually a show will not introduce something as game-changing as multiple-timelines unless they have a plan for it. Either they make some good use of it by actually being clever, or they just let it sit there which would cheapen the impact of anything that is to come, because just knowing there are multiple timelines and that they've mentioned them affects whatever comes after it, whether they use it or not. Otherwise, why even bother invoking that at all?

If the show does go to a 5th season, I wonder what that will mean for Dr. Tom/Michael Riley. That's assuming he dies of course. If he doesn't, or if something is changed, then case closed I guess.

Yeah, that's one of the things that make me feel like this will be the last. I don't really think they've thought about it beyond a 4th season. It's possible that if there is a 5th season, that Erica becomes a full-fledged doctor and we start seeing regular patients come into her office, with her more or less replacing the mentor role by becoming one herself.

As for what happens to him, you could be right. Although Amanda seemed to be OK with knowing he was a doctor. They certainly seem to be going down the road of him having to make a hard decision. Although, it could also be that he has a terminal illness like I mentioned before and that the decision isn't really up to him. That'd be heartbreaking, trying to settle down with the one you love, only to learn you only have a limited time to spend it with them.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Bah, postponed due to Hockey, yet the schedule is just showing a normal schedule.

 

[intrinsical]

I don't think they plan to make this arc all that complicated, especially in the time they have left. They could I suppose, but that's not the feeling I was left with. Plus, neither Tom, nor Erica have any clue that something might happen to Dr. Tom and they can't change something they aren't expecting. From what I saw, only future Erica knows and we the audience got the benefit of being let in on that. Was Tom at the station with Erica? And Did present-day Tom see that when he saw Erica in the future? It's possible, but if that's the case, Tom could just change his future as well.

I'm just saying that, on a bigger picture, usually a show will not introduce something as game-changing as multiple-timelines unless they have a plan for it. Either they make some good use of it by actually being clever, or they just let it sit there which would cheapen the impact of anything that is to come, because just knowing there are multiple timelines and that they've mentioned them affects whatever comes after it, whether they use it or not. Otherwise, why even bother invoking that at all?

I guess our views are somewhat different here. While the show might not have spelled it out big honking letters "MULTIPLE TIMELINES", multiple timelines have been used throughout the show, even as early as season 1.

For instance, when Erica stopped Leo from dying in the past, it resulted in a timeline where Leo is alive as a successful architect in Erica's present.

Another example is Cassidy. Previously Erica totally lost touch with Cassidy after she left university. In this timeline, Cassidy and Erica are still in contact with each other.

Future-Erica even gave the example of Erica choosing to give her virginity to a different guy.

So to me, this is not a new concept that's being introduced at the last minute. It has been there all along.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Well, I suppose you're right. I think I overreacted a bit about it. I think it was more in the tone that Dr Erica said it that made it sound different. I just never looked at the show as having multiple timelines, as whenever she does time-travel, I never saw the changes sticking, although technically I'm sure they could continue on like that in a different timeline.

 

[Technobuilder]

So did the episode air or was it sidelined for some reason?

Just trying to get a handle on when it might show up.

 

[Agent Richard07]

So did the episode air or was it sidelined for some reason?

There was no episode due to hockey.

And moving along... I'm not sure, but it looks like this season will only have 11 episodes. That means we have 3 left. Here's the title and synopsis for 4x11...

Spoiler: 4x11.

4x11: Dr. Erica
Four years ago Erica Strange was single, barely making enough money to get by, and had a long list of regrets. Thanks to her time-travel therapist Dr. Tom, Erica has turned her life around, but nothing can prepare her for her most difficult challenge yet - saying goodbye.

Also, here's an article... A CBC success: Erica without borders

In Japan, the show gets a top Saturday slot on Lala TV, the country’s No. 1 women’s channel, with seven million subscribers. Their tagline for the show: "Fantastic romantic comedy for women who never give up."

At home, meanwhile, the series is heading into its fourth season and waiting on a green light for a fifth. The audience has dropped about 200,000 since its debut in 2009, when it averaged 500,000 to 700,000. But Being Erica’s website is one of the most-viewed sites on the CBC, and delivers the coveted younger female demographic that the public broadcaster has been targeting in recent years.

Like I said before, I don't know how the show will end, but right now, I'm really hoping for a 5th season. This one isn't everything I had hoped it would be and I'd love to see more of Dr. Erica in action.

 

[Owain Taggart]

So did the episode air or was it sidelined for some reason?

Just trying to get a handle on when it might show up.

Yeah, postponed due to hockey as I mentioned upthread. I think we might see it next week.

Hmmm, it seems like they're fast-tracking the progress. See, I would have liked more of that from the beginning of this season as a story arc. As it is, it almost feels like an afterthought, with most of the season feeling like filler, as good as some episodes were. Seems like they don't really know what to do or handle closing things out. At this point, I don't see how they could really do a 5th season. They've had some excellent episodes this season, but what if they had opened the season with Future Dr Erica visiting Erica, revisiting the big question just like last week, opening the show with big questions as a quest for Erica to find out over the course of the season while doing her training? Largely, the season has felt like it's lacked direction and purpose, something which doesn't at all feel like a season that would supposedly close out a show. Last season ended with Erica in her own office. As yet, we've yet to really see anything along that direction as that seemed like some substance that could have been used to lead the season in its purpose, and instead we get fast-tracking late in the season which feels like they're covering up for lack of big exposure throughout the season. Come on, that should have been there from the start of this season. It's rather frustrating to see the show take this path because I know the writers are more capable than that from what we've seen. Were they really this indecisive about this being the end or going on to a 5th? Cause honestly, it's starting to show as the season feels really uneven.

 

[Technobuilder]

Thanks guys, just wanted to make sure.