The best show on television right now is something you probably haven’t been watching, and soon enough might not have the chance to. HBO’s “Enlightened” – about a woman who moves back in with her mother and reenters her former corporate environment after a shocking meltdown – will air its second season finale this Sunday. The show’s painfully low ratings, a reflection of its unmarketability despite critical acclaim and awards, have caused the threat of cancellation to loom large over its future. Creator Mike White, who writes every episode himself and has directed six of the show’s 18 episodes, is currently staging a campaign to save the series, reaching out to fans on social media. “Enlightened” is a singular vision, a rarity on television, which makes its chances of surviving slim and support needed more than ever.
“I’m afraid this will be the best thing I ever do,” White said recently in an interview with New York Magazine. “I think it will be.”
“Enlightened” stars Laura Dern– in what is possibly the performance of her career (the type of performance that will be looked at a decade from now in awe) – as Amy Jellicoe, a divorced and troubled optimist on a mission to make the world a better place, seeking to attach herself to something with meaning even if it comes from a well of deep personal resentment. The show is not easy to pin down – if it’s a comedy, there are few, if any, straight jokes; if it’s a drama, why so much goofiness? “Enlightened” strikes an unparalleled tone of melancholy unlike anything else on television.
So why aren’t more people watching? For one, Amy is a difficult character to like in the traditional sense – she’s emotionally intense, narcissistic, and full of contradictions. This type of character isn’t new to television (just take a look at any show, from “Homeland” to “Mad Men,” and you’ll find them). But Amy is a unique creation in that the writing refuses to offer relatable points of entry. On a show like “Girls,” it’s easy to identify with the flawed characters because you know they’ll get through it – it’s just a phase, a waiting station before moving on to the next stage of adulthood. “Enlightened” requires a deeper personal investment, an inward turn. It works best when you look at Amy and, maybe painfully, see yourself.
The show is also a slow burn. Until the whistle-blower story this season there was really no traditional plot to speak of, allowing White to try things that are unusual for episodic television.
I realized “Enlightened” was doing something completely radical in the ninth episode of the first season, “Consider Helen.” Directed by Phil Morrison (a testament to the quality of the show is the caliber of directors who have worked on it, from Morrison to Todd Haynes), the episode leaves Amy behind almost completely and focuses on Helen, Amy’s mother (played by Laura Dern’s real-life mother Diane Ladd). Nothing happens. Helen goes to the grocery store, works in the garden, sits on the couch alone with her dog. We don’t get deep insight into her relationship with her daughter, no shocking reveal that would change how we view either character. It was a visual tone poem dropped in the middle of a television show on a major cable network.
It’ll be sad to see this series go. We are supposedly in a golden age of television, but few shows are taking the risks “Enlightened” has in two short seasons. Yes, “The Walking Dead” pushes violence further than anything ever has on television, and “Girls” talks about sex frankly, but those are hot button issues – shocking simply for the fact that they’re being discussed, not because of how they’re discussed. “Enlightened” is the bravest show on television because it drowns us in emotional honesty without softening the blow. Maybe we can’t handle it. It’s our loss.