Review: The Pros and Cons of the New Laura Dern Show, "Enlightened"

I've seen preview screeners of the first four episodes of the new HBO series Enlightened, and boy did I go back and forth on whether it's worth watching!

The problem, unlike much of the crap that's on TV, is that it's not outright "bad" or even "mediocre." While there are things I didn't like or didn't think worked, there are other parts that I really did like and that I thought were different and interesting.

It might be helpful to me (and you) if I just list the pros and cons (without spoilers, natch).

Here are the Enlightened pros:

• It stars Laura Dern, who also co-produces and who is literally one of my favorite actresses of all time. Ever since the one-two punch of Smooth Talk and Mask in 1985, I've been a total fan. Her career highlights include three terrific films: Blue Velvet (1986), Rambling Rose (1991), and Citizen Ruth (1996), the first film by Sideway's Alexander Payne (Dern was also the women Ellen DeGeneres came out to on Ellen). But since the 90s, her "movie" career has stalled, and she's been known more for her relationships to Billy Bob Thorton, Nic Cage (WTF?), and Jeff Goldblum. It's great to see her again, and she's excellent.
• It's written and created by Mike White, the oddball out bisexual writer-actor behind School of Rock, who also co-stars in a small role.
• It has one of the best openings of all time, with Laura Dern's character, Amy, immediately having a complete emotional melt-down at work. It's edgy comedy, simultaneously hilarious and extremely awkward.
• It co-stars Luke Wilson in a role he was born to play: Amy's drug-addled loser of an ex-husband. He's really terrific.
• It also co-stars Dern's real-life mother, the wonderful (and thrice-Oscar-nominated) actress Diane Ladd.
• The satire is often deft and funny, especially of the corporate workplace. The woman who plays "Judy" (a drone supervisor) is spot-on.
• It employs "real time," in that each episode is just a day or two in Amy's life, and we see every day. It's been a while since we've had a show where "time" is something real and linear.
• It's about something really different — a woman's search for spiritual enlightenment — and the pilot itself is quite strong. There's also a particularly strong moment at the end of the third episode, when Amy has a powerful epiphany.

Alas, here are the cons:

• The tone is off. Is the show really about searching for "enlightenment," or is it a parody of people who search for enlightenment? The show goes both ways, but the end result is not "complicated," it's confusing. In general, the show is a satire, especially of the workplace, and it often openly — and I mean openly — mocks and ridicules Amy for her pursuit of spirituality. But at other times, she'll be sitting in the flowers staring contemplatively up at the sky with a somber voice-over, and the show seems to be saying we should take her spiritual pursuit seriously. It gave me whiplash. It also seemed like bad writing.
• It's not clear if Amy herself is supposed to sympathetic. Sometimes she comes across as a very flawed, very extreme, but ultimately somewhat sympathetic character. But at other times, she comes across as very simple-minded, cruel, and even outright bitchy to the people around her. Since the tone of the show is muddled (sometimes satire, sometimes "straight"), we at least need a consistent main character to ground us, and we just don't get it in Amy. Or, conversely, if the show is supposed to be satire, she needs to be satire too, so we don't find ourselves feeling jerked around when she wins our hearts one scene, and then does something incredibly stupid or bitchy in the next.
• Diane Ladd is wasted as Amy's lethargic, tremulous mother. My God, this is the woman who played the original "Flo" in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (the basis for the TV show Alice)! Give her something fun to do!
• The show meanders. Like most of the cable premium half-hour shows, Enlightened is story-driven, not episodic. But the show's overall "arc" (Amy searches for "enlightenment") is so vague that it doesn't really have much forward momentum. It works best in the earlier episodes, when Amy is punished by the corporation for her meltdown, but that's partly because we naturally assume her upcoming struggle will be against the company. No, not really. Instead of any kind of driving narrative, each episodes feels like it's about whatever struck writer Mike White on that particular day. That wonderful epiphany at the end of the third episode I mentioned earlier? It's not built upon, but is instead completely forgotten in the next episode.

Will I watch more episodes? Not surprisingly, I'm torn. I probably will, if only because I really do love Laura Dern. But from this point on, my expectations will be somewhat low.

Enlightened premieres tonight on HBO at 9:30pm EST