I’ve been a self-help junkie for about thirty years. There’s nothing quite like the high you get from reading a good self help book. I’ve never had the money or the urge to take the next step and attend a conference or a workshop or a retreat.
Our hero in Enlightened is a woman who had a bit of a breakdown and then went to Hawaii for treatment. In standard not the real world fashion, she goes back to work for the company that helped her to have her breakdown in the first place.
Amy is still a nutcase when she goes back to work. She still can’t quite deal with reality and spends a good deal of time quoting her many self help books and trying to force her new world view on everyone around her. She talks a good game, but whenever anything goes wrong, she doesn’t stop to reflect on what she has done, she screams and grinds her teeth and accuses everyone around of her of causing her problems.
Enlightened’s Amy is not a very likable person, but the show is only thirty minutes and there are a few funny bits here and there. The overall tone is one of depression and desperation. The fact that sitting down and reciting your personal mantra doesn’t really help anything is a bit depressing. Amy is a loser and she is surrounded by losers. This doesn’t stop her from making plans to change the world.
Amy works for a cold heartless corporation that is helping to kill the world in both large and small ways. She wants to change that, but everyone at the company thinks she is a harmless flake and a joke. At the end of the first season it looks as if she has gotten a small bit of power-but knowing Amy, the odds that she will put it to good use are absolutely nil.
