“You don’t have to run away from life your whole life. You can really live. You can change. And you can be an agent of change.”
Just a few minutes into the pilot of HBO’s brilliant Enlightened, we hear the calming voiceover of Amy Jellicoe—played ferociously by Laura Dern—announce what could be the mission statement of the show. She has hope. She can change. People can change. We can change.
If you’re lucky, you have at least one friend who has recommended this show to you. Like Girls, Enlightened is polarizing. Its main character Amy is a hard pill to swallow. She is a post-nervous breakdown do-gooder who, after a summer spent in spiritual rebirth, has reentered the same workforce that caused her trauma, only to be demoted from a top-floor, high-level “health and beauty” buyer to a basement data entry robot. She is self-involved and selfish, and her interactions with other humans are uncomfortable to watch, but her heart is almost where it should be and her intentions almost good.
After one wildly unpopular (but gold to those who watched) season, HBO decided to give it another shot. And now here we are at the finish of season two, one episode away from what could be the end of the show entirely. While last season laid the groundwork for its characters, season two finds Amy on the verge of exposing the wrongdoings of her company, Abaddonn Industries. With no word from HBO on renewal, Enlightened fans should be sending all the light bulbs they own to the titan television network demanding a third season. It is imperative, almost urgent the show stays on the air.
“I’m speaking in my true voice now, without bitterness or fear. And I’m here to tell you, you can walk out of hell and into the light.”