Round Two: Enlightened

Enlightened: Season 1, Episode 2 “Now or Never” (B+)

I can tell that it’s going to take a bit of time to truly get into this show, but this second installment is genuinely delightful and clever. Laura Dern’s Amy is so nice and honest that it’s hard not to like her, and naïve as she is, she’s not entirely of touch with reality. I love the music that scores her imagined presentation and many of her later moments of serenity, and that’s probably my favorite thing so far about the show. Getting left on Level H working with a bunch of horrifically awkward people isn’t a pleasant fate, but if Judy’s reactions to her attempted creativity are any indication, she isn’t getting out of there anytime soon. Fortunately, she’s found a potential friend and slightly social human being in Mike White’s Tyler, pulling double duty here as the show’s co-creator and star. The other man in Amy’s life, Levi, is more at ease with human interaction but considerably grumpier and more hostile, and I think that’s probably an unhealthy relationship she needs to work on improving. I was pleased that she got passionate with Krista and gave her a speech about how she felt betrayed since she always had Krista’s back. It’s not clear that we’re actually going to see more of Damon in the near future than we did for just a moment in this episode, but I think it’s fine, since Amy still has plenty of work to do in terms of getting herself and her life back together before she can once again face one of her biggest fears.