Review: Enlightened – Season 1, Episode 9, “Consider Helen”
Air date: Monday, December 5 at 9:30pm ET/PT on HBO
Rating:
It’s another day in the lives of the Jellico women and as they sleep, happy voices are heard as voiceovers. They’re voices from the past: Amy (Laura Dern), her sister Bethany (Rebecca Spicher) and their father Jim (Russell Reynolds). “Consider Helen” focuses on the past and death. It’s also about the existing quiet tension among Amy, her mother and Levi (Luke Wilson). But most importantly, it reveals information about the day things changed completely for the Jellico women.
Amy asks Levi to return their photo albums and informs him she doesn’t want to see him anymore. It’s somewhat astonishing that Helen (Diane Ladd) seems concerned about this instead of being thrilled – as I would expect her to react to news that Amy and Levi are cutting ties. Regardless, it’s refreshing to see the two women openly talking about their issues for once instead of avoiding them.
A trip to the supermarket causes Helen to run into an old friend and what starts as a normal conversation about their lives and their children soon turns awkward. Helen appears embarrassed to explain Amy’s present circumstances and her answers make it look as if she’s trying to convince herself she’s ok with the status quo. Although it may be true she likes Amy living with her (in some capacity), Helen’s intonation and mannerisms come across as if she is trying to believe it herself or saving face on Amy’s behalf.
The conversation consciously or subconsciously has an impact on Helen and a confrontation that’s been long in waiting finally happens with Levi:
Helen: “She never got the love she needed from you.”
Levi: “Now listen, you mean you. You mean you. She never got the love she needed from you and that’s the killer… I can never give her what she really wanted, which was your love; your love and your dead husband’s love. Too big of a hole to fill.”
What a great scene between Ladd and Wilson! It feels very real and Levi has to be among the most functioning addicts on television. It’s also a powerful way to get the facts out behind Amy’s breakdown as the two people closest to her provide a larger picture of her issues. I really enjoy Wilson’s characterization of Levi, particularly the sarcasm he injects into the role.
Amy Jellico (Laura Dern) vacillates between moving on and living in the past.
Helen doesn’t tell Amy about the argument; it’s one of the ways she protects Amy from her compulsions. As I expected, Amy is disappointed when Levi returns the albums quickly – and why are people always surprised when their exes comply with their requests to return their belongings after telling them to leave them alone? Amy’s reactions are contradicting and she really needs to figure out once and for all whether she’s really done with Levi.
We finally learn about Amy’s dad and the details are not flattering. They help me empathize with Helen’s pragmatic approach to life—she’s needed to be a strong woman for her two daughters. And now that we know Bethany exists, does anyone else find Bethany’s absence in their lives peculiar?
“What is the worst thing that could happen? What is the absolute worst,” Helen asks more than once during the episode. Although we don’t get a specific response, the burial of the bird appears to hint that life goes on after death. Then, based on what Helen goes through during that day and her disapproval of Amy’s focus on the photos and Levi, the suggestion appears to be the idea of being trapped in the past is probably the absolute worst that could happen to someone. Feel free to disagree with me.
“Consider Helen” uses a different episode format for this series and I welcome this difference as the backstory revelations are too important to be thrown into the same old pattern. The past creeps into the present via sound bites and images from the past – an alternative way to provide clues and fillers about Jim’s demise. I really enjoy how two generations of women are contrasted as we finally learn more about Helen and Amy’s past. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the future and seeing if Amy sticks to her resolution to stay away from Levi.
Enlightened airs Mondays at 9:30pm ET/PT on HBO. For more on the show, visit: http://www.hbo.com/#/enlightened.
On Facebook, go to: https://www.facebook.com/enlightenedHBO.
Photo© 2011 HBO. All Rights Reserved.
elleL
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