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Enlightened

  • TV Series
  • 2011–2013
  • TV-MA
  • 28m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
11K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,252
268
Enlightened (2011)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:32
1 Video
69 Photos
Psychological DramaComedyDrama

A self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.A self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.A self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.

  • Creators
    • Laura Dern
    • Mike White
  • Stars
    • Laura Dern
    • Diane Ladd
    • Sarah Burns
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    11K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,252
    268
    • Creators
      • Laura Dern
      • Mike White
    • Stars
      • Laura Dern
      • Diane Ladd
      • Sarah Burns
    • 82User reviews
    • 23Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys
      • 4 wins & 19 nominations total

    Episodes18

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    TopTop-rated

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:32
    Official Trailer

    Photos69

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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Laura Dern
    Laura Dern
    • Amy Jellicoe
    • 2011–2013
    Diane Ladd
    Diane Ladd
    • Helen Jellicoe
    • 2011–2013
    Sarah Burns
    Sarah Burns
    • Krista Jacobs
    • 2011–2013
    Luke Wilson
    Luke Wilson
    • Levi Callow
    • 2011–2013
    Timm Sharp
    Timm Sharp
    • Dougie Daniels
    • 2011–2013
    Mike White
    Mike White
    • Tyler
    • 2011–2013
    Jon Shere
    • Louis
    • 2011–2013
    Brent Bradshaw
    • Ken
    • 2011–2013
    Bayne Gibby
    Bayne Gibby
    • Connie
    • 2011–2013
    Michaela Watkins
    Michaela Watkins
    • Janice Holm
    • 2011–2013
    Jason Mantzoukas
    Jason Mantzoukas
    • Omar Ali
    • 2011–2013
    Travis Heaps
    Travis Heaps
    • Steve Jacobs
    • 2011–2013
    Charles Esten
    Charles Esten
    • Damon Manning
    • 2011
    Dermot Mulroney
    Dermot Mulroney
    • Jeff Flender
    • 2013
    Amy Hill
    Amy Hill
    • Judy Harvey
    • 2011–2013
    Riki Lindhome
    Riki Lindhome
    • Harper
    • 2011–2013
    Dan Levy
    Dan Levy
    • Seth…
    • 2011
    Christie Volkmer
    Christie Volkmer
    • Szidon's Assistant…
    • 2011–2013
    • Creators
      • Laura Dern
      • Mike White
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews82

    7.511.1K
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    Featured reviews

    9free-64498

    "They say the path to hell is paved with good intentions"

    If you're into subtle, sometimes dark humour with a twist of quirk, you'll get a kick out of this one.

    I watched Season 1 & 2 back to back so its fair to say I was addicted. The episodes are short, yet packed with enough substance that you'll be left wanting more.

    Dern's character is likable just not to anyone she knows. After suffering a breakdown, she returns to her life with higher hopes of - everything. Don't we all wish for a better world? What I like about Dern's character is that she has good intentions. She's just completely misunderstood by everyone around her and is dismissed as a neurotic maniac with no sense of self awareness.

    She desperately wants to find a purpose in life but eventually makes 'good' with what she's got and.. its interesting enough.

    The character development is well written and does a good job to explore the complexity of human relationships. There's unexpected humour and awkwardness and ultimately I felt myself rooting for Dern to 'stick it to the big guys!

    Its kind of like 30 Rock had a baby with Weeds that was raised by Broad City. Highly recommended.
    10sukhideol

    Great Show

    This show was not advertised in the UK, so I stumbled on this by accident and I'm so glad that I did. It is up there as a favourite now.

    This show reminds me of Nurse Jackie, another great show, where it allows you to judge whether you think the characters are right/wrong or good/bad - they are not telling you what to think of the characters.

    The cast is also great, both Laura Dern and Diane Ladd are fantastic as usual. I'm so pleased they have chosen to do TV because in recent years films have not taken notice of their great talents. Luke Wilson is the best I've ever seen him act. I love the motley crew of people she works with - great acting all round.

    Also a TV show where a person actually does a full time job without the job being the main premise of the show.
    8dryan-14

    Accept what you cannot change and change what you can

    Enlightened is about a woman who was unable to cope with a series of accumulated stresses in her life and decided to seek treatment. She returns to her life with a new awareness and feels compelled to share and engage people in that awareness to effect positive change around her, but she finds herself running up against resistance due to fear of change. The people around her are all coping with stress in their lives in various other ways. It's about confronting the loneliness and isolation that you can feel when your perspective differs from those around you, and how that loneliness is at odds with your desire to connect, help, and heal those around you. At the end of the day it's about the serenity prayer, about Amy learning the wisdom to know the difference between what she can change, and what she can't. A lot of mistakes are made in the process, but her heart is in the right place, and any introspective viewer will be able to relate to the struggle. I highly recommend it.
    8Rogue-32

    EnWhitened

    So here we have Mike White doing what he does best: spearheading a project that's one part subversive, one part cynical, one part hopeful and one part lethally and blackly comic.

    Enlightened works on many levels because of this but it's also this uber-quirky quality that turns a lot of people who don't have the patience or the understanding of what they're watching off.

    Dern's Amy Jellicoe character is not likable, which is a huge gamble from the get-go,especially for a female character; men on TV shows - as in real life - tend to be given far more leeway, to say the least. All the characters on the show are deeply flawed, of course, but these people are not caricatures, they're all three-dimensional and doing the best they can at their respective levels of consciousness.

    It's interesting how Amy, beginning in season one, had been trying to find some sort of inner peace but soon as she returns to work at her vile company, that intention flies out the window.Rather than quitting her job, as anyone who genuinely was seeking peace would most likely do, she stays and takes on a new, seemingly better, more 'important' ego identity: agent of change. This is hilarious to me, because in substituting one ego identity for another she is still as lost and as fragmented as she was in the very beginning, if not more so. I'm hoping that White understands this, because I'm not sure how enlightened he actually is(because the actual subject of the title has not been dealt with in anything but superficial terms), but either way it plays as good television.

    My favorite episode was the one in season two called The Ghost Is Seen, where White's basically sadsack character Tyler narrates instead of Amy, sharing with the audience about how he feels invisible, how he's lonely, how his life has been empty, until he meets Eileen, played beautifully by the always wonderful Molly Shannon. Ironically, of course - this is a Mike White show, remember - he's in the process of betraying her as they speak, breaking into her computer to get lethally damaging evidence against the company. This episode was brilliantly written and enacted, with White's voice-over narration being profoundly moving.

    I only hope he gets a chance for a third season; in light of all the garbage that gets renewed - like Girls, for instance - I think this show warrants another shot, at the very least. UPDATED 3/20/13: Cancelled. Too subversive for HBO, apparently. Not surprised.
    zetes

    The first season is just okay, but the payoff in the second season is extremely moving

    The A.V. Club named this the best series of 2013, beating out popular favorite Breaking Bad and angering many readers who had never even heard of this obscure HBO series. It aired its first, 10 episode season in late 2011. Its second, 8 episode season aired at the beginning of 2013. A third season was planned, but HBO canceled it. Watching the first season, I was a little perplexed at where the praise had come from. Laura Dern is good in the lead, playing Amy Jellicoe, a woman working at a high position at a pharmaceutical company who gets fired after having an emotional breakdown. She goes to a New Age-y treatment facility in Hawaii and, six months later, returns to the company in a much lower position. She is a bit of a hippie, harping on her company's lack of ethics, which immediately gets her in trouble. I must say, the first season seems all like set-up with no pay off. If I were watching it on TV, especially if I had to wait the whole year for it to air its second season, I probably wouldn't have continued with it. But I bought both seasons at once, so eight more episodes weren't much of a commitment. And, man, that second season. It goes from a series that was decent but fairly unnotable to something truly special, something remarkably potent. Here is the pay-off in spades. The second season is so emotionally involving, so insightful into the human condition. Amy Jellicoe is a bit of a pill, but you really understand her and I really appreciated a character like her, one who is far less than perfect. The two best episodes of the series have at their center a secondary character. "Higher Power" focuses on Amy's ex-husband, Luke Wilson, as he himself goes to Amy's treatment facility and tries to get clean. Wilson has always been an undervalued actor who is often misused, and he's never been better than in this television episode. In "The Ghost Is Seen," series creator and head writer Mike White (whose directorial debut, Year of the Dog, explored similar themes to this series), who co-stars as Amy's lonely best friend at work, falls in love with Molly Shannon (who starred in Year of the Dog), while he simultaneously betrays her trust. Diane Ladd also co-stars as Amy's mother, and I loved her relationship with her daughter. It was unique in that she's severely disappointed with her daughter and kind of distrusts her.

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Laura Dern and Diane Ladd are also mother and daughter in real-life.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2012)

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    FAQ19

    • How many seasons does Enlightened have?Powered by Alexa

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 10, 2011 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • 頓悟人生
    • Production companies
      • Rip Cord Productions
      • HBO Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      28 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1
      • 16:9 HD

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