Being Erica (2009) s01e02 Episode Script

A resume, it tells a story.
School, job, hobbies.
It's a snapshot of who we are.
What makes the best impression? The Masters in English Lit, for sure.
I don't know.
I think you should go with work experience.
I mean, client representative has heft.
Heft? No it doesn't.
I was a glorified operator, Judith.
Okay, the masters then.
And at the end of the day, it all comes down to the choices we've made.
This, this is what I've done with my life in ten years.
Wow.
I did a huge Workopolis search for you.
Pulled out everything I thought might interest you.
Okay, what do we go here? Jobs in education, advertising Mortuary Science? - Baby boomers are dying off.
- Hey, wait a minute! Publishing.
- I like books.
- Yeah, you love books.
That is why I included at least a dozen publishing jobs.
I feel strangely excited.
Why don't you come over tonight and celebrate? Ethan is coming to town from Montreal, total last minute.
The three of us will crack, open a bottle of wine - Wine? - Or fizzy grape juice stuff? I'm so sorry.
Worst friend ever.
Have you told anyone, yet? No.
I'm gonna wait for the end of the first trimester, so - Okay, hey, mums the word.
- Okay.
All right, I'm gonna get changed and hand deliver these suckers.
- All right.
- Thank you so much.
Choices.
Look close enough and you can see them everywhere.
But what do you do when you see your life as a series of bad choices? When you would give anything to have made different ones, the questions is: If you could go back and do it all differently, would you still be you? Sorry.
My apologies.
- Hi, there.
- Hi, can I help you? Yes, I'm just here to drop off a resume for the assistant position.
The assistant position.
The assistant to the managing editor of fiction.
All right, so, just contact four or five blurbers for the pre-publication endorsements, see if they'd be willing to uh Oh, I'll see you in a sec.
Erica Strange.
- Oh Antigone Kim.
- It's Antigone Morris now.
Wow! Congratulations.
So, uh so, do you work here? Yeah.
I head up Green Row's Fiction division.
Wow, so, um Seeing you again is just - I don't know, it's crazy, huh? - Yeah, it's really crazy.
My god, do you remember all those pompous debates we used to have about god, whatever? Right.
We were really competitive back in the day, you know? Sometimes it's great to read a book, just to read a book.
Yeah.
Not if you wanna be an editor.
Yeah So, how did you end up in publishing? Well, do you remember "Literati"? That "not so secret" society I was in? Yes, they tapped me to join as well.
That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
My boss is here? Literati.
- Really? - Yeah.
Literati members like to help each other.
And it doesn't hurt to have friends in high places, if know what I mean? So, um Oh, you're applying for a job to be my assistant.
Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of a career change right now.
So Unfortunately, that position's been filled.
I just hired this bright young thing, - right out of her Masters.
- Let me guess, Literati? Well, we are the sum of our decisions, aren't we? Yeah.
As long as you're happy, that's all that matters.
It was really great seeing you again.
Bye.
"We're the sum of our decisions, aren't we?" I guess we are.
Dr.
Tom? Hey, Dr.
Tom! Your car is not even worth a thousand dollars.
It's 15 years old.
I know, but the suspension is scattered all over Bedford Road.
I mean, I either give her up or I pay the money.
Oh my god.
Sam, that dress is gorgeous.
- I like it.
- All that running around and nobody even called you for an interview? I'm still trying to look.
You can't expect me to find something in one day.
Well, if it doesn't work out, you can always work for me.
Work for you? Well, a Toronto account executive just retired, so if you can handle lunches at Holt's and martinis with wedding planners - Oh, Erica loves martinis.
- Mom.
We offer competitive wages and, uh, benefits.
- Dental! - I don't even know anything about weddings, people.
Well, what's there to know? Boy meets girl, boy woos girl, girl blows $10,000 on a lovely pile of lace and organza.
- Oh, save your breath, Ruby.
My daughter thinks she's too good to work for your successful business.
- I do not.
- Mom, leave her alone.
- Thank you, Sam.
I'm just saying, she might wanna consider saying yes to her uncle who's trying to help her.
I'm not saying no.
Would you just give me a second to think about it.
Look, Uncle Ruby.
If I were to come and work for you, I mean, it would it would just be a temporary thing and I'd - I'd like to be up front about that.
- Be up front all you want.
All I'm saying is, it's a good group of people, we have a lot of laughs; you'd enjoy yourself.
When can Erica start? Mom.
Ethan?! Oh, I am so sorry.
It's just the craziest day.
- And you're always late.
- I know, I know.
- What, are you moving in? - Um, yeah.
I thought I'd sleep in your bathtub.
I did not have a poster of "The Kiss" up on my wall.
Yes, you did.
It was right above your desk.
- No, that was Judith.
- No, that was you.
You bought it at that poster sale in first year.
- Why are you my friend again? - And do I need to remind you about the uh - toaster oven incident? - No, but you're going to.
Who installs a heat source underneath their bed? Uh, oh! That's right, you do.
Like I'm gonna get out of bed to make nachos.
And that, my friend, is the last of it.
I start a new job tomorrow, so - no hangover for this girl.
- A new job? Doing what? Um, account executive at my Uncle Ruby's bridal company "White Dreams" - Wet Dreams? - White Dreams, you perv.
Wow.
Well, congratulations.
- I guess.
- No, I mean, it-it's gonna be great.
It's, uh pays the bills, it's downtown, there's dental! You're, you're just not happy for me at all.
Sorry, I can't go "rah-rah-rah" over something you think is a mistake.
Ha! Okay, Mr.
Honesty, what's with all the luggage? I left Claire.
Oh my god.
Ethan, what happened? - She was cheating on me.
- What?! Okay, that's bullshit.
She was cheating on you and you had to leave? Well, her dad owns half the city of Montreal.
He bought us our house in Outremont.
All our friends are her friends.
Feels like there's nothing left there for me.
So, where are you going to stay? My parents have a granny suite.
No, you're not gonna stay in your parents' basement, you're gonna stay here with me.
Where? I I was joking about the tub.
This place is too small.
Okay, we'll we'll find somewhere.
We'll look and we'll get you a place.
I prise you, I'm gonna get you sorted out.
I know.
Morning.
It's magnetic.
Okay, yeah, this way, through here.
Now your catchment zone is gonna be the downtown core.
That's home to some of the most discerning bridal houses in the city.
So you're gonna be dealing with people who are Well, okay, they can be prissy little pains in my ass.
Do I ever get to meet any real bridezillas? O oh, no-no-no-no-no, no, no, no, no.
We don't have to get our hands dirty with any of that.
White Dreams is strictly import/export.
Ah, now, here you are, right through here.
Go on.
Sit down.
Make yourself at home.
This is your domain.
It's best that you get to know each of our dresses by name, okay? - Talk amongst yourselves.
- Okay.
"The Ivory Tower".
"The Snow Fairy".
"The Virgin Queen".
Yeah, all right.
Good morning, Erica.
How What are you doing in the girls washroom? Why why isn't this the girls washroom? I w - I was just at work and - "White Dreams".
Such an evocative name.
What? What? Okay, just before you go, this is something from You've got that out of your system, have you? Yeah.
Good.
Please, come.
Sit down.
Sit down? I-I-I have been looking for you everywhere.
- I mean, I have a million questions.
- I can imagine.
- You sent me back in time.
- Indeed.
Very glamorous, I know.
How did you do it? No, I mean, more importantly, why, why, why did you pick me? Samuel Johnson said: "The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them, as they are.
" Tell me about regret number seven.
- Tell me why you picked me.
- Well, why not you? - Is your life so insignificant? - No, but I Oh, well, good then.
Your list, please.
Hold on, hold on, I have some questions to ask and I think, at the very least, I'm entitled to ask them, I mean, you kind of made me destroy my car.
We made a contract.
And in order for that contract to work, you have to trust me.
I do.
And you have to trust that my number one regret is Leo.
Please send me back to him.
- I mean, I can, I can warn him.
- No you can't.
You can't go back to fix other peoples' mistakes.
And you can't go back to win the lottery, or to bet on the Stanley Cup, or to save your brother's life.
This, Erica, is about you.
It's your list, it's your regrets.
It's you.
So, tell me about number seven.
Secret Society.
Secret Society.
Wow.
It was 1995, I was in my second year at university, and I thought that I knew everything.
Normally, I'm not one for confrontation, but when it came to books and literature, I'd fight my arguments to the death.
And more often than not, it was me versus Antigone Kim.
Literati must have seen something in me and my passion because that year, they tapped me to join.
Graveyard.
Midnight.
Bring a dress.
I mean, that's all the invite said.
Literati was the most respected club on campus.
They only invite a handful of people to join each year.
So I mean, I was flattered.
The cool kids wanted to hang out with me, but the initiation process, it proved to be too much too Gothic robes and masks.
And then they asked us to attack each other, verbally.
And I always liked debating with Antigone in class, but for fun? I mean, that's just not me.
My gut told me to walk away, so, I quit.
And you regret it.
Why? Because, in retrospect, I mean, it was a short-sighted decision.
"We are the sum of our decisions, and as long as you're happy that's all it matters.
" Antigone Morris.
The thing is, I'm not happy.
I mean, I could've just gone along with it and I should have.
And if you had joined? Membership has its privileges.
Just look what it did for Antigone.
If I could do it over, I would I would join Literati, and I would do their silly little initiation, and I would get on the right path.
The path that I should've been on all along.
Say "no" to tuition increases.
Say "no" to tuition increases.
Education is a right! We will fight and fight! Say "no" to tuition increases.
- What are you doing up front there? - I have no idea! Sorry.
Sorry.
I'm so sorry.
- Fascists! - No more fees! - Move back! - Let go of me.
Come on, let's get out of here.
What, they think they scare me with their laws and their rules? You know, you can arrest the body, but the spirit you'll never chain.
I'm late for a women's studies.
- Claire's incredible, isn't she? - Yeah, that's one word to describe her.
Underneath all that angst and aggression and confidence, she's actually really insecure.
Her parents are rich.
I mean, megabucks.
She never tells anyone because she thinks if people knew, - it would compromise her message.
- Compromise her message? I know, she over thinks things, but in a cute way.
Don't ever tell Claire I told you.
She'd totally kill me.
I won't.
Hey, guys, wait up! Oh my god.
Judith, look at you.
Look at me? Look at you.
You're covered in dirt.
Oh god, you radicals really gross me out.
Okay, this is worse than that time right before senior prom, when you got that nasty spiral perm.
Oh, and you had to straighten it with your flat iron.
You know, I totally forgot about that.
Forgot? It was like two years ago.
She's been like this all day.
I think she got beaned by a rock.
Uh, sorry, I thought it was grass.
Freaks.
Uh, yeah, don't do that.
Class.
Today we'll continue talking about James Joyce's modernist masterpiece, "Ulysses.
" Erica, why don't you lead the discussion.
Um, me, Professor Bristow? Breslow.
And yes, you.
Pick up where we left off.
On the use of "yes, yes, yes" at novel's end? Okay, just give me one second, it's been a while since since our our last class.
Should I answer, Professor Breslow? No, that's fine.
I got it.
Thanks.
it was about Joyce's, uh, determination to reinstate the male dominated perspective in opposition to, um Perhaps what Erica is trying to say, is that the use of phallo-centric language, like, "the scrotum tightening sea", was, uh, - in the parlance of the times, a clear - Thank you, by the way, - for telling me what I was trying to say.
- Cat fight! Can we get back to the material, please, and put aside our petty rivalries? - You dropped this.
- Thank you.
Who was that? No one.
Hey, listen, you guys, I'm gonna catch up with you back at rez, okay? This Literati initiation is hugely competitive.
And just so you know, my mom had twins.
Only one of us made it out alive.
Pass the skull and take a card.
Each card has a match.
That is your opponent.
Jokers, step forward.
Use the truth to attack each other.
Don't sensor yourselves.
Go.
I'm Erica Strange.
Daughter of an insurance salesman.
Granddaughter of a brick layer.
I'm sorry, what's your family crest? A 20% off coupon? Oh, you're so obscenely wealthy, I'm surprised you even know about coupons.
And by the way, shouldn't the silver spoon be in your mouth, not up your ass? You know, the only reason why you're getting an "A" in our English class is - because you must be screwing the professor.
- The only reason why you're getting an "A-" is because you must be screwing the professor.
That's enough.
Thank you both.
You will be moving on to our next round.
You want us to bury ourselves alive? We want you to bury each other alive.
Refuse, and forfeit membership in our club.
You you you, you and you.
You five will be buried first, for 15 minutes.
Climb in the graves and lie in the caskets.
Close the lids.
Tonight if we learn to face our fears, they no longer have power over us.
Grab a shovel.
Bury them.
Fill the entire hole.
No, wait.
Hold on, wait! It's okay, he's facing his fears.
Wait, I can't breathe! Let me out, please! Please, let me out right now! Please! Please, let me out! I can't breathe! Let me out, please! Let me outta here, please! I can't breathe! 'Kay, wait-wait-wait, wait-wait-wait, he's He's having a panic attack, he's freaking out.
Everything will be fine.
Erica and Antigone, pick up your shovels.
Pick them up.
Do what we say.
Trust us.
Have faith.
Are you okay?! - Please let me out! - What are we doing? Screw this.
I can't breathe! Let me outta here, please! Please! - Oh, god.
- I want to suck your blood.
You you and you.
Go! You have not passed our test.
What is it? That's not funny.
Welcome to Literati.
I wish I had a polaroid.
The looks on your faces were priceless.
"We don't want to bury these dudes alive.
" Funny.
Hey, over there, isn't that Our former Prime Minister? Yup.
You know, the vast majority of people in your situation tonight just follow orders.
But you two, you think for yourselves.
Your minds are free from convention.
"Veritas vos liberabit.
" The truth will set you free.
And joining the Literati is not simply a social affair.
Our most important work is published in our 'zine, "The Punisher".
- The "slam" paper? - It's not a "slam" paper or a gossip rag.
- Our next cover.
- Ah, yes.
Let me guess, you're thinking, Claire does so much good for us students.
The thing is, 10 students got arrested today because of her.
They all now have criminal records.
I don't trust her.
I never have.
Erica - You're friends with Claire.
- Not exactly.
I'm Dig.
Get to the truth.
Pull your weight and earn your place.
Fail, and your membership will be revoked.
Leo, don't be long.
Andre is meeting us in 10.
Mom hasn't heard from you in, like, 48 hours, so she sent me here to make sure Oh, that I wasn't abducted by aliens? Hey, why don't you come in? I'll make you breakfast.
You'll make me cereal? Uh, look, I got plans with the guys, but Here.
I made it for your next rave or protest, or - whatever.
- Oh, wow, I love it.
Thank you.
- Hey, what happened? - Yeah, uh Darryl and I snuck up onto the long cement thing outside the front of City Hall.
It looked like a good place to board.
Leo, you gotta take better care of yourself.
- Seriously.
- Okay, Mom! Why don't you lecture me about eating my vegetables and not dropping out of university.
Wear that in peace.
Thanks.
For this.
You don't know how much this means.
Excuse me, you don't happen to make lattes, do Dr.
Tom.
You're in a hairnet.
Keeps the crude out of the crudites.
Ah, no.
No lattes.
But I do have carrot sticks.
So what up? What up.
Okay, let's see.
Since I've been back, I've buried someone alive.
- Literati, kinda dramatic.
- Kind of? And the head honcho, Barrett Ironside? He's a total head case.
A head case who is now a powerful Hollywood producer, thanks to his Literati connections, - and his flair for the dramatic.
- He wants me to destroy Claire.
"Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.
" Thomas Moore.
Okay.
And what about those who pulverize their husband's hearts - into tiny little shards of glass? - Hard to say.
Claire le Duc, she is a liar and a cheater.
And it is your job, your mission, to meet out to justice.
No, I Well, I wouldn't say that exactly, but if Antigone, if she knew what I knew She'd have thrown Claire to the lions, of course.
It's that killing spirit which has made Antigone such a success in life.
Exactly.
Killing spirit, that doesn't sound like me.
And that's the reason why I walked away from Literati in the first place.
But Claire, she's she is a spoiled little brat that has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, including Ethan, and she deserves to go down.
- You're sounding nothing like yourself already.
- If I want to achieve anything, I gotta be a little bit less like me and a little bit more like them.
The egg.
Perfection, both in function and in form.
It has a double arch, top and bottom.
It's what makes an egg so incredibly strong.
But the minute that we begin to chip away at its integrity, the egg collapses in on itself until, in the end, we're left with only breakfast.
It's still an egg, but it's not the same.
I was so inspired by our last protest, that I've decided to get everyone to chain themselves to the front doors of the registrar's office tomorrow.
Me and hundreds of students.
Like that's true solidarity.
Good morning to you too, Claire.
Erica.
Always so hung up on propriety.
You know, your conventional ways will hold you back.
Wow, you-you really you don't have a filter, do you? Well, what good is filtering the truth? I just say it like it is.
I am myself, Claire, always.
Oh, really? And what what was that down there with the guy and the posters? Hmm? Oh my god, Erica, you Anglos are so repressed.
Flirting is not cheating.
What, you think Ethan never looks around? I think that Ethan loves you very much and would put up with a lot from you.
I think you're very lucky to have someone like him.
Yeah, well, Ethan knows me.
He knows where I stand and I would never cheat on him.
Okay, so, let me get this straight.
You're a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, who's fighting against tuition hikes, who always tells the truth, and would never, ever cheat and break my best friend's heart.
- That's you? - That's right.
Take it or leave it.
Look, I'm telling you, this professor is notorious for breaking her students.
Okay, cast members from her last production said she practiced psychological warfare because "that's the way it works in the theater world.
" Tough prof, so what? This prof, who claims to have been a professional actress, was really just a stage manager.
Total liar.
That has potential.
Good work.
Strange, you got some competition here.
So? What do you got? Um, actually, I, um I don't have anything.
Big surprise.
Okay.
What if I told you that Claire le Duc, the working class Joan of Arc, is actually Claire St.
Armand, the daughter of one of Montreal's richest businessmen? Nice.
"La duchess's cries of poverty are actually a cry for help.
Claire, it seems, is so privileged, she can even afford multiple personalities.
" Damn, is this true? Her being loaded? I, I guess so.
What else did they say? I don't know, it's brutal.
I mean, whoever wrote this is I don't know, kind of psychotic.
Well, would you look at that, I'm late for class, on the other side of campus.
- Judith, do not abandon me.
- Gotta go.
Hi.
Hey, Claire.
- You see the paper? - Uh, yeah, I did.
I was trying to help the students, you know? I was trying to do something good.
I wanted it to be about what I said and what I did, not about my parents and their money, their influence.
They have nothing to do with this.
Wanna eat a piece of my cake? Look, just ignore him, clearly That guy is an idiot! Everything I worked for is ruined.
I was coming to find you.
I wanna talk.
Let's do this inside.
If you did what I think you did to Claire I can't believe it, you went after my girlfriend.
- She lied to everyone.
- You do not get to judge her! How do you know that she's not lying to you? I'm not talking about this.
You know, you don't even know the whole story.
Her parents hate what she's doing, what she's becoming.
They've practically disowned her.
I I didn't know that.
The punisher asked you to dig up dirt for their own reasons.
What were yours? She did it out of insecurity and worry people would judge her.
But you, Erica? I don't think I know you.
Uh, interference, meaning I get to hit again.
Thank you, Erica, always coming through.
I take it you saw our little newspaper? I saw Claire.
Not a happy anarchist.
You guys, you really went to town.
- Well, we went as far as the truth permitted.
- Throw in a little flair and every last issue was snapped up.
Look, I made a mistake.
I had no right to tell you about Claire.
All you did was tell the truth.
I am this close to giving you our next issue.
I don't want it.
Look, getting to the truth is one thing, but you guys, you you relish the humiliation.
Degrading someone is fun for you.
But that is not who I am.
So, I quit.
You understand what you're giving up? You quit and that's it.
Believe me, I understand.
But the price of admission is way too high.
So, the point is we want to block the entrance.
So let's handcuff ourselves to each other and to the door handle.
Here to dig up more dirt on me? I'm sorry.
No, but don't apologize to me, apologize to the hundreds of students that won't be able to afford tuition.
Okay.
Yeah.
No, fine.
I will, I'll do it.
I'll do whatever it takes.
What I did was wrong and I really regret it.
Sit, sit! Education is a right! We will fight, fight, fight! Education is a right! We will fight, fight, fight! So, I guess you've made it through your first morning.
Before you know it, you're gonna be my rock.
Like, like Jean.
Who's Jean? Oh, uh, over there.
Jean, you've been with me since what? Since we were nothing but a little storage unit in Etobicoke.
Welcome to the team.
Okey-dokey, well, I have got to get to a conference call, you've got some photo copying to do.
Thanks a lot.
And after that, let's go out for a little celebratory lunch.
And, and by lunch, I do mean liquid.
Could you, like, give me a warning sign or something? Please, have a seat.
Okay, but look.
- For the record, I get it.
- What? I ended up right back where I started.
I mean, Literati, it's clearly not for me.
And I just need to learn to be happy with what I have.
As in the cubicle? Are you happy at "White Dreams"? - No.
But that's different, it's - Our lives are like a house of cards.
You know, some of the cards are cosmetic.
While others are load bearing walls.
You remove one of those cards and the whole thing comes tumbling down.
- Like the egg.
- Like the egg.
Chip away at what makes you "you" and you become something else.
Your gut told you to avoid Literati the first time around, and you were right to listen to that.
There are many ways to achieve our goals, Erica, but ignoring your inner voice is not one of them.
So tell me.
Is this job the right job for you? No.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
No-no, that wasn't my shih tzu, that was me.
Look, I, um I'll have to call you back.
Erica, are you trying to kill me? This face? Not as young as it looks.
Uncle Ruby, I quit.
And I appreciate so much, this opportunity, but it just it isn't right.
You haven't even given it a day.
That's just the thing, I don't need to.
I know that it's wrong for me.
The wedding biz, it's what you always wanted to do, right? I used to dress your mom up in your bubbie's lace curtains when I was six.
Exactly! You knew.
And I feel that You know what? I know that there is something out there that I'm supposed to do, and I wanna take the time, right now, to find it.
You know, maybe it's books? Oh, you could read on your lunch breaks? Oh, okay.
Okay, okay, fine.
Come here.
Come here.
Now, go.
Go, go-go-go-go-go.
Do what you have to do.
Your mom may not understand, but I do.
And I'll I'll talk to her.
Though, I can't promise she won't disembowel me.
Thank you, Uncle Ruby, for everything.
Well, you're right, I mean, it is a little small, but the layout is is pretty good.
And there's tons of storage.
Yeah, and the rent's cheapish, of course, compared to Montreal.
Well, you can't compare anything to Montreal rent.
Bagels? Mmm.
It's, uh, right next door, that's not gonna be weird? No, I don't think so.
Doesn't feel like uh we're regressing.
Like we've living back in residence? Yeah, just minus the, uh, the co-ed showers? No, I think it will be fine.
Besides, rez is where we became best buds.
Totally.
And where you almost fired me as your friend.
What're you talking about? You remember in second year, when I almost joined Literati? And sold out Claire.
- You remember? - Yeah, I remember that.
Do you ever wish I mean, especially now, given everything that's going on with you and Claire What? Do you ever wish that you would had listened to me and you know, saved yourself a lot of heartache? No.
Really? I mean, she's destroyed my life, but she was my life for a long time, you know? So, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't take this place.
Great! Oh, we're gonna have so much fun.
Jenny and Judith, they're gonna be really jealous.
Oh, that's me.
River Rock Pub? River Rock Publishing.
Oh my god.
Answer it! Hello.
This is she.
Next week? Sure, of course I can make it.
Three o'clock? Mm-hmm.
No, that's No, I know where the offices are.
Great.
Okay, thank you.
That's great.
Congratulations.
I got an interview.
You got an apartment.
Global justice now! Everyone's got their own path.
Some are only just beginning.
While others end all too soon.
However you do it, the fact is, the path you're on, the choices you make, define who you are.
Choices, they're the building blocks of our lives.
They shape our past, present and future and despite all the mistakes I've made, every new day brings with it new choices and a whole new world of possibilities.