Being Erica

- Season 3

(2010)

Erica walks through her chosen door and finds herself in a therapy group run by Dr. Tom.

It's been three weeks since Erica broke up with Ethan, yet whatever she does, she just can't stop thinking about him. Even though she initiated the break-up, she feels a double loss in that he was both her lover and best friend. She has to figure out how to move on without him. On the sexual front, she seems to be running into more men to whom she is attracted, some who look like Ethan. With some, she even contemplates having sex. And she runs into old boyfriend Ryan, with whom she thinks she can have a platonic relationship - the male friend part - now that she and ...

Erica and Julianne learn that Brent is outbidding them for Seth Newman's book, not because he wants to publish it, but because he will do anything to ruin Erica and Julianne, who, to him, is purely the competition who he doesn't like. Erica wants to use diplomacy to deal with this situation. When Brent doesn't seem interested in diplomacy, the battle between 50/50 and River Rock becomes an all out war. Armed with incriminating information from Brent's past, Erica and Julianne decide to ruin Brent like he seems determined to do to them. Before Erica makes this joint ...

Erica receives a surprise visit from someone she never expected to see again: Kai. She figures he is on a rogue mission as this visit seems against the rules of therapy. Regardless, he has much news for her, the most important being that he looks for her in the year 2019 and can't find her. Erica believes the worst for herself, meaning death for her in 2019 at age 42. As Erica progresses through the day, she can't focus on anything else besides the possibility of dying at such a young age and wanting to find out for sure what really happens to her in 2019. As such, Dr...

Adam learns that Hastings, his old boss for who he did his enforcing, has just died. At the wake which Adam reluctantly attends, many of his old enforcer colleagues, including his own younger brother Johnny who Adam got into the business, try to get him to return to this old lifestyle, which he declines but in such a way that those enforcer tendencies are still evident within him. Dr. Tom feels that Adam is now ready to confront that aspect of his life, and sends him back to his early twenties when he had a job with the "boss from hell", Sean, who Adam beat up after ...

Erica realizes that she has feelings for Adam, but won't do anything about it since she believes they are like oil and water. As such, Dr. Tom tells her to spend her day doing what her impulses or "id" tell her to do, without her conscious or "superego" censoring those decisions. This day happens to be the day of the Pride Parade when her old friend Cassidy is coming back to town. Spending the day with homosexuals, Cassidy in particular, may help Erica in this task as she has seen how Cassidy, as a homosexual woman, has taken those risks and acted on her impulses. But...

Having not seen or heard from her since she left to follow a guy to Los Angeles six months ago, Erica receives a surprise visit from Jenny, who admits she made a mistake, yet again, in making that move and didn't want to face Erica in disgrace. Rather than be angry, Erica vows to help Jenny get through this rough period in her life. As 50/50 Publishing is going through growing pains, Erica convinces Julianne to hire Jenny as their assistant. Although Jenny tries in her own way, Erica ends up doing most of Jenny's job while neglecting her own. And while the work at 50/...

Kai returns. Based on what he told her last time he saw her, Erica is certain that this trip is the one where the two of them will have sex. Because the encounter already happened in Kai's past, Erica is unsure if she has the ability to change that if indeed she does not want to have sex with Kai, which based on circumstance could not blossom into a full fledged relationship. Erica brings this conundrum up at group therapy. Beyond what Erica sees as a slight glimpse of jealousy on Adam's part to this news, Dr. Tom reacts in such a way that angers Erica and that could ...

When Erica goes back with Camilla on one of her regrets, Erica inadvertently runs into Seth Newman, who is really an Orthodox Jew named Shimon Nyberg and not an-ex cult member as he writes about in The Purple Door. Erica feels helpless in this situation as Dr. Tom will not allow her to add signing Seth Newman as a regret since she gleaned his fraud through a method through which she shouldn't. And Dr. Tom feels helpless since he feels responsible for Erica finding out and can't do anything within the rules of therapy to help her. As Erica and Julianne try to figure ...

Adam runs into Beatrice, the woman who was shown to him as his loving wife in a seemingly happy alternate life. Despite being attracted to her and feeling a connection to her, he almost feels as if Beatrice is his destiny without any consideration on his part. Meanwhile, Erica and Julianne receive nothing but bad news about 50/50 Publishing's future in the wake of their moral decision not to publish The Purple Door. Declaring bankruptcy seems the most obvious choice. The one possibility to keep 50/50 afloat is to accept the offer to publish anything that will at least...

50/50 Publishing's future seems a little brighter now that Brent has provided them with Jay Manuel's exposé on the fashion world as their next big book, and as Julianne ghost top edits Thomas Friedkin's latest book for Brent. Meanwhile, Erica is feeling excited by Adam's implication, partly through his kiss on the deserted island, that he is indeed interested in her romantically. They even have a date scheduled to talk about what the kiss means. After a group therapy session, Erica decides to follow Adam through his exit door to talk to him, but she finds him at the end of a ...

Erica's life seems to be back on track. 50/50 Publishing's future seems bright. Brent wants to extend a permanent olive branch to Julianne - and by association Erica - due in part to their now closer working relationship. Julianne is still somewhat suspicious as Brent will not tell her why he originally stabbed her in the back. Back with Erica, she is in a budding relationship with Adam. And all of her family - Barb, Gary and Sam - are also in happy places in their lives. But Erica's life takes an unexpected turn when, after waking up after her first ever lovemaking ...

50/50 Publishing is hosting an all-inclusive Christmas party. The self-professed queen of Christmas, Julianne, is taking charge to ensure that everything for the party matches the exacting standard of a Giacomelli Christmas. On the flip side, Adam, who attends the party nonetheless, has never had a merry Christmas, and he seems determined not to partake in the traditional Christmas festivities just to please others. In the middle is Erica, who, coming from Jewish background, has never officially celebrated Christmas with her family, but has observed its secular ...