Russell Crowe—actor, bad musician and sometimes surly New Zealander—has something in common with the rabid Ryan Gosling fan boys and girls: he’s not too happy about Goz’s Oscar snub. At 4 p.m. yesterday, Crowe tweeted, “Ryan Gosling didn’t get an Academy nomination? There’s some bullshit right there.” Not that his calling bullshit will matter to those stodgy types at the Academy, but having won an Oscar himself for Gladiator in 2000, we assume Crowe is somewhat of an expert on the craft. Sure, you could point to his work in L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, 3:10 to Yuma or any of his other wildly successful films, but we prefer to think of Crowe in decidedly more Canadian terms—as that guy who guest-starred on Republic of Doyle. We wait with bated breath to hear what Erin Karpluk thinks of Gosling’s snub.
(Images: Russell Crowe, screengrab from South Park; Ryan Gosling, Grey Goose Soho House)
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So there we were, basking in the afterglow of Ma and Pa Strange belting out Buffy Saint Marie on karaoke (we knew we were in for a good episode when we got goosebumps), when all of a sudden…whaaaaaaa??? We have paused this week’s episode halfway through so that we can weigh in before we find out what in the name of Goblins is going on. Question 1: Are we the only ones having a Bobby Ewing flashback? Question 2: What does all this mean? Have the past two years—the time travel, the multiple failed relationships, the publishing career, that horrible outfit at Pride—been nothing more than two weeks’ worth of coma dreams? And, for that matter, what is a Code White? OK, back to the show. 
The whole season has been building up to it. On some level, we always knew it was going to happen (we even know what it looks like, thanks to Erica’s graphic sex fantasies). And now finally it has. Erica and Adam are together. Like real-life together, not “let’s hook up on a desert island in an alternate reality” together. Apparently he cares about her more than he’s ever cared about any woman in his life. Now—sigh—if only we cared about them. 
Call us curmudgeons, but even in the realm of the supernatural, we here at the BEBSD appreciate rules of governance. (Like on Today’s Special, Jeff can only come alive with his hat, or in Twilight, vampires never age…no matter what.) Without these rules, anything is possible, and thus, nothing is special. Which brings us to this week’s Being Erica episode, where Erica and Adam met on a non-time-specific desert island to complete a challenge. If you’re wondering when BE decided to borrow from the Survivor play book, you’re not the only one. 
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TV time travel is great (see Lost, Quantum Leap, Doctor Who and episodes of Saved by the Bell when Zack would freeze time to speak directly with the audience). With that in mind, we ask you, Being Erica writers, why mess with a winning formula? Once again, this week’s episode involved zero time travel and way too much of everything else. We get that most good shows require a B plot, but this week we counted five different storylines. (Erica + Cassidy, Erica + Adam, Mom + Dad, Ivan + Julianne, Sam + Lenin). The Young and the Restless has more focus. 
