Back to Life Review: Season 1 Episode 2

Like a ray of sunshine through an open window, Back to Life Season 1 Episode 2 is warm and direct, a noticeable improvement from an promising, if uneven, pilot.

Where Back to Life Season 1 Episode 1 had heavy shades of Rectify, Episode 2 feels more akin to an early episode of Enlightened, another underrated existential gem of the decade; it leans into the ugliness of its compact world a bit harder, ironically giving its most tender, emotional moments room to blossom in the process.

But where Enlightened was about a woman fighting back against systemic issues in society, Back to Life is about a woman just trying to find a place in society again; that distinction allows Back to Life to draw on a different, slightly lighter energy than what HBO’s series often strove to achieve. 

And that light touch pays dividends, with less focus on the comedic moments — save for the over-extended bit between Dom and Miri at the restaurant counter — allows the positive aura around its protagonist blossom. It also helps Episode 2 develop its own distinct emotional pallet, which helps it feel like it is simply inspired by, and not emptily imitating, shows like Enlightened and Rectify.

Episode 2 is primarily about Miri’s first day at work; of course, any public opportunity brings conflict to Miri, whose world remains as tiny and contained as her prison cell must’ve been.

Part of this is by design — Back to Life has less than a dozen members in its main cast — but part of it serves an important thematic purpose: though we never see Miri in actual prison, her freedom turns out to be a paralyzing cage of its own as she tries to re-calibrate her mind to life on the outside.

Watching Daisy Haggard find that conflict in Miri is fascinating; be it confronting her friend Mandy (who has to be the second girl mentioned in the original 911 call of Miri’s crime, right?), or learning multiple people are mailing feces to her house, seeing Miri quietly force herself to maintain her optimism, to push through all the vitriol and toxicity in her atmosphere, is stunning material. 

In the course of this episode, her former best friend mocks her (“are you going to kill me?” she asks her during a disagreement), she’s hit with a brick thrown through her new employer’s window, and she’s propositioned multiple times by her married ex-boyfriend… and through it all, Miri holds herself together, a beautiful contrast from the self-flagellating declarations of character many shows of its ilk would quickly fall into.

Even when a call to her therapist is falling through during a low moment, she fights to keep the facade of contentment and positivity afloat; it speaks to the mental trauma she’s experienced in the last twenty years — and most importantly, to how alone she’s been with her own feelings over the past two decades.

It’s haunting and inspiring in the same breath, and Episode 2 smartly sits back and lets Haggard carry the proceedings; which she does with poignancy and grace, a subtle performance that deserves a lot more conversation critically than it’s been getting.

Everything around Miri is still finding its feet in Episode 2: Billy’s character is still woefully clumsy, and the marital conflict between Caroline and Oscar feels strangely isolated from the rest of the series.

As it did in the pilot, Caroline’s position between her husband and her daughter’s ex-boyfriend isn’t exactly compelling — or more important, necessary, seemingly only there to act as a harbinger of doom for when Miri inevitably finds out what’s going on in the passenger seat of her mother’s car. 

Which brings me to the single weakest part of the series, the only part of Episode 2 that really doesn’t work: Dom is not an interesting character.

Not exactly a hot take — after all, he’s clearly a philandering loser with no actual spine in his body — but it’s worth noting because every scene he’s in brings the episode down just a little.

Now, there may be a long game with his character: Miri still holding a glimmer of promise in her eye when they conversate on her lunch break speaks to how emotionally immature she still is.

Dom’s friendship (and love?) is really all she’s ever known, a sad but understandable element of a life that clearly didn’t turn out as she planned. Though she’s beginning to see through the rose-colored memories of their time in high school, I really hope his character isn’t in line for a redemptive arc in the next four episodes.

As a whole, though, Back to Life comes together nicely at the important junctures of Episode 2 (especially the chilling opening and closing 911 call voice-overs) — and the less it leans on plot, and leans harder into Haggard’s construction of Miri’s character, the more interesting a series it is going to be.

I don’t think Back to Life will ever be a groundbreaking comedy or personal drama of any sort — which in a way, smartly helps frame the small scale of this wandering, contemplative show. As a reflection on resilience, second chances, and inner peace, however, Back to Life is quickly turning into one of the fall’s more intriguing debuts.

What did you think of this episode of Back to Life? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Back to Life airs Sundays at 10/9c on Showtime.

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