Critic Reviews

It's HBO's most mature half-hour series ever, rising above the material worlds of Sex and the City and Entourage to offer a road worth taking in pursuit of a "higher self."

This engagingly uncomfortable series is not like anything you've seen before.

That Enlightened's propagandist and activist message is tinged with irony only makes it more perfectly tooled to our times.

Self-delusion can grow fairly tiresome, in life and on TV, but what makes Amy sympathetic is that even though she almost convinces us at times that her personal fairy tale actually makes sense, we are always aware of her basic decency and, more important, her vulnerability.

Laura Dern and Mike White continue their bold, hilarious, tremendously moving exploration of Amy Jellicoe's ongoing attempt to give meaning to her life. [18 Jan 2013, p.74]

The show is an absolute original. [28 Jan 2013, p.44]

The show's must-see second season is one of the best stories I've experienced in a long time.

Dern is fantastic as Amy--you cringe as her histrionics drive people away, and cringe again as she tries to suppress her feelings behind a veneer of New Age peacefulness.

Enlightened is to my mind the most interesting and ambitious series of the fall season.

Enlightened comes through with a triumphant eight-episode arc that broadens its characters, quickens the pace and finishes strong.