‘The Arrangement’ Takes A Dark Turn In Season 2

Image by Screenshot/Youtube

By Michelle Honig March 9, 2018

If you think Judaism has got problems, you’ve clearly never heard of IHM — the Institute For The Higher Mind. This self-help organization, which has some creepy similarities to Scientology, provides the dramatic setting of E! Network’s scripted show_ The Arrangement_, whose first season premiered last year.

Produced by Jewish producer Jonathan Abrahams — known for his work on Greek and Mad Men — the show follows Megan (played by Christine Evangelista), a struggling actress who meets A-list actor Kyle (played by Josh Henderson) at an audition. They fall head-over-heels in love, and Kyle offers Megan a contract marriage which, plot twist, would mean Megan has to be married not just to Kyle, but the more sinister sides of his life — IHM and Terrence (played by Michael Vartan), the organization’s creepy founder.

The contract marriage is, in many ways, similar to arranged marriages, practiced in many cultures and religions, including some more extreme sects of Judaism. This week, during a press event promoting the show, The Forward spoke to Evangelista and Henderson about what we can expect this season, what makes religion problematic, and why contract marriages and arranged marriages are, in fact, quite normal.

Watch the whole thing here:

Season 2 of The Arrangement, will premiere Sunday, March 11 at 9 p.m on E!

Michelle Honig is the style writer at the Forward. Contact her at [email protected]. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO