Customer Reviews

United States of Tara: Season 1

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Had it not been for the first two episodes of this series that appeared as extras on "Dexter: Season Three", it probably would have gone unnoticed by me.

However, with the cancellation of "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives" getting long in the tooth, I was looking for something new and innovative to replace my old staples.

While "United States of Tara" does not appeal to me as much as the aforementioned shows, credit must be given for the outlandishly original premise: Thirty-something housewife and mother Tara Gregson tries to navigate her way through life while dealing with the multiple personalities that take over her body to help her deal with a traumatic teenage experience.

Like most other Showtime series, profanity and sexual situations run rampant here, and the comedy comes out of everyday life, and sometimes from unexpected situations.

I have no complaints about the casting or performances. Everyone involved does a great job. I was thrilled to see the sadly underused Valerie Mahaffey appear as Tara's therapist.

Keir Gilchrist as mature-beyond-his-years teenage son Marshall is probably my favorite character to watch. It's interesting and novel to see how the family just accepts Marshall's gayness for what it is. The show does not go out of its way to make a big deal of the issue.

In contrast, I sometimes cringe when I see how insolent and disrespectful the writers have made daughter Kate. Jaded and possessing a huge sense of entitlement, the character does accurately reflect the current teen generation, but I don't like seeing bad examples being reinforced on TV like this.

John Corbett as the blue-collar everyman just trying to hold this family together, is probably the most underappreciated piece of the pie. You can tell that his Max is really a good guy at heart who is doing the best he can in a trying situation.

One of the series' hilarious laugh-out-loud moments comes mid-way this season when Rosemarie Dewitt as Tara's sister Charmaine reveals a medical mishap to the guests at her birthday party.

Finally, Toni Collette does quadruple duty as the title character and her three alter egos: Foul-mouthed, boy-crazy teenage hellcat "T"; prim, proper and controlling 1950s housewife "Alice"; and male alter, the Jack-Daniels-swilling, porn-loving Vietnam Vet "Buck".

It's interesting to see which persona will inhabit Tara's body in any given situation and Collette must relish a role that offers her so many different opportunities per episode, though I imagine the process must be exhausting.

Half-way through the season, a fourth alter--primal and animalistic--begins to appear. This entity known as "Gimme" wreaks havoc at a health spa and the results are both tragic and hysterical.

While "United States of Tara" is not my favorite show, the premise, acting and writing will have me back for Season Two.

I really enjoy the show, although I agree it is flawed: I wish it would not do what every cable series does by dragging the story out so much; it should be an hour long show. I have loved Toni Collette since I first saw her in Muriel's Wedding. She is a versatile actress, playing absurd comedies and dark, serious roles convincingly and well and she is insanely flamboyant, yet absolutely realistic in this cable series about a woman with multiple personality disorder. I think that sometimes the information is light about dissociate identity disorder, but I've only seen the first season so far and I'm seeing that more and more accurate information about the actual syndrome is coming out as the show goes along, so I believe that they're trying to show the discovery of information as someone moves through the process of recovery. What is equally fascinating as Toni's portrayal of a woman with multiple personality, is the impact on the family: the long suffering husband, Max and her two teenage children, Kate and Marshall, who at times, appear completely copacetic with their mother's issues and then at other times, act out in very hurt and angry ways, sometimes self-destructively. I don't find the daughter a bad role model at all- I think she is a very realistically drawn teenager- contradictory, snotty, angry, vulnerable, childish and once in a great while, wise beyond her years and surprisingly kind and generous to her younger brother- once in a great while. Imagine what it must be like for the children of a mother who takes on a different persona fairly often, switching identities under stress- they never know who she is going to be when they get home. Likewise, imagine the guilt when they get angry at their mother and she switches personalities, and starts to act out, causing great embarrassment (sometimes public) and more anger. I think that the family is believably whole, considering. I find the personal family dynamics really intriguing and the resentment of Tara's sister, Charmaine, who keeps declaring Tara's "illness" is fake and just an attention-getting device, adds even more tension and makes it that much more layered. This is truly a unique series and I hope it's scheduled to continue; shows come and go so quickly now, especially the truly creative and unusual ones. I am so tired of the endless clones of cop and hospital dramas. When something new and interesting comes out, the networks don't give us a chance to find or enjoy it before they cancel it and slap together another Law & Order: elevator security or some other 16th evolution of a once original series. I miss Mercy- yes, a hospital drama, but very different from the usual- another unique piece of drama. I'm pissed (can I say that word here?) that it's gone with all the other original, inventive shows that didn't make a million bucks in the first second.