United States of Tara: Third Season Reviews
United States of Tara: Third Season
United States of Tara stars Academy Award® nominee Toni Collette, recent Emmy® winner for Best Actress in a Comedy Series and Golden Globe® nominee for her role as Tara, a woman who juggles being a suburban wife, mother and sister while also having DID (dissociative identity disorder), formerly known as multiple personality disorder. This season starts with a bang – literally. Just as Tara decides to move on from her past, a sudden neighborhood incident opens the door to her family’s shocking secrets. Her alters – some returning and some new – will help unravel the mysteries while simultaneously infusing their own chaos into the mix. Meanwhile, the rest of Tara’s family explores their own identities as Max hits a boiling point;
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The End Of A Tara–After Three Seasons, Tara (And A Great Toni Collette) Goes Out Swinging,
When “United States of Tara” premiered on Showtime in 2009, its creator Diablo Cody was still riding high from her Oscar win as the writer of “Juno.” It’s clear that she wanted to establish an eccentric and complicated comedy that spoke to serious issues in an outrageous way. I mean the idea of tackling a multiple personality disorder within a robust family sitcom is certainly an unconventional notion. And her muse seemed to be the energetic Toni Collette who brought numerous dimensions to the multifaceted lead character. As a suburban wife and mother in Overland Park, Kansas–Tara, with her built in plethora of alters, provided Collette with endless acting possibilities. And who doesn’t love showy performances? Winning both an Emmy and a Golden Globe, Collette embraced the show’s lunacy while finding true heart and pain when appropriate. For me, she has always been the primary reason to watch this chaotic program and the show excelled in the quieter, more realistic, moments showcasing the family dynamic.
I have watched “Tara” for its entire three season run and have not always embraced the over-the-top antics of the supporting cast. Tara’s daughter and sister, in particular, have struggled to find an easy balance as real characters. Their wackiness has somehow always felt false and distracted me from the genuineness of the central theme. Rosemarie DeWitt, a fine actress in every respect, could be undeniably grating as sister Charmaine while Brie Larson has been saddled with some of the series’ most unfortunate plot lines (an awkward harassment case at work in Season One, a ludicrous Internet story in Season Two) as a daughter moving into adulthood. I mention this at length because the show could have too much eccentricity for its own good. Thankfully Collette and a understated John Corbett (as Tara’s husband) kept things grounded.
Season Three (Tara’s final), for me, began as one of the strongest. Suddenly the show became much more focused with a central story line involving Tara returning to school. With an invaluable assist from Eddie Izzard as a psychology professor that helps Tara finally deal with her emotional issues–many of the more contrived subplots concerning the peripheral characters fell away. Everyone seemed to have purpose again and the attention returned to our heroine. As secrets were revealed, deals were struck, and calm was devastated by the emergence of a new and dangerous alter–the show had a renewed vigor. But at its best, the program pushed too far for my taste. For the second half of the season, Tara becomes a clear and obvious danger to herself and her loved ones (setting fire in the truck of a car, cutting her flesh, poisoning someone, ransacking the house, threatening). At any one of these signs, hospitalization would have been indicated–but the family acted as if it were no big deal for weeks! Eventually, hard decisions had to be made, but I never believed that Tara’s loved ones would have left her at risk for such a long period. And make no mistake, this is some serious stuff regardless of it being played irreverently. It all became a bit implausible and disconcerting.
All in all, “Tara” was a unique and interesting addition to the Showtime comedy line-up. Sometimes inconsistent, generally chaotic, the program was always fascinating. Collette deserves a big cheer for a top notch performance. May she see its like again. KGHarris, 6/11.
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|Serves as a mostly satisfying (if unintended) conclusion to the show,
Judge Clark Douglas, DVD Verdict– Well, United States of Tara, it was a good run. Alas, after three increasingly ambitious seasons of entertaining television, Showtime has pulled the plug on the program that had quietly turned into its best show (though this is largely due to the fact that Dexter’s wheel-spinning has become frustrating and Weeds has wandered off into shark-jumping territory). Those of you who have been watching the program on DVD (as I have) undoubtedly have an important question to ask: “How well does it end?”
Without digging into spoilers, permit me to say that United States of Tara ends rather well under the circumstances. Yes, there is one significant unresolved plot thread and one is made rather curious about where a fourth season would have gone, but the finale works quite well given the unexpected nature of the cancellation. It’s a touching, cathartic capper to a most intriguing season. The show’s third go-round frequently swings for the fences, whiffing in a silly manner on occasion but knocking it out of the park just as often.
The DVD transfer is a typically sturdy TV-show release, boasting strong detail, bright colors, acceptably deep blacks and natural flesh tones. Audio is similarly sturdy, spotlighting dialogue and an appreciably understated soundtrack (speaking of which, I miss the show’s inventive theme song–who decided to kill that offbeat charmer?). There are no extras included.
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|The show got better with each season…,
Season 3 has unexpectedly become the final season of one the greatest shows to come along in a long time. Was United States of Tara perfect…no, but the show had something that other Showtime shows did not…it had guts. The guts to not repeat the exact same formula season after season (ex. Dexter & Nurse Jackie). Sadly if U.S. Tara would have repeated the same formula it created in season 1 it would probably have kept its viewers and not been cancelled. The American viewing public seems to prefer….well I digress. Season 3 stands as the strongest season of U.S. Tara…though season 2 is my personal favorite, season 3 is the most fast-paced, dark, complex, and well-written season of the show. It’s tragic that this show was cancelled when it was at its very best.
I won’t go over the entire plot line or give any major spoilers, but the main arch of the season involves Tara returning to college to complete her degree, the revelation that she didn’t complete her degree the first time around because she attempted suicide, the emergence of a mysterious & violent alter, and an all out war inside Tara’s head for control. The storylines for the other family members have always tended to be weak, contrived, or ridiculous (Kate on a cake, season 2 for example), but in season 3 the writers seem to have finally found interesting storylines for the family members…though granted their storylines are far less interesting than Tara’s story. Kate finally makes the transition into adulthood and while there isn’t much exciting in her storyline, it is believable and refreshing. Marshall and Max on the other hand have interesting storylines that involve their internal conflicts in dealing with Tara’s disorder and with each other. I found myself really disliking Marshall this season, but completely understanding his motives and actions. Charmaine becoming a mother gives her the most interesting and humorous storyline she has had in all three seasons.
So on to the heart of the show…Tara. This season Tara is paired up with her college professor played brilliantly by Eddie Izzard. Izzard challenges Tara and the alters by expressing his disbelief in her disorder, but then he slowly becomes the one person that Tara and the alters seek out for help. The interaction between Tara and her alters is also taken to a higher level of co-consciousness this season with Tara interacting with nearly all of the alters and the alters interacting with each other. I enjoyed this dynamic and it worked to reveal the nature of the system inside of Tara and we learned more about the roles each alter has in protecting Tara. *Spoiler* The show dives into very dark territory with the emergence of Tara’s violent alter that is based on the half-brother that tormented her as a child and caused her disorder. Toni Collette is excellent at playing the psychopathic 14-year old Bryce.
The ending is where I do have an issue…only because now it has to serve as a series finale instead of just a season finale. I thought the final episode “The Good Parts” would have made an excellent season finale, but I disagree with the people that say that it also works as a series finale. There is so much left unanswered and as someone that has loved this show since it first began airing…I am a bit bitter that this is where it all ends. We still don’t know exactly what Bryce did to Tara and Charmaine as children…I know that other characters in the show and the critics that review the show state that Bryce “molested” Tara, but simply being molested is not enough to cause D.I.D. We also never get to uncover how much Charmaine has repressed (like why she was terrified of basements, etc). Plus we also never get to learn the origins of Buck, T, and Gimme. We know that Alice was based on Mimi…but the others are still a mystery.
Overall season 3 is the strongest season of U.S. Tara and definitely worth owning. Tragically this show was ended before its time. There are many unanswered questions and Tara…you will be missed.
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