Showtime's, "The United States of Tara"

Every now and then, I 'm a late arrival for a really good show. "The United States of Tara" is one such case. Already in it's second season, I recently watched season one of Showtime's program on DVD in about a day.

This is Diablo Cody's (Juno; Jennifer's Body) brilliant creation about Tara, a wife and mother of two dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder (short explanation, think of multiple personalty disorder).

In the Pilot, Tara (played by Toni Collette- Little Miss Sunshine; The Sixth Sense) has gone off her medication that helps to prevent transitions into other personalities. A decision that will cost both her children some pride and each a relationship. The problem with this approach is the chaos that the alters T, Alice and Chuck bring to their home. Max (John Corbett) is Tara's husband is placed in a typical male quandary of, "How do I help fix this?" Meanwhile, being told not to try. The US of Tara is funny, clever, and a heartache. I both hate what Tara is doing to her family and love watching it.

In the same vein of Juno, Diablo Cody created teenage characters that are more sophisticated than their ages suggest. Daughter Kate (Brie Larson) is devious in her poor attempts at coping and occasionally acts out sexually. Son Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) is a bookish old soul who listens to Billie Holiday, wears a neck tie to school and full pajamas to bed, and happens to be gay. One of the more interesting choices producers made was how to write about this aspect of Marshall.

Not the typical "coming out" story or the marching and protesting for equal rights they way every other story would. Instead Cody gave layers to Marshall and allowed the show to hit the ground running with his family already knowing and treating him for who he is. Among other things, a kid who cooks and loves movies.

Of all that is good with the series, it does have it's problems. All the episodes are filled with cursing and that's a bit hard on my ears. My biggest beef is the lack of boundaries, even among the sane. It's hard for me to watch such rough language between parent and child and the crudeness in which they talk about sex. For me, it cheapens the human relations down to two dogs humping on the front lawn and no one having the decency to turn on a hose. Still, every episode has a eye widening surprise. And not all good surprises.

I have not yet watched any of the second season. But, that's not for a lack of want. "The United States of Tara" is funny, then nerve racking, then funny again. "Always leave them wanting more" is an adage clearly understood by Cody and company (which includes EP Steven Spielberg) and it's skillfully applied.