Moonchyld's Entertainment News - United States of Tara Review

Imagine having a unique group of friends; each serving a purpose. One who's a party girl, one who's a hard ass and one who tries to make everything perfect. Now imagine them all rolled into one person; that's Tara Gregson.

Toni Collette (In Her Shoes, Little Miss Sunshine) stars in the comedy/drama as the title character who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder. She was on medication to suppress it but chose to stop taking them to figure out the true source of her condition. So far it seems they're triggered when she's under some form of stress or is caught off guard by something. Tara lives in Overland Park, KS where she is a married mother of two; she paints nursery murals for the pregnant women in town.

The series begins with Tara adding an entry to her video diary about her condition. She discusses a time where she found a prescription for the morning after pill; due to the shock of this information she becomes a 15 year old wild child named T. She happens to be the personality Tara's teenage daughter Kate likes most because of their common likeness of shopping and partying.

The next day Tara sees her daughter in a physical argument with her boyfriend and goes off about it. Kate tries to calm her mother down and her boyfriend makes a rude remark about Tara's condition. Instead of handling the situation herself, Buck decides to take on the matter. Buck of course is a male alter ego who'll tell you that the reason why he doesn't have a certain body part is because it was shot off in Vietnam. Buck likes to poke fun at Tara's son Marshall due to his sexuality; however the family accepts it. He also likes to let go a few rounds at the gun range with his gun affectionately called Persephone. After Kate's dance recital, Buck takes it upon himself to handle her boyfriend outside; you have to see it to believe it.

Last and certainly not least, there's Alice. She's a 50s style housewife who can give June cleaver a run for her money. She emerges on the scene while Tara's out with her sister. They run into two of Tara's fellow PTA members who bring up the situation with Buck and Kate's boyfriend. While trying to keep it together, Tara's sister gets on her for not doing anything and taking it; the walls crash down around Tata. In comes Alice, much to the dismay of her sister who's not so acceptable to Tara's condition. Alice's goal is to make everything as pure as apple pie. She goes to extremes such as bringing a first rate cake she baked to a PTA fundraiser, defending Marshall to his English teacher and attempting to wash Kate's filthy mouth out with soap. She may have good intentions in mind but Alice is not their mother; even if Tara is the vessel.

The one who helps keep it together is Tara's husband Max played by Street Kings star John Corbett. He's been married to Tara for 17 years so the shack value wore off a long time ago. He has his share of dealing with the personality trio. He tames wild teen T, joins Buck at the gun range and handles Alice with kid gloves.

The love of Tara's family plays a part in dealing with the disorder. In episodes to come Tara tries to take control of her condition and fears that her husband may have more of an interest in the other personalities than in her. Her husband loves her no doubt about that but it's Tara who really needs to come to terms with her condition. This show will help it's viewers understand how a person and their family deals with DID and still be entertained. This show is a good piece of television that should not be overlooked.

United States of Tara is written and created by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. This a hit show on the rise and is a must see. The show airs on Sunday nights at 10 on Showtime.