'United States of Tara' is my new favorite show

When I saw the previews for Showtime’s new Sunday night comedy “The United States of Tara” I knew I would love it. What I didn’t know was that it would be one of my absolute favorite new shows and that I would be telling everyone in my path they need to be watching it.

I’m not a huge fan of Toni Collette, who stars in the show as a suburban wife and mother suffering from multiple personality disorder, but she is so funny and fantastic that she has won me over. This show is (hopefully) here to stay!

In the premiere episode we meet Tara (Toni Collette), her family and two of her three “alters.” Tara is an artist and your typical suburban wife and mother.

She loves her husband but worries about their marriage. She loves her children but worries about the time she misses with them when one of her alters (her other personalities) comes through.

The alters come out when Tara is triggered, usually by stress, but she later says it can be something as simple as the smell of coffee. When Tara comes back she has no recollection of the time that has passed. It is really insane and really scary. Apparently, she has missed a lot of time in her relationship and her children’s lives because of her disorder.

Tara is married to Max (John Corbett), who puts up with all of her personalities like they are just another member of the family. When it is T he treats her like she is another daughter. When it is Buck he threats him like he is a brother. When it is Alice he treats her like a surrogate mother for his children. It is amazing what he goes through, and it amazes me how it just rolls off his shoulder.

Tara’s kids are Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) and Kate (Brie Larson). Marshall is the younger of the two, probably around junior high age, and is dealing with puberty and the thoughts that he may be gay. Kate is your stereotypical teenage girl. She thinks the world, including her parents, is against her and that she can handle life on her own.

The kids seem to deal with the alters fine, but they obviously have some issues due to their mothers constant in-and-out lifestyle. From the outside they seem like the typical, American family.

We also meet T in the first episode. T is a wild child… literally. She is sixteen and could care less about anyone else’s feelings. Her jeans are too tight, her shirt is too low and her thong is always sticking out. She swears a lot and is always groping Max, which is not OK.

The two have an agreement that Max cannot sleep with any of the alters because of past issues. T comes out because Tara finds a prescription for the morning after pill in Kate’s room, a prescription that T helped Kate get.

The most insane part of the alters is that they can tell the kids what set Tara off and how she is feeling, but when Tara comes back she doesn’t remember a thing about being the alter. The family actually has recap meetings where they tell Tara everything that happens and she writes it down for therapy.

In the three other episodes that have aired since the show’s premiere we have become very familiar with Tara’s other two personalities, Alice and Buck.

Alice is your quintessential 50s’ housewife. She is very religious and proper, and she believes that she is there to do nothing else but satisfy her husband and tend to her children. Currently, Alice is desperate to have a child. I think she comprehends the fact that Marshall and Kate are not her children, and so she wants one of her own. Since Max refuses to sleep with Alice that chance is slim to none, but I wonder if around the corner that will come up again. That would be very odd.

Buck is probably the most interesting of Tara’s alters, and probably the hardest for people to understand, because Buck is a man. Buck swears, spits, drinks, smokes and does everything else Tara hates. She honestly must feel so sick after being him. Buck is also constantly grabbing at other women, which definitely falls under the odd category, especially when he does it to a classmate of Marshall’s.

Along with dealing with her disorder, Tara also has to deal with the feeling of loss she has for her relationship with Max and the dysfunctional relationship she has with her sister, Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt). The two don’t always get long but they make it work and deep down they love each other.

Basically, Tara and her family are your typical, suburban, American family; they’re just a little extra fun. And all of the madness they go through makes them stronger according to Max. I think that is what I love most about this show. Yes it is funny, and that is great, but the fact that they survive and still love each other through all the ups and downs that Tara has is wonderful.

Hands down, I love this show!