USOT Recap: Beautiful, Magical

Adieu Gregsons!

"When you get to Boston, don't let 'em pull out all the good parts."     -- Marshall

And that's all she wrote, friends. Tara is now off into the magical unknown, hoping against hope to find help and answers with the Boston psychiatrist of Hattaras's recommendation, Max, as always, in her tow. Except this week Max earned his dues as a full-fledged character independent of his troubled wife. I'm referring, of course, to his moments of extreme inner turmoil and despair, which ultimately culminated in the mother of all uncomfortable dinner table outbursts. That poor turducken never even saw it coming. The fact that three distinct birds had to die in order to bring about John Corbett's best acting on this program only makes that moment more dramatic somehow, and being able to see Max finally lose his cool in such an achingly honest, frustrated, loving way (after three seasons of being a glorified straight man) almost makes up for the premature demise of this show.

But temper showcases and midnight guitar solos aside, Max had some typical knight-in-shining armor moments, too, what with saving Tara from drowning and all. Luckily, her attempted suicide managed to only take out Bryce, but not before the two engaged in a final confrontation, replete with desperation (on Tara's part) and aloof skeeviness and foreboding on Bryce's ("You have no idea how much crazy is bouncing around that lopsided skull of yours." Yeesh!) Besides Bryce's drowning, the only other alter sighting takes place at the very end of the episode, when Tara catches a glimpse of the original three looking a little worse for wear, almost as a quiet reminder to the viewer that Tara's DID will never truly go away despite her success in banishing Bryce.

With Max and Tara on their way to Boston and Charmaine and Neil moving to Houston and getting engaged (she proposed this time, so we know she's no longer as self-sabotagey as before. Growth!), it really looked like Kate would take Evan up on his suggestion that she move to St. Louis to be closer to him. And yet, twist! She loves Evan, but Marshall needs her. It's interesting that, like her mother before her, Kate ended up falling for a stable, almost staid, kind of man, yet in doing so (like her father before her) she is also embarking on a romantic adventure that comes with some collateral baggage she did not initially bargain for. She is another character who underwent tremendous growth this season, now stepping voluntarily into a maternal role with both Evan's son and Marshall, who spent the majority of the episode being justifiably angry at Tara and releasing an uncharacteristic torrent of snark at her. He is still reeling from the altercation with Bryce as well as Lionel's death, so it's understandable that he would regress into egocentric teenager mode for an episode. In fact, it's all too easy to forget how young and fragile Marshall actually is beneath those wise eyes and verbal eloquence, but he pulls it together in time to see his mom off to the "loony bin" with appropriate Moosh-esque knows-just-what-to-say flair.

As much as I loved the hopeful note the show ended on, with a serene-looking Tara letting the sunlight wash over her face and entrusting herself to the road ahead (a scene fittingly scored by Supertramp's "Logical Song," the same tune Bryce was singing in the episode's beginning) it's difficult to completely banish the resentment I feel at being unable to know what might have come next for this family, especially after such a stellar season. I've talked before about how USOT evolved from a quirky comedy to a layered almost-drama from inception to conclusion. Well, I dig that, even though it probably alienated a lot of viewers. I will take development and fluidity over wheel-spinning and repetition every time, even if the elements being repeated happened to be strong at the outset -- eventually, even caviar gets boring. The downside of this, of course, is that the evolution of a TV show often takes place at the cost of its characters growing less sympathetic as new complexities are added, yet I still prefer to frequently and vigorously shake my head at Nancy Botwin's latest sin than watch a show that, six seasons later, still had her in Agrestic, combating newer and meaner antagonists just for the freedom to peddle dime bags to bored suburbanites.

So perhaps it's preferable that Tara ended when it did, after creating three dynamic seasons but before getting the chance to subject us to hypotheticals like the Max/Tara split or Marshall turning tricks to pay for NYU film school. As for closure, accidental though it was, "The Good Parts" may seem like a poor substitute for a proper series finale, but it actually gave us as decent a resolution as the fans could have hoped for; the tragicomedy of this show is that there's just no curing Tara, and the ambiguity surrounding her future would have featured prominently in any deliberately plotted finale the writers may have produced. And at this point, I have no other choice but to look on the bright side, namely that this finale ultimately made for a cathartic and satisfying-enough conclusion to a gem of a show I got to enjoy for three seasons. But I"ll sure as hell miss it.

USOT Recap: Till Death

"You're not going to win, Bryce. I'm not going to let you win."   —Max

Gah! Only one more installment left of this show, and I am unfairly resenting it for failing to give us an action-laden penultimate episode. And I'm even more worried that the season/series finale next week will provide more questions than closure. But I digress.

As I said, this week's episode was not an adrenaline-pumping affair. Even Bryce has toned down the theatricality of his destruction, moving away from the in-your-face havoc-wreaking and going instead for the psychological jugulars of Tara's loved ones, a technique made even creepier by his prep-school-esque wardrobe. His alter-killings, too, have lost their initial steam and dramatic flair, instead treating us (and the Gregsons) to surprisingly emotional final glimpses of the original three personalities before they are to be mercilessly and internally executed, free of outward fuss or fanfare, in probably a similar fashion as the series itself will end. It seems appropriate that the audience was given one last chance to say goodbye to Buck, T and Alice, and even more appropriate that Bryce/Tara allowed each of them to say their final piece to a different (and relatable) family member—a somewhat sweet gesture if not for the fact that all three of the alters reverted back into Bryce just in time to thoroughly disturb Max, Kate and Marshall, alike. In fact, the entire episode managed to consistently communicate the same underlying message throughout: no matter how good/happy/nostalgic life can get for these people, it will always be punctuated by the danger/chaos/insanity that will quickly follow. If we didn't get the gist of this before, it certainly became clear the second Bryce literally rattled Kate and Marshall out of their happy childlike reverie.

"Crunchy Ice" was definitely designed to appeal to our emotions rather than our desire for excitement, and as such, it was a success. Who among us was able to watch with a straight face a horrified Tara begging Marshall for forgiveness after physically attacking him? Or a painfully loyal Max trying to come up with alternatives to having Tara institutionalized in spite of everyone else's advice? Or Charmy raging at Real-Bryce's decade-old grave? Or Tara grimly recalling her vows and professing her love for Max right before jumping off a bridge? (We know she survives it, but still—the intent!) Sure, we can all agree that having Tara committed is probably best at the moment, especially when Max's crazy mom seems normal by comparison, but seeing Tara's entire family unanimously decide to send her away and knowing it had to be done was... hard, and the evidence of everyone moving on with their lives away from Tara was both triumphant and tragic.

This is officially Tara's nadir, and it's one that the entire season up to this point has worked up (down?) to. With a single episode left, questions abound: Was Tara's subconscious search for Bryce (via Buck) the reason she retreated into his personality? Will she ever get to meet with the Boston doctor, and will he be able to help? Will Marshall ever get to New York City? Will Kate find stability with Evan and his son? Perhaps next week's finale will answer these and other questions; perhaps—like season finales past—it will leave us with an overall sense of hope for the future of this family. But for now, I can't help but fear that the season-long self-destructive motif up to its culmination in Tara's leap off the bridge was mere foreshadowing. Five more days and we'll know for sure. Or, you know, for ambiguous.

USOT Recap: Be My Problem

 "Go put the fun back in funeral."   —Bryce

Whose funeral, you ask? Lionel's! And, as it happens, this show's. (The fact that Tara got sacked in favor of the ever-stagnant Nurse Jackie is just salt on the wound.) I literally don't know which piece of news to focus my sadness on. Like Kate says in this week's episode, "I wish we were the sort of people who could just get upset about . . . one terrible, horrible thing a day." A rational person would point out that only one of these events is really real, but damn it, I liked Lionel, and my growing affection for him was the kind that developed from initial feelings of discomfort and straight-up horror at his behavior; that kind of drastic shift doesn't generally happen to me. So yes, while I will likely spend more cumulative minutes mourning the loss of what, in my opinion, has been a layered, compelling and consistently dynamic show, my grief over Lionel takes center stage for the moment.

"Train Wreck" was heartbreaking in so many ways, I don't even know where to begin. It kicked off innocuously enough, with Tara having seemingly found a Bryce-proof way to keep her crazy pills down (she snorts them) and her inner teen terror at bay. It is only about a third of the way into the episode that the bomb of Lionel's fatal car accident is dropped, and not until the day of the funeral that Bryce shows up to wreak havoc on the family. Chronologically speaking, the heartbreak starts with witnessing Marshall's stoicism as he first tries to cope with Lionel's death and his bitter acceptance of his mother's inability to be there for him—while effective, Tara's medication apparently turns her into a loopy, vegetative mess. The real tragedy of Tara, however, is that when she is on, she is on; she was the only one who was able to pull it together long enough to truly and beautifully comfort Marshall through his loss. The following scene where Bryce hijacks the day of the funeral is all the more hard to stomach in light of that moment. As for the final heartbreak of the episode, two words: the basement. Just... damn.

On  the plus side, Tara's most recent "rock bottom" does lead Marshall and Kate to come to an important realization: their mother is not their burden to bear. "Be my problem," Kate says to Evan in a gesture symbolic of her decision to move forward and leave the [dysfunctional] nest, at least figuratively. Marshall instead takes the literal approach, deciding to move, it seems, to New York in tribute to Lionel's memory as much as out of a personal sense of duty to himself.

The final basement scene/goodbye between Max and Marshall was nothing short of spectacular, with Max absolving Marshall of his family responsibility and Marshall expressing love and concern for his parents but realizing he needs to leave them all the same. (There's a great moment there where Max urges his grieving son not to lose his childlike wonder and innocence, yet Marshall's expression (and all of us at home) practically screams, "Who are you kidding?") This need to put distance between oneself and one's childhood is as real and relentless for Marshall as it once was for Claire Fisher of that other dark family dramedy, Six Feet Under—fitting, seeing as how both characters underwent personal tragedies and eventually became the symbols of change/audience surrogates for their respective families/shows.

Arguably the most introspective Gregson, Marshall's recent change of heart regarding his mother's condition (or really, his growing ability to see it clearly) is more significant than anyone else's in that his character arc illustrates the evolution of the show itself from quirky comedy to complex meditation on mental illness, family, and identity. Season-one Moosh, who reassures Tara that her DID is the reason their family "gets to be interesting" is a million miles removed from present-day Marshall who is on the cusp of a real and bittersweet coming of age. I mean, really: How do you cancel this show?! On the other hand, if Marshall is indeed preparing to follow in Claire's footsteps all the way to Manhattan, perhaps it's somewhat appropriate that the Gregson saga will also end on a note similar to the Fishers'.

USOT Recap: Self vs. Self

"I'm a growing boy, and there's only so much room in the upstairs."  —Bryce

Ah, Bryce, you psychotic little twerp. The fact that the Bryce personality would have to be a young teenager was totally lost on me last week, probably because he acts and talks nothing like a 14-year-old, but of course it makes perfect sense in retrospect. Last night's episode explains that he is what is called an "abuser alter," a paradoxical phenomenon in which the subject protects herself by becoming her abuser. Is this a real thing? Don't know, rolling with it. I'm just grateful that "Bryce Will Play" has managed to adequately mollify me after last week's great disappointment of an episode.

It's not certain why Bryce has been dormant for so long (if we are to accept the theory that he was around and responsible for Tara's suicide attempts during her college years) and why he's suddenly back (though he does imply that he probably wouldn't be if not for Hattaras—what's that about?). What's certain is that he is ritualistically going after the other alters, so far in the reverse order that they became manifest. In addition to Chicken last week, Bryce has now symbolically killed Shoshanna and Gimme as well. I say symbolic because he claims not to believe in DID; he is performing the killings, he says, purely to mess with Tara's head, and it is working. Tara says she cannot "feel them" anymore, and that the others are there but ignore and blame her for what's happening. The real paradox here is the fact that Bryce's actions are simultaneously destroying parts of Tara's psyche and giving her what she's always wanted: her own life back. Of course, Bryce is really after the breakdown of Tara's self-preservation system so that he can finally kill her unencumbered and take over as the one true personality, though I'm not quite satisfied with the idea that his delusions are this extreme. When Hattaras points out that killing Tara equates to killing himself, Bryce becomes visibly angry and defensive, and his erratic behavior culminates in an attempt to poison Hattaras during Tara, Charmy, and Kate's girl-power dinner. "Don't all sons dream of killing their fathers?" he cryptically asks a mid-anaphylaxis Hattaras. Realizing once and for all that he is out of his depth, he abandons Tara once again, in spite of the evident friendship they've forged, and I don't blame him; it's scary to think that there is a part of her that wants Jack out of the picture. Still, in spite of the finality of their goodbye, I hope this isn't the last we see of the good doctor.

The other dominant story this week revolves around Marshall and Max's NYC [mis]adventure, where Marshall's movie receives Honorable Mention in the student film festival. The screening instigates an argument between father and son, the former feeling betrayed by the film's depiction of Max as tragic hero stuck in an impossible situation and duty-bound to an insane woman. Max insists that he is with Tara because he loves her, and I believe him, but Marshall's interpretation is equally valid. "Mom is crazy, and we treat her like she's an eccentric, and there's a cost," he says, nailing the complexity of the situation in a single sentence. This is the real tragedy of Tara's DID: that in order for her to be a real person, her disorder must be given free reign. This may be the first time the show has ever truly hinted at the sheer unlikelihood of Tara ever getting cured.

Who will Bryce go after next time, and how will Tara manage him without Dr. Hattaras? Answers to follow in two weeks.

USOT Recap: Twist?

 "And who are you?" —Dr. Hattaras

Answer: Bryce Craine, presumably modeled after the real-life Bryce Craine, mysterious and abusive half-brother of Tara and Charmaine and possible sociopath. Oy. Where do I begin talking about this week's episode? I was not crazy about it.

Let me rephrase that: a part of me was not crazy about it. The part of me that enjoys cheap thrills and shock factor and instant gratification? She was happy. It's the snobby critical bitch with elitist TV tastes that is being a huge stick-in-the-mud right now. And given that she is the one in possession of all the words and brains and stuff, well... guard your loins, folks.

It's no surprise that Tara's alters are modeled after real people she's known (we saw this with Alice last season), but Bryce is possibly the first of her personalities to be directly lifted from real life, at least in name. Since Tara didn't even remember that she had a brother in the first place, we now have to wonder: what is she basing the Bryce personality on, and how close to the original is her rendition? Also, why did Bryce kidnap baby Wheels, and where was he trying to take her? And this is the extent of the real intrigue this episode provides. Otherwise, "Chicken 'n' Corn" was sorely disappointing.

First off, Bryce is an utter caricature! Granted, all the alters are caricatures, but he strikes me as exceptionally over-the-top in his Eeeeevil Prospector impression. If he had a mustache, he'd be twirling it (and actually, Tara did seem to be smoothing an imaginary goatee while "occupied" by Bryce). And even if I could get on board with the personality—which I probably will do given the chance to sleep on it, because I still like this show—what's with the whole "take me to Tara so that I may kill her" schtick? Does Bryce really not realize that he is Tara? More importantly, is the viewer supposed to believe that he doesn't realize this even after he has already attacked her on several different occasions? He certainly knew where to find her those times!

One of the things that's always kept me tuning in to this show was its plausibility, as strange as that sounds. Sure it romanticizes—even glamorizes—DID, but at least there was always enough of a method to Tara's madness that the viewer could still go along with all of her "crazy" antics under the justification, "hey, it could happen." Now, even with my rudimentary understanding of [this show's] psychology, I get the sense that this really couldn't happen. The addition of Bryce to the mix just smacks of the kind of sensationalist crap that writers often utilize when they're desperate. I like a good, shocking twist as much as the next person, but I still want it to make sense and feel somewhat realistic within the parameters of the show. Perhaps this creative decision will prove to have hidden depths and a more logical rationale in future episodes—I hope it does—but right now I just feel let down and vaguely insulted as a fan.

I can't say what it is exactly about the Bryce thing that bothers me so. We've been treated to enough hints this season to anticipate a murderous and violent new alter to spring forth eventually, so I shouldn't have been surprised when he finally introduced himself. It was also obvious that this alter was out to destroy Tara and possibly the other alters, so hearing him confirm his intentions shouldn't have been a shock, either. In the end, I suppose that's just it: everything about Bryce's big introductory speech pretended to be a big, shocking twist but was ultimately full of stuff we already knew. This episode played like a mini whodunit, except without the mystery factor, which made it a bad whodunit and somewhat ridiculous when we consider that none of the purported crimes are actually happening. The only big reveal is that Chicken was "murdered" by the mystery alter, who—hint, hint!—is named and modeled after a real person from Tara's childhood. Well, big freaking whoop.

If this "big reveal" were a food pyramid item, it would be sugar: delicious but empty of substance. Combined with the archetypical evil affectation (poor Toni Collette must be up to here with all the new voices they're making her do) and the painfully obvious significance of there being two Bryce Craines, it ultimately made for a pretty insulting TV gimmick. Besides, all the so-called secrets Bryce readily revealed to Dr. Hattaras (and really—why now?), including his name, were the kind of secrets that should have been merely hinted at and left up to the viewers to uncover using a little thing called deductive reasoning. And the fact that the episode's climax occurred in a corn maze? Gee, I wonder what that could symbolize. Come on, writers! We're bright enough to have managed to follow along for three seasons; have a little faith in your audience and stop spelling everything out. But anyway.

The other storylines were no more inspired than Bryce's this week. I seem to remember some boring minor conflict between Max and Marshall, and some boring minor inner conflicts within Kate and Charmaine, both of whom are having some trouble navigating the waters of new step-/mommyhood. (And speaking of caricatures: Monty, anyone?) Here's hoping next week's episode delivers a little more protein.

USOT Recap: College Tara Returns

"You must be that part of her that shoots bullets at the birds." —Dr. Hattaras

Thus spake Hattaras to Buck in last night's episode whimsically entitled "The Electrifying and Magnanimous Return of Beaverlamp." Buck accosts the good doctor at his office to try and persuade him to take Tara back on as a patient/project, after Hattaras ditches her following his former patient Kite Boy's regression and consequent suicide. It turns out the mystery alter is getting a bit out of hand with the physical attacks on Tara's person, and Buck is concerned. An "accidental" cut while chopping vegetables evolves into a self-inflicted gash with a broken beer bottle by the end of the episode. Yikes! What's worse is that Tara is still unaware of this added threat currently residing in her psyche. The alters know, though. They even have discussions about it and take turns watching out for Tara's safety. Some recent developments are definitely angering this Other Personality (OP), and I'm willing to bet it is Tara's recent emancipation, such as it is.

Meanwhile, Marshall is trying very hard to unearth even more drama, intrigue and dysfunction in his family and Max in particular. It seems he might suffer from that common affliction of young aspiring artists: wishing to become the type of tortured soul that he thinks is a requirement for creating good art. Too bad his parents loved him too much and he's too well-adjusted for that. But wait! He is gay, after all, so naturally, the only thing left to do is pay Lionel a booty call, which, for at least two reasons obvious to everyone but Marshall, is a Bad Idea. On the other hand, any Lionel sighting makes me happy lately, so I'll take it; I enjoy the little reminders that even the Lionels of the world have feelings, and even the Marshalls of the world can occasionally act like total dicks.

Aside from the aforementioned exceptions, things at the Gregson house are rather peachy. Tara is being fun and positive, planning parties and raving about yoga. Max is getting his college band (Beaverlamp) back together for his birthday, even Kate is back on top, having finally managed to ensnare her dweeby new crush, who, it turns out, is no longer married but does have a kid. I don't think Evan realizes yet that Kate isn't much more than a kid herself, but there's something about that guy that I don't trust. Then again, maybe I'm just reading too much into his BTK-killer glasses.

The only character who's been truly miserable this week is poor Dr. Hattaras, who, incidentally, also appears to be a bit of a stress eater (and cheese connoisseur). He's had a rough week, what with Kite Boy's demise and his psychiatric work coming under scrutiny as a result. Luckily, Eddie Izzard makes even despair look hilarious, and I've actually been eager to delve a little deeper into his character this season. So far, this has been the first episode where we actually see him as a standalone person as opposed to just another member of Tara's entourage. Next week looks exciting, with a direct encounter between Hattaras and the OP, who has presumably killed Chicken. Could this be only the first in a series of pseudo-homicides?

USOT Recap: Fine is Amazing

"I want you. Just you." —Max

The line is BS, of course, but a sweet sentiment nonetheless. Max certainly thinks he means it, but he no more wants to have a normal wife than Tara herself wants to have a normal life. Denial seems to be a comfort for both of them at this juncture; it keeps Max from acknowledging that his savior complex accounts for a significant chunk of his self-worth, and in spite of her claims to the contrary, it keeps Tara from admitting that she doesn't truly want to be a regular old boring person. "You think I like living my life this way?" she rhetorically asks Hattaras during a therapy session. Perhaps she doesn't like it, per se, but she is definitely dependent on it. "My life is not my own," Tara complains, sounding frustrated. It's a frustrating predicament, without a doubt, but it is also a convenient one when the subject has had a history of avoiding conflicts, difficult situations, and unprompted action-taking. In fact, Tara herself is very rarely anything but a passive character, merely reacting to the shenanigans of her alters, who are the true carriers of any active roles she ever does take.

First off, last night's episode was good. For the first time in a long time I was so enthralled by Tara's mind that I barely even gave a crap about Neil and Charmaine's financial problems, Max's professional dissatisfaction, or Kate's  probably married crush du jour (boo hoo, poor little pretty girl has never experienced rejection). More Tara in therapy, please!

True to form, Hattaras spends a great deal of their sessions trying to convince Tara to take responsibility for the actions of her alters and continues to write off her DID as essentially a glorified defense mechanism. In a way, this assessment is spot on; whether we believe said mechanism is conscious—as Hattaras does—or unconscious—as Tara does—for the purpose of her treatment and potential cure, it really doesn't matter.  Her doctor's job, as he sees it, is simply to rid Tara of her belief that she is seven people instead of one, just like he rid another patient of his belief that he was a kite. The comparison sounds too simplistic to Tara, and frankly, it is, but I am a huge fan of this no-nonsense, do-the-hard-thing, rat-trap approach. Tara has been coddled by her family all her life about her condition. Max, her children, even Charmaine have caved under the "Oops! It wasn't me!" rationale over and over again. In his refusal to play into her expectations, Hattaras may be the most valuable person in Tara's life right now.

The good news is that she finally seems ready to begin assuming some credit/blame. We saw this two weeks ago with her attempt to harness the alters via written contract, then last week with her acceptance of Hattaras's help, and finally last night with her eventual willingness to confront her mother. Becoming fully autonomous is a delicate process, and the baby steps Tara has been taking seem to be leading somewhere promising. On the other hand, if Hattaras's assessment of DID-as-avoidance-tactic is correct, that would mean Tara's biggest problem might be something as simple-sounding as repression, in which case having multiple personalities could be a blessing in disguise or at the very least, the lesser of two evils. Who knows what level of crazy could be unleashed if Tara were to suddenly allow herself to follow through on all the impulses she's been delegating to the alters? 

And what will happen to her if and when she becomes her own sole caretaker? I am reminded of the scene in the season premiere when the alters intervened and prevented Tara-as-mystery-personality from killing herself. If they should be completely done away with, who's to say Tara is equipped to successfully filter and handle the difficulties of real life? The one thing that's becoming clearer and clearer is that her recent emancipation is not being lauded by the mystery alter. If Tara calls her current form of self-government a "benevolent dictatorship," then the new alter is definitely pushing for anarchy—"You will not win," he/she comments in response to Hattaras's conviction that Tara is always in control. The primary alters could literally be keeping her alive.

USOT Recap: Transitions

"I liked you." —Lionel

...And the Lionel/Marshall union is as past as the tense of that verb, folks. I have to admit that even though I never thought the two were right for each other, it was a little bit sad that Lionel, the threesome-orchestrator and general boundary-pusher of the group, ended up being more invested in his relationship with and subsequent breakup from Marshall than viceversa. It's the first true glimpse of complexity I've seen from Lionel, and I sure hope this isn't the last we'll be seeing from him, because I definitely appreciate what his character brings to the show and to television in general. I don't think we've had much in the way of complete, unapologetic, even self-destructive gay characters on TV since Six Feet Under and certainly none that were so young.

I actually don't know what surprised me more about this week's episode: that Marshall initiated the secret fooling around with Noah or that Dr. Hattaras listens to death metal in his adorable, tiny car. The good professor still purports not to believe in DID, but he is definitely showing some avid interest in Tara, pursuing her through different channels when she initially refuses to allow him to write a paper on her condition. (Apparently Hattaras is some sort of genius therapist in addition to skeptical academic.) It turns out that last week's big treatise among the Taras resulted in a surprisingly detailed and coherent written contract agreed upon and signed by the alters, a direct result of which was an almost too-easy interaction where Alice relinquishes the body to Tara upon immediate request. Of course, that was Alice. Jury's still out on the integrity of the loose-cannon alters T and Buck, not to mention the mystery alter that I still believe exists somewhere in Tara's subconscious in spite of his/her absence from the imaginary conference room.

Meanwhile, Charmaine and Neil are in over their heads with baby Cassie, but Charmaine still stubbornly refuses Tara's involvement and help (at least initially; the damn "sister scene" at the end made me get all teary-eyed again). Max is not having an awesome professional experience at his new job with Orgalawn. Turns out, having to answer to someone else might not be worth the financial security. I'm actually pretty disappointed with the Max storylines so far. More often than not, he seems to be treated as a passive character by the writers, reactive rather than proactive, which would be fine if the factors he were reacting to were less lame. Basically, I would like to see him be more than a foil for Tara, but at the very least he could be given some marginally more interesting conflicts.

In fact, this whole episode was merely OK—more of a transitional chapter than anything else, dealing primarily with the gradual shifts into events we all knew would take place sooner or later: the Marshall/Lionel breakup, the Tara/Charmaine reunion, the Tara/Dr. Hattaras partnership. The only truly entertaining scenes this week were Kate's, who was also stuck in her own transitioning phase from aimless teen to spunky flight attendant but who at least had some hilarious interactions in the process.

Rumor has it Dr. Hattaras will make an important discovery in one of Tara's therapy tapes next week. It better be good.

USOT Recap: Mistress of Her Domain

 "I am dissolving the united states of Tara and declaring myself king."  —Tara

If only it should be so easy! One might wonder, of course, why Tara never thought to attempt a "benevolent dictatorship" over her alters a long time ago, but I suppose I can accept the notion that nothing constitutes a wake-up call quite like your sister telling you she doesn't want/trust you around her baby. And so it is that Tara finally decides to lay down the law in that big white conference room in her mind, resolving that her alters will only see the light of day on her terms; in other words, there will be no more hijacking of her body. Buck, Shoshanna, Alice, and even T begrudgingly consent to behave, calmly laying down their requests on neat little yellow legal pads, and everything is just peachy.

Haha! Just kidding! The legal pads, the conference room, the rational discussion among the Taras... This is not how things work in real life. She may have reached an agreement on the inside, but chaos still reigns on the outside. It should be ironic (but it isn't, really), that the sanest exchange undergone by the personalities leaves Tara face to face with her most insane-looking self to date: frazzled, mussed, and covered in four other people's contractual terms—a crazy person's manifesto of her own making—alone in the middle of an empty classroom on the day of her big Ab Psych test. (The image was so jarring that I even thought I could find a flaw of logistics in the fact that both of Tara's arms were covered in writing, but when I went back to the video, sure enough, Buck is a lefty.) It's not difficult to imagine what the big one-person treatise might have looked like from the perspective of Dr. Hattaras, who sat there and observed the whole show and, if the look on his face was any indication, just became a convert of the school of DID.

It was tough to watch that final scene of Tara acknowledging to Hattaras that her biggest fear was realized and that she is, in fact, "crazy." All throughout "Wheels," she is seen repeatedly denying her problem, and you can clearly see the doubt in her eyes as she assures Marshall that their family is all right, Charmaine that she will be a trustworthy aunt to baby Cassandra Wheels, and Max that she can handle the pressure of college. By the end of the episode, all doubt is gone and so is denial, and Tara finally admits that she needs help. It's a victory of sorts, but it isn't sweet. 

The sweet quota this week was pretty much filled by Charmaine and Neil's daughter and all the subsequent baby-gushing she inspired.

Meanwhile, back in Gaynsas (Gay Kansas)... What are Marshall, Lionel, and Noah to do in a big empty house when drunk on "80-proof mouthwash" and their own sense of intellectual/sexual grandeur? Why, recreate famous movie threesomes, of course! They're young, they're gay—sexual adventurousness is what's expected, right?

Kate was rather wasted in this episode, just a lot of whining and embarrassment over her failed Japanese experiment, but by the end of the episode she did get her eureka moment regarding flight attendant training. Called it! Whether or not she will actually succeed in this endeavor remains to be seen, but I am getting some mild flashes of Zooey Deschanel in Almost Famous from her.

Next week it looks like Tara finds herself the unwilling subject of an academic paper. Also, Marshall and Noah may or may not be having something of a teenage tryst sans Lionel. That's the thing about threesomes: Someone always gets the shaft. So to speak.

USOT Recap: All About My Mother

 "Yeah, keep on kicking, kid. Your pre-determined life of misery and disappointment is three weeks away." —Charmaine

Except apparently the "kid" felt three weeks was too long to put off the inevitable and decided to get a head start on that miserable life in the coolest, most disturbing between-the-legs water-breaking-slash-car-crash closing shot I've ever seen. But let's back up a bit.

Last night's episode was all very mother-centric, what with Charmaine's baby shower planning, Tara's difficulty coping with Kate's leaving, and Max's visit to his agoraphobic hoarder of a mother, this last of which turned out to be very revelatory indeed. I knew a connection would be drawn sooner or later between Max's crazy-adjacent childhood and his crazy-choosing adulthood, but I did not expect to learn that his father left his mother over a similar issue (during a long-ago Christmas season, no less), let alone that Max himself has considered doing the same. At this point, it begs the question of whether Max stuck around out of love and dedication to his family or out of sheer stubbornness and refusal to follow in his father's footsteps. Max is a great man/husband/father combo, and I don't doubt his commitment to his family, but it was interesting to get a glimpse into his history and a new dimension to his character, nevertheless.

While Max was dealing with his mother and his past, Tara was slaving away on Charmaine's baby shower, struggling to throw a decent party as well as appeasing her sister, who has been growing more and more negative and anxious about impending motherhood now that Neil is out of work. Oh, and she's also a self-loathing narcissist. The shower was shaping up to be a pathetic disaster anyway, so it's just as well that Charmaine went into labor outside a grocery store.

Kate's Japanese adventure seems to have taken a nosedive, as well. First, her plans to teach English in Osaka were thwarted by a massive earthquake, in what has to be the most unfortunate case of television prescience ever. Then, when she found herself an alternate host city, a beautiful flight attendant freaked her out about it with a casual comment. By the time a panicked Kate rushed back out into the airport terminal, I couldn't help but be disappointed that Japan would no longer be one of the settings of this show, but I am curious about what Kate will decide to do next; my money's on flight attendant training.

Tara's transitions were brief but plentiful in this episode. We've seen from Alice, Buck and T, and it's always interesting to note how different situations in Tara's life call for different personalities, yet how all of them are more or less catering to whatever her needs are at a given time. Alice pitched in with the baby shower arrangements, Buck hit the newest roadblock in his on-going quest to locate the abusive half-brother from Tara and Charmaine's childhood, and T... well, T is just pure id, showing up whenever Tara herself is too nice to be a real bitch to someone who may or may not be asking for it. When this show first started, the transitioning seemed random to me, but the more I pay attention to it, the more I see how deliberately and purposefully Tara is constructed.

So far, I like the direction the show is taking this season. I was a little bit worried about some of the less-than-stellar storylines of Season 2, but the last three episodes have been doing wonders toward restoring my faith in Diablo Cody's creation. I look forward to seeing the result of the "united states of Tara" meeting next week; I have a feeling it won't be as simple as Tara declaring herself king of the domain.

USOT Recap: Back to School

Favorite line: "Ah, Ms. Gregson. Quite a tour de force yesterday. I was dragged kicking and screaming to rehab for behavior less strange." —Dr. Hattaras

"Crackerjack" kicks off with some "raw" footage of the Gregsons through Marshall's new camera. He really seems to be hitting this documentary filmmaking thing hard, capturing some casual-yet-telling reactions from his family members in the first scene of the episode. In one fell swoop we are treated to Tara's back-to-school jitters as well as Max's increasing frustration with his landscaping business (or lack thereof).

From there, it doesn't take Tara long to realize university campuses are not kind to students of a certain age, and her anxiety reaches new heights upon stepping into the classroom—a sprawling, auditorium-style affair—causing her to transition into Shoshanna and pretend to be the substitute psychology professor. Naturally, Dr. Hattaras (Eddie Izzard, who is staying sardonically English in this role, thank the Queen) is none too happy and proceeds to use Tara's condition as a humiliating topic of discourse in the class. This wouldn't be quite so bad if he weren't so utterly disdainful of the validity of her disorder. His skepticism does, however, catalyze an appearance by T, which is always a joyous occasion, speaking strictly as a viewer.

The rest of the men this week saw varying degrees of personal success, the highest being Max's somewhat-forced decision to sell his business to the big dog Orgalawn. Unfortunately, this sale is leaving Neil in quite the lurch, job-wise, but I am excited to see what his next move will be. Hopefully something that will make him significantly more attractive to Charmaine. Or as she put it, "you weren't planning on being a gardener your whole life, were you?" Ouch.

Marshall and Lionel are excited about their film class but disappointed to be thrust into an almost entirely gay group, under their teacher's misguided hope that they will create "something deeper, more emotional... a little more razzmatazz." Still, I appreciated seeing Lionel's more vulnerable side as he asked Marshall if they were together out of love or sheer proximity. Blondie cares, y'all!

As for Kate, after an unfortunate run-in with a particularly coital Neil and Charmaine, her goal du jour has become the quick and thorough escape from her family. The solution? Move to Japan to teach English. I love it when shows incorporate real trends into their stories. And it will be interesting to see Kate completely out of her element, and I really hope the writers are able to pull off sequestering one of the main characters from their main Kansas setting. That is, if Kate ends up going at all, which is still unclear at this point. My guess is that it will happen, because not only is Kate behaving much more responsibly, but it also seems like the show is actively trying to make her seem that way with older-looking makeup and hair. Though Brie Larson was 20 when the show debuted, she's always been very convincing as a 15/16-year-old in demeanor and facial expression, but this season I am getting a marked sense of maturity from her, and that has to be deliberate, because Larson is a terrific actress.

It appears I totally called it last week insofar as the Charmaine/Neil dynamic, as Sweet Moment #1 made itself known almost immediately during the course of this episode, with Charmy declaring that the father of her child is a better man than her dream guy. And the "Awww" moments didn't stop there. I'm referring, of course, to the Marshall/Kate interaction in the empty lot... thing. Brother/sister scenes on comedies, especially those involving teenagers, tend to have an undertone of cattiness and competition, so I find it nice to be able to count on the Gregson siblings to always have each other's backs, no matter what. But even that moment was nothing compared to the touching scene at the end of the episode, involving Tara and Kate and a poignant mother-daughter role reversal that gave Tara a new understanding of her eldest child.

And speaking of mothers, it looks like next week will usher in Max's own (Frances Conroy of Six Feet Under!), and she appears to be a pretty severe hoarder, in light of which it really seems like Max was somewhat predisposed to falling for a psychologically disturbed woman. Thoughts?

United States of Tara Recap: The Head Trip Returns

Toni Collette as Tara Gregson

God, I hope I'm not the only one who's excited over this, because, dear reader, I have made my selection: Tara shall be the show that I will be recapping here for the next twelve weeks or so. It's rather perfect, actually: a dramatic comedy with short seasons on cable. And honestly, I've written about Showtime babies so much in the past, it's only fitting that I return to the source of so many of my favorite shows slash blog fodder.

Season 3 premiered last night and quickly caught us all up to speed on the various goings-on since Charmaine's non-wedding last season and however long it took for her pregnancy to reach false labor stages. Kate is now moved out of her parents' house... and into her aunt's. Neil is in Charmaine's life now, but in a much less glamorous capacity than he would want, which became more obvious than ever when she coldly rejected his earnest marriage proposal in front of her whole family. Marshall and Lionel are together but aren't putting any labels on it, because according to Lionel, "'boyfriend' is just another one of those gross words, like 'vagina' or 'love.'" I can usually pick out within minutes the episodes written by Diablo Cody, and "...youwillnotwin..." was replete with the too-clever dialogue and cynicism that characterizes her writing. The episode title is in reference to a creepy yet intriguing moment when one of Tara's possibly heretofore unknown alters briefly hijacks her essay on somatization. Why is Tara writing an essay on somatization? Because this season appears to be all about her unfulfilled wishes, both conscious and unconscious: to find her newly discovered half-brother and to finish her undergraduate degree, which conveniently requires her to take a course in—what else?—abormal psychology. Her professor is a curmudgeonly academic type played perfectly (and, dare I say, sexily?) by the hilarious Eddie Izzard, who, according to the sneak peek for the next episode, does not believe in dissociative identity disorder (DID). Interesting.

In the episode's most surprising twist, it was also revealed that Tara had attempted suicide at least twice in college, prompting her to drop out in her last semester. But if the hijacked essay scene is any indication, it was most likely not Tara who wanted to check out early but one of her other personalities. So who is this suicidal (homicidal?) alter, then? Her existing alters have historically been pretty protective of her, so my money's on one we haven't been acquainted with yet.

But Tara is not the only one with problems. In fact, all the main characters seem to be at some sort of impasse this season. Kate can't find a real job with just a GED and a tawdry internet past, Marshall can't get his spawn-of-Satan boyfriend to commit, Max can't retain his business clientele, Charmaine can't seem to manage being an "independent fucking woman," and Neil can't seem to abandon his shrew of a pregnant baby mama in her time of need.

Right now I am feeling very excited about college student Tara and her future interactions with her psych professor. I expect his skepticism regarding her condition will provide a new kind of challenge for Tara and hopefully some insight into herself. I also anticipate some awkward yet sweet moments between Charmaine and Neil, perhaps even a slight cut in her narcissism now that she's on the verge of motherhood. And is it just me, or is it looking like Kate might be back in the Barnaby's uniform pretty soon?

What other thoughts or predictions do you have after this first episode? And who's with me in rooting for the quick dissolution of the Marshall/Lionel union?