Several episodes into Season 2 of United States of Tara, the Gregson family retreats to a basement with the neighborhood gay couple to wait out a tornado. In the course of a few minutes, we see Tara transition between herself and alters Alice, Gimme and Shoshanna — and know without a doubt why Toni Collette won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the part.
This season, the alters are defined less by clothing than by definite personality shifts. (The family put the alters’ clothes in a donation barrel when Tara’s meds seemed to be controlling her Dissociative Identity Disorder.) Yet we know within seconds not only that one of the alters has taken over, but also exactly who it is – a tribute to Collette’s acting prowess.
Collette talked to ET Online about her approach to this season of Tara.
While much of Season 1 was introductory, giving us time to understand Tara’s condition and how she meets the world, Season 2 provides insight into how the world meets Tara. We also get to know the other characters in the show apart from Tara – Marshall (Keir Gilchrist), Kate (Brie Larson), Max (John Corbett) and Charmaine (Rosemarie DeWitt) have stories of their own.
I’m especially glad to see more of Charmaine, since I’ve had a crush on DeWitt ever since she was Rachel in Rachel Getting Married. Although Charmaine seems to be a character that survives life by skimming its surface, this season brings some revelations that give us more insight into her – including the fact that she was a LUG in college.
Here’s DeWitt discussing this season’s storyline for Charmaine.
We’ve already told you about some of the plot twists coming up this season – we’ll have recaps of the episodes that explore sexual identity.
Season 2 of United States of Tara starts tonight at 10:30 ET on Showtime, right after Nurse Jackie. Will you be watching?
