The thing that struck me about the show was the whole concept of identity disorder. In the fourth episode someone says that in a way we are like Tara, we all possess different versions of ourselves.
There's the version that you are at work, the one at home with your family, the one you show to your friends or even to your pet. We all juggle dozens of personalities in the air every day. The only difference between us and Tara is the fact that we can mostly control which Alter we prefer to show to people, whereas Tara pretty much just has to sit back and try to enjoy the ride.
United States of Tara has captivated me in a way that not many shows can do lately. Sure, Lost has got the whole mythology and answer-one-question-but-add-a-dozen-more thing going, Desperate Housewives is all about the façade and the reality behind it mixed in with a little murder and mayhem, One Tree Hill is flooded with drama, secrets and love triangles, but Tara is something else.
It's perfectly understandable if you're not into it, I'm not trying to force anyone to become a Tara-fan, but it does bring this sense of depth to the whole comedy-drama series that so many others seem to lack. When I look at the residents of Wisteria Lane, the characters on Lost or the faux-teenagers of One Tree Hill I never feel this connection to the main character. Sure, there are the regular tear-jerking moments such as Juliet's alleged death in season 5 or Keith's murder in Tree Hill, but if we're being rational, we know that that sort of thing just isn't plausible, it doesn't have the power to affect you.
I love Tara because she is different and she has come to terms with it. She knows that there will always be moments in her life that are blank to her, because one of her Alters was active at that time, she knows that she has missed out on some important events, or that her husband and children are put under tremendous stress, but somehow, she manages to get up and keep going. Although at the time she still feels resentful towards the DID and the personalities that it has spawned, but I'm looking forward to seeing her fully cope with them and accepting that they are not totally different people, but merely different aspects of her own personality.
There's Alice who is the maternal, do-all for the family, T who wants to act out, break with convention and be free and Buck, who is the male part of her in the way that we all have our respective male and female sides to our personality.
Tara has really got me thinking about the notion of identity and how far its influence can stretch and I think that if a show is able to get to you in such a way, there's got to be something there, no?
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