United States Of Tara - Why I Am Disappointed With Season Two So Far.
Sometimes a show starts out rather promising, but then the writers retool the show between seasons and the show takes a turn for the worse. Dirty Sexy Money comes to my mind, which was a show that had a very promising pilot, lame follow-up-episodes and then got completely retooled between seasons and turned into a holy celebration of unwatchable crap over night, despite having a strong cast (that included Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland). Retooling is not always bad though. Sometimes retooling can energize a show and improve it. Pushing Daisies comes to my mind, which started out nice, but definitely lacked of suspense in the first season. When season 2 came around, the show came back better than ever. It was apparent that some retooling had happened between the seasons - cliffhangers and tension were suddenly used to create suspense - but despite a few narrative changes, the show remained true to itself and worked quite well creatively.
When "United States Of Tara" premiered last year, I really liked it. I wasn't blown away by it and I felt no need to watch the next episode immediately after the air date, but I thought that the show was written in a very smart way and enjoyed it a lot. Which is why I ultimately ended up buying the first season on DVD. When I rewatched the show in preperation for season two, I then was surprised by how good the first season actually was and I got completely addicted while rewatching, becoming utterly excited for the second season to finally premiere.
Now, six episodes into the second season of the Showtime series, I sadly feel underwhelmed by what I have seen so far. Between seasons the show lost a showrunner - Alexa Junge -, but with Diablo Cody, the creator of the show, still on board, I didn't think that the quality of the show would suffer in any way. I don't know if the retooling of United States Of Tara is related to Junge's departure and I don't know if her leaving plays a big role in the sudden decline in quality, but for me, it is apparent that the show is kinda suffering a little bit creatively - not to the extend that Dirty Sexy Money was, United States Of Tara is still perfectly watchable and probably one of the better shows on television, but the show seems off these past few episodes.
So, what has changed? For once, the show started from scratch when this season began. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it kinda is, as there were still a couple of unfinished storylines from last season that didn't really get a resolution. The show jumped ahead in time and established a new place to go from, while at the same time ignoring some loose threads from last season, which is disappointing, because as a viewer you are pretty much invested in the present and curious to see what happens next. Of course they might have had good reasons for doing so (one of the major guest actors from the first season, who was involved in one of those unfinished storylines, was not available for season two for example), but by just ignoring them, you feel kinda cheated as a viewer. The tone this season is also very different. Last season, the show ended in a very dark place, this season started in a very light place. As a viewer it is kind of weird to accept such a sudden shift if all what you want to see is how the show builds on the climax of season one, but instead get an entirely new beginning out of the blue. The tone in atmosphere and the new beginning are however not really the deal breaker for me, because it's something that you can get used to after your initial disappointment. My major problem with the show this season is the writing.
I feel like the writing has been dumbed down a bit. A lot of the scenes feel like the writers are trying to spell out every emotion and the meaning of every scene for us instead of just letting us figure it out by ourselves. I personally don't really like if someone tries to allude me to the meanings and emotions in a scene with a big fat sign that says "This is happening here", I prefer it when you can draw your own conclusions and think about it rather than being alluded to what is happening. The show's writing was wonderfully subtle last season, sadly the subtleness seems to be missing this season. I also feel like the plots of the show itself are rather contrived and forced this season instead of being organic. Which is why the show kinda veers into traditional television territory and is not as refreshing as it was last season. An example for a typical tv storyline that we have this season is for example the storyline which revolves around Charmaine. We have a woman who is torn between two men and pregnant by the one she's not engaged to. A typical television storyline that promises a lot of drama just by the unsubtle plot device of her pregnancy.
Then there is the sudden change in character for a couple of characters in the show. The supportive husband suddenly can't deal with the disorder of his wife, which causes tension in their marriage. In the pilot episode of the show he said he didn't deserve any better with a smile that said a lot, when his sister-in-law told him that he did deserve better than the life he has been living. In one of the season two episodes however he has an outburst, proclaiming he has always been good to his wife, implying he deserves better. The teenage girl that was so refreshing to watch during the first season, because she didn't just have boys on her mind and didn't care all that much about what other people might think of her, becomes dependant on what an artist she befriends thinks of her. The gay son who was comfortable with his sexuality suddenly starts to be uncomfortable with being gay und experiments with a girl that is difficult to get rid of, once he realizes that he indeed is gay. While his storyline has a point, it's much more conventional and I feel like him trying to find out his identity would have been more interesting if it wasn't just being gay that he questionned.
Then there is the new personality that Tara has developed. After reading a book of her gay neighbor that has been written by a therapist, Tara actually becomes the therapist that has written the book, which I feel is kinda ridiculous, even though Toni Collette once again proves what a capable actress she is by adding another personality to the show that is completely different from all her other personalities.
These are the things that I'm not all that satisfied with this season, but at the same time I want to clarify that I still enjoy the show, I am just disappointed by how they handle the characters and the various storylines, because it doesn't feel consistent with the world that has been established in season one. I applaud them however for dropping the alter costumes from season one. Whenever Tara transformed into another personality last season, she immediately changed her costume, so that the audience knew who she was playing. This season they decided to do without that which makes the show a bit more grounded in reality.
Anyhow the thing that I'm most unpleased with is how the show dropped its subtleness and I really hope the show regains it again, because it would be a shame if it didn't. I'm still looking forwards to see how the season unfolds, especially after the last episode in which the plot seemed to go forward quite a bit.
When "United States Of Tara" premiered last year, I really liked it. I wasn't blown away by it and I felt no need to watch the next episode immediately after the air date, but I thought that the show was written in a very smart way and enjoyed it a lot. Which is why I ultimately ended up buying the first season on DVD. When I rewatched the show in preperation for season two, I then was surprised by how good the first season actually was and I got completely addicted while rewatching, becoming utterly excited for the second season to finally premiere.
Now, six episodes into the second season of the Showtime series, I sadly feel underwhelmed by what I have seen so far. Between seasons the show lost a showrunner - Alexa Junge -, but with Diablo Cody, the creator of the show, still on board, I didn't think that the quality of the show would suffer in any way. I don't know if the retooling of United States Of Tara is related to Junge's departure and I don't know if her leaving plays a big role in the sudden decline in quality, but for me, it is apparent that the show is kinda suffering a little bit creatively - not to the extend that Dirty Sexy Money was, United States Of Tara is still perfectly watchable and probably one of the better shows on television, but the show seems off these past few episodes.
So, what has changed? For once, the show started from scratch when this season began. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but in this case it kinda is, as there were still a couple of unfinished storylines from last season that didn't really get a resolution. The show jumped ahead in time and established a new place to go from, while at the same time ignoring some loose threads from last season, which is disappointing, because as a viewer you are pretty much invested in the present and curious to see what happens next. Of course they might have had good reasons for doing so (one of the major guest actors from the first season, who was involved in one of those unfinished storylines, was not available for season two for example), but by just ignoring them, you feel kinda cheated as a viewer. The tone this season is also very different. Last season, the show ended in a very dark place, this season started in a very light place. As a viewer it is kind of weird to accept such a sudden shift if all what you want to see is how the show builds on the climax of season one, but instead get an entirely new beginning out of the blue. The tone in atmosphere and the new beginning are however not really the deal breaker for me, because it's something that you can get used to after your initial disappointment. My major problem with the show this season is the writing.
I feel like the writing has been dumbed down a bit. A lot of the scenes feel like the writers are trying to spell out every emotion and the meaning of every scene for us instead of just letting us figure it out by ourselves. I personally don't really like if someone tries to allude me to the meanings and emotions in a scene with a big fat sign that says "This is happening here", I prefer it when you can draw your own conclusions and think about it rather than being alluded to what is happening. The show's writing was wonderfully subtle last season, sadly the subtleness seems to be missing this season. I also feel like the plots of the show itself are rather contrived and forced this season instead of being organic. Which is why the show kinda veers into traditional television territory and is not as refreshing as it was last season. An example for a typical tv storyline that we have this season is for example the storyline which revolves around Charmaine. We have a woman who is torn between two men and pregnant by the one she's not engaged to. A typical television storyline that promises a lot of drama just by the unsubtle plot device of her pregnancy.
Then there is the sudden change in character for a couple of characters in the show. The supportive husband suddenly can't deal with the disorder of his wife, which causes tension in their marriage. In the pilot episode of the show he said he didn't deserve any better with a smile that said a lot, when his sister-in-law told him that he did deserve better than the life he has been living. In one of the season two episodes however he has an outburst, proclaiming he has always been good to his wife, implying he deserves better. The teenage girl that was so refreshing to watch during the first season, because she didn't just have boys on her mind and didn't care all that much about what other people might think of her, becomes dependant on what an artist she befriends thinks of her. The gay son who was comfortable with his sexuality suddenly starts to be uncomfortable with being gay und experiments with a girl that is difficult to get rid of, once he realizes that he indeed is gay. While his storyline has a point, it's much more conventional and I feel like him trying to find out his identity would have been more interesting if it wasn't just being gay that he questionned.
Then there is the new personality that Tara has developed. After reading a book of her gay neighbor that has been written by a therapist, Tara actually becomes the therapist that has written the book, which I feel is kinda ridiculous, even though Toni Collette once again proves what a capable actress she is by adding another personality to the show that is completely different from all her other personalities.
These are the things that I'm not all that satisfied with this season, but at the same time I want to clarify that I still enjoy the show, I am just disappointed by how they handle the characters and the various storylines, because it doesn't feel consistent with the world that has been established in season one. I applaud them however for dropping the alter costumes from season one. Whenever Tara transformed into another personality last season, she immediately changed her costume, so that the audience knew who she was playing. This season they decided to do without that which makes the show a bit more grounded in reality.
Anyhow the thing that I'm most unpleased with is how the show dropped its subtleness and I really hope the show regains it again, because it would be a shame if it didn't. I'm still looking forwards to see how the season unfolds, especially after the last episode in which the plot seemed to go forward quite a bit.