This season picks up a little bit after the end of the last season with Tara feeling as if she has become less interesting than her alters and without any sense of direction in her life she suddenly decides that she should go back to college. After all, she only really needs one season worth of credits to get her degree. Max, rightly, fears that the stress of classes will get to her and cause her alters to get out of hand. She then meets Eddie Izzard, playing her psychology professor, who is skeptical of DID, but slowly becomes interested in her as a case study. This whole season arc is in no way forced, but just feels like something that pops up on almost every TV show that needs a way for its female lead to suddenly find life outside of her family and whatever quirky job they had given her (like say, mural artist). I am willing to look past this annoying trope if it means that Eddie Izzard gets to be on TV, though.

Of course, Tara's illness and school isn't the only thing going on this season. Max is dealing with his own past and invalid mother as his business is being bought out. Charmaine has to deal with becoming a mother while dealing with how to let Tara be in her life, not to mention her relationship with Neil (Yay! Patton Oswalt). Kate has no sure path into the future and is grasping at straws, and Marshall may be out and accepted but must deal with being part of a visible minority in a small town. Through these story lines everyone is interconnected, but each character feels strangely distant from each other. Every scene seems to be filled with people doing their own thing bouncing off of each other without ever really contributing to any other character's problems. This is even true of Tara, who mostly serves as a kind of deus ex machina for everyone else's issues.

Despite the show's lack of structural integrity its major strength is still its sense that no matter how off the wall Tara's DID might be, the people in this show still feel way too real. They are constantly confused, distracted, worried, and lack the patience to deal with more than the problems that are at hand at any given moment. This isn't a series full of pregnant moments, already full of deep meaning and subtext, instead each scene becomes almost mundane. This is the draw of the series above all.

Catch United States of Tara on Showtime, Mondays at 10:30. And let us know whether you are of two or more minds about the show below.

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