This series is the creation of Diablo Cody, whose screenplay for the movie Juno won an Oscar in 2007. Tara is a married mother of 2 teenagers and suffers from a multiple personality disorder causing her to shift from a range of 4 alternate characters. Not many can write a quirky contemporary family better than Cody. Her teenage characters here are every bit as outrageous as Juno’s, with the unmistakable snappy dialogue typical of Generation Y portrayals on screen. Think; Generation X from John Hustons’s movies, add in thesaurus-inspired dialogue, and lots of cussing.
However, I had my doubts initially, largely due to the premise of the show. A show with multiple changing characters screams of a TV executive’s wet dream to ensure viewers don’t change channels after the 3 minute attention span (according to their latest research) expires. Of course, anyone who has had the misfortune to sit through an episode of ‘Quantum Leap’, will tell you that this formula is the not the yellow brick road to Oz TV.
Toni Collette as Tara and her unwelcome, but progressively likeable ‘alters’ is complete class in a demanding, gymnastic acting role, and was clearly deserving of the Emmy accolade received this year. Equally, John Corbett is the ideal, understated offsider to Collette’s manicness, achieving the right tone of calmness with a touch of exacerbation in an impossibly dysfunctional situation. The teenagers are the real dark horses here as, typical of Diablo Cody, they have the best lines, and the characters break free of typically teen stereotypes and continue to surprise.
As with all supreme TV series (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, etc) , the key is not to overcook it and to keep the audience guessing. We don’t necessarily need the answers right away, if at all, as long as the journey is fun. And all 12 episodes certainly are.
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