Toni Collette is one of those actors who will draw me to a film or TV show.  Once I see her name I immediately think that whatever she is in must be worth watching.  From Muriel’s Wedding to Little Miss Sunshine, Collette seems to be at her best when playing women who are a little left of centre.

In Showtime’s United States of Tara Collette plays Tara Gregson, a wife and mother of two who happens to live with Dissociative identity disorder (DID), she has 6 personalities all of which make various appearances in the show when Tara is stressed.  One of her “alters” is male, the rest female, and Collette plays them all with her usual expertise.

The show is all about identity, for obvious reasons, and in season 2 (which started in March in the US) we see Tara’s son Marshall question his sexuality.  The wonderful thing about this show, however, is that Marshall’s sexuality is a total none issue for his parents.  We don’t have to suffer through yet another ‘coming to terms with’ storyline, he is just who he is and refreshingly so.

Where this season gets really interesting, however, is when Tara’s male personality starts up a relationship with Pammy (played by Joey Lauren Adams).  The personality in question is “Buck” a man’s man who claims to have no penis as it was blown off in Vietnam.  He is also a heavy drinker and smoker and likes to go to the shooting range with Marshall and Tara’s husband Max. So far Pammy is only due to be in three episodes but lets hope her character takes off and we see more of her.

It is interesting to see the show look into a relationship for Buck.  Gender identity is something that TV seems to shy away from and it’s about time we saw more of these storylines blur the lines and stop people from thinking of gender as black and white.  The show doesn’t sensationalize anything.  No one in the town the show is based in passes comment on Buck, Tara’s sister being the only character to really seem at all uncomfortable.  One thing that is wonderful is Tara’s husbands total acceptance of Buck and his relationships.  It will be interesting to see what season 2 and this new relationship brings.

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