Season two of United States of Tara only concluded mere hours ago, and I’m already experiencing mad withdrawals. A whole year? Who can wait that long for the next season to start? See, this is why I don’t get into television programs. (Spoilers ahead.)

I thought the finale was a fantastic episode. Season two seemed to simply lack much of what we saw (and, hence, expected for this season) from the first season of the show (which is a common occurrence, sadly enough, and something else usually that turns me off from series shows). It wasn’t as funny. It was more depressing. We saw less interaction between Tara and her family, and even more issues were brought up but not resolved. We barely saw some alters (especially “T”), and even the ones we did see seemed out of character. The whole Gregson family seemed to simply be deteriorating, which is expected under the circumstances—but why now? Why while the children are nearly grown, and not earlier in their marriage? Of course, we wouldn’t have a show without all of these conflicts, but some things just seemed too forced this season.

With that said, it actually feels like we had more action last season. Sure, Max got in a fight (and cheated—which was super hard to forgive, until we discover that Tara’s alters have slept with other people over 30 times) and went to jail, there was a tornado and yet two new alters, new juicy secrets and character developments; but last season seemed to have so much more action going on—mixed with incredible humor and family moments, plus the drama—that really made it so attractive. I still love Tara—like I said, I’m already going through withdrawal—but I’m definitely looking forward to a fresh season with a different direction from season two.

Back to the finale: I’m thinking I wasn’t alone when I heaved a sigh of relief when Charmaigne did not marry Nick; of course, it would have redeemed her character so much more had she been the one to refuse him (especially after his uncharacteristic behavior before the wedding, which seemed out of place—it would have been nice to see this “darker” side of him a bit before, just to build it up a bit).

Speaking of redeeming, I was quite proud of Kate during the finale. She put her family first over her seemingly sweet and charming—yet quite creepy and controlling—new boyfriend, who turned out to be quite a jerk. Tara’s parents couldn’t have seemed any more like jerks, by the way, had they tried, either; imagine if such nonchalance of a mother telling her daughters about what she did to preserve her relationship with a man over the daughters themselves occurred in your own life! I’m sure that many people out there have experienced such heartache from their mothers before, and they can empathize. I can’t wait to find out what happens in season three—surely we’ll meet the long lost brother?

The very final scene was so brilliant—though it would’ve been more brilliant had it seemed cohesive with the rest of the season. Suddenly, Tara’s tragic past seemed throw the Gregsons all together once again—following an entire season of separateness—which works, though it still felt a bit out of place. However, it did provide a nice image of the family being united before the next season, hopefully ensuring that it begins with the Gregsons there for each other once again as they were (and as I really, really missed) during the first season.

Best Moment: Kate telling her new beau to take a hike after he insults her mother and brother (and reveals other creepy things about himself). Also, Max's lovely final words.

Notes: I wonder if Charmaigne will save the dress and use it again next season with Neal? And I'm so glad Patton Oswalt will still be in the series now!

Rating: 4/5. I think this is arguably one of the best episodes of season two.