| Chicken 'n' Corn | |
|---|---|
| Season Three, Episode Eight | |
| |
| Air date | May 16, 2011 |
| Written by | Dave Finkel and Brett Baer |
| Directed by | Craig Zisk |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous The Electrifying & Magnanimous Return of Beaverlamp |
Next Bryce Will Play |
Episode Summary[]
The episode begins with Tara attempting to cover up the cut made in the previous episode with makeup when Marshall bursts in, happily announcing that his film has made it into the New York Film Festival. Tara is unable to go with him due to her midterms so Marshall asks Max who reluctantly agrees despite being afraid of flying. Max and Tara are wandering through a corn maze listening to Charmaine complain about how the one time she and Wheels get out of the house, they get lost in a corn maze before pondering how anyone could find being lost enjoyable. Elsewhere in the maze, Marshall and Noah are discussing their successful film and Noah reveals that he is unable to go with Marshall due to money problems. He then asks Marshall if he had told Lionelabouttheirachievement and Marshall says that he hasn`t before the two hold hands. Suddenly, a man wearing a monster costume leaps from the corn and terrifies Tara, Max and Charmaine; Max tries to calm Tara down before realising she has transitioned into Chicken and she flees. Marshall and Noah hear Chicken`s screams and split up to find her. Noah eventually find Chicken in a small shed, curled into a ball whimpering "stop" "let go of me" and "it hurts" Noah puts his hand on Chicken`s shoulder and she immediately turns back into Tara who tells him that "these things happen." Noah helps her up and she leaves behind a yellow stuffed rabbit toy that Max had won for her. Kate and Evan appear to be heavig a romantic meal where Kate recounts her time as Princess Valhalla Hawkwind before it is revealled that they are in fact, in an airport and pack away the candle and tablecloth they had brought. Kate decides that it will be Ok for Evan to meet Max and Marshall when they travel to New York via Saint Louis. Max worries about Tara and asks if anything is going on that caused her to transition before Max tells her that he does not want to go to New York but Tara forces him to uphold his promise to Marshall. On the plane, Max is angrily swearing and Kate tells him to calm down before getting him some of Tara`s pills to make the flight more bearable. He then tells Marshall "not to get his hopes up" which greatly upsets him.
Dr Hattaras is sitting in his office, listening to a recording of his former patient when Alice walks in. He asks her why Tara sent her to which Alice replies that Tara does not know. Jack then asks if that is against the rules of the Alter Contract but Alice disregards this saying that there is a crisis. She tell him that Chicken is missing and that someting unspeakable happend to her in the corn maze. Jack up to this point reiterates his belief on the falseness of DID, saying that Chicken is imaginary; Alice then asks him if "we are imagining this?" before showing him the large scar on Tara`s arm. Jack immediately takes notice and Alice tells him that Tara and all of the other alters need his help but she refuses to answer when he asks who cut Tara. He gets his recording of the voice saying "you will not win" to show Alice but when he turns around, she is gone.
At the Saint Louis airport, Kate begs Max not to embarrass her in front of Evan and Marshall tells her about what Max said to him before asking why he and his sister seem to be the ones looking after their parents. Evan gives Marshall a toy truck because Kate neglected to tell him her brother`s age before Evan`s child Monty arrives and taks an instant dislike to Kate. Back at the Gregson`s, Tara is woken up by Charmaine who asks her to watch Wheels. After Charmaine leaves, Dr Hattaras knocks on the door and tells her about Alice`s visit to his office; Tara says that they will talk after she puts Wheels down but she transitions into a mysterious alter to kidnaps Wheels and Tara comes to on a bus. Jack answers the phone, asking if the baby is safe and tells her to find out whereabouts she is.
Charmaine is relaxing at a beauty salon and begins to panic about leaving Wheels however, another mother, Abby tells Charmaie that you can only learn to take care of your children is you take care of yourself first. Charmaine explains how uch she is missing Neil and Abby convinces her to sit back down. The meeting between Max, Marshall, Kate and Evan is disrupted constantly by Monty so Max decides it is time for them to leave and as they do so, Evan says Marshall will make a great father before Marshall asks Kate if she told Evan anything about him at all. Charmaine returns home to find Dr Hattaras and yells at him, saying there are police outside and that her husband is in the mob, Tara clears things up and Charmaine begins to think that Tara is having an affair. She then asks how Wheels has been to which both Tara and Jack lie and say thing everthing has been fine. They return to Tara`s house and she begs Jack to help her. Dr Hattaras concludes that the alter who took Wheels also hurt Chicken and they decides to go the the corn maze to find answers. On the plane, Max is panicking again but Marshall tells Max he is not talking to him. Marshall explains how hurt he was when his own father told him not to get his hopes up and Max apologises.
Tara and Dr Hattaras are trekking through the corn maze withTara questioning whether they are breaking and entering. Jack tells her to vocalise her thoughts in the hopes that it will help her locate Chicken and Tara tells him that she can taste dirt and smell sweat. Jack asks her if she can feel anything relating to her childhood but his questions are cut short when Tara hears Chicken screaming. She runs through the maze after excaliming "he`s got her!" with Dr Hattaras giving chase. He finds Tara in the wooden shed, weeping and holding the toy bunny that has been ripped in two. Tara tells him that Chicken is dead and that "he killed her!" Jack asks who killed Chicken and Tara transitions with the phrase "I killed her" Jack asks the name of the alter and he tells Jack that he is Bryce Craine before askng if Jack has a car. Dr Hattaras asks why and Bryce tells him he wants to be taken to Tara so that he can murder her.
Cast[]
Toni Collette - Tara Gregson, Chicken, Alice, Bryce Craine
Rosemarie Dewitt - Charmaine Craine
Keir Gilchrist - Marshall Gregson
Eddie Izzard - Dr Jack Hattaras
Aaron Christian Howles - Noah Kane
Keir O`Donnell - Evan
Gillian Vigman - Abby
Griffin Gluck - Monty
George H. Brett - Himself
Trivia[]
Chicken 'n' Corn is the eigth episode of Season Three of United States Of Tara and the 32nd episode overall
It is possible that the "unspeakable" thing that happened to Chicken in the corn field is the rape that happened to Tara when she was young.
This episode marks the final appearence of Chicken and she is the first alter to be killed by Bryce