{alltv} 'Tara' and 'Nurse Jackie' return

If Tara and Jackie get better, their TV shows get duller.

So you don't have to be a super-sleuth to figure out what's in store, at least in the short term, for the lead characters in The United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie.

Both those innovative series, which originate on the U.S. cable network Showtime, return for their third seasons across Canada on Monday, March 28 on The Movie Network and Movie Central.

The United States of Tara stars Emmy Award winner Toni Collette as a housewife with multiple personalities. Nurse Jackie stars Emmy Award winner Edie Falco as a nurse with a drug addiction.

Now, the way the second seasons of both shows ended, the lead characters might have reached tipping points with regard to recovery (in Tara's case) or recognition (in Jackie's case).

But as we find fairly quickly, old habits are hard to break.

Tara's new endeavour is that she wants to go back to college. As she sees it, she's tired of being the least interesting personality inhabiting her body.

Her husband Max (played by John Corbett) has serious doubts as to whether this is a good idea, for reasons that will be revealed. But Tara plods ahead, to the point that she has to beg the professor of an undergraduate psychology class - played by the always entertaining Eddie Izzard - to let her in, because the class is full and the semester already has begun.

It's hilarious when Tara pleads her case to the prof, since she so perfectly encapsulates the general traits of both first-year college kids and so-called mature students. Tara says:

"I am back at school for the first time since the early '90s. I've had my ass kicked by life and I've had more therapy than an ex-altar boy. I want to learn. You couldn't ask for a more willing vessel. Besides, you know two, or three, or 10 of these kids are bound to drop out by October, their little heads swollen with Coors Light. Me? I will still be there, raising my damn hand like every other over-eager grownup who ever wanted a second chance."

So true on so many levels!

Meanwhile, Tara's daughter Kate (Brie Larson) and son Marshall (Keir Gilchrist) are continuing with their own struggles. Kate, for instance, is having trouble finding a job not only because she doesn't have a college degree but also because of her, uh, interesting history of online performances.

"The internet is evil," Kate laments to her brother. "Every stupid thing I've ever done might as well be tattooed on my f------ head."

Speaking of doing stupid things and having them haunt you, the second season of Nurse Jackie concluded with the lead character staring in the bathroom mirror, having just been confronted about her drug use by her husband Kevin (played by Dominic Fumusa) and her best friend Dr. O'Hara (Eve Best). The third season does not leap ahead in time, but rather picks up at that precise moment.

Suffice to say, Jackie does not share the view that she has an addiction worth addressing.

Later, there's a powerful scene in the chapel at the hospital, when Dr. O'Hara - who is quite justified in her feelings of personal and professional betrayal - says simply, "You broke my heart, Jackie," before walking away.

Eventually, Tara's affliction and Jackie's addiction will be resolved, one way or the other.

But for now, there remain many miles to go on their shaky, unstable paths.