"United States of Tara" Recap 310: Another (Gay) One Bites the Dust

Lionel is all over the previouslies this week. This is not good.

Marshall and Max catch an early flight home from New York courtesy of Kate's free SkyKans ticket perk. As Moosh heads off to school, Tara notices the strain between them. Caretaker Max brushes it off and says they'll talk about it later, but Tara needs to talk to him now, about Bryce. We'll pick up that plotline later; all that's important at the moment is that Tara is now snorting her meds so Bryce can't regurgitate them.

In Mr. Kern's film class, Marshall is dissing his film festival competition and doling out souvenirs to Noah and Rory (who is played by Henry Monfries who when not in headgear is cute as a button) when the principal comes in and gestures for Kern. She whispers to him that a student was "lost" the night before and he asks which one.

We don't hear her answer but given who isn't at his desk but is in the previouslies, we can pretty much guess. Kern calls the class to order and starts dorking about all the tractor accidents that happened when he was a teenager and his high school quarterback, Donny Champlaine, but before he hits full-on "Ode to Billy Joe" territory the principal steps in and announces that Lionel has been killed in a car accident. Noah reaches to comfort Marshall, who pulls away.

I can barely write about this. I keep checking my email and getting drinks of water and looking through the OnDemand guide on my TV because I'm so incredibly saddened and pissed off that Lionel is dead. He was a polarizing figure amongst AfterElton.com readers; he was loved or hated and there was very little middle ground.

I've written before about how much Lionel reminded me of me when I was first coming out. I've enjoyed watching the character evolve from a kind of whiny two-dimensional brat into a fleshed out complicated character. When he and Marshall broke up a couple of episodes ago, I wished Lionel a happy ending. And now he's dead and I'm in tears over a fictional character on a canceled TV show.

And dammit, another goddamn dead gay kid on TV.

Max brings Marshall home from school to find Tara nearly incoherent from her medication. She's disconsolate that she's not in any condition to comfort him but Marshall blows it off. "It doesn't matter. It really doesn't. I get her or I get Alice and a peach cobbler. What's the difference?"

Marshall locks himself in his room but Kate, who's rushed home from the airport, picks the lock. She puts an arm around Marshall and offers to skip work but Marshall doesn't want anyone to do anything different. Kate is very sweet and sisterly here, and it's a nice change from her "I don't care" attitude during the St. Louis layover a few episodes back.

Later that night Tara is about to do another line of anti-psychotics in the bathroom when Max asks through the door whether he should wear his charcoal or black suit for the funeral. This serves as the springboard for both a stupid gay joke ("Too bad you don't have fuchsia!" — because the gays do love their pastels ... at funerals) and, combined with Max's request that she check on Moosh, a clumsy plot device of Tara skipping her dose of medicine. Because taking the three seconds to snort that line would have devastated the kid.