User Reviews

I have read the reviews here, mainly negative, but my reaction, ultimately, was not that bad. I didn't absolutely love it but I thought it was well done, poignant and a good ending to this very quirky show.

Had this been the pilot episode to the series, everyone should justifiably hate it. But what has this show been about for 4 years: We have Maura and her struggles, the relationship with the family, the intersection of gender norms versus religious faith, tangential stories with the other family members loosely related to family/expected roles/gender etc. It was never a show about big plot developments. Some shows focused solely on emotions or memories. There were never 45 plot developments to tie up like more action-related shows. This show was always about tearing down conventions, people redefining themselves and rediscovering themselves. It was about how family always prevailed despite many conflicts.

Of course, when Jeffrey Tambor was fired, this brought in new problems. Whatever your take on the firing, this show faced the same issues as House of Cards - Much of your audience will be upset the lead is not there. The issue will arise at how to handle the show content - is it better to just stop? DO a whole season? Bring on Maura as a trans actress post-transition? Everybody would have been dissatisfied in some way. Add to that - in my opinion, they were basically running out of ways to find that intersection of faith, gender and sexuality. Even if Tambor hadn't left, there was increasing scrutiny on why a CIS male was playing a trans woman. I think that this quick end was the best way to address these issues, although people still will not be satisfied.

One thing I liked was the doppelganger concept. They referenced Maura but in the form of a dreamlike play. This also made it possible to have the 3 kid doppelgangers - a symbol for Shelly's endless expections of her children. In the end, she gives up her expectations and sees her family for what it is.

The songs and musical format? 50/50. Some songs were catchy, others I didn't get. But even the worse songs were nicely tailored to the quriky personality of the character in question. Can anyone doubt that Shelly would try to mount a play about her family in the days following her former husband's death? And the final number joy-o-caust was downright ballsy.

Josh got his share of redemption while the rest just kind of settled in to being themselves. They even nicely tied together the idea of the holocaust versus being burnt in an oven for cremation. For a show that said, "Screw convention" for its entire run, I don't think this "screw convention" ending was so bad. This was much more in keeping of the general theme of the show than, say, Game of Thrones, no?

Transparent was an often brilliant TV series whose story arc was cut off abruptly when star Tambor was accused of sexual harassment. Jill Solloway's solution: kill off Tambor's character and make a final, film-length musical episode about the aftermath.

Is this Transparent? Not really. I guess the themes are still there, but they're overwhelmed by the chaotic oddness of it all. Only a few songs a particularly good, although they're all sung well.

I liked Transparent because it took me places. I felt that this last episode took me no place, instead just leaving me standing there, mouth open, thinking "what on earth was that?"

I'll admit that, at the outset, I wasn't sure about this final episode as we had characters breaking into song a la Broadway. But my God, it was clever, and the songs all had profound points to be made, and some of them had me crying at all the right parts, and laughing at others. It was a joyful, touching send-off to a series that died at its own hand, in glorious, multi-colored flames (just like Maura). We and they are all in on that joke.

The loose ends were tied up very nicely without actually sending anyone off into a sunset (except Maura).

I had to laugh at the hateful reviews that would indicate that those reviewers obviously never even understood what Jill Soloway's story was about; they just saw it as a quirky little drama with interesting, quirky characters. And you know they already had a bias against musicals, so you can't trust their judgment on that point alone. They hated the songs? I immediately watched it over again so I could enjoy the songs a second time! This final episode reflected the wondrous absurdity of family and life and love and connection that had been told through four seasons of 30 minute episodes and now completed with this joyous long-form musicale finale. If you thought you hated it, watch it again. I dare you.

To put a finer point on it: you can't go home; you're already there.

I am a big musicals fan, but this was just painful to endure. The seriousness of the acting and storyline was completely zapped out whenever they broke into song. I was really getting into the emotion of something and then: showtune! I can't understand why this was a good idea. I would have been perfectly happy with a shorter, non-musical finale. I also thought it was so contrived how they interacted with all the other characters at the funeral. And, god, that last song was awful. To anyone who wants a good crossover between Jewish culture and musical theatre, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is 10x better. Don't waste your time with this.

I was in love with the series. They killed Moira's character and they turned the series into a boring senseless musical. Just horrible.

The idea of a musical(e) ending is intriguing but this one did not work at all and was highly offensive and trite into the bargain. I loved much of seasons 1-4. The story lines were over the top at times and also nuanced (not an easy combination to do). I thought that having the " doubles" for Maura et al was an interesting way to handle a logistic issue posed by the departure of a main character. Here trite shopworn story lines and songs substituted for the authentic storytelling that had marked the first 4 seasons. Why was a trite romantic ending (Josh and Raquel and Maura's double and Shelley) plopped into a series that eschewed triteness? Its fine to end on a joyous note but the last song was highly offensive. The series urged us all to have a greater sensitivity to trans and non-binary issues. Great- but then to make the final number awash in insensitivity is an insult to the viewers and the arc of the series. Sensitivity to the pain and lives of others is a worthy goal all around- so why trash this in the final scene? Whoever thought that a peppy song about genocide (with an explicit message as to how all of us should process genocide) was a good idea?