Transparent

Like many ppl already said , the last episode sucks. But hey there were 4 great seasons before that. And those were good so enjoy the show, and than open a bottle of wine for the last episode ...

I had lots of friends keep letting me know they had watched Transparent and thought I should watch it. I had been holding off though as my Dad came out as transgender about 2.5 years ago and was worried how I would react to it.

Overall I really enjoyed the series but there were conversations that were almost word for word the same as one's I had when I first found out about my Dad and I did end up in tears at points remembering how hard it all seemed at the time.

I think the series perfectly shows how you start questioning your life when you discover something major about your parents that you never could have guessed but may have felt things weren't quite as they seemed. I know I definitely felt my Dad had been hiding something for years before I found out but never suspected it was wanting to be a woman.

The acting is fantastic in this series and the story is definitely an aspect of life that most people haven't had much contact with or know much about but does seem to be something more people are willing to share and make people more aware of.

Jill Soloway is the writer of the show. All this, is her idea, i mean, she has created such a fresh and original comedy drama, but her mindset and political awareness ruin many moments. I understand the show is a celebration of love, pain, sexual diversity, but we can clearly see the stamp of the writer's ideology all around the show: she tells us what's right, what's wrong, what is good, what's not, what should be liked and what should we not like.

The core concept of the series is basically based on her father's story, he came out of the closet a few years ago at a certain old age, but she places these other characters and focuses on them too much that we lose the actual protagonist and she does that because she wants people to feel rappresented and change the mind of those who do not accept the LGBT community, but no, everyone has the same mindset in the show: liberal, modern and open-minded, which are all good elements, but the other side is missing.

Jill is not a transgender, her father is and we watch the show through her eyes while we should be watching through his. I'm not saying he should've wrote the story, what i'm saying is, although she got into his trousers, that was not enough, because she focused on too many other characters, like the children, we can easily assume they're based on herself, and the show keeps going on with their side, but what's even more wrong is the fact their side is extremely politically manoeuvred, gender identity is brought in, dramatized family troubles, culture and religion.

Jill didn't bring just a story, she brought her life in and with that her views on the world. Don't get me wrong it's a good thing, but not everyone can actually releate to it, since the show in not unbiased on these themes, but has a very strong agenda.

What started out as a unique idea and was well written and acted has quickly gone the way of most TV and lost it's way. This last season is simply an annoying repetition of the various characters dysfunctional relationships and in ability to cope. In many ways a lot like my own family which drives me totally nuts. It did better when it was examining the issues and angst of becoming a trans late in life but now has decided to abandon that theme and go on to frustrating portraits of Jewish angst. We cannot follow this show any longer and have abandoned it for more intelligent viewing. This is now nothing more than a copy of all of Woody Allen's earlier movie themes.

I kept watching and watching, hoping that as I got to know them I would begin to care about this extraordinarily shallow, spoiled and obnoxious bunch of people - or even to laugh at them for being so relentlessly revolting - but the opposite happened. By the middle of Episode 7 I loathed every one of them so deeply that I just wished The Big One would finally come along, pull the chain, and flush the entire state of California to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean where it belongs. Then it occurred to me that I didn't HAVE to watch this crap, so I stopped.

I love the idea behind this series, and it might have been really good if only there were at least one character I could stand to watch, or laugh at, or maybe even like. There isn't.

Tambor and Hoffman are excellent in roles that fit their talents so perfectly that it's hard now to imagine either of them ever playing any other characters. I do care about those two actors - especially, now, for the first time, Hoffman. I just don't care at all about either character. I wish I wished Maura well, but I just don't. I can't. She's too dishonest and shallow and selfish.

The other actors - with one notable exception - are all right but don't bring any personal depth to their tiresome, narcissistic characters, as Tambor and Hoffman do. The exception is Judith Light, whose restrained and sensitive performance in Save Me was a revelation. Here she shows no subtlety or intelligence at all, playing a Southern California Jewish matron so shrill and strident that the human being is completely lost in the stereotype.

Most of the writing is clever, the production is excellent, and the series might have been a real treat if I could only have cared about even ONE of the profoundly revolting characters.