Transparent Musicale Finale

This was a fitting finale. When they had to dump Tambor, what should they have done, gone on for a forced season or two more without him? That would have been contrived torture and the show would have died a slow death, like most shows that try to replace their leads do. Or just ended it cold turkey / pulled the plug? That would have been disturbing to fans not to mention they would have been dogged by reunion rumors forever. So, a departure from standard format and one that ties up loose ends seemed like a good idea for this loopy uber-upper middle-class Jewish family. The semi-mostly-musical episode was perfectly surreal-they even had a wild "The Brady Bunch" set piece/daydream sequence. I'm sure they must have realized they were going to annoy a few viewers, but I suspect the Transparent audience is a bit less provincial than that. The show was really about the characters and their neuroses anyway, so why not use the freedom of the musical theatre format to explore those neuroses further? It was a work of art and better to end as a work of art than as a cliché. The original songs and choreography were genuinely excellent and everyone's singing voice was serviceable if helped along a bit by autotune. The production was impressive: most numbers had a chorus, and a talented one at that. The big production numbers seemed like they were influenced by everything from Hair to Sweeney Todd to Annie to West Side Story to Fiddler to Chicago to Pippin. As usual, the acting was exquisite and even the tiniest of roles was cast with care. Speaking of roles, a lot of actors from earlier seasons popped in-like Alex MacNiccol, Kathryn Hahn, Melora Hardin, Trace Lysette, and Cherry Jones...and Rainn Wilson plays a character like his character in Six Feet Under. Judith Light, meanwhile, was superb and carried the show emotionally. Plus, there was shiva AND a bar mitzvah. This fun, smart, loopy show ended on a high-and joyous-note.

The plot is non existent and the songs are just terrible. I was just counting down the minutes for it to end. Nothing makes sense and it's just terrible.

The Soloways have delivered another sensitive reflection of lives most of us do not see each day (In other words EVERYONE'S lives but our own). One America's greatest theatrical treasures, Judith Light, anchors, carries, and (re)defines the complex transition of the series in the post 'she-said' world. It is what it is, but we get theatrical art in a raw and true form. I want to try-out acting because of the courage and bravery of the actors in this finalé of this series. I'm inspired! Thank you Shelly!:))

Hoffmann, Landecker, and Duplass settle effortlessly into their evolved roles - I see so much of them separately in so many other productions, it's like a holiday. The co-dependent, the pan sexual and the sex addict's confrontation with the surviving parent is a classic! Boundaries! 40 year nightmares! Oh My God!! The trial and tribulation of parenthood!

The Jewish traditions are still front and center though accessible to repressed rural former Buddhist-Catholic (spiritual mutt) gay male parent-types, I can say for sure.

Davina, the AIDS-era survivor unifies the historic suffering of the rest of us. Seeing these diverse, wise characters seems like cheating though. The complexities presented in the characters simply aren't so elegant in real life. Deep pain and suffering is what is true for most 'peoples' making their ways through this life. It's what makes us who we are. But it's worth it for this 'life.' I think the Soloways substituted the pain and suffering with music and lyric so the story could be bearable.

It's a genius episode, the songs are stuck in my ears, and I totally felt Alanis Morrisette channeling through. A superb end to a superb series, when it really could have all gone arse-up.

As this was billed as each character coming to closure to Maura's death, it was anything but that. Nonsensical songs, disjointed plot if you can call it that. Completion of any story was not finalized. From the monumental first 4 seasons this was a definite disappointment. So sorry this excellent ground breaking show came to this less than mediocre ending.