Transparent

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.

Stories like this only come every so often. Its subject matter is just as strong and as unique as it's cast of characters. I decided to take a chance on watching the pilot after hearing that Jeffrey Tambor plays an interesting role in this story. Beyond original, it is one of his toughest and brilliant performances in his long artistic career. The pace of the show along with it's abundance use of nudity reflects the mundane as well as the rawness Transparent showcases. It's audience is guaranteed to grow as the subject matter starts to become universal to each of the show's characters. Each of them are going through a transformation. This fantastic cast includes Gaby Hoffmann, Judith Light, Jay Duplass, Amy Landecker and Rob Huebel. Each bring a subtle interest to the show's subject matter.

At times there are moments of comedy, sadness and deep thought. Very few shows are able to capture this. Second to only House of Cards, Transparent will and should be the most watched "online" series today.

I've gotta say, it's usually that shows gain steam as they go on. With this, it was the opposite. I thought it started off truly fantastic, but somewhere after the first few episodes it lost me a bit. I'm totally up for unlikable protagonists, but Ihave to find them interesting. Two of the three siblings here were not only at times completely insufferable and got more unlikable as the season went on, but their story lines were only mildly interesting at times, and the other times not at all. The one sibling that I did like and found interesting despite also being pretty unlikable was Amy Landecker's character, and I think in her case it really only was because I'm a fan of her as an actress in general. The season should've really concentrated more on Tambor. As it is, it's a pretty good first season despite me liking it less and less as it went on, even if totally unoriginal.

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.

I could blurb on about how poignant this programme is.

I could parp on about how fabulous Jeffrey Tambor is.

I could ramble on about how enlightening it is or I could just say that I loved it, a lot.

Tis true, I really truly loved it. I did a spot of that binge watching thing, made my partner watch it and watched it again with her. I do not think that it is being hyped up due to the subject matter, it is simply a bleeding good programme. The humour doesn't come from a man in a dress, it comes from the keen observations in the writing and the great acting (maybe not from Judith Light's portrayal of an elderly Jewish woman, which I thought was a tad over the top on occasion, not so much in the flash backs though, which were quite lovely). It made me laugh, smile, cry, feel a lot of different emotions through each episode.

After watching it twice, I then went onto to reading about it and found a whole new appreciation for what it is and what Jill Soloway has done here, even though I thought it was fab before, I love it all the more knowing the background to the writing and making of it.

Looking forward to season two, I hope a TV channel picks it up, I'm not a huge fan of this video streaming thing and would prefer to see on a big screen.