I didnt know what to expect when I first discoveredTransparenton Amazon.
Well, both as it turns out.
And so much more besides.
AsTransparentitself teaches: labels can be misleading.
This is a melancholic California, painted in sombre hues.
The reason the show is calledTransparentshould now be transparently clear to you.
As the meal quickly descends into a series of selfish squabbles,Mort decidesto reschedule his revelation.
After all, whats another few days wait when set against seven decades of silence?
Maura shakes her head.
My whole life Ive been dressing up as a man.
When it comes to the quality of the writing,Transparentis a recognisable inheritor of shows likeThe SopranosandMad Men.
Each of the adult Pfefferman children is equally well cast.
The authenticity of both their looks and performances perfectly complement the sheer realness of the writing.
Its clear that The Pfeffermans arent a squad of poster-perfect, dazzle-toothed He-men or impossibly tall, shiny-haired models.
Theyre ordinary people, average Joes and Joannes with bodily imperfections and dismorphic angst.
Theyre also incredibly funny.
At once both the strongest and the weakest of the bunch.
In short, theyre human.
Shes not beyond ignorance, insensitivity or selfishness.
Shelley is a terrific character.
What couldve been a one-note character is elevated by masterful writing, and Longs equally masterful performance.
Shelley will break your balls (and ears) one minute, and your heart the next.
Something I guess you could say aboutTransparentin general.
Transgenderism isnt something with which Ive had a great deal of personal experience.
Its never really been an exemplar of cosmopolitanism.
I remember as a teenager having a summer job where I had to sell bottles of juice door-to-door.
I figured shed had a heart attack, so asked my boss to stop the van.
He just laughed, and kept driving.
I was too stunned to speak.
How could the salubrious world of juice have made this man so callous?
Its just some c*** in a dress, he said, in his adorably Scottish way.
We both laughed, I mean, how could we not?
It was a man in a dress.
In some places, the calendar will always show the date of a by-gone century.
Regrettably, the fight for transgender rights is, in some ways, only just beginning.
It certainly captured mine.
Im ashamed ever to have viewed transgenderism as some amusing oddity to be guffawed and giggled over.
Transparents cast and crew are arguably the most trans-inclusive and trans-positive in TV and cinema history.
And the show, as Jeffrey Tambors fan mail will attest, is literally saving lives.
But,Transparentdoesnt need to and shouldnt rest on its admirable ideals.
Its about Maura, and all women like her.
But its also about us: how we love, how we open our hearts.
And how we seek to find ourselves.
