Two weekends ago I watched the entire first season of the Amazon Original Series 'Transparent'. Their Golden Globe win for Best Comedy somewhat prompted me to start watching this when I did but I had considered tuning it to this series before.
If you haven't heard of Transparent, it's an Amazon produced original series which documents the protagonist's journey into becoming a woman. Jeffrey Tambor stars as Mort/Maura Pfefferman who is a retired father of three who gradually reveals to his family that he identifies as a woman. Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass and Gaby Hoffmann all play fantastic roles as the three now grown up children. I had previously seen Gaby Hoffmann in Girls and liked her much more in this role. I would say she is my favourite out of the Pfefferman sibling's as she is a very likeable character.
The show was very interesting but it did not strike me right from the pilot and took a few episodes for me to begin to understand the characters more. It was definitely a grower as I very much enjoyed Transparent as the series went on. However, I didn't find it that consistently funny to be classed as a comedy. Don't get me wrong, it does have comedic moments but I feel like these are often sporadic and I would say that this show was more of a drama. I suppose it is a dramedy after all!
There were minor subplots throughout the series with the oldest sibling Sarah leaving her husband and reconnecting with her college ex-girlfirend Tammy. The middle sibling Josh also has a lot of trouble with women and we see a lot of his relationships played out over the course of the season. Both of these stories bring a lot of tension to the show but it still does not disconnect the viewer with Maura's journey.
One scene which I thought was particularly heartwarming was Sarah and Ali (Gabby Hoffmann) taking Maura to a department store where they had a makeover. It was a very lovely moment as the two characters tried to connect with their new 'Moppa'. This term was coined to support their father which I also thought was very touching. I don't really want to recap on it to much as I feel like as a viewer it was nice to share Maura's journey without having any previous knowledge at all of the show. I enjoyed it very much and I'm excited to see it was renewed for a second season. I would recommend Transparent to anyone who was looking for a new and fast (10 episodes) binge watch series!
Have you seen Transparent, if so what did you think of it?
No comments