This episode was very well done.
The confrontations, the dilemmas, the dialogue and the final scene all contributed to the effective encapsulation of what this show is all about in a mere thirty minutes.
It began with the funeral which had just the right amount of emotion and just the right amount of comedy. But it only became truly engrossing when everyone returned to the beautiful home of Tammy and Sarah. As everyone was meant to be mourning Ed's loss, they all seemed to get distracted with their own pasts and failed to truly say farewell to Ed.
Sarah had to pull herself away from the group sharing session because (as usual) she couldn't contain herself and was being disrespectful. Len quickly followed and they giggled themselves all the way to the laundry room where they began rekindling what they once had. Things would have surely escalated further had it not been for Len killing the mood.
Josh's past caught up with him too causing his romance with Raquel to come to a sharp halt. She learned of his many previous encounters with women as Ali informed her that he seems to be a "love-addict" and she feared she was being used. Josh's past also resurfaced as he was introduced to Rita's - and his own - son. Yet what is so fascinating about this encounter is that we know just how eagerly Josh wants to love and to be loved and begin a family (perhaps in pursuit of a normal life in comparison to the rest of his family), and despite this, he is unable to celebrate the fact that he does in fact have a son.
Ali, too, became wrapped up in the past as she began questioning why she never had her own Bat Mitzvah. Her mother finally snapped and blamed it on her father (now Maura) being too busy going to "camp woman-wonka". As she confronts her father about this, he asks if she would even like him if it weren't for him funding her life.
It seemed that everything would end in disaster, yet the final scene manages to restore some balance among the Pfeffermans. We see that despite their many differences and their arguments and the truths of their pasts resurfacing, they are able to take one another's hands and continue as a family. And perhaps that is the final message of the season: despite all the insignificancies, they can (finally) accept one another for who they are and continue loving one another unconditionally. After all, Ali's argument with her father became fairly heated, yet she brought herself back in the end.
This was a very cleverly-created episode which ended the season nicely, set things up for a great season two, and stayed true to its core themes.
I am thrilled with how this first season of Transparent ended and I am eager for the release of season two. I can now positively say that the two Golden Globes this series earned are extremely well-deserved.
The confrontations, the dilemmas, the dialogue and the final scene all contributed to the effective encapsulation of what this show is all about in a mere thirty minutes.
It began with the funeral which had just the right amount of emotion and just the right amount of comedy. But it only became truly engrossing when everyone returned to the beautiful home of Tammy and Sarah. As everyone was meant to be mourning Ed's loss, they all seemed to get distracted with their own pasts and failed to truly say farewell to Ed.
Sarah had to pull herself away from the group sharing session because (as usual) she couldn't contain herself and was being disrespectful. Len quickly followed and they giggled themselves all the way to the laundry room where they began rekindling what they once had. Things would have surely escalated further had it not been for Len killing the mood.
Josh's past caught up with him too causing his romance with Raquel to come to a sharp halt. She learned of his many previous encounters with women as Ali informed her that he seems to be a "love-addict" and she feared she was being used. Josh's past also resurfaced as he was introduced to Rita's - and his own - son. Yet what is so fascinating about this encounter is that we know just how eagerly Josh wants to love and to be loved and begin a family (perhaps in pursuit of a normal life in comparison to the rest of his family), and despite this, he is unable to celebrate the fact that he does in fact have a son.
Ali, too, became wrapped up in the past as she began questioning why she never had her own Bat Mitzvah. Her mother finally snapped and blamed it on her father (now Maura) being too busy going to "camp woman-wonka". As she confronts her father about this, he asks if she would even like him if it weren't for him funding her life.
It seemed that everything would end in disaster, yet the final scene manages to restore some balance among the Pfeffermans. We see that despite their many differences and their arguments and the truths of their pasts resurfacing, they are able to take one another's hands and continue as a family. And perhaps that is the final message of the season: despite all the insignificancies, they can (finally) accept one another for who they are and continue loving one another unconditionally. After all, Ali's argument with her father became fairly heated, yet she brought herself back in the end.
This was a very cleverly-created episode which ended the season nicely, set things up for a great season two, and stayed true to its core themes.
I am thrilled with how this first season of Transparent ended and I am eager for the release of season two. I can now positively say that the two Golden Globes this series earned are extremely well-deserved.
