REVIEW: 'Transparent' - Maura Assembles Her Children to Try and Tell Them Who She Really Is in 'Pilot'

Amazon's Transparent - Episode 1.01 "Pilot"

An LA family with serious boundary issues have their past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out.

Amazon has already done three separate pilot seasons in the last year and a half. They are a company committed to the production of original scripted content. Transparent arrives today with 10 episodes released all at once like the Netflix model. It's the first series from the successful second batch of pilots to debut. But more importantly, it's just one of the best TV shows period airing right now. I had the privilege of screening the first four episodes before the series debuted early this morning. And I can confirm that it continues to get better with each passing episode.

Transparent is a series about family but more importantly it's a series about the secrets one keeps - even from family. Mort has been keeping a secret from the people closest to him for his entire life. That he is actually Maura. For her entire life, she has been living as a man both because transgender awareness wasn't around for the majority of her life and because she has great love for her family. She's kept up this charade for 70 years - unable to be her true self to anyone other than herself. But now, she's willing to open that door. To go out into the world as Maura and to tell the truth to her children.

And yet, that is so much more difficult than she ever could have imagined. Coming out is never easy and in your seventies it only has to be so much worse. It's a struggle for her and she just can't do it when her three kids - Sarah, Josh and Ali - come over for dinner. "It's not the right time" is the answer she gives to her support group at the LGBT office. She tries desperately to get her kids to notice her for who she really is. And yet, they are all self-involved. Sarah would rather sleep with her lesbian ex from college than work on her marriage with Len; Josh is sleeping with several women; and Ali is simply not motivated to do anything but will gladly take money from her father. She's baffled by the way all of her kids behave but it has been a byproduct of her own identity issues.

It should be no surprise than that Maura will be forced into coming out to Sarah after getting caught in the makeup and the clothes. It's never a great time to do it. And yet, there's no way she can continue to hide it now. Sarah will learn her secret and vice versa as well considering Sarah was making out with Tammy in her dad's bedroom. It's a precarious situation. But also a strong inciting incident to open up a dialogue of honesty within this family. They are extremely close and frank with one another. But they all have their own secrets that they are hiding or are hiding from. A marvelous debut for one of the most unique series currently on television.

Some more thoughts:

• "Pilot" was written and directed by Jill Soloway.
• After the dinner, Maura claims to Ali that she is the child who sees her most clearly. She's desperately reaching out to her and she just won't meet her halfway. She can't open her eyes to who her dad really is because she's not even honest with herself.
• Additionally, I love how Maura asks Ali if all The Price is Right money is gone. That just says so much about the relationship between them without needing to say a lot.
• Jeffrey Tambor is just so fantastic and transcendent as Maura. Usually you put a man in female clothing and it's the joke. But here, it is taken very seriously and it works wonderfully. Brava! I see an Emmy nomination (should Amazon make a big enough splash next year, fingers crossed!)
• The pilot was released back in February but there are a few changes in the episode that debuted today. Melora Hardin is now playing Tammy and Carrie Brownstein is now playing Syd, Ali's best friend.
• The current plan is to write a review for one episode every day. That's the plan right now. Time constraints may force me to delay. Or some days it may just be truncated thoughts. I do plan, however, to have some thoughts on Episode 2 up later today.