by Chris Feil
Transparent thrives on impending personal cataclysm and the middle portion of its third season is no exception. Per usual, the Pfeffermans are on track for explosions big and small coming not soon enough for their own good or too fast that they can't see it as its happening. When Eric left us off, Maura (Jeffrey Tambor) had made the decision to fully transition, Sarah (Amy Landecker) was still struggling to get spiritually arrested, and Alli's (Gabby Hoffman) was continuing her relationship with the shifty Leslie (Cherry Jones). In this next section, Judith Light's Shelly takes a backseat, while Josh (Jay Duplass) begins a series of oncoming crises.
Episode 4 - "Just the Facts"
Maura opens the episode with a visit to her plastic surgeon to see the potential outcome from her planned facial reconstruction. She's beginning to see the belabored process of intrusive and endless therapy visits required to fully transition, but the projection of her future self staring back at her is all too promising to get discouraged...
While her girlfriend Vicki (Anjelica Huston) was less than fully supportive of her decision in the last episode, she's now at least saying all of the right things, if unconvincingly. It's clear Maura's unprepared for what's to come, but at the very least she could use some more unqualified support.
In her similarly doomed relationship however, Alli is more vocal about what her needs are. Confessing to Leslie the pseudo-cheating she experienced with the uncomfortably direct TA previously leads to a hookie day at home for the both of them, casually solidifying a relationship fated for a slow crash and burn.
Ever evasive Sarah continues to narrowly slip through the big burns just at the final moment before moving onto the next. Her son's unfortunate bowel issues play the perfect metaphor for her constant restlessness solved through outburst. This time she tries switching it up with her dominatrix / surrogate therapist to cringeworthy aggressive results, only again to redirect by using a school gymnasium to host a community Shabbat celebration. Like elsewhere, she's just a visitor of BDSM and Jewish faith until they blow up in her face or turn out differently than expected.
Meanwhile, aimless Josh spends time with his former statutory lover Rita, granting her forgiveness for her inappropriateness and secreting the resulting child. The episode's shock ending of her suicide is about to trigger his tailspin.
Episode 5 - "Oh Holy Night"
In the immediate fallout of Rita's death, Maura attempts honesty with Josh, apologizing for misguided parenting in how she and Shelly dealt with the sexual relationship and pregnancy of that relationship. Maura may be sincere and humble, but it doesn't change much for Josh. Forgiveness is a recurring theme on Transparent in all of its facets, here shown for how irrelevant it can be to our pain even in the absence of animosity. For Josh, it hardly matters if Maura takes responsibility.
Sarah's community Shabbat is kicking off well even if Alli brought along a combative Leslie, whose anti-Israel politicking couldn't be more self-serving or missplaced given the event. Kathryn Hahn is in peak form all season, but here we get to see the believable conviction that she gives Raquel as a religious leader, always one of the most refreshing parts of her performance. As she leads the group through moments of reflection and joy, Maura is typically tone deaf and reverses the care she'd given Josh earlier by reciting Kaddish for Rita when Josh won't speak to her death himself.
And here is where Duplass and Hahn break your heart anew, the wounds of their miscarriage and failed relationship again bubbling to the surface.
This moment shows Transparent's rich emotional intelligence. Nothing about this wordless exchange between former lovers is to stir will-they-or-won't-they feelings like a lesser show would attempt. The layered, shared sadness understood, unsaid in the moment is heartbreaking and private, more connected than when they had just exchanged actual words. The season finally makes Duplass one of its MVPs and Hahn is never less than fully realized, but this scene is one of the season's most emotionally bruising.
Episode 6 - "The Open Road"
This episode mostly centers around Josh's drive to visit Clayton, taking the occasionally seen Shea (Trace Lysette) along for the ride. But on the more bizarre fringes, Alli has a religio-mortality nitrous trip at the dentist, foretelling an unease she's yet to define for herself. A brief pop up from Shelly gives us a hint of what's to come with her seemingly ludicrous one woman show "To Shell and Back" and of her increasingly opportunist relationship with Buzz, but we'll save that talk for the coming finale.
The recklessness of Josh crossing the desert to interrupt Clayton's life and carry Shea along as an innocent bystander turns to a more playful abandon as the two break into a closed water park for fun. The sequence abruptly turns from swoony and sexy to heartbreaking as Josh in short order offends the open-hearted Shea's HIV status and trans identity.
It's fitting that while the episode centers on Josh, it's Shea and Lysette that is the revelation. On of the series's many gifts is how it constantly reminds us of the humanity all around us by crafting honest moments from even tangential characters like Shea - everyone has a story that's all too real. Josh's myopia and self-absorption is finally called out for its cruelty, Shea refusing to fall prey being used by his need to be validated. In a fury of hurt and anger, Lysette finally gives Josh the verbally lashing we've been waiting for while also illuminating the human being that exists outside of his gaze. It's a brief turn, but one of the season's strongest performances.