What I’m Watching: Transparent

Transparent: Season 1, Episode 8 “Best New Girl” (B-)

Normally, I’m all for flashbacks, especially when they come at the end of a season right before or after a cataclysmic event (see “The Leftovers” for a very effective instance of that earlier this season). But in this case, taking away all our familiar faces aside from Mort and Mark right after an episode that left the family splintered and Maura devastated by her family’s lack of support at her show didn’t have the desired effect. What we’re waiting to find out is what happened with Mort and Mark that made it so that going to big conventions years ago didn’t translate into Mort coming out earlier. In this case, we had a bit of alienation as Mort bonded with someone else and left Mark to his own devices, and then Mort making the questionable move not to change back into male clothing when they left the safety of the retreat. I was pleased to see Michaela Watkins, who is great at playing crazy but here toned it down perfectly, as Connie, a woman more than open to spending time with men who chose to dress as women. Her character seems like a true rarity, though I think that Shelly is relatively open to it as well even though she didn’t take it seriously for many years. Seeing snippets of the three kids as younger people wasn’t as enticing as seeing their older selves, though a young Ali defiantly performing her Bat Mitzvah portion to a random visitor from memory was definitely intriguing. I hope that the final two episodes of the season get back to the more pressing issues in the present.