What I’m Watching: Transparent

Transparent: Season 4, Episode 9 “They Is On the Way” (B)

This was a bit of a scattered episode, in keeping with the other installments this season has produced and following its tendencies to reduce episode runtimes so that they feel like they’ve over almost before they started. Everyone looked miserable on the bus but then they went to the Dead Sea, where it seems like they were able to let loose a bit. I enjoyed the discussion about having to wait fifteen minutes before swimming and how Len outright rejected that myth. After some arguing last episode, Sarah and Len appear to have reached an important place, which is the decision that they’re going to move forward without Lila as part of their relationship. She’ll probably shrug it off and they’ll have trouble getting over her, but I suppose a normative relationship couldn’t be the worst thing for this couple to try. Josh, who was kind enough to help his mother into the water, couldn’t get off Ali’s absence, and their conclusion that Ali was a “they” seemed like exactly the conversation Ali would admonish them for having since it assumes that they know what she’s going through (using that pronoun since Ali hasn’t otherwise expressed that she should be called they). Ali’s dip into the Dead Sea appeared to provide some fulfillment, and we’ll see how things turn out when the family gets back to the United States. We got a strange glimpse of Davina at the house, with an initially worrisome and then just plain weird interaction with the tenant, who I sincerely hope leaves as soon as they return. It’s not satisfying to check in with characters like this for just a scene every few episodes, and I’m not sure what to expect from the season finale for any of these people.