Sarah was more tolerable this season than in the past, but for the most part I agree with you. I don't like Shelly, the way she casually discussed killing her second husband in the first season was over the line for me. This season I felt sorry for her though she was really dumped on by her family. The kids are the absolute worst part and it makes some of their scenes unbearable.

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You are absoletly correct.
A key Narcissist phrase is "Image is Everything" - and thats all people in L.A care about. There is no substance to these people and there never will be.
The similaries between this and Six Feet Under are SOOO minimal - I saw the first episode - with the kids joshing and joking about is this Dads "I ve got cancer coming out party attitude" and recognised pretty quickly that they re bringing the characters all together so the audience meets them in the first episode = just as they did in Six Feet Under - however SFU is Alan Balls creation and thats where the similarities end.
I ve just finished series 3 and this show reminds me of "Devils Advocate" I can almost picture the Hollywoodweirdos garnering a show to make people as selfish, sexually immoral and F'kd up as possible.
Its not a funny show its a dark Show. I watch it only as per social commentary. Season 3 really let me down.
I predict 5 seasons. I think they will build as thus -
make you hate all the characters for sure by season 3 bar a couple but eventually nearly them all
Then an event that brings them all together- bar one - say a death
Then them all getting over that death and moving forward with their lives.
I reckon its going to be Moira that dies or Aly.
Lets wait and see.
Makes me thank Heavens for English Dramas such as The Peaky Blinders.

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I've watched all three seasons by now, and I agree that Tambor should be most of the plot and airtime. And the kids are getting too annoying to watch. They seem to be there mainly for shock value, comic relief, titillation/sh^t-stirring, or LGB consciousness-raising, but that's not what I want to watch. I want to watch a solid drama (which can be funny as well) about three-dimensional people, not two-dimensional cartoon characters who have become so predictable they seem to be merely chess pieces moved around on a board.
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^^^^^^^
This perfectly explains my issue with the show. Transparent makes sexual behavior seem so gross like it's no different than taking a piss or a crap. It removes the human connection that sex has. In its insistence to be seen as liberal and open it has forgone even the traditional morality of society. It makes divorce, abortion, sexual promiscuity and child rape look like frivolous and normal things that happen to everyone and that no judgements should be made.

I really agree with this assessment. I kept watching this show, scratching my head at the reviews as I really couldn't stand these characters.
I think sometimes a show's politics become so outfront that people take a side regardless of what the characters are actually doing. I'm a liberal, but I had a hard time with a show that so frivolously treated the destruction of TWO longtime marriages to pursue a lesbian fling, an abortion, a drug-induced threesome "Spit roasting," using black men as sexual props more than characters, rabbi sex, Ali bouncing from fitness trainer to transgendered man to her longtime female friend (ironic that she said the two fitness guys couldn't deal with wanting to screw each other when she rejected her feelings for her longtime friend in the same way), the son's fling with an older woman that he'd been carrying on since boyhood, etc.
The show is trying so hard to break down sexual mores that it's not really giving the characters real humanity or depth.

Josh dresses like many men do, it's been a thing for years. And it's explained that he is into everything 'new'. And Josh is hot, not 'weird-looking'. You sound bitter and judgmental and uninteresting.

The children have a lot of problems, but I think the more we get into the series the more it is revealed why the family is the way it is. At the end of the day, they are the fruit their parents have beared.
You think I'd speak for you?
I don't even know your language.

I agree with you 100%. Of course it's intentional that they are written that way. Ever see the show Girls? I can't stand most of the characters on that show either. I call it my "love-to-hate" show in that I do like the show despite hating most of the characters. This show feels much the same I like Maura and I like the character of his ex-wife as well. It's the kids I despise and the one I hate the most is the flaky youngest Ali can't stand people like that in real life and can't stand them on the screen.

I'm glad that there are other issues going on in the show. It makes it feel more like a full show and not solely focused on one aspect, because life isn't only focused on one aspect.

poor writing and acting? please, this show has some of the best writing and acting on TV(streaming or network).I guess that's why it's called subjectivity, to each their own.

It's not just that the children are written to be problematic, it's the poor writing (and acting) making them unbelievable that really makes them painful to watch.

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I agree. These characters are joyless and a chore to watch.

If the son was the only child it would be interesting, especially seeing the
statutory rape
storyline he has later in the season which explains a lot about him.
Ali can be set dressing, and Sarah is a horrible bi stereotype I'd be glad to kick off the show with steel toed boots, or soccer shoes.
Hawkeye
: Do you know how it feels to be unmade?
The Avengers

I can see why people want see the stone splashing into the water. But this show is about the ripples it creates, not the splash itself.
The point is that every character become aware of himself in a different way and how the double life even though unknown to the children had an impact on them. So when you say the show was not centered around Maura, you are wrong, as she indeed is the absolut center of everything happening.
It is an ensemble piece, therefore the fathers plot only has a quarter of the time. But in this time it shows what is necessary. At the same time every scene with Tambor is fresh, as the show does not cash in on the trans-topic blatantly. It is not meant to be La cage aux folles.

Agree with your post. I hated the children and abandoned the series after a few episodes. I just picked it back up out of boredom, and it's tolerable now that I just accepted that the kids suck.

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I understand that, and it would work well except for the fact that each of the children on their own gets more screen time than Tambor does. He is a supporting character rather than the main character, and despite the first couple of episodes focusing on his "coming out" to his family, the latter half of the season had very little to do with Maura at all.

Absolutely. I do believe Maura became the most unlikeable character on the show in season 3. And that's really saying something, considering those horrid kids.

They are really no worse than Maura - especially Season 3.

The children are not supposed to be likable characters; that's kind of the intention of the show.
Maura/Mort's obnoxious kids are part of what makes his adaption to his/her new life so difficult.

No, what you're doing is projecting the way you feel onto others. You can't speak for everyone, just yourself.