In this episode, the talent show Maura has been preparing for and telling her family about for the past few episodes finally arrives. And when it does, the facade of acceptance which her children have sculpted for Maura shatters and reality finally engulfs her.
From the beginning, Maura's friend Davina (also a transgender) has warned her of the nature of family and what always inevitably happens when they are faced with something they cannot understand: they run from it. This is exactly what happens during Maura and Davina's performance. Her children (with partial blame allocated to the alcohol and marijuana) behave atrociously and disrespectfully towards their Moppa. They all end up leaving before the performance ends, meaning that the only person in the crowd there for Maura was Tammy - Sarah's partner.
At the end of her performance, Maura looks out to the seats in which her children are meant to be seated and sees that the chairs are empty. We can immediately see how this disappoints and upsets Maura. She has been practicing, preparing, encouraging her children to come along, and even labelled their seats as VIP. This tells the viewer how important family is to Maura, who refused to take on board the advice of her friend Davina. Family is what matters most to Maura, yet it is made clear that her family are not yet ready to accept who she is. This crushes Maura and forces her to return to her (ex)wife Shelly, which only further reinforces how important family is to her.
This is an excellent episode which demonstrates to the viewer the effect that running away rather than accepting a person for who they are has upon that person. It is able to show us the emotional consequences which Maura now has to face as a result of her children's inability to accept her for who she is. And whilst doing all of this, the key theme of acceptance is being underlined as we cannot help but feel saddened by the actions of Maura's children and feel sorry that she had to go through such an endeavour. Once again, the creators have managed to emphasise that every person is indeed a person: regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other varying characteristic, every person has emotions and can feel pain caused by others.
It is no wonder that this series has earned two Golden Globes in it's first season. It continues to amaze me in the way that it aims to tell a story from an unexplored perspective and pushes towards changing society for the better. I urge you to begin watching this series.
From the beginning, Maura's friend Davina (also a transgender) has warned her of the nature of family and what always inevitably happens when they are faced with something they cannot understand: they run from it. This is exactly what happens during Maura and Davina's performance. Her children (with partial blame allocated to the alcohol and marijuana) behave atrociously and disrespectfully towards their Moppa. They all end up leaving before the performance ends, meaning that the only person in the crowd there for Maura was Tammy - Sarah's partner.
At the end of her performance, Maura looks out to the seats in which her children are meant to be seated and sees that the chairs are empty. We can immediately see how this disappoints and upsets Maura. She has been practicing, preparing, encouraging her children to come along, and even labelled their seats as VIP. This tells the viewer how important family is to Maura, who refused to take on board the advice of her friend Davina. Family is what matters most to Maura, yet it is made clear that her family are not yet ready to accept who she is. This crushes Maura and forces her to return to her (ex)wife Shelly, which only further reinforces how important family is to her.
This is an excellent episode which demonstrates to the viewer the effect that running away rather than accepting a person for who they are has upon that person. It is able to show us the emotional consequences which Maura now has to face as a result of her children's inability to accept her for who she is. And whilst doing all of this, the key theme of acceptance is being underlined as we cannot help but feel saddened by the actions of Maura's children and feel sorry that she had to go through such an endeavour. Once again, the creators have managed to emphasise that every person is indeed a person: regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other varying characteristic, every person has emotions and can feel pain caused by others.
It is no wonder that this series has earned two Golden Globes in it's first season. It continues to amaze me in the way that it aims to tell a story from an unexplored perspective and pushes towards changing society for the better. I urge you to begin watching this series.
