Transparent Season 2: Review

Now I want to discuss a TV show I really love. This one is Transparent brought to us by Jill Solloway, who was a writer/producer of another show I really love; Six Feet Under.

The story of Transparent tells us the story of Maura Pfefferrman (Jeffrey Tambor), who was once Mort, and is coming out as trans very late in life to her children; Sarah (Amy Landecker), Josh (Jay Duplass), and Ally (Gaby Hoffman). Season one was a very good season, and focuses primarily on Maura journey as a trans women and  going through their transition. My main problem is that while Maura's story is great, the children arent as well developed. During season one Sarah divorces her husband for another women Tammy, who she met in college. That storyline was very rushed. Josh, who is a music producer deals with his group and the fact that one of his clients had an abortion that was his baby, also very rushed. Ally, I feel was one of the only children that had significant develop, delaing with the fact that she is broke and in between jobs with no direction in her life until her Moppa transition she wants to go back to school.

Season 2 picks up right at Sarah and Tammy's wedding, in which Sarah has had second thoughts about. Josh who is in the process of settling down with a Rabbi named Raquel who he met the previous season, and Ally is starting graduate school. This is the season where I feel that the characters are getting much more development, and acting is getting much stronger. I thought that this show would suffer from the "sophomore slump" in which a show with a strong first season, has a lesser second season. For examples see "Empire" and "True Detective". If I were to pick a favorite story line it would be the Germany flashback. At first it would feel random but it actually ties in to the Pfefferman's story, as Glittel (Hari Nef, real life transgender model) is going through a similar transition in Nazi Germany. Another great story line is Maura's relationship with Davina and Shea, as she discovers their transgender experience, and acknowledging her own privilege as a trans women who has a loving family. I think this was a faboulous season and cannot wait till season 3.

Season MVP: Jay Dupless and Jeffery Tambor
Best Episode: Man on the Land
Grade: A

Lunar Chronicles Book 2: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Summary via goodreads.com
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive. 

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

When I first heard about the sequel, I thought it would focus primarily on the new character Scarlet, which it does but it also continues the story of Cinder, who this time is aided by another new character Carswell Thorne, who is basically a younger version of Captain Jack Harkness of Doctor Who/Torchwood; who also THANK GOD, is not a suitor for Cinder by an ally to her, which I appreciate Marissa Meyer of doing is not having a love triangle in the story. 

Scarlet's story begins with her trying to find her Grandmother, and in her search discovers that she may have been taken by Lunar werewolves , and is helped by one of them named Wolf. This story is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The reason why the Lunars want her grandmother is one of the conspirators who assisted Cinder when she was a baby. Like Cinder, the relationship between Wolf and Scarlet is very well handled, and while it has the cliches its still well handled.

With Kai, I like the fact that he is actually the Emperor. Usually in most stories regarding princess', once the King and Queen are out of commission, the princess is still called princess. Here he is actually the emperor and still has to deal with not just Levana, and their wedding, but also Levana declaring war on earth. While there is not a lot of chapters dealing with Kai, I like that there is actual character development with him. 

I know there is a lot of things I left out, but this book is a great follow-up to Cinder which does a good job at introducing new characters, while developing returning characters.

Rating: 4.7/5

Lunar Chronicles Review: Book 1: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Spoilers)

Cinder is the first book of Marissa Meyers Lunar Chronicles which consist of fairy tale retelling. Which mainly consist of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White. The first book Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella, and basically follows the same formula. However the book and series itself takes a lot of twists and turns with the story.

Plot Summery from Amazon:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future

What I love about this book series, is that it does a very good job retelling the story of Cinderella, while offering some new twists and turns with the story. Cinder is one of my favorite book characters because she has an arc, in just the first book. Also the romance is also well developed without the "insta-love" that happens in many YA novels and have Kai not be just a guy for Cinder to fall for, but also has his own arc; dealing with the death of father, being forced to marry Queen Levana, who plans on killing him after the wedding. The twist in the novel; that Cinder is not just a Lunar but also the lost princess Selene, I kinda saw coming ever since the fact that the lost princess exists, obviously an homage to Sailor Moon, that Marissa Meyer is a fan of. What this book did was make me excited about whats gonna happen in the next book, and is an amazing start to a great series.

Score: 4.5/5