Here’s How ‘Transparent’ Killed Off Jeffrey Tambor’s Maura

In the two years since Transparent Season 4 premiered, the Amazon comedy has undergone quite a few changes. Chief among them is the departure of star Jeffrey Tambor, who left the show in early 2018 amid allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. Creator Jill Soloway has been clear that Tambor’s Maura would be killed off in the series finale, and they kept true to their word: in the first five minutes of the Transparent Musicale Finale, Maura dies of an aortic aneurysm, and the Pfefferman family spends the remaining hour and 35 minutes grieving her death.

**Spoilers ahead for the Transparent Musicale Finale**

As you can imagine, Maura’s death happens entirely off screen. A few hours before Maura is scheduled to have surgery, her best friend and roommate Davina (Alexandra Billings) gives her a wake up call. “Time to get up, Maura,” says Davina, who can be seen only from the waist up. Her face immediately falls.

Elsewhere, the Pfeffermans’ phones ring. “Maura’s dead,” says Davina, most likely to Shelly (Judith Light). Davina tells the Pfefferman matriarch to call her children, and Shelly does as she’s told. Each of her children react differently: Sarah (Amy Landecker) stops short in her car, Josh (Jay Duplass) drops a coffee pot, and Gaby Hoffmann’s Ari (née Ali), who is on a flight from Israel back to Los Angeles, experiences some unexpected turbulence.

After the opening credits, which have been slightly modified to reflect the change in format and cast, the Pfeffermans try to piece together what happened. In a series of rapid-fire cuts, each family member yells into his or her phone, effectively creating even more chaos. “Where is she?” asks Josh. “You have to call Bryna!” says Shelly. “Will Ari get here? They were on the way to come to the surgery,” adds Sarah of her younger sister, who explored her nonbinary identity in Season 4. Sarah also reveals that Maura suffered a “ruptured aortic aneurysm,” a balloon-like bulge that slows blood flow between the heart and the rest of the body. According to the CDC, if an aneurysm bursts, it causes bleeding in the body, which is often fatal.

Maura may die in the first few minutes of the Transparent finale, but her death has a major influence over the feature-length special. In an attempt to cope with her grief, as well as her complicated feelings towards Maura, Shelly puts on a musical and casts lookalike actors to play her children (naturally, this doesn’t sit well with her kids, who feel that they’ve been replaced in their own story). In true Transparent form, the children then put their own spin on Jewish funeral tradition, which requires that family members sit shiva for seven days to mourn and honor the deceased. During the first shiva ceremony, which takes place immediately after Maura’s ashes are buried in a Jewish cemetery — the battle over Maura’s cremation is also a prominent plot line — Josh decides to put on a bart mitzvah for Ari (“bart” being a combination of “bar” for a boy and “bat” for a girl).

The Bart mitzvah turns Maura’s shiva into a joyous celebration — or, as Soloway would have it, a “Joyocaust.” It’s a bizarre move for a show that has gone to great lengths to genuinely depict Judaism and the Jewish American experience, and it doesn’t quite connect. The creator’s “we must celebrate even in the face of great tragedy” message is clear, but is gracelessly comparing Maura’s death to the Holocaust really the best way to get that message across? Furthermore, does Soloway really see Tambor’s departure as a tragedy? The fact that we’re left with these questions at all is frustrating, particularly as they come after watching a mediocre musical that ignored many of its characters, glibly discussed the Holocaust, and included some really bad songs (“You’re much more than a Jewish wife, sitting pretty in your pretty little Jewish life” is an actual line). It’s disappointing and disheartening that Transparent goes out this way, but then again, what’s more Jewish than being unhappy with the final result?

Ultimately, Transparent‘s legacy remains up in the air. Will it be remembered as a boundary-pushing comedy featuring trans actors and timely plot lines, or a freewheeling series that couldn’t stick the landing? In another nod to our constantly-bickering rabbis, there are no clear answers here; it’s up to viewers to decide for themselves.

Watch Transparent on Amazon Prime Video