This was a fitting finale. When they had to dump Tambor, what should they have done, gone on for a forced season or two more without him? That would have been contrived torture and the show would have died a slow death, like most shows that try to replace their leads do. Or just ended it cold turkey / pulled the plug? That would have been disturbing to fans not to mention they would have been dogged by reunion rumors forever. So, a departure from standard format and one that ties up loose ends seemed like a good idea for this loopy uber-upper middle-class Jewish family. The semi-mostly-musical episode was perfectly surreal-they even had a wild "The Brady Bunch" set piece/daydream sequence. I'm sure they must have realized they were going to annoy a few viewers, but I suspect the Transparent audience is a bit less provincial than that. The show was really about the characters and their neuroses anyway, so why not use the freedom of the musical theatre format to explore those neuroses further? It was a work of art and better to end as a work of art than as a cliché. The original songs and choreography were genuinely excellent and everyone's singing voice was serviceable if helped along a bit by autotune. The production was impressive: most numbers had a chorus, and a talented one at that. The big production numbers seemed like they were influenced by everything from Hair to Sweeney Todd to Annie to West Side Story to Fiddler to Chicago to Pippin. As usual, the acting was exquisite and even the tiniest of roles was cast with care. Speaking of roles, a lot of actors from earlier seasons popped in-like Alex MacNiccol, Kathryn Hahn, Melora Hardin, Trace Lysette, and Cherry Jones...and Rainn Wilson plays a character like his character in Six Feet Under. Judith Light, meanwhile, was superb and carried the show emotionally. Plus, there was shiva AND a bar mitzvah. This fun, smart, loopy show ended on a high-and joyous-note.