Oddly enough, I was telling a FTM friend of mine about this very episode. I was telling him about the points you made and he seemed to think it did pretty well. I am hoping that he will take a look at it.

I am not crazy about the series, but I thought they handled this subject very well.

I've also been watching this sleeper show since it debuted a few weeks ago (yes, because of the lead but also the genre) and was pleasantly surprised by the story line and its treatment, too. I believe the show is produced in Canada, which I suspect provides part of the explanation for its foreward-thinking "analysis" and presentation. I was quite pleased with the youth-parent dialog and relationship and the end, as well. It was definitely not Hollywood happy!

I watched the episode, and I am an FtM. I give it an A+. The kid had issues, and his life wasn't the best, but they made sure that transness wasn't a major part of that issue (Except for his being unable to remain at home and accepted.)

Also, having the very nice protagonist point out similarities between himself and the trans kid was awesome. After finding out about the kid, he only used the female pronouns with the social worker, but otherwise referred to the kid as Daniel and 'he,' which seems to me a sign that he accepted the kid for who he was. The protagonist of the show is an advocate for the young FtM, dispelling ideas about his weirdness, interrupting his partner from calling the kid weird by pointing out his own weirdness. So the FtM wasn't made to be exotic. That was a plus.

Also, I like the way the mother is portrayed. She doesn't get it, but wants to, and is very adamant about the fact that she loves her kid. People care about Daniel, but the show isn't pandering about that. Also, he asks questions any teenager has to ask, and his transness isn't treated as the reason why he is questioning everything. And even though he's essentially on the streets, I don't feel worried for him. I feel like he's where he needs to be, and will now be able to figure things out.

So, this episode was win. Definitely an improvement from other shows where trans people are exotic murderers or just anomalies.

Cool!

I wish I had seen it... Or, could download it, but I still live in the last century as far as most tech stuff goes and it would take a century to download the program on my dial up modem...
:o)

In any case, "Thank You!" I hope sumone will remind us when this particular episode will be on re-run so we who missed it the first time will be able to see it as well.

Now, on to what I said "Cool" about at the onset of this note. You wrote:

"I was even more surprised that they didn't put a neat little bow on the end of the episode, with the mother coming around and simply accepting her son. The young man decides he can't live with his mother until she gets help to accept him."

It was the "The young man decides he can't live with his mother until "SHE GETS HELP TO ACCEPT HIM" part that I Love and it is so normalizing.

We, as transgenders, are so used to seeing ourselves as the ones who have a "problem" when in reality "we" are absolutely clear about who we are and have known since we were children what needs to be done. It isn't "us" who have a problem that needs to be fixed, its "them"... All the people who are so blinded by their intollerance they cannot conceive the fact that it is they who are made disfunctional by that intolerance.

I Love that very important change in perspective. It puts the focus where it has always needed to be.

Again, "Thank you!"

~Fiona~