Season 3 of TransParent disappoints, and here's why

Sad to say this but I'm afraid Season 3 of the Amazon series TransParent just does not live up to the high standard that it set in Seasons 1 and 2. The characters face the same struggles and dilemmas - struggling to find their identities, sexual and otherwise, to make sense of their lives and their feelings, to advance in their careers, to find someone to love them - and it's great to see that these struggles enacted by 30 somethings and 60 somethings, not just by teens and young professionals. But Season 3 does not advance the plot of push the characters to moments of crisis and decision, as did the first two. Oddly, the 2 main characters in this season seem to be not Maura and her kids but Shelly, the ex, and Raquel, the rabbi. The best episodes were the one with the turtle, which mostly focused on the early years of the Pfefferman family, and Raquel's breakdown on the eve of the Seder. Others didn't come close: I could never quite believe the josh-moves-to-Colorado and becomes a Xtian - and neither could the Solloways, as they quickly back away from that plot twist. And what about the Season finale, which seems like an infomercial for Norwegian Cruise Lines? Aside from hardly believing this family would go on a cruise together, the narrative just leads us to nowhere - that is - to Shelly's performance on the cruise cabaret in which she sings - quite effectively - an Alanis Morissette song. What's the point? I though her one-woman show was to be about her life's journey, not a performance by a cover artist; was this to gratify a whim of the very talented Judith Light, who is emerging as the show's star? Sorry, but maybe there are now too many plot elements, some getting lost, and the next season should bring the focus back to where it belongs, i.e., Maura's journey.