Pose

While the specter of AIDS hangs over the whole season, Pose leaves a significant milestone in the history of the virus until the 90-minute finale. It's a lot of ground to cover, and some of the dialogue trends toward overwrought speechifying. But this was a time when ACT UP literally had to throw the ashes of their loved ones on the White House lawn to get the government to pay more attention to the AIDS crisis, so perhaps a little melodrama is called for.

Never has a TV show told diverse, queer and trans stories like this, with honesty, nuance, empathy and – most importantly – hope.

A season that feels like one long glamorous goodbye, though Pose would never stint on “moments”.

While no one sails through these last chapters without a hitch, "Pose" leaves them and us on a soft-but-firm bed of optimism at the end of a slide lubricated with tears, gasps and a whole lot of entirely implausible turns. ... Anyway, the charm of "Pose" remains in its performances. ... Enough about their harsh realities feels genuine enough for such grandiose fantasies to come off as a necessary indulgence.

Some episodes pick up days after their previous installment. Some take place months, or even years down the line. At times it can be a bit jarring. Suddenly, the House of Evangelista jumps from being ballroom mainstays to largely absent legends. Characters who barely dabble with drugs have full-blown addictions. But this season has so much heart, these little logical leaps can be forgiven. If anything, they add to the ethereal feeling of the series’ conclusion.

Another Emmy nomination shouldn’t be out of the question for Porter, but Rodriguez deserves one, too. Around the characters of Blanca and Pray, “Pose” predictably bounces between fantastical indulgence and inconsistently weighted depictions of drug use, Mafia involvement, and death. ... [Whitney Houston] sings “The Lord asks me what I did with my life/I will say I spent it with you,” and that sense of gratefulness suffuses and strengthens this final season of “Pose.”

“Pose” seems to be sprinting through story — the seven-episode season begins in 1994 and ends in 1998 — to fit everything in in its final season. It’s a little all over the place but entertaining enough in the soapy way “Pose” always is.

Those who found the melodrama a bit over the top in earlier seasons will find no respite in the finale. “Pose” is what it is: A flashy, high-budget, first-of-its-kind, Ryan Murphy-produced soap opera about trans women of color.

The show itself feels increasingly conservative. It’s a cosy family drama, offering up neat lessons, unfailing optimism and traditional signifiers of success, such as expensive apartments and glossy social lives. That sentimental and aspirational sheen might well offer radical hope to those who have been excluded from society, and from our stories. But it turns a drama into a victory parade.