15 unconventional TV couples that probably shouldn’t have worked

Maura and Shelly Pfefferman — Transparent

Most women try to leave their exes in the past, and they certainly don’t try to maintain a close friendship. However, most women don’t divorce their husband of 40 years so he can transition into a woman. Shelly and Maura might not technically be married anymore, but they still have a whole life in their past, with three children and lots and lots of memories.

This makes a friendship both convenient and also desperately taxing at times. Not only are both women starting new lives, but they both have to navigate brand new experiences. It makes sense they would want to rely on each other to figure it out.

Traditionally when two people break up, they both go their separate ways and try to make lives on their own, without their partner. Not these two. They have decided to live their lives as girlfriends, solving their children’s problems and figuring out their third phase of life together.

Sometimes they even fall back into old habits, which also seems a little weird and possibly self-destructive. But you have to respect the inclination to maintain the love and respect they had for each other when their relationship was a little more traditional.