Sense8 review
So, Sense8!
I can’t remember who recommended it to me first, but I’ve now finished Season One (not the Christmas Special). Sadly, I didn’t live blog it, but am now posting with my thoughts from the first season as I prepare for more.
Thoughts on the show/world:
• God, this is an optimistic show. As far as I can tell, the basic message is that people at heart, have more in common than not, and ultimately we are all better off if we look to connect with each other rather than look for divisions. And the world is filled with beauty and hope and love and nice people even if they don’t see it really. As this is basically the core of my understanding and hope for humanity, I was basically always going to love it.
• You can tell this show was made by the Wachowskis who, as far as I can tell, basically think entertainment ought to to be made up of sex, dancing, more sex, some martial arts, some extra martial arts, another dollop of martial arts, a bit of philosophizing about the nature of humanity and existence, before artistic sex and then everyone living enlightenedly ever after. However, as someone with a fondness for the Matrix and a devoted love for Jupiter Ascending, I’m alright with that. I’m not going to pretend their philosophy is necessarily ever going to make anyone think, or that their worlds aren’t occasionally maybe a teensy bit dominated by ‘this colour looks cool’ or that they don’t add in a high kick when really, it isn’t needed. But whatever. I embrace their style.
• Having said that, this also reinforces my oft repeated observation that all the most exciting stories are moving to TV these days. Cinema has spectacle and franchise. TV is where the interesting characters and thoughtful conversations and emotional journeys are happening, usually over 10-12 episodes. And I’m OK with that. I also note I’m going to the cinema less and less often - I used to be a once a week kind of girl. These days I can go months without going. But I do binge watch TV.
• Goodness, this show is cleverly made. I love how they weave the different locations together and it all seems so bloody seamless. And my god, they get the world right. Each location feels different - the colours, the sounds - I swear, I can almost smell the different scents. It’s incredibly vibrant and brilliant for it.
• It probably isn’t, but right now this feels like the first show that has got diversity right. The cast is amazingly diverse - in terms of gender, class, nationality, sexuality etc - and that diversity is embraced. It is relevant that Nomi is trans, that Kala is Hindu, that Lito is gay. That is a part of their story. But it isn’t their whole story and it doesn’t overpower the rest of the story. I think it’ll actually matter less and less as it goes on - my feeling is that, for example, Lito’s Season One arc is his sexuality, but that’s his origin and he’s got a lot of other places to go.
• I am still too repressed and English to really embrace psychic orgies.
Thoughts on the Sensate cluster, who are:
• Lito. Closeted Latino actor with the special power of….acting. He does the lying and social manipulation for the cluster when needed. I think I love him. He’s so very useless, and so very sweet, and I desperately want everything to work out for him in the end. I adore his relationship with Hernando (who is awesome) and I am oddly hopeful that at some point the show will acknowledge that what they have there is a really positive depiction of a polyamorous relationship, with his live in fake girlfriend. I suspect, however, things are going to get dramatically worse before they get better due to his girlfriend’s evil ex. But I will be rooting for him every step of the way.
• Nomi. Trans woman from San Francisco with the special power of…hacking. Rather magical hacking, actually. She might just be a wizard. Is it just me, or is she a total Mary Sue? I mean, I get that it’s really ground breaking to have a positive depiction of a trans woman, played by a trans actress, and for her story not to be all about her transition. I get that and I do like that. But could she maybe have a few faults? A row with her incredibly perfect girlfriend occasionally? Have issues with people for reasons other than ‘that person is palpable evil’? Seriously, reality loves this woman too much and I don’t know if I’m OK with that.
• Will. Policeman from Chicago with the special power of….leadership and guns, I think. He seems to be best at giving orders, delivering tactical plans, investigating and sometimes shooting people. Also in love with Riley, who is the damsel in distress amongst the Sense8. He’s alright, I think. Kind of bland. I think I’m kind of fond of him, but he feels like a rather generic TV hero. He’s got issues with his father. He’s a cop on the edge. His lieutenant is breathing down his back. And he can’t let that girl die. He……loves her. I bet he spends his evenings glowering into a shot glass in a bar.
• Capheus. Bus driver from Nigeria with the special power of….driving. Has a bus. Also has by far the largest real life problems and holy crap, how have the entire Sensate not noticed this yet? His mum is HIV Positive, he’s struggling to get medicine for her, he’s trying to protect his family from Nigerian gangsters with machetes who now want to kill him since he refused to hand over his dodgy employer’s young daughter to be murderized by them. He is having the most awful time and remains upbeat and cheerful and keen on Jean Claude Van Damme. God, I want things to work out for him too.
• Wolfgang. Gangster from Berlin with the special power of….murder-death-kill. Also maybe safe breaking. But mostly murder-death-kill. He is their monster on a leash, who appears to be in a death duel with the Russian mafia (are they Russian? Or just East German?) over a heist gone wrong and their attempted murder of his childhood best friend. He’s also in love with Kala, who is the fluffiest member of the Sensate, but can’t be with her due to being fairly sure he’s evil. Some reviewers are unmoved by Wolfgang and Kala, but that’s because they are wrong.
• Kala. Pharmacist from India with the special power of….chemistry. This is mostly useless until suddenly HOLY CRAP DID SHE JUST BLOW UP EVERYTHING?!?! Kala is a nice Hindu girl, with a thing for Ganesha, engaged to a man she doesn’t love. I adore Kala’s storyline. I love that she’s nice, but also smart and intelligent. I love that she’s gentle, but strong and I love that her faith doesn’t make her stupid or deluded. And I love the India they show here. It feels like the bits of India I know, and I love that her fiancé is such a lovely guy. Just wrong for her because she’s in love with Wolfgang and it’s all rather heartbreaking. Also, did I mention she blows stuff up?
• Sun. Martial artist and prisoner from South Korea with the special power of….COMPLETE NINJA KICK ASS DEATH MACHINE. Seriously. In every given scary situation, Sun is THERE, to jump into the body of her cluster-mate, destroy armed battalions and then go back to sitting in her prison cell to meditate on her tortured soul and the fact she’s in prison for a crime she did not commit. I like her, but she desperately needs more character development and I’d like to see the cluster help her instead of just relying on her super ninja powers repeatedly. She needs love too!
• Riley. Icelandic DJ with the special power of….needing to be rescued? Looking really good while crying? Having a super angsty back story? Something something Nordic fairies? I’m not actually quite sure what Riley does. She is very pretty, and has an awesome musician dad with a really nice house in Iceland but beyond that, I’m lost. I mean, I’m not heartless - I was sad when she went into flashback to giving birth to a doomed baby in the wreckage of a car crash that had just killed her loving husband - but I remain moderately bemused as to what she is bringing to this party.
Thoughts and hopes on the future of this show:
• The bad guys badly need more development. I’m really not very sure what’s happening with Whispers or why he’s doing anything except for a really serious urge to be horrible. I mean, I’m not always against villains who just want to kick puppies and God knows, we don’t need to go down the terrible route of Once Upon A Time where we are now down to explaining how it’s all the fault of Regina’s Great-great-great-grandmother for being mean to the villainous great-great-grandmother who didn’t mean it really, but I’d like a teensy bit more coherent reason for evil.
• I would like a few more stories which aren’t so heavily identity based. Lito needs a story which isn’t about being gay. Sun needs some more personality development. Riley can be benched for a bit.
• I kind of hope that it lasts the five seasons that the ever structured J Michael Straczynski says he has planned. In my experience, if it has less it’ll be frustratingly rushed and squished. If they give him more, the later seasons will be laboured. He’s not great if his story departs from the amount of time he has planned. Five seasons, however, would be really cool.
• I also am curious as to how they will keep the optimism going in a world which seems increasingly unforgiving of the notion of interconnectedness. I don’t know if it’s something they’ll address in the Christmas/New Year special or not, but I think they ought to at some point.
• The Jonah plotline needs resolved at some point. His weird ‘sensate locked in a lab’ thing can’t last forever. Also, I’m curious about the other sensate clusters. There’s a whole world out there that I want to find out more about.
So, that’s me. What did you think of the show?
I can’t remember who recommended it to me first, but I’ve now finished Season One (not the Christmas Special). Sadly, I didn’t live blog it, but am now posting with my thoughts from the first season as I prepare for more.
Thoughts on the show/world:
• God, this is an optimistic show. As far as I can tell, the basic message is that people at heart, have more in common than not, and ultimately we are all better off if we look to connect with each other rather than look for divisions. And the world is filled with beauty and hope and love and nice people even if they don’t see it really. As this is basically the core of my understanding and hope for humanity, I was basically always going to love it.
• You can tell this show was made by the Wachowskis who, as far as I can tell, basically think entertainment ought to to be made up of sex, dancing, more sex, some martial arts, some extra martial arts, another dollop of martial arts, a bit of philosophizing about the nature of humanity and existence, before artistic sex and then everyone living enlightenedly ever after. However, as someone with a fondness for the Matrix and a devoted love for Jupiter Ascending, I’m alright with that. I’m not going to pretend their philosophy is necessarily ever going to make anyone think, or that their worlds aren’t occasionally maybe a teensy bit dominated by ‘this colour looks cool’ or that they don’t add in a high kick when really, it isn’t needed. But whatever. I embrace their style.
• Having said that, this also reinforces my oft repeated observation that all the most exciting stories are moving to TV these days. Cinema has spectacle and franchise. TV is where the interesting characters and thoughtful conversations and emotional journeys are happening, usually over 10-12 episodes. And I’m OK with that. I also note I’m going to the cinema less and less often - I used to be a once a week kind of girl. These days I can go months without going. But I do binge watch TV.
• Goodness, this show is cleverly made. I love how they weave the different locations together and it all seems so bloody seamless. And my god, they get the world right. Each location feels different - the colours, the sounds - I swear, I can almost smell the different scents. It’s incredibly vibrant and brilliant for it.
• It probably isn’t, but right now this feels like the first show that has got diversity right. The cast is amazingly diverse - in terms of gender, class, nationality, sexuality etc - and that diversity is embraced. It is relevant that Nomi is trans, that Kala is Hindu, that Lito is gay. That is a part of their story. But it isn’t their whole story and it doesn’t overpower the rest of the story. I think it’ll actually matter less and less as it goes on - my feeling is that, for example, Lito’s Season One arc is his sexuality, but that’s his origin and he’s got a lot of other places to go.
• I am still too repressed and English to really embrace psychic orgies.
Thoughts on the Sensate cluster, who are:
• Lito. Closeted Latino actor with the special power of….acting. He does the lying and social manipulation for the cluster when needed. I think I love him. He’s so very useless, and so very sweet, and I desperately want everything to work out for him in the end. I adore his relationship with Hernando (who is awesome) and I am oddly hopeful that at some point the show will acknowledge that what they have there is a really positive depiction of a polyamorous relationship, with his live in fake girlfriend. I suspect, however, things are going to get dramatically worse before they get better due to his girlfriend’s evil ex. But I will be rooting for him every step of the way.
• Nomi. Trans woman from San Francisco with the special power of…hacking. Rather magical hacking, actually. She might just be a wizard. Is it just me, or is she a total Mary Sue? I mean, I get that it’s really ground breaking to have a positive depiction of a trans woman, played by a trans actress, and for her story not to be all about her transition. I get that and I do like that. But could she maybe have a few faults? A row with her incredibly perfect girlfriend occasionally? Have issues with people for reasons other than ‘that person is palpable evil’? Seriously, reality loves this woman too much and I don’t know if I’m OK with that.
• Will. Policeman from Chicago with the special power of….leadership and guns, I think. He seems to be best at giving orders, delivering tactical plans, investigating and sometimes shooting people. Also in love with Riley, who is the damsel in distress amongst the Sense8. He’s alright, I think. Kind of bland. I think I’m kind of fond of him, but he feels like a rather generic TV hero. He’s got issues with his father. He’s a cop on the edge. His lieutenant is breathing down his back. And he can’t let that girl die. He……loves her. I bet he spends his evenings glowering into a shot glass in a bar.
• Capheus. Bus driver from Nigeria with the special power of….driving. Has a bus. Also has by far the largest real life problems and holy crap, how have the entire Sensate not noticed this yet? His mum is HIV Positive, he’s struggling to get medicine for her, he’s trying to protect his family from Nigerian gangsters with machetes who now want to kill him since he refused to hand over his dodgy employer’s young daughter to be murderized by them. He is having the most awful time and remains upbeat and cheerful and keen on Jean Claude Van Damme. God, I want things to work out for him too.
• Wolfgang. Gangster from Berlin with the special power of….murder-death-kill. Also maybe safe breaking. But mostly murder-death-kill. He is their monster on a leash, who appears to be in a death duel with the Russian mafia (are they Russian? Or just East German?) over a heist gone wrong and their attempted murder of his childhood best friend. He’s also in love with Kala, who is the fluffiest member of the Sensate, but can’t be with her due to being fairly sure he’s evil. Some reviewers are unmoved by Wolfgang and Kala, but that’s because they are wrong.
• Kala. Pharmacist from India with the special power of….chemistry. This is mostly useless until suddenly HOLY CRAP DID SHE JUST BLOW UP EVERYTHING?!?! Kala is a nice Hindu girl, with a thing for Ganesha, engaged to a man she doesn’t love. I adore Kala’s storyline. I love that she’s nice, but also smart and intelligent. I love that she’s gentle, but strong and I love that her faith doesn’t make her stupid or deluded. And I love the India they show here. It feels like the bits of India I know, and I love that her fiancé is such a lovely guy. Just wrong for her because she’s in love with Wolfgang and it’s all rather heartbreaking. Also, did I mention she blows stuff up?
• Sun. Martial artist and prisoner from South Korea with the special power of….COMPLETE NINJA KICK ASS DEATH MACHINE. Seriously. In every given scary situation, Sun is THERE, to jump into the body of her cluster-mate, destroy armed battalions and then go back to sitting in her prison cell to meditate on her tortured soul and the fact she’s in prison for a crime she did not commit. I like her, but she desperately needs more character development and I’d like to see the cluster help her instead of just relying on her super ninja powers repeatedly. She needs love too!
• Riley. Icelandic DJ with the special power of….needing to be rescued? Looking really good while crying? Having a super angsty back story? Something something Nordic fairies? I’m not actually quite sure what Riley does. She is very pretty, and has an awesome musician dad with a really nice house in Iceland but beyond that, I’m lost. I mean, I’m not heartless - I was sad when she went into flashback to giving birth to a doomed baby in the wreckage of a car crash that had just killed her loving husband - but I remain moderately bemused as to what she is bringing to this party.
Thoughts and hopes on the future of this show:
• The bad guys badly need more development. I’m really not very sure what’s happening with Whispers or why he’s doing anything except for a really serious urge to be horrible. I mean, I’m not always against villains who just want to kick puppies and God knows, we don’t need to go down the terrible route of Once Upon A Time where we are now down to explaining how it’s all the fault of Regina’s Great-great-great-grandmother for being mean to the villainous great-great-grandmother who didn’t mean it really, but I’d like a teensy bit more coherent reason for evil.
• I would like a few more stories which aren’t so heavily identity based. Lito needs a story which isn’t about being gay. Sun needs some more personality development. Riley can be benched for a bit.
• I kind of hope that it lasts the five seasons that the ever structured J Michael Straczynski says he has planned. In my experience, if it has less it’ll be frustratingly rushed and squished. If they give him more, the later seasons will be laboured. He’s not great if his story departs from the amount of time he has planned. Five seasons, however, would be really cool.
• I also am curious as to how they will keep the optimism going in a world which seems increasingly unforgiving of the notion of interconnectedness. I don’t know if it’s something they’ll address in the Christmas/New Year special or not, but I think they ought to at some point.
• The Jonah plotline needs resolved at some point. His weird ‘sensate locked in a lab’ thing can’t last forever. Also, I’m curious about the other sensate clusters. There’s a whole world out there that I want to find out more about.
So, that’s me. What did you think of the show?