If your bored with repetitious storylines, if you enjoy a good puzzle, and if you like to discover new things than Sense 8, created by the Wachowskis, is the show to watch. It does have all the good qualities we enjoy in a good love story or action thriller but it brings them to us with a fresh mystery. There is a villain or villains, and there is humor, and there is the supernatural element as well. This is like one of those games where you have to work with the other players instead of against them to win. How many players are there? Well there are 8 main players, while each of these players have their own dramas, they are facing a greater challenge that unites all of them.
Do not read further if you haven't seen it and don't want to read plot spoilers, I suggest you watch it on Netflix now.
It's fun to watch a show that brings us to new places and shows us new experiences and it's especially entertaining when we get to see what would happen if these new and different realities started interacting with each other, would something good come out of it, would something even more special be created?
Each of our unique characters have their own world, their friends, family, enemies, and their own idea of who they are. I'd say that they are each in their 30's, although a specific age isn't given, and they are about to discover that they are not who they think they are, they are not just alone in their personal experience of life but that the are joined and part of a larger whole that is the Sense8. The areas they come from are Mumbai, Mexico City, London, Berlin, San Francisco, Seoul, Chicago, and Nairobi. There are Four men and four Woman. A male bus driver in Kenya with an HIV positive mother, a male actor in Mexico who is hiding his sexuality, A female Indian scientist who isn't in love with her fiancé, a female DJ artist living in the UK who can't escape her traumatic past, A German gangster caught in a family feud, A Korean businesswoman facing Jail, A lesbian hacker about to be lobotomized in California, and a Chicago policeman with a drunk father and a partner that thinks he's crazy. It's obvious that the writes chose such a diverse group for a reason and I don't think that reason is to be politically correct but to show us how we are all the same, it reminds me of the movie Crash in that regard.
As they begin to hear each other, see each other, and experience what the others are experiencing the results are often comical and endearing. Lito Rodriguez (played by Miguel Angel Silvestre) is wonderfully developed. Acting the tough guy in the movies he is really a sensitive man who is madly in love with his secret male lover. As Sun (Doona Bae) has her period her psychic connection to Lito causes him to have tears behind his long eyelashes, to bend over in pain, and bemoan his bloated appearance at his handsome face in the mirror.
But his connection to Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) and Will (Brian Smith) helps him find his inner and outer physical strength when he needs it most. He channels Will's Police gun fighting skills while he is doing his action scene and I have to say it's hilariously good and when Lito comes to the rescue of his lady friend Wolfgang's ruthless Street fighting abilities heroically wins Lito the battle.
Each of these people first wonder if they are going crazy, appearing in each other's realities at the same time as being in their own. These psychic connections begin to intrude into their lives enough to be disruptive but they ultimately overcome their confusion and use their connection to their advantage.
There is a lot of sex in this series and one episode in particular is quite sexual culminating in an psychic orgy between several of the 8 while they are simultaneously having sex or thinking about sex in their own lives. I'm sure this has all been done before but it was quite graphic for me, but not necessarily in a bad way but in an eye opening way should I say. Maybe I am on the naive end of the spectrum but it was more like I was thinking wow, shows have come along way in regards to open gay sexuality and sex between more than one partner and that's probably a good thing. I mean it's that black door everyone is afraid to look behind. Omg what are people so afraid of? It's just love, and expressions of love. We don't have to be so separate from one another just because we choose a different sexuality, in fact we can learn from each other and find that we really are the same, souls wanting to love and be loved.
Speaking of naivety, our Indian scientist Kala (Tina Desai) is charmingly so. Wolfgang appears confident and nude in front of her in the middle of her saying the vows of her unwanted marriage and she faints at the site of him and his "Trunk" as she calls it later. She declares he must be a demon as he has appeared naked in her bed and tells her he wants her and he knows she wants him too. Well, he is quite beautiful.
Sun ( Doona Bae) is a badass, and it's great because she is so small and almost fragile looking. But She is the kick ass fighter chick of the series. And when the others are in desperate need of her abilities she shows up and destroys. Capheus (Aml Ameen), the sweet bus driver who runs into serious trouble is inspired by Sun to go after his mother's medicine stolen from him. Sun steps into his place and saves his day. She continues to fight for him and others through out the series and is willing to kill to win.
She is faced with a tough choice in her life between going to prison in order to save her family or breaking her promise to her mother and letting her brother take the fall for his own crimes. Capheus is a happy go lucky guy who is very loving towards his mother, he has a very positive outlook on life and is the optimist of the show. He helps the others see the beauty of the moment and find perspective in their lives. Even with all his problems his smile is wide and contagious.
Will (Brian Smith) , the policeman from Chicago has probably the least amount of problems in his personal life but the larger drama of who and what the Sense8 is quickly enfolds him. He is the first to know what they are because he is contacted by their so called father Jonas (Naveen Andrews). Jonas tells Will he is part of a Sense8 and that they are all in trouble. This is the larger mystery of the show and will leads the way in discovering their connections and what it all means along with Nomi (Jamie Clayton), the hacker. Will is lead by Jonas to Save Jamie and together the two are the central puzzle solvers reaching out to the others and figuring out their next moves.
Riley's (Tuppence Middleton) story is also a mystery. Even through she is a DJ she seems very quiet and vulnerable, always with her headphones on silently watching the world around her. She shows up often in Will's reality and the two bond quickly. The question of why she is the way she is is slowly answered and by the end her personal drama and the larger danger of being hunted by Mr. Whispers collide and all the rest of the sense8 come together to save her. They all need each other to survive and each's unique qualities contributes to the unbeatable strength of their whole.
All I can say is "Who is in my Sense8?" :)
