by Helen Langdon
First season finales are always difficult, because there’s no way of knowing how the show is going to be received. If all goes well and you’re going to get a second season, then you want the finale to give closure to the first season and tease at the stories which lie ahead. But there’s always a chance that things might go badly, and if you’ve left any hanging plot threads, audiences are going to be left with a hole in their hearts (the wounds of Atlantis are still fresh). Sense8 gave us an episode that occasionally reached the heights of the very best episodes of this short series, but overall felt a bit anti-climactic given how good the series could be at its best.
First season finales are always difficult, because there’s no way of knowing how the show is going to be received. If all goes well and you’re going to get a second season, then you want the finale to give closure to the first season and tease at the stories which lie ahead. But there’s always a chance that things might go badly, and if you’ve left any hanging plot threads, audiences are going to be left with a hole in their hearts (the wounds of Atlantis are still fresh). Sense8 gave us an episode that occasionally reached the heights of the very best episodes of this short series, but overall felt a bit anti-climactic given how good the series could be at its best.
“I Can’t Leave Her” centred around two incidents – the complete reveal of Riley’s accident in the past and rescuing her from the clutches of Whispers in the present (sidenote: this is the first time it really becomes explicitly clear that the name “Whispers” refers to one person rather than multiple “Whisper” people. Calling one person “Whispers” is one step away from “Whiskers”). Everyone’s skills are needed to make sure that all eight members of the cluster stay alive.
Throughout the season, the best moments have come when the cluster are working as a team, whether that’s to sing a song, have sex or save their lives. And that’s true here. Apart from an unconscious Riley, everyone has a part to play, from Sun’s martial arts skills to Wolfgang’s willingness to kill. Before this last episode, it was difficult to see what Kala could bring to the group, given that she’d spent most of her screentime talking about religion or her upcoming marriage (not that this was a bad thing – just difficult to see how useful it’d be in a fight). But then we remembered her job meant serious science, like the science of taking household chemicals and creating an impromptu bomb.
So that leaves Riley as the one member without any (thus far seen) practical skills to offer the group, but she’s been acting as its heart for a while, being the first to bond with most of the other sensates. She’s the plot’s focal point as Will tries to rescue her, and the emotional focal point as she eventually has the mental breakdown she’s been heading for all season. The audience and Will suffer along with her as she relives the death of her husband, giving birth in a crashed car and her baby dying in her frozen arms (who knew that by the end of the season we’d see nine graphic birth scenes? More life-giving vag on Sense8 than on Call the Midwife). It’s helped by Tuppence Middleton giving a brilliantly nuanced performance throughout.
So that leaves Riley as the one member without any (thus far seen) practical skills to offer the group, but she’s been acting as its heart for a while, being the first to bond with most of the other sensates. She’s the plot’s focal point as Will tries to rescue her, and the emotional focal point as she eventually has the mental breakdown she’s been heading for all season. The audience and Will suffer along with her as she relives the death of her husband, giving birth in a crashed car and her baby dying in her frozen arms (who knew that by the end of the season we’d see nine graphic birth scenes? More life-giving vag on Sense8 than on Call the Midwife). It’s helped by Tuppence Middleton giving a brilliantly nuanced performance throughout.
But most of Sense8’s episodes in this first season juggled multiple plotlines, giving us short bursts of each character’s story so that we get to know them as a character, this extended look at the Will and Riley show (with a side of Wolfgang’s revenge) felt a little slim. It wasn’t helped by Whispers as the antagonist. Throughout the season he’s been built up as a major villain, with older sensates telling our cluster that once he’s seen them, they’re all as good as dead. But here... eh. Will accidentally sees him and then Whispers chases them into the mountains, where Will is able to defeat him with anaesthetics and fog.
Yes, it’s probably only a temporary reprieve (why wasn’t Whispers with the cluster on the boat as Will regained consciousness?), but given that he’s only a major threat in this way for thirteen minutes of the episode, it makes the dread of Whispers seem completely overblown. It’s fine! Hide in some fog, get away from him once and he’ll leave you completely alone because he’s a good sport! It’s that closure issue we mentioned before – “I Can’t Leave Her” ties up enough of the loose ends that the audience receives closure, but having to do it by the end of the last episode means things get a little rushed.
Yes, it’s probably only a temporary reprieve (why wasn’t Whispers with the cluster on the boat as Will regained consciousness?), but given that he’s only a major threat in this way for thirteen minutes of the episode, it makes the dread of Whispers seem completely overblown. It’s fine! Hide in some fog, get away from him once and he’ll leave you completely alone because he’s a good sport! It’s that closure issue we mentioned before – “I Can’t Leave Her” ties up enough of the loose ends that the audience receives closure, but having to do it by the end of the last episode means things get a little rushed.
Still, loads of questions left unanswered to mine for plotlines if Netflix renew Sense8 for a second season. Exactly why does Whispers want to kill all sensates if he’s one of them? Who is Sarah Patrell and what happened to her? And why could Will see her? Were his sensate abilities awakened before everyone else’s? Did Lito have a childhood (we’ve seen a bit of everyone else’s, after all)? Will we see an eight-way orgy next time (plus any real-world partners)?
What Did You Think?
What were your thoughts on the finale of Sense8?
Would you like a second season?
Let us know in the comments and keep an eye out for our Season Overview!
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