by Helen Langdon
Netflix’s latest original series, Sense8, definitely has the sci-fi heritage. Co-created by the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix) and J Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), and starring actors like Doctor Who’s Freema Agyeman and Lost’s Naveen Andrews, the series aims to explore the subjects most science-fiction shows tend to skim over, like gender, sexuality and religion. Based on the first episode, does it succeed?
Netflix’s latest original series, Sense8, definitely has the sci-fi heritage. Co-created by the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix) and J Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5), and starring actors like Doctor Who’s Freema Agyeman and Lost’s Naveen Andrews, the series aims to explore the subjects most science-fiction shows tend to skim over, like gender, sexuality and religion. Based on the first episode, does it succeed?
Well, we start off with a drugged-up woman in an abandoned church, talking to a man who isn’t there. Before she gets threatened by another man who isn’t there. Until he is, with some goons to back him up. But she kills herself, after doing something to awaken the new Sensates (the specifics of the scene are vague enough that by the end of the hour-long episode, you’ve really forgotten exactly what happened). Around the world, eight people have visions of her death, and then flashes of each others’ lives, whether that’s hearing the sounds of a rave in an empty room or seeing a chicken on a South Korean office desk.
It’s difficult to judge the show from the first episode, given that so much time is given over to introducing the characters (although if you manage to catch more than two of their names without subtitles on, you’re a better person than this reviewer). But it’s a bloody intriguing start, raising questions and not explaining anything quite yet. For example, just who is Angelica? Why are all these people linked? Who’s the mysterious bearded man, and what’s he up to?
It’s difficult to judge the show from the first episode, given that so much time is given over to introducing the characters (although if you manage to catch more than two of their names without subtitles on, you’re a better person than this reviewer). But it’s a bloody intriguing start, raising questions and not explaining anything quite yet. For example, just who is Angelica? Why are all these people linked? Who’s the mysterious bearded man, and what’s he up to?
At the very least, it’s a story we haven’t seen before. Too often, American science-fiction media claims to deal with global events which just so happen to be focussed on US soil. And the protagonists are usually straight white Americans, with maybe a token foreigner or person of colour to count as ticking the representation box. This is a truly global story, with characters in countries like Kenya, Mexico and India. Throughout the first season, none of the characters will be meeting in person, allowing the showmakers to fully explore all of the different cultures – there’s been a hint of this with Kala, going to pray to Ganesha for help with her upcoming marriage.
And then there’s the scene in this first episode which lets us know that this is very definitely an Adult Show – lesbian sex where one of the partners is trans, with lots of shots of breasts and a rainbow strap-on. Diverse sexualities in this genre which usually barely admits that people can be anything other than straight? Hurray! It’s just kind of sad that with the boobs and strap-on and swearing throughout the first episode, people below a certain age won’t be able to watch it, and based on this first episode alone, we’ve got high hopes that Sense8 could be one of the science-fiction staples in years to come.
And then there’s the scene in this first episode which lets us know that this is very definitely an Adult Show – lesbian sex where one of the partners is trans, with lots of shots of breasts and a rainbow strap-on. Diverse sexualities in this genre which usually barely admits that people can be anything other than straight? Hurray! It’s just kind of sad that with the boobs and strap-on and swearing throughout the first episode, people below a certain age won’t be able to watch it, and based on this first episode alone, we’ve got high hopes that Sense8 could be one of the science-fiction staples in years to come.
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