by Helen Langdon
Sense8 could have been awful. A science fiction series about humanity with eight different main characters across the globe, written by the Wachowskis (coming off the high of Jupiter Ascending – because critics loved that, right?) and J Michael Straczynski, who created a hit with Babylon 5, but... that was about 20 years ago. Given the Wachowskis’ penchant for long-winded dialogue and high-minded philosophical ideas that teenage boys find radical, could the series pull it off?
Spoilers: yes.
Settle in, because this is going to be a long-winded love letter to Sense8’s first season.
Sense8 could have been awful. A science fiction series about humanity with eight different main characters across the globe, written by the Wachowskis (coming off the high of Jupiter Ascending – because critics loved that, right?) and J Michael Straczynski, who created a hit with Babylon 5, but... that was about 20 years ago. Given the Wachowskis’ penchant for long-winded dialogue and high-minded philosophical ideas that teenage boys find radical, could the series pull it off?
Spoilers: yes.
Settle in, because this is going to be a long-winded love letter to Sense8’s first season.
Admittedly, it didn’t get off to the best start, with a couple of episodes that moved slowly while setting up a ton of storylines and fleetingly introducing us to its cast of thousands. But once it hit its stride, these multiple barely connected plots were one of Sense8’s greatest advantages. Don’t like one character? Stick around for a couple of minutes, we’ll be in a different country in the next scene. Aren’t bothered about Capheus’ moral dilemmas? Can we interest you in a lesbian romance? Or how about some German sausage?
The fact that Sense8 blended together multiple genres could have lead to tonal problems as we jumped from romance to crime to thriller to sci-fi in forty minutes. But Sense8 wasn’t about fitting into any of those categories – what it wanted to do was tell a story about humanity. So we had stories in cultures that we never usually see on Western TV, with characters who weren’t all white, straight, and mostly male. You could make an argument for Will and Riley being the central characters of the eight sensates, what with the last couple of episodes focussing on his rescue of her, but to say that they’re significantly more important would be a lie.
The inclusion of characters like Nomi, Capheus and Sun never felt like tokenism, like “these characters will be background to the real straight white American story, and we’ll just use their culture as set dressing”. Instead, the problems they faced were fully fleshed-out storylines inextricably linked to their identity, whether that was Sun’s life being dictated by gender politics, Lito destroying everything he loves in an attempt to save his career or Capheus balancing saving his mother’s life with working for a gang boss.
The inclusion of characters like Nomi, Capheus and Sun never felt like tokenism, like “these characters will be background to the real straight white American story, and we’ll just use their culture as set dressing”. Instead, the problems they faced were fully fleshed-out storylines inextricably linked to their identity, whether that was Sun’s life being dictated by gender politics, Lito destroying everything he loves in an attempt to save his career or Capheus balancing saving his mother’s life with working for a gang boss.
We were promised a story which dealt with issues like religion, sexuality, class and politics. And that’s what we got. When was the last time any TV show, let alone one based around speculative fiction concepts, talked about how people in poverty can escape their situation through watching TV? Or discussed periods without the punchline being “bitches be crazy”? Or dealt with sex and nudity in a rational, grown-up way, rather than coyly hinting at it through the glimpse of a bedroom door or honking like teenagers at the sight of some boobs?
Occasionally Sense8 was let down by its plotting (poor Whispers, confused by fog and the power of love – maybe one day he’ll be a real villain who can kill people while they’re unconscious!). Thing is, with such enjoyable characters, it can get away with an awful lot. The series really shone when it fully embraced its premise to show us the characters bonding together. There wasn’t just one central character meeting all of the others, or specific partnerships who kept talking to each other. Instead, it was a whole variety of friendships evolving as different characters met and found different things in common. And although a couple of the relationships did turn romantic, overwhelmingly they were platonic. It’s like Straczynski and the Wachowskis heard the cries of a million millennials screaming that no-one believes When Harry Met Sally anymore, and putting platonic male-female relationships on screen won’t scare away any viewers.
Occasionally Sense8 was let down by its plotting (poor Whispers, confused by fog and the power of love – maybe one day he’ll be a real villain who can kill people while they’re unconscious!). Thing is, with such enjoyable characters, it can get away with an awful lot. The series really shone when it fully embraced its premise to show us the characters bonding together. There wasn’t just one central character meeting all of the others, or specific partnerships who kept talking to each other. Instead, it was a whole variety of friendships evolving as different characters met and found different things in common. And although a couple of the relationships did turn romantic, overwhelmingly they were platonic. It’s like Straczynski and the Wachowskis heard the cries of a million millennials screaming that no-one believes When Harry Met Sally anymore, and putting platonic male-female relationships on screen won’t scare away any viewers.
The moments that really stick in the mind, though, are when all of the characters come together. And we don’t just mean that in the literal sense of the orgy. It’s like Nomi’s escape in episode eight, foreshadowing Riley’s rescue in the season finale, when they need Will to predict police procedure, Sun to punch some things and Capheus to bring his Fast and Furious driving skills to the streets of San Francisco. And it’s in the quiet moments, like the group singing What’s Up in a big harmony across the globe. It doesn’t matter that the lyrics are horrifically on the nose (“what’s going on?”), because it’s just showing us eight disparate people with more in common than they realise.
Sense8’s first season was a beautifully shot, overwhelmingly uplifting, occasionally incredulity-stretching (“you are Van Damme!”) twelve episodes of television. Still no word on whether a second season will be produced, and given how much money it must have cost to film this across the globe, it’s probably not a sure bet at this moment in time. But right now we’re riding high on a wave of love for this show. At least we’ve had one season of humanity at its best when it works together, drawing on the infinite variety of identities that make up our species.
Sense8’s first season was a beautifully shot, overwhelmingly uplifting, occasionally incredulity-stretching (“you are Van Damme!”) twelve episodes of television. Still no word on whether a second season will be produced, and given how much money it must have cost to film this across the globe, it’s probably not a sure bet at this moment in time. But right now we’re riding high on a wave of love for this show. At least we’ve had one season of humanity at its best when it works together, drawing on the infinite variety of identities that make up our species.
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