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Sense8 is one of Netflix's new shows, released in a full first season all at once, like Marco Polo or Grace & Frankie. Like Marco Polo, it's a big-budget ambitious series, shot on location in a lot of cases, with a multi-ethnic cast and careful attention to culture and language. And much as I was entertained by Marco Polo, Sense8 is a whole different level of good, because it's ambitious in a lot more than its budget.
The premise is delightfully strange: in the perfectly normal modern world, eight people across the globe (Chicago, San Francisco, London, Nairobi, Berlin, Mexico City, Mumbai, Seoul) start...seeing things. Hearing things. Specifically, they start hearing and seeing each other, in moments of thematic confluence. They're psychically connected in a way none of them understand, and, this being modern weirdness, there is of course a conspiracy about that's Out To Get Them.
It can be hard to get into the first episode. It's introducing eight separate characters, and, to an extent, a supporting cast for each of them. Nomi has her girlfriend and the Pride parade, Will has a cop partner and a shooting victim to deal with, Lito's shooting a movie, Capheus has a bus to fill and drive (and a partner there), Wolfgang is at a family (mob) funeral, Riley's friends want to introduce her to a new dealer, Sun is doing business for her family's company, Kala's prepping for her wedding... All this on top of the hints of the conspiracy. It can feel overwhelming, and despite the huge amount going on, a bit slow. Where's the central plot?
The trick is that this is a television series paced like a book. One of those brick fantasy novels with a cast of thousands, where it's going to take half of the first book just to get people talking to each other. This doesn't mean it's slow! But it means you need to set your expectations differently. The episodes have some emotional arc, and often a big scene near the end, but they don't have a big central plot per episode. The focus shifts as all these people deal with their individual problems and lives... and eventually, with each other's problems and lives.
It's a sharp, smart show that doesn't talk down to its viewers, nor does it go mysterious for the sake of showing how smart it is. Some mysteries are resolved quickly when people go "This is really strange, let's figure it out!" and then actually test things and figure things out, in a way I really miss in a lot of supernaturally-tinged modern stories. Some of them are left deeply mysterious because the protagonists just don't have a way to deal with it. And for what it's worth, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, though it certainly ends on a sequel hook for the next season, which we had damn well better get, because there's a lot that still needs fallout and/or resolution.
I don't know how to recommend it highly enough. It's a deeply modern show, with modern sensibilities. (Nomi is a trans woman, which the characters on the show overwhelming respect, even the villains. People remember to use their cell phones. Characters reference specific comics and movies and books, not in a constant witty manner, but in the casual manner that people who live in a certain time and place do.) The cinematography is sharp and stunning: they took full advantage of location shots where they could do them, and the way psychic links work make for a lot of rapid location-swapping during a single conversation which the actors handle beautifully. There's a broad array of tonal options in the different lives of the different protagonists, ranging from "a really nasty session of Fiasco" to "romantic comedy" to "Lifetime movie", and they cross over beautifully with each other.
And the characters! Oh, the characters. I usually have trouble with large casts, and telling people apart. By episode two I knew all the protagonists just fine; by episode four I knew all their supporting casts, and cared about them, too. ("I just know they're going to fridge them," I was muttering at one character for episodes, and...they did not, quite, and I was impressed with how they dodged that one.) I love some more than others, but I cared for all of them. They're all fascinatingly flawed and ambitious and wanting to do the right thing for their context of right, which may involve an awful lot of crime and murder in, uh, certain situations. And once they're talking with each other, they argue with each other and support each other and step in to take (cinematically impressive and absolutely delightful) action for each other, because the psychic connection makes them all a kind of family, whether they want to be or not.
I am afraid this review is both long and a bit vague, because I'm trying to avoid spoilers of anything that happens after episode one. But oh, I loved this show, and oh, I want another season. It felt like I was finally watching a television series that gave me the character depth of the books I love, but with all the glorious visual/auditory nuance that only the filmed medium can provide. I've never seen anything quite like it before; it feels like another step in the evolution of the kinds of stories you can tell on TV, in the way that something like Babylon 5 felt like a step forward with its season-/series-long arc plots running alongside episodic plots. I am probably overhyping it, but gosh, I loved it that much.
The premise is delightfully strange: in the perfectly normal modern world, eight people across the globe (Chicago, San Francisco, London, Nairobi, Berlin, Mexico City, Mumbai, Seoul) start...seeing things. Hearing things. Specifically, they start hearing and seeing each other, in moments of thematic confluence. They're psychically connected in a way none of them understand, and, this being modern weirdness, there is of course a conspiracy about that's Out To Get Them.
It can be hard to get into the first episode. It's introducing eight separate characters, and, to an extent, a supporting cast for each of them. Nomi has her girlfriend and the Pride parade, Will has a cop partner and a shooting victim to deal with, Lito's shooting a movie, Capheus has a bus to fill and drive (and a partner there), Wolfgang is at a family (mob) funeral, Riley's friends want to introduce her to a new dealer, Sun is doing business for her family's company, Kala's prepping for her wedding... All this on top of the hints of the conspiracy. It can feel overwhelming, and despite the huge amount going on, a bit slow. Where's the central plot?
The trick is that this is a television series paced like a book. One of those brick fantasy novels with a cast of thousands, where it's going to take half of the first book just to get people talking to each other. This doesn't mean it's slow! But it means you need to set your expectations differently. The episodes have some emotional arc, and often a big scene near the end, but they don't have a big central plot per episode. The focus shifts as all these people deal with their individual problems and lives... and eventually, with each other's problems and lives.
It's a sharp, smart show that doesn't talk down to its viewers, nor does it go mysterious for the sake of showing how smart it is. Some mysteries are resolved quickly when people go "This is really strange, let's figure it out!" and then actually test things and figure things out, in a way I really miss in a lot of supernaturally-tinged modern stories. Some of them are left deeply mysterious because the protagonists just don't have a way to deal with it. And for what it's worth, it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, though it certainly ends on a sequel hook for the next season, which we had damn well better get, because there's a lot that still needs fallout and/or resolution.
I don't know how to recommend it highly enough. It's a deeply modern show, with modern sensibilities. (Nomi is a trans woman, which the characters on the show overwhelming respect, even the villains. People remember to use their cell phones. Characters reference specific comics and movies and books, not in a constant witty manner, but in the casual manner that people who live in a certain time and place do.) The cinematography is sharp and stunning: they took full advantage of location shots where they could do them, and the way psychic links work make for a lot of rapid location-swapping during a single conversation which the actors handle beautifully. There's a broad array of tonal options in the different lives of the different protagonists, ranging from "a really nasty session of Fiasco" to "romantic comedy" to "Lifetime movie", and they cross over beautifully with each other.
And the characters! Oh, the characters. I usually have trouble with large casts, and telling people apart. By episode two I knew all the protagonists just fine; by episode four I knew all their supporting casts, and cared about them, too. ("I just know they're going to fridge them," I was muttering at one character for episodes, and...they did not, quite, and I was impressed with how they dodged that one.) I love some more than others, but I cared for all of them. They're all fascinatingly flawed and ambitious and wanting to do the right thing for their context of right, which may involve an awful lot of crime and murder in, uh, certain situations. And once they're talking with each other, they argue with each other and support each other and step in to take (cinematically impressive and absolutely delightful) action for each other, because the psychic connection makes them all a kind of family, whether they want to be or not.
I am afraid this review is both long and a bit vague, because I'm trying to avoid spoilers of anything that happens after episode one. But oh, I loved this show, and oh, I want another season. It felt like I was finally watching a television series that gave me the character depth of the books I love, but with all the glorious visual/auditory nuance that only the filmed medium can provide. I've never seen anything quite like it before; it feels like another step in the evolution of the kinds of stories you can tell on TV, in the way that something like Babylon 5 felt like a step forward with its season-/series-long arc plots running alongside episodic plots. I am probably overhyping it, but gosh, I loved it that much.