Straczynski/Wachowski Sense8 on Netflix

[Mladen]

20 hours ago, DaveSumm said:

Well....I don't seem to share the huge love this season is getting here.

I believe that most of us are prepared to gloss over some things because this is just one of those things. It's simply "make me feel good" show on TV and we enjoy it. Yes, messy doesn't even begin to cover the description of the last episode and the logistics of the entire thing fall like house of cards under some scrutiny. But, above everything, this show is about family, love, individuality and connections we make with the world. And after numerous speeches, moments of joy and sadness, all those things we can so easily relate to, you feel good. There is a lot of positive vibe coming from it, which ultimately means people will forgive some flaws. I know I am ready to do so. 

[HexMachina]

@Kyoshi

Quote

 think at this point Sun is my favourite; the actress does a really good job with very little dialogue. Every time one of her prison friends is kind to her you can see a certain sort of softness to her face, and it makes me sad that prison was the first place Sun felt that kind of love and acceptance

Sun is my favourite too, and I loved her interaction with the other prisoners so much. I'd say she had that love and acceptance from her mother before she went to prison though. 

I don't really understand the logistics of Nomi's e-death. Does it not quickly become obvious to the relevant authorities that the warrants shouldn't have been cancelled? I thought once Bendix knew it wouldn't take long for the FBI to realise something was up. Or did the e-death make it seem like someone higher up authorised the removal of the warrants?

I'm hoping they all split up again at the beginning of the next season. I think the show really needs to have them in separate locations.

I also hope Lito brings Daniela and Hernando into the loop, if he didn't already (to get them to London).

Did anyone else wonder everytime a new character showed up whether they were working for BPO? Or was that just me...

[AndrewJ]

43 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

@Kyoshi

Sun is my favourite too, and I loved her interaction with the other prisoners so much. I'd say she had that love and acceptance from her mother before she went to prison though. 

 

And her martial arts teacher. (I was almost going to say "sensei", before realising that wouldn't be the correct term, as it's a Japanese one. Or does she actually refer to him as such? Perhaps Korean martial arts schools have adopted the term - just as Western ones do)

 

[-Ghost-]

I really hope they split back up for season 3. There are some many other Sense8's that they have the oportinity to encounter on their own. The only people I would want to stay together are Will and Riley and Wolfgang and Kala. 

Was theyre a reason that they didnt grab Wolfgang from BPO too, or what he in a different location?

Sun has easily become my new fovorite character. Shes soo cool and badass. I'm interested with what Van Damn can do for his country. I think it would be cool if Lito and co went to Hollywood permanently. It seems like such a good move for him. Does Mexico really treat their stars like that for being gay?

I'm still pretty surprised that Wolfgang, Lito, and Van Damn havent explained their situations to their people. Wolfgang especialls. It was made a point how close and loyal he and Felix are. Sun doesnt really have anyone to tell, so I get it, and Kala is in a weird situation.

 

Man, I love this show. Nomi is such a bad ass, I love everything about her. Her, Bug, and Martha Jones are awesome.

I really hope they find a better fix to Will and his heroin. I dont like seeming him like that and I hate needles.

[-Ghost-]

I think they are allowed to speak others lamguagues just like they are able to use the others knowledge and fighting abilities. When Van Damm gets in that fight in season 1' Sun and Will take over with their fighting abilities. Im guessing at that point, Capheus who have been able to speek perfect Chicago english and Korean. Along with whomever was helping him at the time. Its like how Lito used Suns emotion for his interview is season 2. My biggest question about this was when Riley was is the hospital woth Wills dad. Was will speaking through her, or was she just repeating what Will was saying and everyone else in the room thought she eas crazy.

 

[DaveSumm]

Actually come to think of it, they can all just talk to one another in their heads still, even if they're together physically. We've established they 'see' each other as being in a physical space when using their telepathy, and we've established they can't tell the difference as per Whispers not realising Will was really there. So they can just film as normal and then just say 'no they weren't speaking English, they were doing what they always do, just near each other'. I wouldn't really say they use each other's fighting ability, more that they just put someone else in the driver seat for that moment. For example, I don't think any of them could fight like Sun if they were on blockers.

[red snow]

It's interesting how people have very different views on how their powers work. I'm firmly in the camp that when eg Capheus is using Sun's fighting skills it's more accurate to think of it as Capheus allows Sun to inhabit his body and take control. In general, I tend to go for if it's the character i see doing it, that's the one responsible for it irrespective of which location they are actually in. I don't think there's any case of the characters being able to use/learn/lend the others abilities (although maybe muscle memory will eventually kick in). Capheus never feels like he's using Sun's martial arts but he loves watching her do it.

 

so

When Sun delivers the lines at Lito's audition - it's Sun who delivers the lines (via the filter of Lito's body and language). I was expecting them to follow up on the possibility that Lito got the part because of Sun's "acting". I guess there's still time for that if his new movie doesn't work out.

When Lito does the cocktail work for Sun it's Lito doing it through Sun's body, not Sun.

Etc, Etc.

In the case of Riley talking to Will's dad, that scene may have been filmed differently - in the sense I think we saw Riley saying Will's words. But I think that was to demonstrate how Will's dad recognised his son through those words. Will and Riley are actually trickier because there were several times when dealing with the buddy cop - Riley would point to where Will was "standing" meaning when she conveyed information from Will to the cop it was indirect and not simply Will inhabiting  Riley's body. Again the rule is usually if we see the actor saying it that's who's "doing it". If two of them are present - the visiting one is in "ghost" mode. I think the season one finale did a good job of demonstrating this when the various members were shown as they were being used and I'm pretty sure in season 2 when they had them as a "group" they'd switch in and out.

This interpretation will be thrown straight out the window the moment they have a scenario where eg Capheus and Nomi both use Sun at the same time in a fight. I think if they ever do a scene like that, they'd draw attention to how Sun has to keep popping in and out of both of them.

The language thing is largely a shortcut for the show but I sort of think of it as the host brain autotranslating in much the same way a hosts body translates the difference in size, muscle mass etc. Because really, Sun's fighting prowess would be thrown off kilter by having Lito (who appears to be a lot taller and probably twice as heavy as Sun) as her body. Luckily all the characters appear to work out and be fairly limber as I'm sure most of them would have screaming muscles after Sun has been using them.

[AndrewJ]

I was basically in agreement with you, red. But I had to reevaluate a little in the fight scene towards the end of the season where a different person was taking action every half second or so. When bingeing, the episodes tend to run together and I was struggling to recall who was even the one actually physically present for the fight - but I think it might have been Wolfgang when facing off against the other cluster. He, Sun and Will were all present in the fight from moment to moment.

I see that as being very different from a guest sensate being in total control, while the host sits back and observes. If each member of the group was in complete control for the fraction of time they were shown, it would be impossible to co-ordinate their actions effectively.

So, in this case at least, it had me wondering if Wolfgang was the one doing all the actual fighting while drawing on the knowledge and abilities of Sun and Will. Or possibly, it could be viewed as more of a shared consciousness type of thing, where the Wolfie-Will-Sun triumvirate was in joint control at all times and different parts were surfacing from instant to instant.Regardless, I think it goes beyond Wolfgang being just a spectator for those fractions of seconds.

[karaddin]

I disagree with you there Andrew, I think that flicking in and out of control wouldn't be something sapiens could manage, but the way the sensates have been portrayed I think they're sufficiently tied in together that this would actually work.

Red snow - I don't think Lito got the part because of Sun's acting, but because of her emotional honesty. The director had said he wanted something real and lying has always been Lito's skill, then he tags in Sun and I think they even changed one of the lines to make it honest?

 

ETA: Confirmed that. The original exchange has Lito answer "yes" to "do you want me to stay" and Sun changes it to "no" because even though she's always been alone she doesn't know how to ask for it to be different.

[red snow]

10 hours ago, AndrewJ said:

I was basically in agreement with you, red. But I had to reevaluate a little in the fight scene towards the end of the season where a different person was taking action every half second or so. When bingeing, the episodes tend to run together and I was struggling to recall who was even the one actually physically present for the fight - but I think it might have been Wolfgang when facing off against the other cluster. He, Sun and Will were all present in the fight from moment to moment.

I see that as being very different from a guest sensate being in total control, while the host sits back and observes. If each member of the group was in complete control for the fraction of time they were shown, it would be impossible to co-ordinate their actions effectively.

So, in this case at least, it had me wondering if Wolfgang was the one doing all the actual fighting while drawing on the knowledge and abilities of Sun and Will. Or possibly, it could be viewed as more of a shared consciousness type of thing, where the Wolfie-Will-Sun triumvirate was in joint control at all times and different parts were surfacing from instant to instant.Regardless, I think it goes beyond Wolfgang being just a spectator for those fractions of seconds.

Yeah, the quick changes in-fight are hard to explain with the regular set-up. I do think a gestalt entity for the fights is more plausible. A scenario where all the individuals are present in the brain and the host brain makes a call at every split second as to who is most useful for survival at any given moment. A bit like someone who knows a martial art (perhaps even better if they know two for this example) - they don't use the same move all the time, every split second the brain/body is deciding the best response. So it's not like Will and Sun are switching in and out - they are aware of the whole thing and flow through it. But it would be impossible if they were consciously deciding when to be involved.

I'd be cool with one of them being able to draw on the others' abilities but the pitfall with that set up is that if that's the case they really don't need the others once they can do that (they just need them to be conscious/connected). And the fight scenes would look a lot less interesting and would probably require them all to learn to mimic Sun's fighting skills.

[red snow]

9 hours ago, karaddin said:

 

Red snow - I don't think Lito got the part because of Sun's acting, but because of her emotional honesty. The director had said he wanted something real and lying has always been Lito's skill, then he tags in Sun and I think they even changed one of the lines to make it honest?

 

ETA: Confirmed that. The original exchange has Lito answer "yes" to "do you want me to stay" and Sun changes it to "no" because even though she's always been alone she doesn't know how to ask for it to be different.

That's not what I meant. He got the part because it was Sun talking to the director. Which is what you're also saying   The fact it was Sun doing the "acting" (and you're 100% correct it wasn't her acting it was her actual experience that convinced the director) is why I said it could be an issue. The director was picking up on Sun, not Lito, so we could expect to see a story where the director is becoming frustrated that he's not seeing the performance he did in the audition. Unless Lito has learned from that interaction and can now tap into that emotion as an actor. But if he can do that then I don't see why any of the others with any inlcination to one of the others skills couldn't also learn. Although tapping into an emotion is easier (especially for an actor) than becoming a better marksman (I get the impression Will is supposed to be the best with Wolfgang a close second but given the similarity Wolfgang could learn and pick up Will's tricks). I think Will and Nomi could learn Wolfgang's bank breaking abilities too. Most of them should get the knack of picking handcuffs as they all seem to have to do it.

[Mladen]

Just a remainder that some things can't be faked  

[dbunting]

Well I started this yesterday morning, cool rainy day, and I finished it last night, binge on! Some thoughts and questions.

I also thought Will being in the room with Whispers was telegraphed from the earlier scenes, was expecting that. I do not however see why they couldn't get Wolfie? If they are good enough to hack in and steal police cars etc then they should have been able to find out where he was being kept. Seems like a convenient way to have drama next season.

The wedding scene for me was the worst of the season. It felt like a high school drama presentation.

Bug, I think I like him more because of how awful he is? I mean when they called him out for his dramatic speaking it was like, aha, they do get it and now I like it!

The Kenya senseates that appeared, I didn't think they were all from a single cluster as someone suggested earlier. I saw them as part of the "network" who all happened to be there at his rally. Also, I mean, come on make this happen, get Jean Claude Van Damm to do a guest appearance!!!! They could have him and "van damm" meet as sensates only to have it be a dream or something. It could be awesome!

Question...I normally watch this on Wii. So i watched most of it on there but needed to switch for a couple episodes. When I watched it on the PS3 I noticed the title was different. SENSE8 on Wii, the letters are all in white. SENSE8 on the PS3 the letters were rainbow colored. Any idea why?

Also, i see a lot of comments about positiveness of this show, but isn't it just as much a show about hate and intolerance? I mean, it's like the movie Jumper, and X-Men and any other movie where a mutated gene causes "x" and regular humans and a collaborator or two wants to exterminate them for not being "normal"? I get it that the main cast or "heroes" are all about tolerance but even some of them are criminals or do some really shady stuff. I mean Sun's intentions were to kill her brother(yes he deserves to be punished but it's not her right to hurt/kill him),  and Wofie was all for it. It took the others to pull them back from that. Kala, cheated on her husband and now is planning to use the Paris hideaway as a love nest for her affair. Do we only overlook this because she is a hero? From what we have seen her husband absolutely adores and worships her and yet she wants no part of him even though she married him. If Kala was a male role would we all feel the same way toward her or would we view him as a pig? 

Now have to wait ??? years for season 3!