Straczynski/Wachowski Sense8 on Netflix

[red snow]

The opening sequence was very curious. Sadly ep1 is an hour and work beckons.

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

Review from Grantland's Andy Greenwald.

I'm curious to start watching it this weekend. There's value and pleasure to be found in an interesting failure - sometimes more so than a middling success. I'd often rather see something strive and fail to do something great or unusual than succeed at something pedestrian.

[Kindly Old Man]

I disagree with Greenwald's review entirely. So far (3 episodes in), I've found it quite coherent and thoroughly entertaining. Some of the storylines are more developed than others, but as Straczynski has said it's meant to be binged, I trust they will be fleshed out. My only complaint so far is some on-the-nose dialogue and Wachowski style philosophizing, but even that hasn't been too bad. I think JMS is a good partner for them.

[red snow]

I disagree with Greenwald's review entirely. So far (3 episodes in), I've found it quite coherent and thoroughly entertaining. Some of the storylines are more developed than others, but as Straczynski has said it's meant to be binged, I trust they will be fleshed out. My only complaint so far is some on-the-nose dialogue and Wachowski style philosophizing, but even that hasn't been too bad. I think JMS is a good partner for them.

On the nose dialogue sounds like a hall mark of JMS. His plotting is great though.

[WinterKing]

Having just finished the finale, I really liked the idea.It is confusing at the start, but by the end of the season you already have a grip on what is happening.

Now, what ability does Riley brings the group, because the others bring using guns, hacking, lying, safe cracking, fighting and driving.Even Kala brought some useful chemical knowledge.But Riley?

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

Geez, done already? I'm three episodes in. It's okay. There are some individual plot threads that I enjoy, and others that I enjoy less. It's not really pulling together for me yet, but I'm interested enough to continue.

Some of the cinematography and big landscape shots are amazing. Despite the fact that I'm not digging all of the individual stories equally, I love that they have an incredibly diverse, global cast.

[SpaceChampion]

On episode four, I'm enjoying it.

[Black Wolf Smith]

I watched the first 2 ep, and well, It sucks. If I didn't know that is about 8 mentally linked people, I would have stopped watching. It jumps from story to story, with little to no connect to each other or to individuals story lines. 1 scene is a 10 minute indebt look at someone, then next is a scene about 2 minutes of a women on drugs, just sitting and listening to music. The first ep and at least half the second is just a collections of scenes. Towards the end of the 2nd, at least, Mr. Barbar Streisand shows up and starts to try to explain what is happened.

I get that it is Netflix, and they have told showrunners to use/write the whole season to tell a story, and not for just an ep. So I will keep watching, for a few more ep.

[Veltigar]

I got about half-way into the first episode. It really is very boring, but I might return to it at some point. My first impression is that eight characters was perhaps a bit to ambitious for these writers. I hope they make me eat my words, but I really do think that it might have worked better with say four telepaths. Easier to come up with four good arcs, especially since there is more time to develop them.

[Pliskin]

I watched the first two and I'm sold.

The comedic relief is great (Lito!). But there are some characters I just can't stand, like the "lesbian" couple. Really badly written dialogue.

I never thought I'd say someday that I prefer the gay male couple over the female couple...

[Kindly Old Man]

Having just finished the finale, I really liked the idea.It is confusing at the start, but by the end of the season you already have a grip on what is happening.

Now, what ability does Riley brings the group, because the others bring using guns, hacking, lying, safe cracking, fighting and driving.Even Kala brought some useful chemical knowledge.But Riley?

I finished too. I liked it but I can see why many people don't. The action sequences are well done, but since they are pretty sparse I think people's enjoyment will probably depend on how much they connect with individual characters and their storylines (I liked most of them). The overarching storyline I found a bit underwhelming.

Spoilers:

Lito was awesome, I loved all of his scenes and he + his partner + his beard had great chemistry together. After him I liked Nomi, her arc was good, though the dialogue got really preachy on occasion. I thought the scene where she is about to be lobotomized was one of the best. Van Damme, Sun, and Wolfgang had good stories, and every time Sun took over someone's body it was awesome. The cop and the Indian woman were usually kind of boring when they were on screen and not interacting with the other sense8s. I thought Riley was easily the worst character, and I wasn't at all interested in her story, it was the only time I kind of zoned out. Because of this, I didn't really like the ending scene to begin with, and then to top it off they kind of yada-yada'd the climax, which seemed like a weird decision and left me a little cold. I also didn't feel like the main villain was well defined or threatening enough. Still, I enjoyed the ride and liked most of the cast, plus I think they executed the action scenes with them switching bodies well, It's a cool premise and I'd watch a second season.

[john]

I watched the first episode. It's going to be a slow burn, this one, I think. Even if it is apparently designed for binging (which I don't see much evidence of), it's not very thrilling. If anything, they're playing down the mystery aspect and from what I've read, that continues at least into the third episode. Still, it's interesting enough to keep watching and I'm enjoying the diverse cast and range of accents.

Now, what ability does Riley brings the group, because the others bring using guns, hacking, lying, safe cracking, fighting and driving.Even Kala brought some useful chemical knowledge.But Riley?

Experienced drug user? I mean, that's what i thought they were going for in the first episode. They haven't really explained how they're linked but it seems to be some kind of chemical experience. Either that or you can bet that DJing is going to be essential for one of the other guys at some point.

[SpaceChampion]

If I had to guess (still only seen 4 eps) Riley will become

whatever Darryl Hannah's character Angelica was to her cluster.

[RedEyedGhost]

I've enjoyed the first three episodes. Although, it's definitely slow.

[WinterKing]

Finale spoilers:

Also, what will they do about the Whisper/Will link?

Keep Will drugged all time? Keep him in a coma?

Simply do not care?

[Warg Arry]

I haven't slept. Just binged watched this show. At the moment I have 'soup brain' regret. But I did really enjoy it.

Having just finished the finale, I really liked the idea.It is confusing at the start, but by the end of the season you already have a grip on what is happening.

Now, what ability does Riley brings the group, because the others bring using guns, hacking, lying, safe cracking, fighting and driving.Even Kala brought some useful chemical knowledge.But Riley?

If I had to guess (still only seen 4 eps) Riley will become

whatever Darryl Hannah's character Angelica was to her cluster.

I have to agree with SpaceChampion. I get a strong feeling that Will and Riley will be the Jonas and Angelica of the cluster.

They seem to have the easiest back and forth/learning curving/access of the group. Will is getting special Jonas attention. (What is that guys deal?... Half the time I wonder whose side he is on. Which is intentional for sure.) Jonas even refers to being in Will's position and being groomed to become "sensei".

While Riley has the whole mother vibe with more connection to Angelica and other... Guides. (Though that chick's intentions are ambiguous. On the one hand she has been a malignant undertow to Riley. Whilst seemingly going out of her way to help. (I think) Whilst being in a position to do what she did (or claims to have). That felt like it had sinister implications.

And both Will and Riley got the "protect them" message. And the vision of suicide/sacrifice.

It baffles me why no one (even his own cluster... I know they would feel that loss keenly.) has taken out Whispers yet. He is clearly meddlesome, nefarious and totes OP. Perhaps that will be season 2.

Other spoilery stuff/ ramblings of a sleep deprived person.

My favourites are Sun and Capheus. I like the others as well. There wasn't a cluster member's storyline I didn't enjoy on some level. Nomi and Nita had a great dynamic. It was great to see a couple just there for each other. Completely and in the most accepting way.

What dragged for me was the sex scenes. Fine for when it was an element to the story. When it moved the plot along and showed when and who of the cluster got connected with shared experience most, first. (Even that dragged and became boring)

Otherwise I felt like it was time unwisely spent. In that I felt like so much more of the story was there to be explored.

It felt gimmicky and it hurt plot flow. In my opinion.

I like how their abilities had a clear upside and downside. It would be very cool to discover places you've never been without having to leave where you are. It would be great to have someone with a skill set you don't have, take care of things.

But it's so intrusive. I couldn't handle being snatched out of my life to deal with someone else's, just whenever around the clock. Not that anyone in the cluster was tormented by it. It was more "Hey I'm so and so, where are we? Whatcha up to?"...*shared trouble advice/action ensues*

I guess it's an innate acceptance and goes from there.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to season 2. It will probably be heavy on the Whispers and taking down the corporation.

[SpaceChampion]

It baffles me why no one (even his own cluster... I know they would feel that loss keenly.) has taken out Whispers yet. He is clearly meddlesome, nefarious and totes OP. Perhaps that will be season 2.

What dragged for me was the sex scenes. Fine for when it was an element to the story. When it moved the plot along and showed when and who of the cluster got connected with shared experience most, first. (Even that dragged and became boring)

Otherwise I felt like it was time unwisely spent. In that I felt like so much more of the story was there to be explored.

It felt gimmicky and it hurt plot flow. In my opinion.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to season 2. It will probably be heavy on the Whispers and taking down the corporation.

Theme-wise, the story is focusing on sexuality, aesthetic, narrative, and empathy. Revenge and courage too. Living a lie. I think the conspiracy plot is just guideposts to set up opportunities to express all those themes and ideas. I wouldn't worry too much about figuring out the plot. That's not what its there for. It's a character study, like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I like it lots, but I hope the show does spend time improving the characterization of its villains -- though to be fair, those villains are suppose to be the opposite of sensates: psychopaths, people without much empathy, etc. Maybe that's the point, you don't have access to a lot of dimensions if you don't have empathy.

Though

I had the impression Whispers has already killed his entire cluster, in order to generate new clusters of sensates he could lobotomize and exploit.

Also, VAN DAMN!!!

Speaking of narrative, all the characters reference movies, art, music, painting, television etc. Also the narratives behind the creation of works of art. I find that interesting. I believe the point is about narrative expanding our empathy and allowing us to take ourselves out of our own heads and into whole other worlds. "Visiting" another sensate is like picking up a book part way through, immersing yourself and trying to figure out what's going on.

I'm still trying to form coherent thoughts on the sexuality. I think it has a point too though.

What is best in life?

[Zorral]

I've watched the first two episodes. So far all that's appeared are an edless series of icture postcards of locations and people that aren't particularly interesting. Is something -- anything? going to emerge? anytime soon?

My only take away from Sense8 so far is that this is Netflix's contribution to Gay Pride Week celebrations, and hopes everyone will have watched it by the June 23 Pridefest kickoff!.

[Martini Sigil]

this is our next binge

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

Just finished episode 10. Super minor spoiler ahead...

I was dying during the classical music montage of all of the sensates being born. Most shows would be content to spring one super-graphic shot of a baby's head crowning through a woman's vagina on you without warning. But this show... needed two.