Sense8: Amor Vincit Omnia
Jun. 10th, 2018 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrasteYesterday, I was delighted to be able to sit on my couch with one of my BFFs and watch the Sense8 finale. It was incredibly indulgent, but since I was definitely among the ones being indulged I came away very happy.
In an ideal world, this would have been three more seasons, and because of the time pressure various threads had to be dropped and the plot is sometimes confusingly fast. Poor Lito and Capheus have their personal storylines abandoned in the middle, and Riley never becomes as important to the plot as I suspect she would have been if the show had been allowed to unfold at its proper pace. However, given the format limitations, I think they did an excellent job of wrapping things up over all even when it required some awkward exposition. And honestly, I wouldn't have cut any of the glorious character moments, let alone a single shot from that final beautifully-lit psychic orgy, to spend more time explaining BPO and Whisper's initial motivation for chowing down on his own cluster. (I guess some people are just jerks.)
Honestly, my biggest complaint is the one I've always had: Naveen Andrews wore too many clothes in this show. (I mean, there is so much nudity, it just seems mean to withhold this from me. He wasn't shy back in The Buddha of Suburbia!) However, sad absence of nudity aside, Jonas had his story wrapped up in a sad but satisfying way, and I was happy to finally hear all the details on what Angela's plan actually was. Good thing our August 8th cluster are skilled, flexible and always remember to bring the rocket launcher.
All of the characters get great moments here, but I was especially pleased to see once again how tough Kala is under pressure - I love that she's the person who freaks out until she has something to do, and then gets on with whatever it is, even if it's explaining to her boyfriend and husband that they should actually DO SOMETHING and not let her lie there bleeding to death while they feel sad.
Speaking of which, Rajan was completely adorable throughout - I loved his reaction face being made to stand in for the surprise of every single character we didn't see this explained to, and also the way he just went along with carrying Kala's equipment in a crisis even though he had NO IDEA what the hell was happening.
More than that, I'm delighted that the love triangle went in a direction nobody was expecting - especially not Kala! I saw it coming as soon as Rajan didn't react negatively to Kala and Wolfgang's obvious closeness. Is it terribly convenient that Rajan is fine with this? Sure, but it's also a pleasantly unexpected twist. (And it's just like Sense8 to solve a boring love triangle by revealing that one of the points involved wasn't nearly as straight as his wife - and presumably the audience - had assumed.) So instead of a story about choosing love over duty or duty over love, Kala's arc turns out to be about love arriving two different ways: suddenly with Wolfgang, and slowly with Rajan as she gets to know him better.
Sun's romance with Detective Mun (nobody ever said the Wachowskis were subtle about naming their characters) is also lovely, and is another thing I wish we could have seen play out over more time. I'd love to know who arranged it so Sun is no longer in trouble for all the escaping from prison and car chases, but her introducing Mun to her dog is definitely one of my favourite moments <3.
I love that they managed to reassemble practically the entire supporting cast, and that so many of them got to help out with the tourist bus raid. I can't decide if Dani's 'is that real Italian leather??' routine is my favourite or Felix and Wolfgang as dorky German tourists, so I'm going to say both. My favourite guest star, though, was predictably Sylvester McCoy. So glad he lived and got to come to the wedding! Which reassembled even more of the supporting cast, including the Pride fairies from all the way back in the first episode! (I was not surprised to find when I looked it up that they're played by friends of Lana's.) Nomi's mother accepting her at the end was obvious wish fulfilment, but given that Sense8 is all about the fulfilment of wishes for the kind of people who don't usually get that, it worked for me in context.
All in all: the show stumbled here and there, but I will always have fond memories of all the good things about it and forever feel happy whenever I hear What's Up?
In an ideal world, this would have been three more seasons, and because of the time pressure various threads had to be dropped and the plot is sometimes confusingly fast. Poor Lito and Capheus have their personal storylines abandoned in the middle, and Riley never becomes as important to the plot as I suspect she would have been if the show had been allowed to unfold at its proper pace. However, given the format limitations, I think they did an excellent job of wrapping things up over all even when it required some awkward exposition. And honestly, I wouldn't have cut any of the glorious character moments, let alone a single shot from that final beautifully-lit psychic orgy, to spend more time explaining BPO and Whisper's initial motivation for chowing down on his own cluster. (I guess some people are just jerks.)
Honestly, my biggest complaint is the one I've always had: Naveen Andrews wore too many clothes in this show. (I mean, there is so much nudity, it just seems mean to withhold this from me. He wasn't shy back in The Buddha of Suburbia!) However, sad absence of nudity aside, Jonas had his story wrapped up in a sad but satisfying way, and I was happy to finally hear all the details on what Angela's plan actually was. Good thing our August 8th cluster are skilled, flexible and always remember to bring the rocket launcher.
All of the characters get great moments here, but I was especially pleased to see once again how tough Kala is under pressure - I love that she's the person who freaks out until she has something to do, and then gets on with whatever it is, even if it's explaining to her boyfriend and husband that they should actually DO SOMETHING and not let her lie there bleeding to death while they feel sad.
Speaking of which, Rajan was completely adorable throughout - I loved his reaction face being made to stand in for the surprise of every single character we didn't see this explained to, and also the way he just went along with carrying Kala's equipment in a crisis even though he had NO IDEA what the hell was happening.
More than that, I'm delighted that the love triangle went in a direction nobody was expecting - especially not Kala! I saw it coming as soon as Rajan didn't react negatively to Kala and Wolfgang's obvious closeness. Is it terribly convenient that Rajan is fine with this? Sure, but it's also a pleasantly unexpected twist. (And it's just like Sense8 to solve a boring love triangle by revealing that one of the points involved wasn't nearly as straight as his wife - and presumably the audience - had assumed.) So instead of a story about choosing love over duty or duty over love, Kala's arc turns out to be about love arriving two different ways: suddenly with Wolfgang, and slowly with Rajan as she gets to know him better.
Sun's romance with Detective Mun (nobody ever said the Wachowskis were subtle about naming their characters) is also lovely, and is another thing I wish we could have seen play out over more time. I'd love to know who arranged it so Sun is no longer in trouble for all the escaping from prison and car chases, but her introducing Mun to her dog is definitely one of my favourite moments <3.
I love that they managed to reassemble practically the entire supporting cast, and that so many of them got to help out with the tourist bus raid. I can't decide if Dani's 'is that real Italian leather??' routine is my favourite or Felix and Wolfgang as dorky German tourists, so I'm going to say both. My favourite guest star, though, was predictably Sylvester McCoy. So glad he lived and got to come to the wedding! Which reassembled even more of the supporting cast, including the Pride fairies from all the way back in the first episode! (I was not surprised to find when I looked it up that they're played by friends of Lana's.) Nomi's mother accepting her at the end was obvious wish fulfilment, but given that Sense8 is all about the fulfilment of wishes for the kind of people who don't usually get that, it worked for me in context.
All in all: the show stumbled here and there, but I will always have fond memories of all the good things about it and forever feel happy whenever I hear What's Up?