2-9. What Family Actually Means.

Nomi becomes the focus of unwanted 

attention at her sister's wedding.

Running Time: Approx. 57 minutes. Written by: Lana Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: Lana Wachowski.


THE PLOT:

As the wedding of Nomi's sister approaches, Nomi prepares to act as the Maid of Honor - even as she contends with hostility from her family, particularly her mother (Sandra Fish). With support from both her sister and Amanita, she deals as well with that as is possible... But the dogged Agent Bendix (Anthony Cistaro) remains determined to arrest Nomi, and to do so in the most public way he can.

In Mexico, Dani finds the perfect comeback script for Lito, who continues to despair over the unraveling of his career. Through stubbornness, charm, and a few well-placed lies, she manages to secure him an audition. In Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Capheus discovers that his political opponents have placed a price on his head. Wolfgang continues to evade both Fuchs and the police. And Will receives distressing news about his father (Joe Pantoliano).


CHARACTERS:

Season Two has been a veritable showcase for Jamie Clayton's Nomi, and much of this episode's best material goes to her. Early on, she considers leaving the reception, claiming a headache to avoid speaking in front of her family and their friends.  Then her mother approaches her, acidly suggesting that she do exactly that - Which prompts Amanita to observe that she now has to give the speech.  She does so - with just the right amount of nervousness and defiance. Nomi's hint of self-absoprtion does come through, as the speech is very much centered on herself, but her caring for her sister also shines through as she turns the focus more and more to her sister's kindness.

Freema Agyeman continues to impress as Amanita. When Agent Bendix shows up at the wedding, it doesn't take long for her to realize that in his arrogance he hasn't checked with his superiors about Nomi's current status. She has no way of verifying her suspicion - But she knows Bendix's brand of arrogance very well, and intercedes. She quickly gets the crowd on her side, notably Nomi's father; and while I wouldn't give the scene high marks for realism, it is a definite crowd-pleasing bit, perfectly carried off by Agyeman.

What Family Actually Means also gives Eréndira Ibarra her best scene to date. When a depressed Lito insists that a Hollywood producer would never look at him for the role in Iberian Dreams, Dani responds with swaggering self-confidence. She picks up the phone, asks Lito and Hernando to time her, then proceeds to make a series of calls. She switches from earnest to flirty to disinterested and back again as she talks first to someone connected with the film, then to an entertainment journalist, then back to the first person, weaving a picture of Lito as an in-demand presence who may not even be available to make the film. Before a single hour elapses, she is speaking with the director, who is locking in the audition. Would this really work, let alone in such a short time? I highly doubt it. Does it make for a great scene, not to mention a fantastic acting showcase for Ibarra? You bet.


THOUGHTS:

The BPO plotline moves very much into the background for What Family Actually Means. There are a few developments, as Riley and Diego find the house of the woman who contacted Riley, uncovering the hidden lab where Whispers conducted experiments. But the bulk of the focus is on individual character threads, particularly the Nomi and Lito strands. This is very much a good thing. As I've said before, the BPO plot is effective in giving the show structure and momentum, but it's never been the focus of my interest. The moments that linger in my mind have nothing to do with Evil Corporate Conspiracies, and everything to do with strong character writing.

There is a heightened sense to this episode's "big moments." As I indicated above, the showcase scenes for Amanita and Dani aren't necessarily realistic. Bendix would likely have an officer arrest Amanita for interfering before she got three words out, with the mess untangled by lawyers some time later. Dani would be unlikely to bluff Lito into an audition with just a few phone calls; even if she was able to successfully bring the pieces together, it would be the work of days, not a single hour. But in an episode centered around a wedding, there's something appropriate in the inclusion of semi-operatic set pieces. Both scenes are enormously fun to watch, and it's a treat to see characters who were initially defined in relation to main characters being allowed to fully claim the spotlight.

With so many moments of triumph, it's a given that somebody will receive an emotional smackdown. This time, it's Will, who learns that his father is dying. He isn't able to physically go to him, and has to settle for saying goodbye through Riley. The scene is entirely too relatable to anyone who has ever lost a close family member (which is to say, pretty much anyone over the age of 30), and the performances of Brian J. Smith and Joe Pantoliano sell the emotion beautifully, visually intercutting between the deathbed conversation and the shared memory of a childhood game of catch.

If the episode is a last drawing in of breath before the run up to the finale, then that scene is a perfect moment of stillness before letting it go. A beautifully moving final moment in a thoroughly engaging installment.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: All I Want Right Now Is One More Bullet
Next Episode: If All the World's a Stage, Identity Is Nothing but a Costume



Review Index

2-8. All I Want Right Now Is One More Bullet.

Wolfgang gets caught in an assassin's trap.

Running Time: Approx. 57 minutes. Written by: Lana Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: Dan Glass.


THE PLOT:

Jonas is alive.

Though the group was certain they had witnessed his death, he reveals that he was saved through the intervention of BPO's Chairman. He is still BPO's prisoner, forced to work with them, but he is alive - and Whispers' position may not be quite so secure as he had believed.

Meanwhile, having been dropped by his agent, Lito decides that his career is over and wallows in self-pity and comfort food. But his skills may soon be needed. Sun's brother is soon to attend a function, and Nomi and Amanita have found a way to smuggle Sun in with the help. The catch? She will have to pose as a bartender, which will only be possible if she borrows the skills Lito learned on the set of a previous movie.

Capheus is drawing attention in his bid for public office, but is also drawing a backlash from his opponent, seeking to paint the upstart bus driver as a "thug" who extorts protection money from his neighbors. As Capheus absorbs this, he receives a visit at gunpoint by the leader of the Superpower Gang, who lets him know in no uncertain terms that his life is in danger - but that he also has support in some unexpected places.

Finally, in Berlin, Wolfgang realizes that Lila, the sensate assassin, is planning to play him off against gang leader Sebastian Fuchs (Lars Eidinger) - all to further her dream of transforming Berlin into a haven for sensates. She hopes to enlist Wolfgang to her cause - But will settle for eliminating him to remove the threat he poses!


CHARACTERS:

Nomi is rather adorable in this episode, from accidentally waking Sun and begging her not to hit her to admitting that time zones confuse her to her clutziness in high heels. When Amanita tries to relax her nerves, correctly diagnosing that she's worried about seeing her parents again, Nomi observes that Amanita knows her in ways her Cluster never will.  Speaking of Amanita, at this point she could be considered an honorary member of the Cluster.  When Nomi knocks herself out of action near the end, Amanita effectively fills her role via FaceTime (with an assist from Bug), which ends up working seamlessly.

Lito's self-pity is amusing, and Miguel Angel Silvestre continues to show a genuine knack for comedy. The scene in which he curls up on Sun's bed, clutching a stuffed animal and crying, is genuinely funny, with Sun alternating between exasperation and compassion in her response to him. At the end of the scene, after Sun has spelled out exactly how much worse her situation is than Lito's, he passes her the stuffed animal and grabs another one for himself.

My favorite part of the episode is, of course, the standoff between Wolfgang and Lila at the end. But there's a great character moment before the shooting starts, when Lila tries to persuade him to become a "king" for Berlin. He dismisses that as fantasy, telling her Berliners always ultimately reject would-be kings. When she tells him that he's not like other people, he dismisses her by replying, "You are." The great thing about a character who says little - When he talks, his words are never wasted.


THOUGHTS:

When Jonas returned at the very end of the previous episode, my first thought was that he was another kind of "meat puppet" for Whispers to use to try to ensnare the Cluster. When he coldly referred to Will as "Officer Gorski" at the start of this episode, I was certain my suspicions were about to be confirmed.

Instead, we discover that he is another kind of puppet - kept alive for the benefit of "The Chairman" (whom I do hope we meet before the series ends), as a potential check on Whispers. Later in the episode, Will gets a glimpse of Whispers, hiding with his family in a hotel room. His wife and daughter are losing patience with the disruptions to their lives, and he is losing patience with them, shouting that all he is doing is to "protect this family!" Will realizes that Whispers is just as much a prisoner of circumstance as he is, or as Jonas is.

These revelations are intriguing, likely setting up major plot developments for the finale. The episode also sets up other strands. Kala's husband comes home bleeding, then later takes an angry midnight phone call, both of which he lies about (and not very well, so at least Kala can take comfort in knowing that Rajan is a lousy liar). In the midst of Lito's epic self-pity, Dani and Hernando observe that his Sao Paolo speech has generated a lot of buzz, and that his situation is actually much better than he thinks; it's just that Lito is unable to see this in the midst of his wallowing. And of course, we set up the inevitable conversation between Sun and her brother.  With only a handful of episodes left, I actively hope they don't set up anything else - These strands and the BPO arc are already quite a lot to resolve in the four remaining installments.

In short, this is a transitional episode, carefully moving pieces into place. The kinetic action climax aside, this installment exists to get the characters ready for the season's final Act.  The script offers some amusing bits of comedy alongside several good character exchanges. But transitional episodes never are the ones that leave you breathless, and despite the fantastic final scene, this episode is no exception. It does its job well - But when I think back on this series after completing it, I doubt there is much my mind will cling to from this particular piece.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode; I Have No Room in My Heart for Hate
Next Episode: What Family Actually Means



Review Index

2-4. Polyphony.

Jonas has grave news for the cluster.

Running Time: Approx. 58 minutes. Written by: Lana Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: James McTeigue.


THE PLOT:

Will's meeting with the BPO executive all too predictably turns out to be a trap. Fortunately, the cluster was prepared, and Will is able to escape. They are also now in possession of two resources they did not previously have: the knowledge that some of BPO's executives do not agree with the hunting of sensates, and the "blockers" used by Whispers to cut off the connection to other sensates. Riley has a contact who knows a chemical engineer, and he is able to study the pills - with Kala looking invisibly over his shoulder the entire time.

Kala and Capheus experience different types of unrest in their home countries. Kala is made the target of religious protesters' anger at her temple, which has now been transformed by new laws banning "idolatry." Capheus finds himself in the center of a protest about water prices, which have risen to a level that many people cannot afford. "Water is life," Capheus argues - and, when he is caught on camera defusing a potentially violent situation, he finds himself the subject of a local television interview.

In Mexico, Lito interviews the father of one of the members of Angelica's first cluster - a journalist who had interviewed Lito at the start of his career, and who disappeared in Chicago in pursuit of "the story of the century." Meanwhile, Sun's refuge comes to an abrupt end when the police knock on the door of the woman hiding her...


CHARACTERS:

One aspect of this series that I truly appreciate is that I actually believe in all of the relationships. That's quite rare - It is very common in films and television to have to nod your head and squint past screen couples who don't really fit together. All of the couples in this show work: Wolfgang and Kala, Will and Riley, Lito and Hernando, and Nomi and Amanita. Nomi and Amanita have been particularly strong this season, and this episode sees a highly effective moment with them at the center. As Amanita dodges over-persistent FBI agent Bendix on her motorcycle, Nomi is left to worry helplessly. Amanita's not a sensate, so Nomi can't simply look in on her - She's just left to wait and wonder, her anxiety further stoked as she experiences the potential for violence in the protests affecting Capheus and Kala. It's a startlingly suspenseful scene, and I found myself sharing in Nomi's relief when Amanita arrives safely.

Sun's friendship with Min-Jung is also well portrayed, and the two share a nice moment as the older woman reflects on Sun's character. She observes that for all of Sun's strength, she has a kind heart. "It was what made me like you the moment we met," she tells Sun. "Part of me wants you to find your brother and make him pay for what he has done... Whatever you do, child, do not let it be at the cost of your beautiful heart."


THOUGHTS:

After I finished this episode, a horrible thought occurred to me: I am now two-thirds of the way through this series. There are only eight installments remaining (admittedly, the last of those a very long installment, but still...). That is starting to make me quite sad. Not only do I love this series, but it is so clear that there is much more to explore with these characters and this concept, far more than can adequately be explored in seven episodes and a feature-length wrap-up.

The least of those is the BPO plot.  The conspiracy thriller story provides a narrative skeleton for this series, something to create incident and bring the characters together in focused moments - But as much as it makes for effective cliffhangers and set pieces, the real hook of the series for me lies with the characters and their individual stories. I like some better than others, of course - I will never care about Kala's husband and father-in-law no matter how much the show might want me to, and her scenes with the cluster are easily more enjoyable than the ones focused on her marriage - but all of the characters come across as credible. Even Sun, who is perhaps a little too capable at times, has an emotional vulnerability that offsets her "action hero" persona.

Speaking of action heroes... I rather like that Riley's friends joke about Lito's "cheesy" movies, much to his chagrin. First: Based on what we've seen of them, Lito's movies are cheesy, and there is merit in him recognizing that. It's also amusing when he self-deprecatingly echoes that criticism a few scenes later, to the father of the missing journalist. Which provides an opening for the older man to reject that dismissal, telling Lito: "You underestimate yourself."

The roles are being mixed more and more as the series goes on. Lito, who was the most disconnected from the cluster for most of the first season, has now become the go-to person whenever some convincing falsehoods are needed. But the last part of this episode sees him acting as an investigator, and - even accounting for prompts from the cluster - doing a genuinely competent job.

As per usual, the episode ends on a strong, in this case rather gruesome, note. But at this point, I'm dreading this series' ever-advancing end more than any of BPO's shenanigans.

Oh, a final note: I have so fully accepted Toby Onwumere's Capheus that I didn't even remember until after the episode's end that he wasn't the original actor.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Obligate Mutualisms
Next Episode: Fear Never Fixed Anything



Review Index

1-9. Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye.

Lito wrestles with his recent choices at an art gallery.

Running Time: Approx. 55 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: The Wachowskis.


THE PLOT:

Riley makes contact with Yrsa (Lilja Þórisdóttir), the mysterious woman who told her not to come back to Iceland. Yrsa is another sensate, but she works for the Biologic Preservation Organization (BPO), doing what she can to help others to evade detection. Will is also investigating BPO, which has an office in Iceland. When Yrsa learns that Will is talking to Jonas, she breaks the connection.  She tells Riley that Jonas is a collaborator, that he and Angelica helped BPO to track down sensates. One thing both Yrsa and Jonas agree on: Riley needs to get out of Iceland as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, Wolfgang receives a visit from Sergei, asking him not to try to take revenge for the attack on Felix. Sun receives a visit from her father, who announces his intent to tell the truth to clear her name. Nomi hides in her old apartment, convinced she is safe after putting out a fake BOLO showing herself as last seen on a flight to Australia.

And in Mexico, Lito struggles with the loss of Hernando, coming to the realization - as Nomi says - that "there's a huge difference between what we work for and what we live for."


CHARACTERS:

If the previous episode was mostly about plot, then this episode is mostly about the characters. We learn a huge amount about Riley, who visits the graveside of her husband and her child, whose dates of birth and death are the same. Riley tells Yrsa that, when the accident happened, all she wanted was "to be dead, to be with them." Capheus visits Riley again, sharing some of his own backstory - That he had a younger sister, whom they had to give away as an infant to save her life. "I never saw her again," Capheus tells her. "I cried as if she had died. In a way, she did, but in another way she lived."

Lito finally gets a significant interaction with one of the others. When he visits the art gallery where he and Hernando had their first date, his emotional vulnerability calls out to Nomi. He relates some of the art anecdotes Hernando shared with him, and through his memories we see exactly why Hernando's passion for art drew Lito to him. Nomi recalls the swim team her father enrolled her in, back when she was "Michael," and how that ended with bullying from the other boys erupting into violence. Nomi tells Lito that this was the last time she attempted to "fit in," because she realized that she never would.


THOUGHTS:

The scene in the art gallery is very nearly the episode's best. It is emotional, superbly acted, and visceral as Nomi recalls her violent assault. I actually had to stop the episode after the scene for a few minutes before I could carry on with the episode.

But even it gets outdone by the ending scene.  The episode's final scene is just Lito alone, in his apartment, calling Hernando's voice mail over and over again while drinking himself silly and struggling with such basics as the operation of a bathtub.  Miguel Silvestre's acting is an absolute masterclass, as he goes from quiet, to histrionics, to panic, to self-pity, to resignation.  After being emotional, the scene actually becomes quite funny as Lito drinks straight from the blender and batters at the handles on the bathtub.  Then, after all the histrionics drop away, he is simply and sincerely emotional... Just in time to hear a "mailbox full" recording on the other end.  Lito is left on the rooftop with his blackest thoughts: I'm a fake.  I'm a liar.  All I know how to do is lie."

Between those two scenes and Capheus' wonderful interaction with Riley, Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye is the most purely emotional episode of the series so far, and I think I would rank it as my favorite installment to date.

It's also an inverse of the previous episode. I wrote of the last episode that it was almost entirely concerned with plot, but still managed to advance the characters. This episode is almost entirely concerned with characters, but still manages to advance the plot. We learn a lot more about BPO, and receive a startling revelation about Jonas and Angelica. We also learn that BPO has a facility in Iceland, which puts Riley in direct jeopardy. Given how close we're getting to the season's end, I'm guessing the setup for the finale is starting here.

Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: We Will All Be Judged by the Courage of Our Hearts
Next Episode: What Is Human?



Review Index

1-4. What's Going On?

Wolfgang and Kala share a moment.

Running Time: Approx. 55 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: Tom Tykwer.


THE PLOT:

Sun finally is able to see her father, Kang Dae (Kyong Young Lee), and informs him that "the auditors already know." Her brother, Joong-Ki (Lee Ki-chan) has been embezzling money, too incompetently to even properly cover his tracks. "Someone is going to jail for it," Sun tells her father - And since her father has rarely so much as acknowledged her existence, the company will be better able to survive the scandal if she goes to prison, while her brother remains free.

In Kenya, Capheus' star has risen after his beating of the Superpower Gang. His bus is full of passengers now, all of them eager to travel on the safest bus around. But his actions have caught the eye of crime lord Silas Kabaka (Peter King Nzioki). Silas has an offer for Capheus - and he knows exactly the enticement the young man won't be able to refuse...

In Germany, Wolfgang and Felix decide to celebrate their caper with an expensive night on the town. In India, Kala draws nearer to the date of her wedding to Rajan (Purab Kohli), a man who is seemingly perfect in every way but for whom she feels nothing. In Chicago, Will manages to get some answers from Jonas, through unexpected means.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Nomi is being prepped for surgery, with no apparent hope of escape or rescue...


CHARACTERS:

Thus far, I haven't really mentioned Tina Desai's Kala in these reviews. She has not been the focus of a single episode, the plot of her unwanted wedding running very much in the background. In this episode, Rajan, her seemingly perfect fiancé, is very insistent that he wants to exchange rings as part of their ceremony.

"Married men in India don't wear rings. There is nothing to show their commitment. That is why I want one... I want the whole world to know I'm bound to this woman." His vehemence makes this statement feel a bit possessive, even sinister. This may be unintentional, and Rajan could well end up being the very nice guy he seems - But this is the first time I've actively felt something "off" about him. Meanwhile, a showstopping scene late in the episode emphasizes a connection between Kala and Wolfgang, visually establishing them as the very type of couple Rajan wants Kala and himself to be.

For his part, Wolfgang allows Felix to drag him along on a night of profligate spending. The entire time I was watching this strand, I was shaking my head; after snatching a heist out from under the nose of a dangerous criminal, surely the last thing you should do is draw attention to a sudden cash intake. There are no consequences in this episode, but I would be actively surprised if this night on the twon didn't come back to haunt both Wolfgang and Felix in the fairly near future.

Finally, this episode gives us a lot of time with Sun. Having established much of her personality in the previous installment, we now learn bits of her backstory. Rejected by her father in favor of her weaker and stupider brother, she has built up resentment toward them both - But also feels the weight of family obligation, something drilled into her by her late mother (Hye-Hwa Kim).


THOUGHTS:

What's Going On? is the best episode of the series to this point, and is the episode that inspired me to write these reviews instead of just watching the show (as I had originally intended). It is the first episode to offer a payoff to previously building threads. The scene between Will and Jonas provides a few answers, along with some helpful terminology - The eight main characters form a "cluster," able to share each others' lives and borrow skills. Jonas tells Will that he now has "seven other selves" - That the eight are no longer truly separate individuals, but rather parts of a whole (much like each of the eight threads is part of the whole that is this series).

This is the first episode since Limbic Resonance in which every one of the regulars gets at least one good scene. It's a noticeable contrast with that first episode.  Then, we knew none of the characters, so moving constantly from one to another was distancing - We were barely getting a chance to know one person before being introduced to the next. After the steady character building of Episodes 2 and 3, this episode is able to move from one character to the next without it being jarring or confusing. Since all strands are advanced, or at least touched on, What's Going On? goes by remarkably quickly.


WHAT'S UP?: MUSIC AND JAILBREAKS

Near the end of the episode is a purely cinematic sequence that I can't imagine working as well in another context. At the end of Wolfgang's night of excess, he and Felix end up singing karaoke... very, very badly. Wolfgang is ready to walk away from the stage, when the song, What's Up? by Four Non-Blondes comes on - at the exact same moment that Riley, in London, pulls up that song on her personal playlist. The song gets an enthusiastic reaction from Wolfgang's audience, and at the same time he is hearing it through Riley's headphones. So he sings. And we transition among all eight of the characters, each singing along with Wolfgang. Some of them start to visualize the others - Wolfgang and Kala definitely see each other, and sing to each other with broad smiles on their faces.

It's impossible to do the scene justice in a narrative description - Suffice to say, it is three glorious minutes in which the actors, the editing, the overall context of the story at this point, and the song itself fuse into something greater than the sum of those parts. It is, in a word, breathtaking.

And is followed up by the long-awaited rescue of Nomi from the hospital, with the assistance of Will, who takes control of her body long enough to free her from her restraints. She is able to make it to the hospital lobby, where Amanita, pretending to be a nurse, ferries her out of the building to a taxi.

With that running plot thread ended, and particularly punctuated by the previous musical set piece, it feels very much like an End of Act One. We've met all the characters. We know their basic situations. The Evil Conspiracy has at a minimum identified Nomi, who may now be free but will likely have to run fast and hide well to stay free. And both we and Will have at least some comprehension of the eight's abilities.

The episode ends with Nomi, still reciting the lyrics to the song, suddenly asking in all seriousness:

"What's going on?"


Rating: 10/10. Builds on the previous installments to deliver a truly great hour of television; the first episode to show that this series can truly be something special.


Previous Episode; Smart Money Is on the Skinny Bitch
Next Episode: Art Is Like Religion



Review Index

1-2. I Am Also a We.

Nomi and Amanita share a happy moment

 before everything goes wrong.

Running Time: Approx. 54 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: The Wachowskis.


THE PLOT:

In San Francisco, Nomi updates her blog, talking about her past life, raised by strictly religious parents:

"For a long time, I was afraid to be who I am. Because I was taught by my parents that there's something wrong with someone like me, something offensive... I was afraid of this parade, because I wanted so badly to be a part of it. So today, I'm marching for that part of me that was once too afraid to march, and for all the people who can't march, the people living lives like I did. Today, I march to remember that I'm not just a me - I'm also a we."

Nomi doesn't get very far on her Pride march, however. Her eyes meet those of a mysterious onlooker - Jonas. A second later, she passes out on the street.

She wakes in the hospital, with her mother (Sandra Fish) at her bedside, insistently calling her by her birth name - Michael. A surgeon, Dr. Metzger (Adam Shapiro), comes in to inform Nomi that she has been diagnosed with UFLS, Undifferentiated Frontal Lobe Syndrome, which means that her brain tissue is fusing together. He tells her she will experience increasing hallucinations and will be dead in six months unless they perform immediate surgery. But once Nomi is alone, Jonas "visits" her, telling her what she can already sense: Metzger is a liar, and she has to get out of this hospital as fast as she can.

In Mexico, Lito finds that Daniela (Eréndira Ibarra), the young actress he has been seeing for the sake of the press, is becoming seriously infatuated. He tries to dissuade her - But she shows up at his apartment, determined to spend the night. When she discovers his secret male lover, Hernando (Alfonso Herrera), she has a most unexpected reaction...

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Will discovers that camera recordings from the night of Angelica's death have been altered. Before he can follow up on that, however, a federal agent informs Will's precinct about a suspected terrorist: Jonas!


CHARACTERS:

The focus in this episode is on Will, Lito, and Nomi, with most of the others relegated to one or two scenes (in some cases, a wordless piece of a scene). This is a good choice, allowing us a chance to connect to those three characters without other plotlines getting in the way.

Will's interactions with Deshawn (William Burke), the boy he saved, show his innate decency, while also allowing him to reveal a bit about his past as a juvenile delinquent, rebelling against his career cop father (Joe Pantoliano). He also deals with fallout from saving Deshawn, as veteran officers at a cop bar shun him, and his father tells him that if Deshawn goes on to kill a police officer, then that's on Will.

The revelation that Lito is gay is... honestly no surprise at all, though his interactions with Dani are highly entertaining. Outside of the blog speech that gives this episode its title, Nomi actually gets the worst of the three spotlighted characters, being relegated to largely a victim role once she wakes in the hospital.


THOUGHTS:

The series' second episode is slower-paced, but it's also much more engaging. Because we aren't constantly being moved from one character and continent to another, there is a chance to genuinely connect with the episode's three focal characters. Will and Nomi brush up in different ways against the Big Secret Plot, but that is wisely not the focus. The mystery is teased in the gap in the police recording, and Dr. Metzger is balanced as both believably a medical professional but at the same time a sinister figure. But for the most part, the episode defers plot mechanics in favor of building the first episode's sketches into fully-rounded characters.

All three characters are likable, and some parallels are already emerging. Will is in the shadow of his father, just as we saw Wolfgang in the shadow of his own parent in the previous episode. Just as Wolfgang had an obviously terrible relationship with his father, we see Nomi's relationship with her mother - a mother who refuses to even acknowledge her by her current name, and who seems almost relieved to hear from Dr. Metzer that something is wrong with her child, as if clinging to the diagnosis as an explanation for sexual identity issues, and not just blackouts and hallucinations.

The three seem to exist in alternate genres. For this episode, Nomi is mostly in a family drama, attempting to stand up for her own identity even as circumstances pull her back to her estranged family. Will is in a paranoid conspiracy thriller, stumbling across altered evidence while being used to track down a falsely-dubbed "terrorist." Meanwhile, Lito is in a sex farce. The changes in tone complement each other, with Will's investigation keeping the thread of mystery alive, Nomi's family issues granting substance, and Lito's thread lightening the mood at the right moments.

Save for an end chase that leads into another effective cliffhanger, this is not a particularly exciting episode, and at this point I was starting to wonder if it should have been "Sense6" as neither the Kenyan bus driver nor the Korean businesswoman appeared to be receiving any script attention at all (that is very soon to change). But by rounding out three of the characters while still keeping the central mystery alive, I Am Also a We manages to engage emotionally in a way that the previous episode did not, marking a significant forward step.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Limbic Resonance
Next Episode: Smart Money Is on the Skinny Bitch



Review Index

Sense8 Review Index

Season One
Original Release Date: June 5, 2015

1-1. Limbic Resonance

1-2. I Am Also a We

1-3. Smart Money Is on the Skinny Bitch

1-4. What's Going On?

1-5. Art Is Like Religion

1-6. Demons

1-7. W. W. N. Double-D?

1-8. We Will All Be Judged by the Courage of Our Hearts

1-9. Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye

1-10. What Is Human?

1-11. Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes

1-12. I Can't Leave Her


Next Season: Season Two