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

1-10. What Is Human?

"All that matters is that today, two stood against many..."

Running Time: Approx. 59 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: The Wachowskis.


THE PLOT:

It is the Fourth of July, and the eight sensates stand at individual moments of decision. Sun has a chance to end her imprisonment, but is told that her brother's sentence will be much harsher than hers. Steiner tells Wolfgang he will give him and Felix "a pass" as long as Wolfgang gives him the diamonds they stole, but it's already clear that he can't be trusted to keep to his word. Kala wrestles over whether to tell Rajan that his father's last wish before the assault was to cancel the wedding. Capheus watches old Jean Claude Van Damme films to try to build up courage after the threat made against his mother. And Lito gets some unexpected help in realizing that making a mistake doesn't matter - Provided you do what is necessary to fix it.

Meanwhile, Will receives a visit from Jonas, who tells him that Whispers is trying to use him to find the members of the cluster. He urges Will to "never look him in the eye - Never!" And in Iceland, Riley stays to watch her father's symphonic performance - a seemingly simple decision that has unexpected consequences.


CHARACTERS:

Will shares a wonderful little scene with his father (Joe Pantoliano), as they enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks from a boat on the water. Will's father talks about how he tried to follow in his electrician father's footsteps, only to find he had no aptitude or interest in the job.  He then tells Will how proud it made him when he became a cop as well. Capheus continues to have chemistry with anyone he shares screentime with, talking with a depressed Kala about how Van Damme gives him courage and about the violence of the world - a violence Kala has been sheltered from, until the assault on her not-quite father-in-law.

Lito and Wolfgang are the last pairing I would have expected, but they prove to be a delight and they fit well with each other's weaknesses. Wolfgang is the kind of implacable tough guy Lito plays on screen, while Lito has an ability to lie convincingly that is utterly foreign to the straightforward thief. The two scenes in which they come to each other's aid are both crowd-pleasing moments that work, because of how well the two characters end up fitting together.

In addition, with Lito aiding Wolfgang in his confrontation with Steiner's crew, they effectively make true the quote Wolfgang's friend loves from Conan the Barbarian: "All that matters is that today, two stood against many. Valor pleases you, so grant me this one request.  Grant me revenge!"  Sergei warned Wolfgang against seeking revenge - But with Steiner effectively forcing that choice onto him, Wolfgang seems to get quite a bit of pleasure from taking it.  Almost as much as we get from watching it...


THOUGHTS:

May I say how much I love this show? I'm trying to think of another series that can flip on a dime to musing about whether the Holocaust was "an aberration or a reflection of who we really are," to a touching father-daughter scene debating the value of hurtful truths vs. reassuring lies, to a crowd pleasing set piece featuring a hidden handgun and a rocket launcher. And that's before Lito gets into a fistfight and attempts to fend off his attacker by (badly) throwing potted plants at him.  Never mind the shared experience that is the last five or so minutes of this...

When I started What Is Human?, I did so under a natural assumption: The previous episode had been focused on advancing the characterizations, so this one - as we gear up for the season finish - would return to being plot-focused. Nope. For a second episode running, the focus is on the characters, and I couldn't be more delighted. These eight people are so engrossing in themselves, and their individual situations so interesting, that just watching them navigate (and help each other through) the messes of their own lives is addictive enough without any need for an external Big Secret Threat, so I'm happy to get one more episode focused just on that aspect before The Plot takes over.

Not that I'm not intrigued by the plot, and I fully expect to enjoy the season's final two episodes. But regardless of the payoff or lack thereof, the journey has definitely been worthwhile.

For most series I've reviewed, this episode would unquestionably be a "10." But I didn't like it quite as much as What's Going On? or Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye, and I have a feeling that this is a series where I should be very stingy with full marks, or else I'll end up awarding full marks too often. So instead I'll give this a still very strong...


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye
Next Episode: Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes



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

1-1. Limbic Resonance.

Angelica (Daryl Hannah) on the last night of her life.

Running Time: Approx. 67 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: The Wachowskis.


THE PLOT:

Late at night in an abandoned church in Chicago, a woman named Angelica (Daryl Hannah) prepares to shoot herself. Her lover, Jonas (Naveen Andrews) appears, telling her that "it has to be now" and that she can give "them" a chance. Her pursuer (Terrence Mann) appears. He is dismissive of Angelica's suicide threat, noting that she has made such threats before. But this time, she means it. She puts the gun in her mouth (actually not a reliable suicide posture, as Larry McMurtry famously pointed out in Dead Man's Walk) and pulls the trigger.

Eight people in various parts of the world have visions of her suicide: Chicago police officer Will Gorski (Brian J. Smith), San Francisco lesbian Nomi (Jamie Clayton), London DJ Riley Blue (Tuppence Middleton), Mexican actor Lito Rodriguez (Miguel Silvestre), German safecracker Wolfgang Bogdanow (Max Riemelt), Indian woman Kala Dandekar (Tina Desai), Korean businesswoman Sun Bak (Doona Bae), and Kenyan bus driver Capheus Onyango (Aml Ameen). As the eight go about their entirely separate daily lives, they keep seeing flashes of Angelica, and even of each other.

Timing that may prove tricky for a few of them, as Riley's boyfriend pulls her into the orbit of drug dealer Nyx (Joseph Mawle), while Wolfgang and his friend Felix (Maximilian Mauff) prepare to snatch a big score out from under the nose of Wolfgang's insufferable criminal cousin, Steiner (Christian Oliver).

Meanwhile, Will discovers the site of Angelica's shooting, and realizes that his visions are not just dreams after all...


CHARACTERS:

They are all pretty much in sketch form in this episode, which is not surprising since even with extra runtime, the job of establishing eight different characters in eight different settings and situations is daunting. Each character is given some "hook" to earn our empathy. Wolfgang may be a criminal, but he doesn't come across as being as odious as Steiner and we learn enough about his family life to see him as fully human. Will breaks procedure and risks the ire of fellow officers by saving a wounded youth in a gang area. Nomi recalls being deeply touched when her girlfriend, Amanita (Freema Agyeman) stood up for her at a previous Pride event. And so on - We spend more time with some than with others, but we touch long enough on each of them to be able to feel some measure of sympathy. For a first episode tasked with doing so much, that is enough.


THOUGHTS:

I've currently watched the first four episodes of Sense8. I had no intention of doing reviews - It was just a show I'd been interested in that I finally decided to watch. The end of Episode Four made me decide to go further, and actually write reviews of the show as I watch - more on that when I review that episode, but anyone who's seen the show probably knows which scene pushed this series from simply "view it" to "review it."

The series is the brainchild of The Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski. So on the one hand, it's brought to us by the creators of The Matrix and Babylon 5... Though on the other hand, it's also brought to us by the creators of Jupiter Ascending and... well, I can't think of a comparable JMS title, so I'll settle for the competent-but-uninspiring Jeremiah. The series ran for two seasons on Netflix, before finally being canceled due to the extreme expense of the production (around $9 million per episode)... Though fan outcry eventually resulted in a wrap-up movie, so at least I know I'm not going into something that will remain unresolved.

With the best will in the world, this first episode is a difficult one. With not only eight characters, but eight separate settings, I doubt there was a way around that. Episode One was always going to be limited to setting up the characters, building a tiny bit of mystery, and not much else. The opening scenes, with Angelica, are intriguing but also oddly distancing, and for the first half of the episode I will admit to wondering if I would be continuing with this series as I watched in 10 - 15 minute snippets.

The second half of the episode settles into a more comfortable dramatic rhythm, as the script settles on the most immediately accessible characters. Will presents viewers with the comfortably familiar protagonist figure of a police officer, and the script puts him in a sympathetic dramatic position when he insists on running a boy with a gunshot injury to the hospital - violating procedure because it is the only way the boy will get medical attention fast enough to save his life. Wolfgang and Riley spend the last part of the episode in situations that carry an immediate threat of danger, raising tension just as it is badly needed. An end connection between Will and Riley, followed by a bout of sudden violence that leads into the cliffhanger, conclude the episode on a strong note.

The episode presents barriers to viewing, and I would advise any new viewer to stick with it for at least three installments. Limbic Resonance is, on its own, best viewed as a foundation (really, part of a foundation) for what is to come. It is interesting, but not particularly immediately gripping... Though I suspect it plays better on rewatch, once you actually know who these eight characters are.


Rating: 6/10. The foundation is there... But I suspect a lot of viewers of Episode One did not stick around for Episode Two.


Next Episode: I Am Also a We



Review Index