Summer TV Binge: SENSE8

Let’s just get this out there: I really fucking liked this show.

I first heard about Sense8 from a podcast in which it was talked over briefly as one of Netflix’s new series. Honestly, I didn’t even know they had new series, other than Daredevil, but apparently they did. Then I heard of a couple of friends who’d watched it. When I started going into Netflix for my Sherlock and OITNB binges, I noticed it there in their Original Programming list and decided to earmark it. My husband was away and checked out the first episode (letting me know it was NOT fit for child consumption, by the way), and I cemented my decision for it to be the next show I ventured into.

To be sure, the beginning is a little rough. We’re in some weird location and Daryl Hannah is filthy and crazy and odd shit is going on, and if I didn’t know the premise of the story going in — that there will be eight primary characters in the series who can share each other’s minds, abilities and feelings, in addition to being able to have telepathic conversations with one another and to take over each other’s bodies — I would’ve been lost. It’s a lot to follow. And for the first couple episodes, it’s almost too much. There are too many characters and everything is sort of scattered and the purpose and intent of these people and all the different events in their lives is unclear to say the least. By episode three, however, things start to rapidly fall into place, and I was glued to the action.

Sense8 works best when the players are interacting, and in episode three when Sun (Doona Bae) shows up to help Capheus (Aml Ameen) fight off some dangerous guys, it’s a really exciting moment. And as the action and the conspiracy or whatever it is to silence the sensates comes to light and more and more the sensates are called upon to help their brothers and sisters, the moments only get more and more exciting — especially as they all become more accustomed to and accepting of these new abilities and their new brethren. The more and more they interact, the better the show gets, and the moments when they are all connected together — singing “What’s Going On,” the scene in the orchestra with the memories of their births, and the rescue of Riley (Tuppence Middleton) from that nefarious Icelandic facility — are the high points, emotional and affecting and thrilling to a fault. Even just scenes when many are involved, like Sun and Will (Brian J. Smith) and Capheus helping Nomi (Jamie Clayton) escape the police, or the fireworks, or that unbelievably hot sex scene, are ballsy and cool and fearless. Not everything works, particularly concerning whatever nefarious forces are hunting them or the logic behind it, but it really doesn’t matter. Sense8 swings for the fences, and that’s the way you hit home runs. Sense8 hits a lot of home runs.

On top of all the amazing things the show does with plot, it’s also one of the most diverse and interesting casts ever in a TV series. And not just in the even split of men and women among the group, or their races or countries of origin, but in who they are and what they do. One of my favorite moments is when Riley asks Capheus if they’re in Africa and he scoffs, “Africa?? Kenya. Nairobi.” Because not all Africa is the same thing. And when asked about big TVs in the ghettos, he plainly states that a bed in the ghetto simply means you wake up in the ghetto, but a TV can take you anywhere.

As my husband said, the characters all feel very authentic, and no one is a joke or a caricature. Nomi is transgender and fought a huge battle to get herself there, while Lito (Miguel Angel Silvestre) is secretly gay in a world where he’s sure his homosexuality will ruin his career (though neither character’s life is treated as outlandish or mocked in any way). Sun and Kala (Tina Desai) are trying desperately to be good daughters. Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) and Will are disappointing sons. Capheus lives in a deadly dangerous environment. And Riley has suffered a past more painful than anyone should ever endure. And yet it’s comforting and more than a little reassuring for each of them to know the others are out there, whether to simply lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on or to literally help save them from peril. They all have strengths, they all have weaknesses, they are all capable, and they all falter. They’re all so incredibly different, but also very much members of the same human experience.

The advantages of being on Netflix, for a show like Sense8, are innumerable. It’s able to be graphic and bold, and Netflix has a lot of room to be experimental with the kind of content it produces. Episode length can also vary as needed — not significantly, but if a few extra minutes are needed here or there, it’s not an issue — and almost nothing is off-limits. The births scene, in particular, is incredibly graphic and unexpected, but also amazing and fearless. It’s not exploitative, but it’s also not shy. Same goes for the sex scenes and the nudity. And the finale is fucking badass. For a pair like the Wachowskis, who blew away the entire world with the work they did on The Matrix, this feels like a return to innovative, compelling form. I hope to see many more seasons of it.

Sense8 is available exclusively on Netflix.

MY MOVIE SHELF: The Matrix Revolutions

The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015.  Remaining movies: 32 Days to go: 23

Movie #408:  The Matrix Revolutions

Look, everything that’s wrong with The Matrix Reloaded is wrong with The Matrix Revolutions. The metaphors are painfully, hopelessly tortured. The logic is absurd and completely falling apart. The special effects are either overdone or ridiculous-looking or both. The story-telling is obtuse and heavy-handed. The fight sequences are long and boring. Et cetera.

My husband says that the two sequels to The Matrix were actually supposed to just be a single movie, but that the studio wanted it to be a trilogy, and so the one sequel was split into two, which may account for some of each film feeling drawn out or repetitive. He may be right, but I hardly think that’s an excuse for lazy filmmaking. Moreover, have the Wachowskis never heard of a two-hour movie? Both sequels run over that length by an amount that EASILY could’ve been cut from fight scenes alone. I’m not sure the reasoning behind it, but I know for a fact that for some reason a popcorn movie that clocks in at 1 hour, 59 minutes is exponentially more palatable than one that clocks in at 2 hours, 9 minutes. You wouldn’t think ten minutes would have that much of an impact, and yet if that movie doesn’t have something meaningful to say in those ten minutes (and a popcorn movie never really does) then they are ten minutes forever wasted. A person grows to resent those ten minutes.

Rest assured, The Matrix Revolutions has nothing interesting or profound or important to say. Instead it recycles messiah mythology so much that different parts of the film are recycling different parts of the myth, somehow resulting in being both confusing and obvious. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is Jesus, of course, and he sacrifices himself to save those who want to be saved. But first he’s revived from Purgatory (a circular train station) by the love of Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), I guess? And he has to be released by the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), who is the devil lording over his literal den of iniquity? And Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is like head apostle, building the church of Neo in the center of Zion, metaphorically anyway. And Smith (Hugo Weaving) even literally calls Neo a Messiah, which I guess makes Smith the antichrist? Ugh. It’s seriously so bad and so all over the place and so dumb.

Speaking of dumb, the machine voice Neo speaks to at the end of the film is literally referred to (in subtitles and the credits) as the God Machine, Deus Ex Machina. I mean, that’s basically the Wachowskis themselves throwing in the towel saying, “You know what? Fuck it.” A Deus Ex Machina is a plot device in which everything sort of miraculously comes together at the end exactly the way the writers want it to without having to do the work of actually connecting all your story threads or anything. So to name your final character that is kind of admitting you have no idea where the hell this story is going anymore. It’s hilarious if you do it in Dodgeball; it’s insane if you do it in a movie that’s supposedly taking itself seriously.

I will, however, take a moment to praise The Matrix Revolutions for some things they do well. Once again, diversity gets a big win — across both race and gender lines. And religious lines too if you consider the fact that several of the Zionist (haha) characters don’t believe in Morpheus’s ideology or any of the prophecies. This film even expands the number of ethnicities featured, giving even more prominent roles to various Asians than the last one did. And when they need a super talented pilot that can take a ship through a narrow, harrowing passage at top speeds? They turn to Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), a woman. Usually even if women are given roles in action movies, they aren’t the specialists or the clutch players, but this movie has a few. Those are all really big deals, and I applaud the film for it. It’s important. I only wish it was done more in films that had a greater positive impact on popular culture, because frankly, this movie is crap.

At least, as the Zionists (haha) rejoice, it’s finally over. Hallelujah.