TV Review: Sense8 1×01 – 1×03

If you aren’t watching Sense8 yet, check out these eight reasons why you really should be! If you are watching Sense8, or have watched the first season already, today we look at the first three episodes of the first season of Sense8. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, these reviews will focus more on recapping and responses, and less on trying to explain the mythology of Sense8, because the best way to do that is to watch the show. Fair warning, this is my second (or in some cases third) time through watching this season, but I won’t be giving anything away ahead of time, so as long as you’ve seen the first three episodes, you’re good to go!

PHOTO CREDIT: NETFLIX

The first episode is a long one, and it likely left you scratching your head about what this show is really trying to do, but hopefully it was enough to catch your interest. We open the death of character we’ll never really get to know, as she “gives birth” to a new cluster of eight people who will be able to connect with one another. She appears to each of them in their respective homes all over the world, leaving each of the eight with a killer headache, a vision of her murder, no idea about what’s going on, and the occasional, fleeting connection with the others of the group, all of whom are complete strangers.

Each of the eight has their own life and their own problems, completely unconnected to the central plot but that will still prove important as the series progresses: from Nomi in San Fransisco, who is gearing up for pride, to Kala in Mumbai, a week away from getting married to a man she doesn’t love, to Capheus in Nairobi, who is trying to not only make ends meet but take care of his sick mother. Each character’s core story is practically mundane but heartfelt and honest and does so much to help us get to know them as individuals instead of part of a crowd before they’re all thrown into the mystery of the series. The only character whose story really meshes with the series’ arc from the get-go is Will in Chicago, which happens to be the same city where the murder he witnessed earlier takes place. When he stumbles on the crime scene, seemingly by accident, his B-storyline is pretty quickly forgotten.

The first episode is enjoyable if not particularily memorable. You’ll grow to care for each of the main characters quickly, but not be entirely sure why you’re supposed to care about them, or why they’re all on this same TV show. We only begin to see hints of how everyone will be connected, and while those hints are enough to have you interested in watching the second episode, it’s also very good news for the show that no one had to wait a week to do so, or their interest might have dissipated enough that they wouldn’t have felt the need to come back.

The second episode, “I Am Also We,” not only lets us get to know the main characters a bit more, but also takes us deeper into the conspiracy that will soon be plaguing all of them. During the pride parade, Nomi passes out and falls from her girlfriend’s motorcycle. She awakens in a hospital, with her less-than-accepting mother who is suddenly in control of all of Nomi’s medical decisions. And her mother is all too eager to sign Nomi over to the mysterious Dr. Metzger, who wants to all but lobotomize her due to a mysterious brain anomaly that is never quite explained, leaving everyone feeling like there may be more to the story than what we’re being told. And so it begins.

Meanwhile, Will comes face to face with Jonas, an alleged terrorist who also happens to be a fellow Sense8 connected with the mysterious woman who was killed in episode one. Jonas seems to be trying to get Will, or anyone, to help Nomi, but Will isn’t quite a believer yet and ultimately crashes into Jonas in order to apprehend him. So no answers for anyone yet!

Ahh, episode three. “Smart Money is on the Skinny Bitch” is where things really start to get interesting. And while this episode is where we really start to get to know Sun and Capheus, it’s when their stories meet that we get our first true taste of what will ultimately make Sense8 amazing television. After his bus is robbed and Capherus loses the AIDS medicine he’d just purchased for his mother, the oh-so-endearing Capheus has decided he’s had enough and opts to singlehandedly go after a group of armed thugs with only his bus and an elderly woman to help him. Not surprisingly, he’s incredibly outmatched. That is, until he calls out for help and unknowingly connects with Sun, CFO by day, brilliant MMA fighter by night. While neither character really knows what’s going on, Sun has no problem taking out anyone and everyone, and the entire scene is perfect! If you aren’t seriously intrigued by the potential of this show by the end of the third episode, you likely never will be.

That’s it for today! I’ll be back soon with four, five, and six!