TV Review: Sense8 1×09 – 1×12

It’s time to have a look at the final three episodes of season one, which bring all eight of our main characters together in an attempt to rescue one of their own. The first season of this show has been unlike anything else I’ve ever watched, so let’s see if the finale is everything we’re hoping it will be. As usual, this review won’t be shying away from spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the show yet check out these eight reasons why you really should be!

In these episodes we only get a handful of bonding moments between sensates as more time is put into wrapping up stories than building new relationships. I especially loved Capheus and Kala hanging out and watching movies as these two characters live very different lives, have different outlooks on life, and yet they share an innate kindness that makes them hard not to love. There’s alos a nice moment with a few of the sensates who especially need to escape their own realities joining Will on a boat to watch fireworks, and simply enjoying the moment together.

There’s no way we can explore these final episodes and not talk about the birth scene in season ten. All eight of them. Riley finally has the chance to watch her father play live, and you can tell she’s riveted by the experience. So much so that the other sensates are all there with her, experiencing the orchestra together. Why exactly they all start sharing the moments of their own birth (or how this is even possible within the constructs of human memory) is unknown, but it’s definitely a ballsy visual experience. This scene gets all kinds of visual. I was surpsied at how different each of the scenes were, as I would have expected giving birth to be shown as more of a universal experience, they all started from the same place type thing, instead we got eight distinct scenes. Whether or not the bloody visuals were necessary is up to you, but in a show where they don’t shy away from group mind-orgies, this shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise.

Unfortunately, all of this ends up being too much for Riley’s mind to handle and she passes out at the end of the performance, putting her both in the hospital and in harms way. But that storyline will make up the bulk of the final plotline of the season.

Before we can get to that, most of the characters have their own central plot to wrap up. I found most of these to be great culminations of everything that character had experienced throughout the season. Sun’s chance at freedom is dashed when her brother murders their father to save himself, which is fairly awful for her, but I’m not hating Sun’s prison life, so we’ll see how it shakes out. Kala confesses to her (possible) future husband, that his father didn’t want them to be together. As usual, he takes it like a champ, and I’m still rooting for him and Kala since at their core, her and Wolfgang are a horrible couple. Which is only emphasized my Wolfgang’s final mob shebang, where he tries to take out all of his enemies in one final showdown, not expecting to survive (spoilers, he does. Thanks Kala). Capheus has an even more action packed showdown, channeling Sun and her rage to take down most of the gang that had been causing a lot of his problems all seasons, and then some. Even Lito gets his moment of triumph as he prepares to come out publicly as a result of rescuing Daniela, with a little help from Wolfgang.

On the other hand, whatever is going on with Will and seeing the missing dead girl is never really wrapped up, or even explained how it relates back to the main story. Or maybe I just missed something there, but that has got to be my least favorite sub-plot. I expect we’ll get more into that next season but wouldn’t mind if the Wachowskis end up dropping the whole thing all together.

The shows true grand finale comes in the daring rescue of Riley, just as her time seems to be running out. It’s all for one and one for all as each sensate uses their personal skill set to help the group save Riley. I especially appreciated Lito’s performance, getting close to a nurse in a matter of minutes in order to get the information they needed. He’s not a character that you’d think has a lot of skills that could be used to help the group escape from Whispers, but he’s proven himself to be adaptable time and time again. More than anything this was the sequence that showed that at this point Riley is the weak point as far as characters go. Yes, it’s hard not to sympathize with her, and I know more than a couple of people for who she’s their favorite character… but what does she really bring to the table? Not only is her personality the least dynamic so far, but she also doesn’t really have any skills that have been able to benefit the group so far. Hopefully now that she’s gotten passed the drama of losing her husband and daughter (as far as anyone can get past something like that) she’ll have the chance to really grow and shine in season two.

Speaking of things I’d like to see in the second season… since the last episode ended with the group sailing off into the sunset, I’d really love to see even just a quick discussion of their current situation to kick off their next chapter. Share information, make formal introductions, talk about your experience so far. I know if I had been in a situation remotely like this, I’d be dying to discuss the details and compare notes, so I’d love to see at least a little of that here.

That’s all for now, and we still don’t have a release date for season two. In the meantime, I’m off to go watch everyone singing What’s Up? for the fifteenth time.