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Sense8: Fear Never Fixed Anything

“You can’t win a fight protecting yourself.”

The theme of this episode is: the best offense is not defense.

Lito continues to go through a bad moment, career wise. All the roles he is being offered are of sidekicks. Homosexual sidekicks. Homosexual sidekicks that die. You know the drill. But he also got an invitation to be a special guest at São Paulo’s LGBT Pride Parade. I was totally spoiled to that plot point because the cast came to last year’s Parade in Brazil, but more on that in the next episode’s review. For now, I’m glad Lito decided to step up and embrace his public gayness, although I wish it had been done with a little more subtlety. Capheus literally popped up to say “Courage, it is contagious” and Nomi later said “Your life is either defined by the system or by the way you defy the system”, which is a pretty good line, to be honest, but it would’ve been stronger in a less on the nose context.

Nevertheless, Lito’s resolve pushed Will to take some action, too. Even though the cluster had the upper hand by the end of “Who Am I?”, Whispers has managed to land on top again. But Will has had enough of it. He’s done playing defense. Good for him, I want to see these sensates attack. Their first plan is to find other sensates, the more the better, and in order to do it Riley goes public – underground public – performing as a DJ in a major club, where she plays “What’s Going On?”, the sensate magnet song. I kid, but oh boy the return of that song was so corny! The remix was a bit better, though. Soundtrack choices aside, it’s a good plan, although Riley only finds one sensate in the crowd before she needs to leave. All in all, it was cool to see Riley and Will be so confident and on top of their game, and I’m in for some sensate assembly.

Nomi’s counterattack is to become dead. As in e-dead. Interesting concept, albeit a convenient plot device. I wonder how this will work in practice, I mean, I doubt BPO will stop chasing her only because her records are gone. And what about that Anonymous man, also known as The Guy, knowing so much about sensates? Will he join the fight against BPO?

Wolfgang and Kala are the will they, won’t they couple of Sense8 and, with Riley and Will already established as a couple, I believe the show will take its time squeezing the romantic tension out of Wolf and Kala’s dynamic. They already have things on their way – Kala’s marriage to Rajan, Wolfgang’s belief that Kala should stay away from him – and it looks like the writers are planting more barriers in the form of potential new lovers. There is Lila, who keeps throwing herself at Wolfgang, and Ajay is too good looking not to be a potential affair for Kala.

Kala’s father is such a good man, she had some great parenting. And she still has! I enjoyed their conversation about children honestly showing what they truly want versus grown-ups pretending they like their lives the way it is. This is so true. What Kala points out, that going for what you want can cost too much, is also true. Following your heart can send a shockwave of destruction through your family’s expectations and leave pain and sorrow where there used to be love and admiration. I can see Kala becoming increasingly frustrated with Rajan’s family’s shady business and with her own inability to reach out to Wolfgang, and start an affair with Ajay only to have things blow up on her face and still not get what she really wants.

Capheus is also in the middle of a struggle on the romantic department, although his situation is more straightforward. If Zakia is indeed a lesbian, he has no shot; if she is bi, he has. I believe she is bisexual for two reasons: (1) they were totally building Zakia and Capheus to become an item and (2) there are four homosexual characters on the series but no bi, and Sense8 is the type of show that would want to represent each letter of LGBT. FYI, this is pure speculation of mine, I haven’t watched any subsequent episode. In any case, Zakia could be heterosexual and the bullies were just playing Capheus. I hated them, they were too one dimensional and Capheus too naive. But, you know, every workplace has its douchebags, Capheus just had some bad luck running into them.


Of course, the most important development of the episode was Sun’s reunion with her dog, and with her mentor as well. Their interaction was terrific, I adored their conversation about what she would do next. She is the plan. Her brother remains obnoxious, there is no redemption for him. Of course she smashed the TV screen and of course her mentor didn’t mind. But will killing Joong-Ki bring her peace? Detective Mun’s visit to offer help came as an interesting turn of events and I really want to see where this goes next.

Bits and Pieces

- Whispers’ ultimate plan has something to do with creating a superior race, so it appears.

- Appreciating an art piece is not a one per season event, it’s practically becoming a one per episode event, which made me think of Ted Mosby from How I Met You Mother. This time, Whispers gave a lecture about the Houses of Parliament. “Is this gonna be on the test?”, Will asked.

- The sensate that Riley connected with was an Irish man and his reaction was priceless. There was also a Buddhist monk watching Riley’s show, which is so bizarre and interesting, but they didn’t connect.

Coolest tattoo ever.
- You know, if Lito is going to be among millions of people, he should take the opportunity to find some sensates as well.

- Lito is pretty famous in America. Bug is a huge fan of Lito and totally freaked out when Nomi told him Lito was part of her cluster.

- I’m still not buying the political angle of Capheus’ story. Politicians knock on his door. They want a leader. Capheus challenges them about his neighborhood’s problems. They exchange embarrassed looks. End scene. It’s just so basic.

- Capheus parking his Matatu and taking a break of fifteen minutes to go see Zakia was weird. I believe the passengers need to arrive on time at their jobs and appointments? Capheus, you are going to lose some clients that way.

- I thought Sebastian Fuchs wanted peace. What changed?

- Reports on drugs are not a matter of bureaucracy, Rajan, it’s public health. Kala is clearly not happy with it either.

- Parents play a big role on Sense8, whether they are good or bad. The good ones are Lito’s, Capheus’, Kala’s and Riley’s. The bad ones: Sun’s, Nomi’s and Wolfgang’s. Will’s father falls somewhere in between.

- Tension escalated between Kala’s father and Rajan’s. I believe Kala’s dad won the burn contest. I mean, “Spending a lifetime in the kitchen learning how to cook was my destiny, just as inheriting a fortune was yours”? You can’t beat that. Give me a high-five, fake meritocracy.

- A fun little bit from the final credits:


Quotes

Amanita: “Ok, can we just stop with the whole pregnant pause-y thing?”
Bug: “Right. Sorry. Right. Okay. I’ll set it. [Pause] Up.”

Mentor: “Tell me you have a war plan.”
Sun: “I have no plan. I have an enemy. And I won’t stop until he’s dead. Or I am.”
Mentor: “Good plan.”

Bug: “Lito Rodriguez is one of the voices in your head?”

The Guy: “If you accept this offer, there may come a day when we ask something of you.”
Nomi: “What?”
The Guy: “Nothing venal, vile or vainglorious. Rather a vital vertex of virtue, valor and virtuosity in the name of veracity.”
Amanita: “Wow. Did you just come up with that yourself?”
The Guy: “No, there’s an app for it.”

Very good, and I was eager to watch the next one. Three out of four e-deaths,
--
Lamounier

1 comment:

  1. The best part was definitely Sun reuniting with her dog. :) Although I also really enjoyed Nomi, Amanita and Bug at Lito's movie, and Kala's father showing up her father-in-law just by being cool. And Riley's performance. Actually, I think I'm getting into this series now. It's sort of snuck up on me.

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