Sense8: Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye

"It's fake. Like everything in my life."

A lot happened in the closing minutes of the last episode and the fallout from those fateful events are felt in mostly quiet moments between the Sensates in this episode.

I have a lot to say about a particular scene, but I’ll hold off on that for now. Let’s start with Kala who doesn’t get a ton to do in this episode, but it is starting to become increasingly clear that her marriage to Rajan is both ill advised and inevitable. Manendra (Rajan’s father) managed to survive the stabbing, but is now on life support. Whether or not he pulls through, I doubt there is any way Kala can just break up with Rajan now.

It doesn’t help that the police seem to think that because of her faith she is somehow tied to the men who attacked Manendra. Thankfully, Rajan doesn’t think for a minute that she is in any way culpable, so at least he didn’t turn away from her in fear and paranoia. His parents seem to be pretty decent although the jury is still out on his father, and Kala’s are amazing.

On the other hand, Wolfgang’s father was a monster, and his uncle is no better. Coming to Felix’s hospital room and threatening Wolfgang like that was awful, the implication being if Wolfgang seeks revenge for his son’s attack he would get his own revenge. I gotta give the actor playing Sergei (Sylvester Groth) some credit, because being that kind of evil is a thankless part and he does a great job making you hate him.

Riley has a huge part in this episode, as she travels to some caves she used to visit as a child and encounters Yrsa, the fairy from her childhood that told her she was cursed, responsible for her mother’s death, and to leave Iceland or there would be tragedy. Unfortunately, Yrsa is actually a Sensate and chose the most destructive way of protecting Riley. While the danger is real, because the BPO has a lab in the country and monitors all the hospitals, it was a shitty way of going about it.

Turns out Riley did get hurt. She was in some kind of accident with her husband Magnus and her daughter Luna. An accident where they both died. It explains a lot about Riley, why she is so quiet and seems to exist in a state of constant shock. She has never fully recovered from their deaths and had desperately wanted to die. It was a beautiful moment when Capheus shows up and talks about his own tragedy, having to give up his sister because they had no food. Life pushes you forward, even when you don’t want to live. Of course there is something changing in Riley; her connection with Will is both palpable and impossible to ignore.

It was an interesting reversal of gender role because the idea of love within a cluster seems vile to Yrsa, but Jonas believes it is perfectly natural. This is likely because he’s experienced that love and has an internal perspective, and Yrsa probably only viewed it from a distance and found it distasteful for whatever reason. Perhaps how she was brought up, or maybe just jealousy.

While I love how complicated Jonas is as a character, it is hard to pin down his motives. Yrsa says he and Angelica are collaborators, that Angelica has birthed a cluster before and then worked with Whispers to hunt them down and use them to connect with other clusters. Whatever BPO wants with the Sensates is the big question, but they do feel like one of those giant shadowy organizations that are impossible to stop. Which is a proper villain for a show of this size and scope.

Sun doesn’t have much in this episode, but it is an incredibly impactful scene. Kang-dae, Sun’s father, comes to visit and confesses that he has not been a good father, but when Sun was put away he realized that she was his heart, which he thought he lost when his wife, her mother, died. He regrets his choice and promises to confess, because she has more worth to him than his reputation or business. I’ll admit this was unexpected but kind of wonderful.

While a majority of Lito’s moments are almost hilarious as he mopes around and chugs daiquiris out of a blender, he has one incredible scene: visiting the Diego Rivera Museum to mourn his life with Hernando, because they had their first date there. He inadvertently calls Nomi who went back to her apartment to hide because it would be the last place anyone would look for her for a while, at least.

We get "Mad World" as a needle drop and the tone changes entirely as Nomi cuts right through Lito’s bullshit and in one short conversation draws out his problems. Lito doesn’t understand himself, and he doesn’t want to be gay. So Nomi shares an incredibly painful story from her past about a turning point in her life. A moment that changed how she viewed herself.

Her father signed her up to join the swim team, which meant she had to shower with the other boys. She already had developing gender dysphoria and did not like showing her body to anyone. Of course the other boys took this as her being gay, and forcefully stripped her and sprayed her with hot water. The water coming directly from the boiler caused second degree burns.

But it wasn’t the trauma, injuries or even the bullying that lasted with her, it was the fact she was different, and it was okay to be different. From that point on she had no interest in being a bully or even a boy. It is a feeling that is impossible to explain to others, that feeling of disconnection with your own body. When your own behavior doesn’t fit societal norms, it can feel incredibly hard to understand and internalize.

Lito has not fully internalized the fact that he is gay; he doesn’t feel pride in the truth of his sexuality. He hasn’t gotten to the point where he is willing to fight for that truth, to win back his love. He views himself as a coward, and even puts a gun in his mouth, which of course is just a lighter. He actively antagonizes a local bartender who comes on to him, even if he clearly felt attraction towards him. Lito is in a pit of his own making, and I’m curious to see if he will drag himself out of it.

Bits:

While I’m not positive it is an actual cemetery, I thought the one Magnus and Luna were buried in was gorgeous.

I love the Riley and Capheus pairing; The eternal optimist and the permanent griever.

Lito left so many messages for Hernando he actually filled up the voicemail box. Poor Lito.

Jonas is being held in a BPO facility but he has no idea where.

It is surprising Riley didn’t have blood drawn during her pregnancy, but we’ll ignore that plot hole for now.

When Lito confesses to being a coward, it cuts to Sun who is already a legit hero. The framing is so intentional in this show.

Quotes:

Lito: "Please call me back. I lost a flip flop."

Lito: "I'm afraid I will lose everything that I've worked for."
Nomi: "I know how that feels. But at a certain point I realized there's a huge difference between what we work for and what we live for."

Nomi: "That locker room might have made my father the man that he is, but it also made me the woman that I am. After that, I quit the swim club. I quit trying to fit in, trying to be one of them. I knew I never would be. But more importantly, I didn't want to be. Their violence was petty and ignorant, but ultimately, it was true to who they were. The real violence, the violence that I realized was unforgivable, is the violence that we do to ourselves when we're too afraid to be who we really are."

Will: "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
Jonas: "Angelica didn't believe in fault. She said it was the present understood by people looking backward. We have to look forward. If we don't, we won't survive."

Hernando: "My heart is not a clock."
Lito: "Yeah. My character was always late.”
Hernando: "Beautiful line... made sublime by your performance. An apology... that is also an anthem. Look, love is not something we wind up, something we set or control. Love is just like art. A force that comes into our lives without any rules, expectations or limitations, and every time I hear that line, I am reminded that love, like art, must always be free."

Lito: "I got scared. I play heroes all the time but in real life, I'm a coward."

Yrsa: "Love inside a cluster is pathological."

This felt like a consequential episode, like all of them lately. The season is rapidly moving towards something major with each of the characters dealing with bigger and bigger things.

4 out of 4 Daiquiris, confessions and lighters shaped like guns

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

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