A Brave Manifesto from the Wachowskis : Sense8
TV Series
There are possibly few among cinema enthusiasts who do not like the Wachowskis’ Matrix series. This series of films, which made Keanu Reeves into a cinema phenomenon, used a lot of special effects, but the script was well-thought and it was developed slowly over the three films (The Matrix, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, between 1999 and 2003) reflecting a dark future when machines could be ruling upon our life. The series gathered a huge fanbase and continued 18 years after the last film of the trilogy, Matrix Resurrections (2021), with some mixed reactions from the audience.
The Wachowskis came back to the forefront between 2015 and 2018 with a TV series this time: Sense8. The series which created a lot of sensation when it was streamed on Netflix tells the story of 8 people in different parts of the world who are connected with an unexplainable bond to each other to the effect of living the experiences of all the others in the group. The first season covers the backstory of each of the groups in an episode but also spreads a quite complex plot to the whole season.
The name is a wordplay on sensate (perceiving or perceived by the senses) and converted to Sense8 to reflect that each such group has 8 members. (There are more of these groups in the series). Let us check who these people are:
Angel Turing (Daryl Hannah). She is not a part of the group of 8 but she “gives birth” to the group and as such is effectively the “mother” of the group. Although the series opens with a tragic scene around Angel, the sensates perceive/see Angel from time to time during the whole season and their actions are influenced by her memory/image. Daryl Hannah plays Angel with a minimalist style but has a very important place in the story.
Will Gorski (Brian Smith): Member of the Sense8, he is a policeman in Chicago. Seen as a daydreamer by his friends, he has been severely affected by the disappearance of a young girl when he was a child, then he re-opens that case when he becomes a policeman like his father but his boss and his colleagues give him strange looks and talk behind his back when he does so. When he is investigating the events that generated the sensate, he influences these events.
Sun Bak (Donna Bae): She is the finance manager of a large corporation in South Korea and works with his father and brother. Constantly scorned both by her family and her colleagues due to the patriarchal atmosphere in the workplace, she takes part in illegal fights (to death) and can beat men as well. When the company falls into trouble, she will be the one to save her father and brother.
Nomi Marks (Jamie Clayton) : Nomi lives in San Francisco. She is actually a man named Michael, but feeling herself to be a woman, she is now a trans individual. Her family and especially her mother never accept this situation. Nomi has a girlfriend named Amanite, in her new identity and they attend Pride activities. Nomi is also a serious hacker and this makes her very effective throughout the series.
Cafeus “Van Damn” Onyango (Ami Ameen in Season 1, Toby Onmuwere in Season 2): He is a bus (matatu) driver in Nairobi, Kenya. As he tries to dave the money to get AIDS medicine for his mother, he can not avoid trouble.
Kaia Dandekar (Tina Desai): She is a pharmacist in Mumbai and she is trying to get used to the man she is going to marry.
Riley “Blue” Gunnarsdóttir (Tuppence Middleton): She is a musician from Iceland and she is trying to erase the painful memories of her past. She becomes one of the leaders of the group, along with Will Gorski.
Wolfgang Bogdanow (Max Riefelt): He is a locksmith and safecracker living in Berlin with ties to Russian organised crime.
Lito Rodriguez (Miguel Ángel Silvestre): He is a Spanish actor taking macho man parts in films, but living with his boyfriend Hernando, keeping his homosexuality in the closet.
I want to emphasise some features of the series:
The creators of the series, Lana and Lilly Wachowski became famous with Matrix. They are both trans individuals and they transitioned to a woman identity after living as men for years.
The third creator, J. Michael Straczynski is someone who is not a stranger to the TV world. He is the creator of a science fiction series which is a favourite of many fans: Babylon 5.
The most important theme of Sense8 is that individuals should have the liberty of keeping their identities and each individual is valuable by themselves. When thinking about the identities of the main creators, this message is most meaningful.
The casting is very successful, there is a conscious effort to establish a relationship between the identities of the actors and their roles in the series. All actors fit their characters in terms of sexual identity, nationality or some other characteristic.
The series was shot in the cities the characters are portrayed to live in, thus the filming was done on four continents. Since sensates have to be communicating, the same scene was shot several times - depending on how many sensates take part in the scene - and edited. Once filming was completed in one of the cities, the whole team relocated to another city and of course, all shots of the same scenes in different cities were brought together in the editing process.
Due to the influence of the Wachowski siblings, some of the main characters are involved in trans-lesbian-homosexual relations and sexual acts are portrayed explicitly. It could be offensive to one if not used to it. I find the coverage quite balanced and the message conveyed is that all kinds of relations are within human nature.
Since our eight protagonists are tied together with invisible bonds and they can replace each other - although not fully controllably - some action scenes are realised with unbelievably beautiful choreography and challenging logic sequences. The eight use practical intelligence and help the others albeit remotely. This gives them a lot of power.
Some notes from Season 2:
The filming was still spread out to a lot of countries in the second season as well. this provides the viewer with a rich panorama of many parts of the world. Episodes are usually directed by Lana Wachowski but there are a few guest directors.
The first season introduces the sensates to the audience and tells the story of how these eight people in eight different corners of the world live through a common consciousness and experience based on an unexplainable ability that is a result of human evolution. An organisation which tracks sensates and destroys them is also introduced in the first season. The last episode of the first season narrated the struggle of Will and Riley to survive against this organisation, with help from other sensates.
The struggle continues in the second season as well, but our heroes prefer to counter-attack, instead of running and hiding. Multiple sensates come together in more than one episode. They meet other sensate “clusters”. They understand the composition and goals of the Biological Protection Organisation which is trying to destroy them and they decide to counter-attack. There are more action scenes reminiscent of The Matrix.
The second season starts with a Christmas special and has 11 episodes. All seasons are available for binge-watching.
The development of the characters continues in the second season as well.
I noticed that there was some repetition of themes in some episodes, such as the theme of everyone having an identity specific to themselves and this should be respected. The repetition does not reduce the value of the series but seems to reduce the tempo.
My favourite characters in the series are Nomi, Will and Riley.
The series was unfortunately cancelled at the end of the second season due to “audience numbers being low, with high production costs”. I can understand this since filming was actually done in all the cities and as such the cost should be rather high. I don’t know what the target numbers for Netflix were, so I can not comment further.
Based on a signature campaign from Sense8 fans, Netflix agreed to a special episode aired in 2018 and it was possible to complete the series.