Sense 8 Review

I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled upon this series, but I’m pretty sure it was a Netflix suggestion. From the very start, I was hooked. It was different and had such a creative storyline. “Sense8” is a two-season series that kicks off with a psychic connection between eight strangers from various parts of the world, initiated by a woman named Angelica. She ends up taking her own life to avoid capture by a man called “Whispers.” Yeah, it’s weird, but stick with it.

The series was written and directed by Lana and Lilly Wachowski, the same minds behind “The Matrix,” “Jupiter Ascending,” and “Cloud Atlas,” so you know it’s solidly in the sci-fi genre. These eight people are mentally and emotionally linked, allowing them to sense and communicate with each other. They can also share knowledge, languages, and skills. They discover they form a cluster of “sensates,” which, in a nutshell, means they perceive things through their senses.

In the first season, we meet the eight main characters:

Capheus (played by Aml Ameen in season 1 and Toby Onwumere in season 2), a matatu driver in Nairobi trying to earn money for his mother’s HIV/AIDS medication. He’s a huge Jean-Claude Van Damme fan, so much so that his vehicle is covered in Van Damme art.

Sun (played by Bae Doona), the daughter of a powerful Seoul businessman and a star in the underground kickboxing world. She’s a total badass and one of my favorite characters.

Nomi (played by Jamie Clayton), a transwoman, hacktivist, and blogger living in San Francisco with her girlfriend Amanita.

Kala (played by Tina Desai), a university-educated pharmacist and devout Hindu in Mumbai, engaged to a man she learns to love.

Riley (played by Tuppence Middleton), an Icelandic DJ living in London, trying to escape a tragic past.

Wolfgang (played by Max Riemelt), a locksmith and safe cracker in Berlin with unresolved conflicts with his late father and ties to Russian organized crime.

Lito (played by Miguel Ángel Silvestre), a closeted Spanish actor living in Mexico City with his boyfriend, Hernando (played by my “husband in my head,” Alfonso Herrera—I even follow him on Instagram).

Will (played by Brian J. Smith), is a Chicago police officer who is haunted by an unsolved murder from his childhood. 

These individuals could not be any more different from each other, but they mesh very well. We see them trying to live their regular lives while figuring out how and why they are connected. Meanwhile, a sensate named Jonas, who was involved with Angelica, comes to their aid as a sinister organization called the Biologic Preservation Organization (BPO) and Whispers, a high-ranking sensate of the BPO, start hunting them down.

The series finale brings everyone close to the cluster together in person to save Wolfgang, who was captured by the BPO. In response, the cluster kidnaps Whispers and Jonas to use them as bargaining chips and sources of information. They discover why Angelica and two other men met potential allies, including other sensates and regular humans, to deal with the Chairman of the BPO, the man responsible for the attacks against the sensates and their allies.

Overall, this series is highly entertaining with a very original storyline that I believe will keep your attention from beginning to end. It’s definitely on my regular re-watch list. This series gets 4 out of 5 acorns.  I gave it 4 because it was in my opinion canceled too soon.