If you’re going to make a point of shared awareness then why not do it with Karaoke? That’s the kind of mental thinking that normally drive The Wachowskis when building their film worlds, and thankfully they’re letting controlled doses loose in Sense8 as the wailing of Four Non Blondes becomes a narrative tool (and the prefect soundtrack to a lobotomy apparently). The group may be hay-yay-yaying with the question but slowly, more and more of them are starting to figure out what’s going on.
Episode 4, What’s Going On? – After visiting the imprisoned Jonas, Will learns more about what he can do with his new found connections and uses them to help save Nomi from her “helpful” operation. Capheus’s Van Damage earns him an unlikely new job offer, Sun faces a difficult decision for the sake of her family, and Kala's wedding escalates to battleground in over India’s traditions verses modernisation.
First up, a conversation between Will and Jonas clarifies some terminology about those involved and their powers. Here’s a glossary:
More importantly, we start we start to see Will become the first to actively use his powers rather than the reactive moments we’ve seen so far in the series. This is a good step forward and a key milestone in uniting the Cluster. We’re slowly seeing that all the 8 are becoming aware of each other even if most don’t understand why. They’re getting used to seeing through each other’s eyes, less surprised when they see each other and even showing moments of enjoying each other’s company. The aforementioned karaoke highlight sees Wolfgang and Kala rocking a full on duet with more than a little chemistry and there’s a nice little moment of Nomi joining Riley for a London sunset. Hopefully, we’ll soon see more of the Cluster talking to each other as Will and Riley achieved in the first episode.
There’s some very good material from the individual stories this episode. Again, the best all rounder is Sun as her hinted work problems come to light when her good for nothing little brother is exposed as an embezzler. Her scenes deliver on all fronts from the kick ass moment of the bouncer trying to stop her, to the comedy of her permanently stern face while searching through the sex club to the more sombre family meeting and her last resort plan. This ties in excellently with her childhood flashbacks and the promise to her deceased mother of looking after her brother. A promise that now comes with the heaviest cost. Doona Bae does a fantastic job of showing the conflict in her decision. She despises her brother and feels little more for her father but loves her mother enough to consider the unthinkable. Capheus has another strong episode, and with a much stronger humour than the previous. The Van Damme running joke continues to be a knockout punch every time they use it (“Van Damme always comes back”) and you have to love Jela’s euphoria in their newly-found success as “the safest bus around” following last episodes gang beat down. Although, the surprise meeting sends his story into a far more curious direction. We know he’s a man of morality and conscience. Under normal circumstances he’d never even get in the car with the likes of crime lord Silas, but his mother’s sickness becomes a point of exploitation. It will be very interesting to see how far he is willing to go to get what he wants.
The biggest thing the series needs right now is a stronger villain presence. If this was Daredevil, we’d at least have met Thisk staring at a painting by now. It’s good to see the show spending time developing the individual characters before fully uniting them but it needs to raise the stakes. We need to see that people are after the Cluster even if we don’t yet know why. We need to see Terrance Mann back on screen again, preferably with plenty of evil lackeys. We need to have a greater purpose for the Cluster harnessing their powers than just because they can; whether it’s a threat to their surviving or some good old fashioned heroics to fight an evil power.
It’s another good episode that, like the last, keeps the slow feel of progressive escalation going. Yes, we’d probably like things to move a bit faster but seeing some movement is enough for now. This episode might make us take a deep breath and get real high before screaming at the top of our lungs.... but only for the best of reasons. And that is what’s going on.
Episode 5, Art is Like Religion – As connections between the Cluster grow they increasingly visit each other including full conversations. Kala’s wedding arrives but she still has doubts; Lito struggles to keep his hot and sexy mojo flowing with all the emotions flooding in; Sun makes her decision over saving her brother; Capheus finds his delivery job more difficult than planned while Wolfgang’s uncle suspects him of sniping his diamonds heist.
Ask and you shall receive. We needed these Sensates to develop more two-way interactions, and in this episode, they have for some absolutely wonderful results. It’s clear that they still can’t control when it happens, as Capheus hilariously demonstrates when trying to fight without Sun’s assistance (a Van Don’t). It feels like the catalyst is heightened emotional situations to make the connection. Though when they do manage it, they can now sustain it better. The episode explores this is a fun capacity from Lito’s road rage confusion to Capheus’s joy in discovering English tea. The Kenyan is the perfect character to capture the amazement of these globetrotting visitations due to his cultural background. Unlike the rest, he doesn’t have mass media and Internet access so the majority of developed world locations will be fresh and astounding too him. This increased interaction also serves as a great storytelling tool for the individual stories of each character. Rather than finding an excuse for a Cluster member to talk out loud about their feelings, they can be visited by another member for an audience-informing conversation. They best usage here comes from Sun and Capheus’s heart-to-heart about their difficult big decisions. His childhood flashback of his mother defending him is a nice touching moment to compliment Sun’s dilemma over protecting her own. Sun’s decision is ultimately predictable but the episode does a great job of showing her path towards it.
This is also a visually impressive episode boasting not one but two spectacle set pieces. The highlight is definitely Lito’s big action shoot-out. It’s a fantastic satirical nod to The Wachowski’s Matrix trilogy. As we see Lito busting out the big moves with wires attached, it almost becomes a behind the scenes mockumentory of the government lobby scene. As the bullets, squibs and shattered art start flying everywhere, it’s made all the funnier as Lito increasingly becomes a passenger while Will shares in and out. It comes with a good helping of cheese and corn as Lito starts rocking the ridiculous gun poses for a full blown la Matrix Fiesta. Then by stark contrast, we finally arrive at Kala’s wedding which is an utterly stunning of blend colour, vibrancy, and festivities. It makes your typical European church ceremony look like watching paint dry in comparison. It's a similar approach to last episode’s karaoke affair, the Cluster circling montage of Kala saying her vows makes a great point of showing their common ground. It almost feels like Kala is drawing on the positive emotions of all the others in the Cluster. She’s harnessing their positions of happiness to help her say the words she doesn’t believe. The intercutting is excellent form using the bearded trio to show companionship, or Nomi and Amanita embracing in their ransacked apartment to show supporting each other through adversity. Her vow of “We shall be of one mind” is a great point of double meaning. Wolfgang’s part is the most curious and the chemistry between he and Kala continues to build. Although the German sausage moment was a bit of a mood killer.... did we really need a close up?
We see Will and Nomi taking some more baby steps forward within the bigger picture discovery what’s happened to him and why. Nomi reaches the audience known perspective of the doctors lying to her and sets her on the path of investigation. Her scenes with Amanita continue to be rewarding. This is the best we’ve seen Freema Agyeman since Doctor Who as this empowered free and deeply carefree spirit. Her beautiful line of “Impossibility is a kiss away from reality” has an enjoyable undertone of Whovian to it. Going forward, it feels likely that we’ll see the pair collaborating with Will on their investigations (with Nomi’s hacking skills being deployed) as even if his little witness got the best of him this time, he is getting closer to answers about Angel’s death/suicide in the church.
This is easily the most enjoyable episode so far, for the way it balances the bigger payoff sequences with the greater development of character interconnectivity. It has so many moments, big or small to enjoy and still keeping that crucial gradual momentum going. In many ways art probably is like a religion and our faith is being rewarded in this art.