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| "Who am I? Do you mean where I'm from? What I one day might become? What I do? What I've done? What I dream? Do you mean ... what you see or what I've seen? What I fear or what I dream? Do you mean who I love? Do you mean who I've lost? Who am I? "I guess who I am is exactly the same as who you are. Not better than, not less than. Because there is no one who has been or will ever be exactly the same as either you or me." |
Okay, so... I'll be honest, I didn’t; review the first three episodes
of this series before because I figured we'd binge through the season and I'd
do it in a oner. Then the news of the cancellation and unresolved cliffhanger hit
and we lost momentum. Now there's the promise of a last hurrah and resolution,
so... Here we go.
Season 2 of Sense8 retains
much of the feel of Season 1, with our multicultural cluster of Sensates(1) each
doing their own thing, but there's a much stronger arc feel, not least because
three of our characters are deep into the arc so that their thing is arc thing.
Will and Riley are still hiding from Whispers, with Will playing cat
and mouse as each tries to locate the other. Whispers pins them down to
Iceland, thanks to an elaborate ruse with yoghurt and seagull soundtracks,
while Will ultimately gets the drop on him, allowing the cluster to set up a
meeting with one of his superiors. Unfortunately, Whispers reverses the
advantage by murdering his boss after he makes a deal with the cluster, forcing
them back on the run but leaving Will with actual blockers instead of heroin.
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| Never alone. |
Capheus is going about his business, but having attracted the interest
of a journalist has become quite a celebrity, even beyond his neighbourhood. He
is approached to consider running for office, and while he protests that he is
not a politician, he is told that people don't want a politician; they want a
leader. He goes to the journalist, possibly for advice, but is driven off by
her jealous colleagues, who hint that he is a fiction she created and crudely
asserting that his interest must be carnal and is thus hopeless, because she is
gay(2), leaving him a little adrift.
Wolfgang and Felix hover on the edges of a potential gang war, and are
unexpectedly offered a club to run. The owner's secretary makes eye contact
with Wolfgang and starts turning up naked and sexy in his brain, revealing herself
as part of another cluster, one apparently aligned to some extent with BPO for
protection. I practically punched the air when Wolfgang actually told his
cluster-mates about this instead of keeping it as a pointless secret.
Kala remains somewhat disconnected, although her pharmaceutical knowledge
is key to understanding the blockers, and she begins to discover not only that
her father-in-law's religious intolerance is deep-seated and hateful, but that
her husband is more interested in making delivery dates than providing good
quality drugs.
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| I'd completely forgotten that Sun fought the same cop on a roof in her underwear. |
Sun is forced to escape from prison after her brother hires guards to
murder her. She goes on the run with the old lady who killed her abusive
husband, although her partner in crime then hands herself in so that Sun can
get away. Sun goes into hiding with her old martial arts teacher, who is then
visited by what seems to be an honest cop, who fought Sun in their student days
and was roundly thrashed.
Nomi remains in hiding with Bug, doing the cluster's hack work, until
Bug suggests a way around her problems. Reaching out to 'the Guy', he arranges
a meeting in a cinema showing one of Lito's films (giving us a lovely scene in
which Bug remotely fanboys at Lito,) with a contact who shows in a V for
Vendetta mask and offers 'e-death' – Sense8's
version of The Dark Knight Returns'
clean slate – in exchange for an unspecified but non-tawrdy future favour.
Nomi's records and warrants promptly vanish.
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| Seriously, I'm pretty sure everyone else in the bar just saw Lito neck eight tequillas. |
Lito's career founders as he is typecast as doomed, gay characters,
causing him to reject an invitation to be president of the Sao Paulo Pride Parade.
He also reminisces about one of his first gay lovers, a photojournalist who turns
out to have been part of Angelica's cluster and a victim of BPO's purges. Lito
returns to the bar from last season to drink shots with the cluster (not sure
how that works to an outside eye) in part in memory of Jonas, who is killed having
outlived his usefulness. The bartender tells him that Lito's kiss inspired him.
He proposed to his boyfriend and they have enjoyed the best year of their life.
This not only shows Lito what he can achieve as a gay actor, but propels the
cluster into their next big act of rebellion.
Their last run at Whispers revealed how big the organisation is, which
they realise means that there must be lots more Sensates out there. Thus, Riley
agrees to DJ a gig for one of her old contacts, in order to put the message
out. Three conspicuous figures – one in saffron robes, one some sort of biker and
Sylvester McCoy in a Barber hat – see the gig, and Riley draws McCoy to 'visit'
the stage, prompting him to flee, but getting their message out before she and
Will escape along the Thames ahead of Whispers and his goons.
Man this season is a rollercoaster ride, with first the cluster and
then Whispers getting the whiphand week by week(3). Next episode is going to be
a downer by that pattern, but on the upside, Sylvester McCoy!
(1) Although this term is actually dropped for the most part in favour
of 'homo sensorium'.
(2) She may well be, but the immediate read of this is 'won't sleep
with us'.
(3) Or however often we manage to catch it.
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