Sense8: Amor Vincit Omnia

[selenak]

In which we get a finale that is pure fanservice. Which I don't mean as a criticism; I loved it. But it's pure fannish id, which of course is true for much of the show anyway, and part of the appeal.



Now the Wachowskis had to cram several seasons of development into this finale, and sometimes, it shows, but - and obviously everyone's mileage varies - they had me emotionally buying into it. Everyone's non-sensate friends and significant others being on board with this whole thing and supportive instead of at least needing time to process? Well, there was an emergency situation going on. The big rest of the Angelica-Jonas-Whisper backstory being either puzzled together by our gang or told by Jonas? Bring on the exposition when it's told gorgeously! And so forth. When the last action showdown was over but at least 20 minutes still left, I was wondering what else would happen, and figured it would be either a celebration or one last orgy, and this show being this show, it was both.

I'm also now totally reconciled to the Kala-Wolfgang-Rajan triangle, which I thought had been one of the plotlines that dragged, since it seemed obvious Kala would eventually discard Rajan: it being resolved by canon threesome instead cast it in a different light. Sun and Detective Mun hooking up was adorable, and I appreciated we got both a backstory for Nomi's and Amanita's first meeting and their wedding on the Eiffel Tower as a triumphant conclusion. It was a bit weird to see Hernando after marathoning The Exorcist, but I liked that both he and Dani at different points got to contribute in key situations. Whisper taunting Amanita about Sensates being, in the long term, incapable of seeing non-Sensates as anything but pets didn't work for him not just because she denied it but because the narrative denied it; as close as the Cluster got, the overall story never created the impression their relationships with non-Sensates were somehow of lesser value or importance to them, or that the characters without Sensate abilities were less complex and interesting.

Despite the general optimism of the finale, the one more bit of tragic backstory for Wolfgang we found out early on was probably the darkest of any of the characters - well, okay, other than Riley's pre-show tragedy we found out about in the s1 finale - which fits the character but made me wonder whether the Austrian Fritzl case or Chinatown served as the inspiration.

What will mostly stick in my mind about this show, I think, will be the way it celebrated both love and friendship and the myriad shades in between, and it's optimism regarding the human ability to connect not inspite of, but with their differences. These days, I need to hear that message so unabashedly joyfully sung. I really do.

Comments

[ruuger]

I've been recently watching Van Helsing (the TV-show about post-apocalyptic America that has been taken over by vampires), and one of the most frustrating things about it has been the fact that the characters turn against each other at the drop of a hat, so it was so refreshing that everyone just happily accepted the sensates and worked together.

What will mostly stick in my mind about this show, I think, will be the way it celebrated both love and friendship and the myriad shades in between, and it's optimism regarding the human ability to connect not inspite of, but with their differences. These days, I need to hear that message so unabashedly joyfully sung. I really do.

Yes, this. Absolutely.

[selenak]

I woke up this morning with yet more bad news from the Orange Menace and dived straight back to the Sense 8 world, let me tell you. I so want to swap realities. Zombiefied assassins included.

[kore]

CANNOT WAIT to see this. I loved the show as fizzy beautifully coloured eye candy, and the themes of connection and love too.

[selenak]

It delivers beautifully on all it‘s good at! A joy, truly.

[andraste]

In a more perfect world, this would have been three more seasons instead of two and a half more hours, but I am so glad that we got this much! And of course it ended with a big gay wedding in the Eiffel Tower and a giant psychic orgy.

Wolfgang's backstory explains so much about him - of course he thinks that he's a monster who shouldn't exist. So glad to see things ending happily for him. And while I could have wished for more time to unfold, I am delighted that the triangle went somewhere nobody - especially Kala! - was expecting.

[selenak]

I also thought the actress they cast as Wolfgang‘s mnother/spoiler was despite her brief appearance very effective and well cast. Not just looks wise - which fit - but how she conveyed the horror of that existence, and how it had worn her down. And you could see this would have happened to Wolfgang, too, without the Cluster experience (and Felix).

Re: unexpectedly delightfullly resolved triangle - I really liked what you wrote in your own review, that it turned out to be about two ways of falling in love rather than love versus duty, or greater love versus lesser love. And among other things also about rejecting the trope of a woman‘s death needed to unite two men who loved her - Kala ordering them to stop grieving and start with the CPR already was perfect in that regard. And Wolfgang‘s and Rajan‘s interactions both before and after did sell me on these two feeling instinctive sympathy for each other - and in retrospect, also attraction - so that the resolution just worked.

[andraste]

I also thought the actress they cast as Wolfgang‘s mnother/spoiler was despite her brief appearance very effective and well cast. Not just looks wise - which fit - but how she conveyed the horror of that existence, and how it had worn her down.

Yes, you can really see how she's Wolfgang on a different path, where she was never given the support she needed to get out of this awful situation that was in no way her fault. (I somehow doubt Wolfgang solving her husband/father problem with murder actually made her feel any better about it ...)

And you could see this would have happened to Wolfgang, too, without the Cluster experience (and Felix).

Another thing I loved: Wolfgang's 'I love my cluster' speech not discounting how important Felix is to him. As you say, one of the great things about the show is that it never says that the relationships between sensates and non-sensates aren't valuable and important <3.

Wolfgang teaching Rajan how to use a gun and then bouncing with him at the wedding party is the cutest thing :).

[janne_d]

I'm with you on the emotional buy-in being enough to overcome the effect of squishing all the things that needed to be resolved for a satisfying ending into such a short time.

There were some things I wish had been included but they were all character rather than plot-related. I would really have liked more time with Lito and Capheus, for instance, but I was mostly too busy being pleased that all the ride-or-dies were showing up as well to care.

Interestingly I seem to have interpreted the Wolfgang backstory slightly differently to all the commentary I've seen. I thought from Irina Bogdanow's lines that she was Wolfgang's father's step-daughter not his biological daughter, just the way it was phrased as "he married my mother, she thought he would protect us" sounded to me like Anton had come into their lives when she was a child. Which is still horrifying and awful, obviously.

The Kala/Rajan/Wolfgang triangle resolution was great - I was actually pretty bored by Kala/Wolfgang in S1 (I loved both characters but not the relationship) but somewhere in S2 I started to really like Rajan and want to read fic where it ended in a threesome (of which there was virtually none). I shrieked in delight at the TV when they went there!

[selenak]

Lito and Capheus had their plotlines rudely interrupted by the cancelation, it's true. We'll never know whether Lito with Dani as his agent will achieve film star success again, or how Capheus fares as a leading politician. (Then again, considering the difficulties JMS had with writing Sheridan as a plausible President, maybe that's a good thing...) But I do understand the prioritising of the other plot lines, not least because Lito and Capheus were at peace with the decisions they'd made about their lives when we left them in s2.

I thought from Irina Bogdanow's lines that she was Wolfgang's father's step-daughter not his biological daughter, just the way it was phrased as "he married my mother, she thought he would protect us" sounded to me like Anton had come into their lives when she was a child. Which is still horrifying and awful, obviously.

True. And you could be absolutely right. It's just that I was reminded of the famous "She's my daughter, she's my sister" scene from Chinatown - and the Wachowskis do like their movie allusions.

[janne_d]

Lito and Capheus were at peace with the decisions they'd made about their lives when we left them in s2.

Good point, I hadn't thought of it quite like that. And I get why they weren't prioritised because their home plotlines didn't intersect with BPO at all and that was obviously what the series was going to wrap up.

I was reminded of the famous "She's my daughter, she's my sister" scene from Chinatown - and the Wachowskis do like their movie allusions

Also true! Urgh, now I'm not sure what I think - Anton said "sister" and I took that as him wanting to hurt the others as much as possible, but if it was a biological link it would give Wolfgang more reasons for thinking himself a monster. Though I'm not sure that the other Bogdanows wouldn't have stepped in if Irina was related by blood because then she would be "real" family. Even Sergei could think incest and rape of his niece was crossing a line, where he might not think spousal and child abuse was a reason to take a different side to his brother.

[msilverstar]

Kala ordering them to stop grieving and start with the CPR already was perfect in that regard -- it really was, the resolution was best kind of fan service, she gets All The Agency!

The whole thing was the fizzy upbeat ending we need right now, in this world of horror. And there was tons of Amanita which made me very happy.

Though the teengirl turned off the end before she had to watch the orgy with her dad in the room. I'd been vocal about how much I liked the bathing orgy in season 1 so I think she didn't worry about me.

[selenak]

The whole thing was the fizzy upbeat ending we need right now, in this world of horror.

Yes, indeed. Bring on the life-affirming escapism, show!

[inhiding]

I think David Stracysnki has said that originally Riley was going to give birth to a cluster and one of the sensates, most likely Will, would've been killed off so the cancellation had a silver lining. I've gone from wishing that Sense8 getting the originally planned to getting as much time as possible without enough room for a human sacrifice.

[inhiding]

ugh in my earlier comment I gave JMS a different name.

[kaffy_r]

I waited until I was able to see the finale before coming back to your review. And I agree that it was joyful fanservice, something we all need these days. I loved the fact that Kala said "yes" when essentially asked "Who will you pick?" because I grew to like Rajan far more than I expected to.

I both loved and disliked the end for Whispers; he was so loathsome and had done so much evil for - as far as anyone could see - little reason, that he certainly deserved being blown to pieces.

It's that "for little reason" that made me want more, in terms of trying to figure out what went wrong with him when his cluster was born. You could tell that the Wachowskis had much more planned with the mother of his cluster being a sort of Senseate leader, and her appearance just whetted my appetite, a desire I'll now have to look through fanfic to find.

And the end was so joyful that you could believe in it. Joy builds bridges over chasms of illogic in the Senseate universe, and I'm happy to walk over them.