'Sense8' Season 2 - TV Review

My review of Season 1

I came back to "Sense8" because I loved the characters and the writing. Not the plotting, but the writing - the character interactions are very good. The deus ex machina moments less so. And I like that it's deeply respectful of its characters: it gives them enough time to develop, lets us know who they are. Although as I approached the end of the season, I began to feel something I never expected: is it possible for a show to be too respectful of its characters? It would seem the answer as yes, as the musical interludes and moments of tenderness (and sex) stretched out for up to five minutes at a time ... I think too many current shows and movies are too fast-paced, but these beautifully filmed moments in Sense8 don't move the plot forward - at all. It doesn't need to be fast-paced, but it does need to keep moving ...

I was also disappointed by the replacement of Aml Ameen as Capheus with Toby Onwumere. After four episodes I was willing (grudgingly) to admit that Onwumere is pretty good, but Ameen was the better of the two.

In this season, they move the lives of most of the characters forward [SPOILERS!]: Capheus thinks about running for office, Sun escapes from jail and goes looking for her treacherous brother, Kala finds out her husband's business may not be as up-front as she hoped, Wolfgang - through no efforts of his own - appears to be headed towards being a new crime boss in Berlin, and Lito comes out and tries to break into Hollywood. But Nomi, Amanita, and Bug have no apparent life except hacking to help everyone else, and likewise Riley and Will are hiding from Whispers, trying to trick him into revealing more than they're forced to. (Totally amazing how Will broke a several month heroin habit overnight by the way ...)

Again, good characters (Lito and his little family are particularly wonderful), but the crazy ideas and happenings outside the characters aren't great. Honestly, I'm glad they broke the bank on this one: the cancellation has forced them to close the whole series in one two hour(?) special coming some time in 2018. I look forward to it, because they left the second season dangling with the clear intention of running for at least a couple more years and I'd much rather have closure.