Cocks and Kittens

I would have loved to be in the boardroom meeting when the Wachowski Sisters pitched Sense8 to Netflix. I can only imagine it in DnD terms. 

“The party is made up out of eight different people from around the world who all start face-timing, then fucking, then dating, via psychic link. There are eight different simultaneous settings, eight mini-bosses that they must defeat simultaneously, and one final boss that they cannot win against. 

We have Nomi, who is Neo from the Matrix, post-transition, in a modern AU. 

We have Sun, who is the champion of her company, her family and underground kickboxing. Also, she has a Jindo. 

Riley is a quintessential Pisces, or she would be the eight weren’t all Leos. 

Kala is in a rom-com. She wants to be in love with her perfect, Indian, type A, boss-fiance, but instead, Ganesh brings her a Guy Richie extra, who she loves. 

That’s Wolfgang.

Lito is the bard. He’s an actor, and a closet case, but don’t worry, we’ll make it a little less on-the-nose-y. 

Capheus is the median between Ma-Ti and Wheeler from Captain Planet, except he’s a bus driver in Nairobi who loves Van Damme. 

And Get this, Will is a white cis guy and a cop. He’s an officer of the law. You with me so far. Okay. His dad was a cop and his dad was shot on duty. You with me so far? Okay, here’s where it gets weird. Will is like the exact opposite of a cop. He saves the life of a black male youth and a trans woman. I know right. He’s the paladin.”

The first time I watched it, I binged the first season in one go. I only recommend doing it that way if you start in the morning and take breaks to eat. 

Regarding Quality: The action, the cinematography, and the special effects are everything you would expect from the creators of The Matrix. It’s got heists, fights, chase scenes, anything-but-boring sex scenes, a tribute to Bollywoodesque song numbers as well as Telenovelaeque showdowns. This is eight interconnected movies you are watching all at once.

Give me the gay: The first time we meet Nomi, she’s having trans, lesbian sex with her girlfriend Amanita, with a rainbow strapon. The show basically says “ride or die,” and we go from there, unapologetic. And it only gets more queer. It’s worth mentioning that Nomi is played by an honest to goodness trans actor, Jamie Clayton, which shouldn’t be a big deal but it is.

Outside of the very important surface level trans and gay representation, there is also a very real “I-am-not-LGBTQ,-but-I-am-now-because-psychic.” The show has oodles of fun playing around with this.  All eight characters by the end of the first season, are basically sliding into each other on a very deep and serious level, and also on a very hopelessly bisexual level. PS. actors from the show smootch at pride IRL, it’s a thing.

Overall: 8/8 psychically attached partners for the first season. 

Brian J. Smith