# Sense8 - new show from Joe Straczynski and the Wachowskis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547 "2013-07-26T01:57:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/101 "2015-06-24T18:22:24Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > What was so bad about the safe-cracking? I’m not a safe expert and nothing bothered me at all. Those tumbler dial type safes still exist. Obviously it’s not bleeding edge modern because Wolfgang’s father had tried for years to crack that type. Is there some law you have to replace your up-to-now uncrackable safe every 18 months like a software update or something? It would make sense, if you want to keep something valuable safe, not to store it in a safe that can be cracked with a stethoscope when there’s been better alternatives for decades. I’d say. More to the point, it gives the impression that the writers just don’t know any better and are just following the trope they’ve watched from old movies their whole lives. Which, let’s be honest, it’s more than quite probable what happened here. It’s like the old thing about there being no noise in space. Sure, you can rationalize that some sci-fi directors knew that and made a different stylistic choice anyway, but let’s face it, it was mostly sheer ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/102 "2015-06-24T18:34:30Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Good to know. I will give it a couple more episodes, then. I’m like you with standards. I don’t have hugely big ones. I found episodes 6 and 7 to be the moment where the show really escalated. They take too long to get the sense8 people interacting. Finally, things get moving and you get a sense of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/103 "2015-06-24T18:43:29Z")
Haven’t watched the show but am interested, but can someone spoil something for me? Why would the government CARE about these Sensates? So 8 random people can communicate telepathically, who cares? I could set up quasi sensate rings right now using IP tech, why would anyone give a whoop? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/104 "2015-06-24T19:05:33Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > It would make sense, if you want to keep something valuable safe, not to store it in a safe that can be cracked with a stethoscope when there’s been better alternatives for decades. I’d say. Well, the safe couldn’t be cracked with a stethoscope until Wolfgang pulled it off. No doubt the bank won’t be using that safe anymore. If Wolfgang had been a computer hacker safe cracker, he’d be duplicating Nomi’s talent, although they did get past an electronic lock to get into the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/105 "2015-06-24T19:08:20Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Why would the government CARE about these Sensates? So 8 random people can communicate telepathically, who cares? Because evil. See: documentary on massively overaggressive invasion to cut up one cute alien as quickly as possible, because, evil. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/106 "2015-06-24T19:09:08Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I fast forwarded through most of the lesbian sex scene but I did watch the end because I wanted to see the dildo. It was sort of amusing. A rainbow dildo for Pride Day. > > Anyway, I wonder how many straight sex scenes I’ve had shoved in my face over the years? Too many to count. You learn to ignore it if it’s not your thing. Admittedly I skip through approximately 90% of straight sex scenes too. Only a very few seem legitimately interesting to me. Most of the time it’s like “Can we please get back to the plot?!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/107 "2015-06-24T19:19:52Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > It would make sense, if you want to keep something valuable safe, not to store it in a safe that can be cracked with a stethoscope when there’s been better alternatives for decades. I’d say. > > More to the point, it gives the impression that the writers just don’t know any better and are just following the trope they’ve watched from old movies their whole lives. Which, let’s be honest, it’s more than quite probable what happened here. > > It’s like the old thing about there being no noise in space. Sure, you can rationalize that some sci-fi directors knew that and made a different stylistic choice anyway, but let’s face it, it was mostly sheer ignorance. You’re wrong. The fact that he “cracked” the safe actually becomes a minor issue later on–as in one of the guys he screwed over doesn’t believe that he cracked an uncrackable safe and he keeps asking how he really did it. So it doesn’t negate that fact that he did it, but at least it shows that the writers are aware that this kind of safe shouldn’t be able to be cracked. Now, maybe they are still guilty of oversimplifying how this safe works–I don’t know. As for how he did it? I don’t know that either. It wouldn’t be a stretch–within this story–to find out next season that the sensates have some supernaturally-heightened senses or other powers that they aren’t fully aware of yet. This series spent a LOT of time on character development and “sensual” scenes (fireworks, music, sex, etc.) which show the sensate cluster bonding. It can be frustrating when you want them to just get on with the plot. So I certainly don’t fault anyone who doesn’t like it or doesn’t think it’s worth their time. I enjoyed it. It certainly has its faults, but it was stylistically very different from anything else I’ve seen on television lately and I hope to see more. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/108 "2015-06-24T19:31:45Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Haven’t watched the show but am interested, but can someone spoil something for me? > > Why would the government CARE about these Sensates? So 8 random people can communicate telepathically, who cares? > > I could set up quasi sensate rings right now using IP tech, why would anyone give a whoop? Mostly speculation: It wasn’t clear to me if it’s the government, or some sort of black budget group that almost no one in government knows about. I doubt very many congress critters would sign off on abducting people and performing brain surgery on them. The evil people in this movie remind me of the evil people in the movie Jumper (which I thought would make a good show). I think a big part of it is sensates may represent a genetic advancement and people hate thinking they might be obsolete soon to be replaced. Kill or control or enslave anyone too different. Kinda like mutants in comics. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/109 "2015-06-24T19:39:24Z")
I keep amusing myself by spotting JMS’s little in-jokes - not sure what to call them, exactly, just little fanservice choices of names and terms and such. Gorsky’s 1-Adam-12 call sign is the most blatant and silly. Gorsky… it’s a legitimate name; I have neighbors of that nomen. But sooner or later, sure as shit, someone is going to say… “Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.” A more subtle one was the name of the hospital in which the zombified sensate was living (the one turned into an assassin). “Nightingale’s” - I know beyond the shadows where he got that. These little in-jokies are so prevalent it’s distracting. A few are funny. Too many makes it tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/110 "2015-06-24T20:18:15Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I have read this, but now that I see more sense8’s meeting each other face to face, I realize this would have cost an outrageous amount. How many people did they fly to Korea and Kenya? I guess they could be digitally added, but sometimes they touch each other. > > Maybe they did most of it on location, but also had sets somewhere for scenes where people are together. I read an interview with JMS. He said they took all the actors to each location around the globe and no green screens were used. Even if a scene only lasted a few seconds, the actors were really there. He said it helped bond them and they all became close friends. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/111 "2015-06-24T20:24:58Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > It would make sense, if you want to keep something valuable safe, not to store it in a safe that can be cracked with a stethoscope when there’s been better alternatives for decades. I’d say. It’s not even a sticking point. No other safes come up to pick in any of the remaining episodes. I’m telling you, the scene was just to show Wolfgang’s skills and the type of dangerous situations he lives with. It figures into later storylines, trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/112 "2015-06-25T04:05:52Z")
Episode 9, “Love Doens’t Let You Say Goodbye” is a phenomenal episode of TV. If you really are going to quit, I’d advise skipping right to it(at the risk of spoilers) just to see how different the show is from the beginning. It’s pretty much just people sitting around talking about their own painful experiences. It’s very well done. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/113 "2015-06-25T06:22:59Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > This is something written by people with no sense of reality, and won’t bother with opening a Wikipedia page about the subject they are writing about. Unless you are telling me the writing does a 180º, I’m not continuing. > [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Oh, come on. Not this old cliché. Seriously. > > Yes, there’s such a thing as suspension of disbelief. This means we accept a fantasy element (or more) in the middle of a reality - based setting, it’s not an excuse for writers to avoid doing a modicum of homework and a putting some thought because everything goes. First time watching TV? Seriously, there are very few fiction series out there that really get anywhere even close to reality in terms of these kinds of details. I’m just curious what you think would be some examples of “good writing” that does. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/114 "2015-06-25T08:25:33Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > First time watching TV? > > Seriously, there are very few fiction series out there that really get anywhere even close to reality in terms of these kinds of details. I’m just curious what you think would be some examples of “good writing” that does. Plenty, actually. I’m not even talking about Breaking Bad or any critical darling like that. There are fairly mediocre shows that would never have the hospital that doesn’t accept children with bullet wounds because there’s a limit to how unrealistic most writers will go. There are awful sitcoms that wouldn’t. But, of course, good writing is like good directing, when it’s done well, you don’t notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/115 "2015-06-25T08:51:55Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > There are fairly mediocre shows that would never have the hospital that doesn’t accept children with bullet wounds because there’s a limit to how unrealistic most writers will go. Although I was skeptical of that too, apparently refusing to admit gunshot wounds is an actual thing on the south side of Chicago specifically, that people have been [protesting for years](http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/08/15/protesters-u-of-c-hospital-must-treat-gunshot-victims/) (also found this, albeit from the “Black Youth Project”: [Why Some Chicago Hospitals Won’t Treat Victims Of Gun Violence](http://www.blackyouthproject.com/2014/03/guest-post-why-some-chicago-hospitals-wont-treat-victims-of-gun-violence/)). But the reason is that they claim they’re just not equipped to handle it and usually end up transporting to a trauma center much further away, where they usually die along the way. > [@CBS](#): > > The U of C Medical Center lies just a few blocks away. But because the hospital does not have a trauma center equipped to treat most gunshot victims, paramedics had to drive him to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, about 10 miles away, in the Streeterville neighborhood. > > Turner was later pronounced dead at the hospital. > > … > > Currently, there is no adult trauma center on the South Side. They do say that they treat victims 15 and younger, which I guess this kid would fall into, but if he had been even 16-17 it sounds like the scenario would have actually been pretty realistic. They say they wouldn’t turn away a victim “arriving on their own” but they prefer to transport them and since the cops were bringing him in to begin with, they may well have told them to take him elsewhere (or as a poster upthread mentioned, brought him via ambulance but either way, he would have died en route). > [@BYP](#): > > The highly regarded University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC), in the heart of the South Side, only has a trauma center for victims aged 15 and younger. > > … > > UCMC does note that they wouldn’t turn away a gunshot victim arriving on their own to UCMC’s emergency room. Treatment, however, would depend on if “appropriate resources” were available at the time of need; the preferred option would be to transport the victim to a designated trauma center. That’s why adult trauma victims are taken directly by ambulance to the nearest trauma center (even when another hospital is much closer), and that’s why the group called Fearless Leadership by the Youth (FLY) claims their that leader and co-founder died. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/116 "2015-06-25T09:10:22Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Although I was skeptical of that too, apparently refusing to admit gunshot wounds is an actual thing on the south side of Chicago specifically, . Whoa. I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/117 "2015-06-25T16:42:47Z")
Right, it sounded like they didn’t have a proper ER anymore so there’s really not much they can do. It’s a bit like taking the kid into a dentist’s office and expecting them to handle an emergency they don’t have the equipment and personnel to handle. The show hits a lot of social justice points. I don’t mind. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/118 "2015-06-26T01:41:52Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > What was so bad about the safe-cracking? I’m not a safe expert and nothing bothered me at all. Those tumbler dial type safes still exist. Obviously it’s not bleeding edge modern because Wolfgang’s father had tried for years to crack that type. Is there some law you have to replace your up-to-now uncrackable safe every 18 months like a software update or something? Note that he doesn’t have to do the safecracking; he sees it as a challenge. And there are psychological reasons why he wants to do it, too, though they are revealed slowly. Wolfgang _hates_ his father (and that can’t be stressed highly enough). He wants to crack the safe because his father couldn’t. Being able to do it makes him the better man. It’s actually very good writing, since the safecracking means far more than just cracking a safe. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/119 "2015-06-26T13:59:33Z")
Did anyone else laugh when Sun’s brother visited her in prison and the guard yelled, “No touching!” Had to be a small Arrested Development joke. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547/120 "2015-06-26T15:49:20Z")
An observation: The show is not really about telepaths – the 8 are a gestalt, as epitomized in Theodore Sturgeon’s **More than Human.** Many of the scenes are very reminiscent of “Baby is Three,” part of that fix-up novel. There are also other elements that parallel Sturgeon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense8-new-show-from-joe-straczynski-and-the-wachowskis/664547.md?page=7)