Its been good so far, some frustrating parts for me I admit. Tough script with so many protagonists to follow, and some I love and some I am waiting to see their value.
The sex was a bit graphic, but I didn’t mind most of it .
The violence was done extremely well, but some over-the top.
The births just squicked the hell out of me. Didn’t really need to see all of those. The storyline was quite an emotional impact, but I didn’t need to see the… emerging… in such graphic detail. Threw me out of the story.
The payoff is worth it. Just… done so well.
Well, I’ll ask. How graphic are we talking and if we skip a bit over the sex scenes, will we miss the whole plot?
Like many shows these days, Sense8, is a slow burn to a big payoff. The first payoff came for me in Episode 4. Then the last 3 or 4 episodes had some nice moments too.
I know it’s a lot of time commitment but I thought it was very worht it.
I also thought of this show as a slow superhero reveal like Unbreakable.
Because of the slowness, I’m sure it’ll be hard to get through for some, but I binged it in only a couple days.
I watched this, and I, too, was struck by how long the show took to really get going, plot-wise. It did eventually turn its attention to actually advancing the plot, and I thought that it was pretty cool. Although the show took a bit of patience and effort, by the end it was well worth watching.
The acting was pretty competent and the characters were interesting and mostly well-written. There was a bit of turbulence when everyone was introduced as I worried that the showrunners seemed to be overly interested in making sure they had “one of each” with regards to race and sexuality, but that concern faded quickly as the show developed. They managed to avoid the heavy-handed obtuseness (a la Crash) that I was worried about, at least enough that I could enjoy the characters and their interactions.
The show’s premise seems to owe a lot to Theodore Sturgeon, especially “More Than Human”. I liked that quite a bit.
It seems to spend alot of time on gay sex scenes. Who needs a plot when you have a black lesbian boning her white girlfriend with a strap on (episode one). I’m dropping this one.
I think I’m about halfway through the episodes as of last night. Still forming an opinion. Some of it is pretty good, some of it pretty bad.
Someone said upthread that they’ve packed a lot of cliché into these characters and I agree. At points, I feel like the dialogue was written by a couple of eighth graders. First episode, when the Nomi (sp?) character says “I’m crying because no one has ever defended me before!” I actually threw out by back I eye-rolled so hard.
So far, the show is really in your face with the homosexuality. I feel like they’re trying way too hard with that. I like the gay couple a lot, they’re pretty cute together. The lesbian couple is grating, but the Nomi storyline with the hospital really made me squirm, and I hate her mother.
The sex *really *is gratuitous, as though they have a tit quota to reach each episode and put some in just because.
I tried really hard but just can’t suspend disbelief with the 100lb Asian chick (who looks like Ken Jeong, tell me she doesn’t) being the queen of underground fighting.
Jonas (Sayid) really needs a haircut.
That they use each other’s skills to get into/out of situations is a pretty cool idea. Most of the acting has been better than expected, and I like a lot of the characters despite the cliché.
Early on I got the sense that this is going to turn into another Lost, where it keeps going for the sake of keeping on, and nothing will ever get resolved. I hope I’m wrong about that.
I enjoyed it, I watched the whole thing in 2 days. Most of the individual stories are alright, but the scenes where 3 or more combine together are mostly very entertaining, the raid on the research centre in the final combining everybody’s skills was exactly the kind of thing I’d been hoping to see and was very well done.
Minor question, the Indian sensate kept referring to her city as “Bombay”, is that still how denizens of that city still refer to it and is there some kind of statement being made by which name you use a la (London)derry?
Don’t forget the drippy, sloppy strap-on closeup as it was thrown to the floor. This was surely a pivotal plot moment that could not have been edited out.
I’m still hoping some reviewer will give me a reason to watch it, but when so many of them admit that the first four hours are nothing but introduction, I start thinking it’s time to go do the dishes or something.
Just finished this today. Overall I enjoyed it. My biggest gripe was with the Nomi character. I can see Lana (nee Larry) Wachowski wanting to highlight a transgender character but damn, Nomi was so pathetic and useless for much of the show - what a lame image to project. Then you throw in Riley and Kala and the female half of the cluster relies almost solely on Sun for strength of character.
The graphic gay sex: I think most people’s problem with this is the lack of balance - not a single heterosexual member of the cluster got laid, ever. Yes, most shows with gay characters are similarly imbalanced the other way, but you don’t fix that by throwing your show all to one side. I found the areas that were balanced much more pleasant, like seeing Lido and Hernando kiss as much as Riley and Will or any other film couple. As far as how graphic it was, I found myself wonder if it was all that graphic, or was it just that it did nothing for me personally. More balance on such scenes with all the characters would have helped with that, I think. For instance, Dani masturbating while watching Lido and Fernando was kinda hot, while Nomi and whatsername, not so much, but I knew that was just me thinking Dani was gorgeous (pretty with great hair).
A bigger problem was the rounding of some of the characters. With such a large cast, cliches help shorthand the audience into their lives until they can be fleshed out so I didn’t mind that so much. Lido, Riley, Caphues and Kala became more three deminsional as things progressed. Nomi a bit less so, as too much of her storyline was about being a transgender lesbian, with numerous speeches early on. This is the Ellen problem, where being a gay ibecomes all a character is about. Wolfgang remained sketchy even after his past history was filled in, though the reveal in the finale to Kala was great. We seemed to never move beyond the cliche with Sun, despite her having some great scenes. She has great potential for stories - someone in prison who can mentally leave whenever she wants.
One cool thing about the show is it highlights the impact of directors - the eps done by the Wachovskis themselves really stand out. The change in camera angle as Lido sat up after being knocked down by Joaquin, and Wolfgang’s fight with Steiner’s gang.
I’d watch another season, easy. Netlix has been more hits than misses with their Originals, I think.
Just a minor nitpick - Wolfgang got laid in one of the early episodes, ep2 or 3 before telling her that he wasn’t really looking for a relationship, just before he started seeing visions of Kala.
I remember that now, but it must have been pretty perfunctory, as I’m still having trouble calling it to mind.
I’m just watching the first episode and admittedly I don’t get out much, but are there really places in the US where an ambulance won’t come, and a hospital won’t take a minor with a GSW at least to stabilize and run them to the hospital that will?
It’s a minor point so I don’t really think it needs a spoiler warning. I just found it weird and unlikely.
I saw that part just now. Yeah, I have no idea. I’ve never heard of that in a hospital before.
Watched the pilot. I tried to dodge spoilers but agree with a lot of the dislikes in this thread.
I was particularly put out by the Hot Lesbian Fuck Scene - partly because it was so overdone and I’m really getting tired of the ObLezPair trope - but mostly because they appeared to be doing it “correctly,” with no toys or tools… and then not only does top gal pull out a huge strap-on, but we get the shot of it literally splattering on the floor. Takes gratuitous to a new level.
The GREEN and PURPLE fairies were a nice B5 shout-out. I suspect there will be others, although only an obsessed fan ahem will notice them.
Making the Chicago cop pair 1-Adam-12 was just wince-inducing, though. JMS does have a predilection for heavy-handed “inside” humor.
Yeah splatter dong scene was a put-off as well. However I pushed on and binge watched 7 episodes straight after I asked the question. It has it’s good points. It can be a fun show.
I’ve now seen the second episode and it is kind of interesting. Better than the pilot, for sure. I wish transgendered lady’s Mom wasn’t such a stereotypical bitch-lady. It seemed…written.
Band name?
There was a case of this in Chicago (where the scene was set) a while back. A gangbanger’s friends brought him to an ER with a gunshot wound and the hospital refused to treat him - he died outside the emergency room doors before he could be transported somewhere else.
What I found more unrealistic was the nurse’s attitude (“How will you feel if he shoots a cop?”) I’ve got like five nurses in my family, my mom was a nurse, and I just can’t picture one thinking like that. And despite terrified cops shooting unarmed African-Americans at will during traffic stops and what-not, police officers getting shot is still pretty rare, even in Chicago. More citizens are shot on a summer weekend than cops shot in a decade.