Episode Review: Sense8 – 1.01 – “Limbic Resonance”

NOTE: This show is most assuredly not for young audiences and deals with such subject matter as drug use, suicide, nudity and strong sexual content.

I went into watching this show with only the Netflix summary to guide me.

·         “From the creators of The Matrix and Babylon 5 comes this tense series in which eight people can telepathically experience each other’s lives."

Right off the bat, I’m thinking of something with a lighter tone, maybe some pranks being pulled and one evil one among the group – in other words the typical Hollywood route. But if that’s what you’re looking for, stop here.

If you want something original, with diversity and realism, keep reading.

While the majority of this episode deals with getting to know our characters, the dark opening tells us the tie that will hold them all together. In a burnt-out church, upon a dirty mattress, we’re shown a woman in pain, writhing around while coming down from what appears to be a really bad trip. But we find out, through some telepathic interactions, that she is “giving birth” to eight minds. What exactly that means, however, is still not quite clear. And before we can delve too much into our mystery woman, she’s met with what looks like scientist baddies and takes herself out with a bullet to the brain before they can find out about the eight.

How’s that for an opening scene?

I have to admit, it caught my attention right away. The second thing that caught my attention was the global diversity of locations and people. This wasn’t just some “different types of Americans” same old pattern. From Nairobi to Mumbai with stops in London and San Francisco, this becomes a global event. And it’s about time.

The rest of the episode can seem a bit hard to follow, jumping around the eight people whose lives have been shifted ever so slightly. They’re having visions of things happening in each other’s lives and by the end of the episode, two of them have even communicated a little.

It’s strength comes from the assortment of lives themselves, including a trans-hacktivist and her pride loving girlfriend to an Icelandic DJ who uses music to escape problems of her past.

Where this can go wrong, however, is that with such a large cast set in a variety of locations, keeping up is hard to do. These are interesting people and it can be hard to give them all their proper time in the limelight.

Overall, the episode is a good start because it leaves several things for the watcher to look forward to, including who the secret scientist group is, what exactly is this “giving birth” to, and how are these eight people from around the world randomly chosen. If anything is to be gained by the second episode’s title – “I Am Also a We” – that last topic will be soon answered.