Sense8 (Netflix)
Aug. 11th, 2016 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroIn eight different cities in seven different countries, eight strangers suddenly start getting glimpses of each others’ lives. Soon, this becomes having conversations and sharing skillsets, which in turn becomes necessary for the unholy messes their lives become.
So…J.M. Strazynski and the Wachowskis. I went in knowing that this had the potential to be amazing or terrible. And it’s definitely a mix of both. The cinematography is brilliant, there are some gorgeous shots and I suspect there’s a film studies thesis in the differing style of the various characters’ plotlines.
The pilot could have stood a little trimming (especially since it runs 10+ minutes more than any other episode). There are too many stock nature/people shots that don’t actually relate to the plot; too many repetitive scenes where we have to show all eight of the main characters witnessing the same suicide. (Is it too much to assume that if four of the important people saw the exact same thing, maybe the other four did as well? Maybe they can reference it in one of the many, many conversations that otherwise establish “these people are all going through the same thing”.) For that matter, despite being broken up into 12 episodes, it’s clear that this was written as a 12-hour-long movie and is intended to be marathoned. Perhaps we could have done with a bit less repetitive exposition and just assumed that characters caught each other up on events while we weren’t watching?
Netflix, like HBO, is running with their ability to show boobs. And drop f-bombs. And apparently to show babies crowning, which appears several times in episode 10’s “everyone remembers their birth” montage. For that matter, the gore is at Game of Thrones levels, as you can watch people get their hands cut off or get shot in the head without any discretion from the camera.*
Given that I’m familiar with the work of Strazynski and the Wachowskis, I would have guessed at their involvement even if I didn’t know: There’s a telepathic orgy scene in episode 6 that plays like the “plug orgy” from the second Matrix movie, only with more attractive people and Babylon 5-esque telepathic connections.** For that matter, seven of the characters get to pull “I know kung fu” moments because Sun actually does, and her skills get shared.
I think my favorite parts were the Eigen Plot scenes when they needed to pull in specific skills that only one character had. (Episode 12 actually remembers that, despite her spending virtually all of her screen time consoling people or mulling her engagement, Kala is a pharmaceutical chemist.) I would want to specifically see a few more episodes where they make effective use of that gimmick, and perhaps spend a little less time on establishing shots and constant mulling over of decisions.
It’s an interesting superpower idea that I haven’t really seen before, and I makes you think, “What skills would I provide?” Seven people around the world suddenly can cook, run rpgs and make spreadsheets…not really the stuff thrilling miniseries are made of.
My brain went to how this would work as a tabletop role-playing game, eventually settling on the idea that you only have 3-4 players for an eight-character cluster, but design all eight of them. A skill-based system like World of Darkness seems the logical choice, and you build each character as a “mortal” with one or two exceptional skills. Each character then gets a stock of “sensate” points that they can spend to use another character’s skill rolls in a scene rather than their own.
* But no rape. Not even any mention of rape that I noticed. I suspect that having women on the creative team may have played a role in this.
** It wasn’t until I read the TVTropes article that I realized this was a gigantic pun. The eight characters are referred to as a sensate “cluster.” This event was literally a clusterfuck.
Overall: While there were definitely a few stylistic choices I objected to (particularly regarding gore and repetitive exposition) I thought this was a very interesting idea with a reasonable execution. It seems likely that I’ll watch season 2 when it comes out, though I worry the series will outrun its premise fairly quickly if they’re not careful about it.
So…J.M. Strazynski and the Wachowskis. I went in knowing that this had the potential to be amazing or terrible. And it’s definitely a mix of both. The cinematography is brilliant, there are some gorgeous shots and I suspect there’s a film studies thesis in the differing style of the various characters’ plotlines.
The pilot could have stood a little trimming (especially since it runs 10+ minutes more than any other episode). There are too many stock nature/people shots that don’t actually relate to the plot; too many repetitive scenes where we have to show all eight of the main characters witnessing the same suicide. (Is it too much to assume that if four of the important people saw the exact same thing, maybe the other four did as well? Maybe they can reference it in one of the many, many conversations that otherwise establish “these people are all going through the same thing”.) For that matter, despite being broken up into 12 episodes, it’s clear that this was written as a 12-hour-long movie and is intended to be marathoned. Perhaps we could have done with a bit less repetitive exposition and just assumed that characters caught each other up on events while we weren’t watching?
Netflix, like HBO, is running with their ability to show boobs. And drop f-bombs. And apparently to show babies crowning, which appears several times in episode 10’s “everyone remembers their birth” montage. For that matter, the gore is at Game of Thrones levels, as you can watch people get their hands cut off or get shot in the head without any discretion from the camera.*
Given that I’m familiar with the work of Strazynski and the Wachowskis, I would have guessed at their involvement even if I didn’t know: There’s a telepathic orgy scene in episode 6 that plays like the “plug orgy” from the second Matrix movie, only with more attractive people and Babylon 5-esque telepathic connections.** For that matter, seven of the characters get to pull “I know kung fu” moments because Sun actually does, and her skills get shared.
I think my favorite parts were the Eigen Plot scenes when they needed to pull in specific skills that only one character had. (Episode 12 actually remembers that, despite her spending virtually all of her screen time consoling people or mulling her engagement, Kala is a pharmaceutical chemist.) I would want to specifically see a few more episodes where they make effective use of that gimmick, and perhaps spend a little less time on establishing shots and constant mulling over of decisions.
It’s an interesting superpower idea that I haven’t really seen before, and I makes you think, “What skills would I provide?” Seven people around the world suddenly can cook, run rpgs and make spreadsheets…not really the stuff thrilling miniseries are made of.
My brain went to how this would work as a tabletop role-playing game, eventually settling on the idea that you only have 3-4 players for an eight-character cluster, but design all eight of them. A skill-based system like World of Darkness seems the logical choice, and you build each character as a “mortal” with one or two exceptional skills. Each character then gets a stock of “sensate” points that they can spend to use another character’s skill rolls in a scene rather than their own.
* But no rape. Not even any mention of rape that I noticed. I suspect that having women on the creative team may have played a role in this.
** It wasn’t until I read the TVTropes article that I realized this was a gigantic pun. The eight characters are referred to as a sensate “cluster.” This event was literally a clusterfuck.
Overall: While there were definitely a few stylistic choices I objected to (particularly regarding gore and repetitive exposition) I thought this was a very interesting idea with a reasonable execution. It seems likely that I’ll watch season 2 when it comes out, though I worry the series will outrun its premise fairly quickly if they’re not careful about it.
