Sense8 - Season 1 (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Creators:  J. Michael Straczynski, Lana & Lilly Wachowski (The Matrix 1-3, Cloud Atlas, Speed Racer)
	Actors: Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas), Jamie Clayton, Tina Desai
	Country: USA
	Genre: Drama, Thriller, Fantasy
	Conditions of visioning: March 2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Eight people around the world get their minds connected when a woman spiritually gives birth to their cluster.
Review: For a while I have been eager to watch this TV-series brought to us by the revolutionary directors of The Matrix and its sequels, Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas (and the forgettable Jupiter Ascending). It promised an original take at the "super-hero" Fantasy TV-series, and I found that it delivered. But contrarily to the more SF/Fantasy tone I was expecting, the series has a strong emphasis on characters, Drama and Thriller, which is also OK. The spiritual connection of the eight characters is often used to help them solve problems in their life rather than to unite them against a common enemy like other such stories would do (i.e. The Defenders). And they do have problems in their lives, so much that one could criticize from the series that none of the characters have a "normal" life, I mean that they don't fit in 99% of the Earth population as they all have rather conflicting lives and face Death from up close at some point or another. Death is in fact a strong theme is the series which gives it a very dark tone more often than not. On top of those individual struggles there is in fact a common enemy, whose defense against brings the characters closer. I found the series quite slow but as I say that for most TV-series don't take my word for it. I have computed that with eight characters there is room for 27 one-on-one introductions which participates to the slow pace. In that season we cover maybe half of those encounters and some are stronger and more significant than others. I have the feeling that the Wachowskis have used a lot the experience of Cloud Atlas to edit seemingly scenes occurring at various corner of the globe (vs. occurring in different time periods). Apart from the out-of-the-ordinary lives of the characters, the series is very realistic, and it is pretty obvious that the Wachowskis have brought a heavy personal luggage to the story via a character working in the cinema world, one fan of Jean-Clause Van Damme (ahah I love that), other explicit references to Conan the Barbarian including movie extracts and quotes (I love that even more!), and the use of the song Mad World from the soundtrack of Donnie Darko, I don't know if intentionally. But the most obvious contribution is the transsexual homosexual character (the Wachowskis used to be brothers and are now sisters!). Another male is also gay, and sexuality is another strong theme in the series.  The actors are all pretty good. Of the main eight I knew only Doona Bae from Cloud Atlas, and I noticed small contributions by Darryl Hannah (Kill Bill) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, Memento). I am not sure I will continue with the second season right now but may do it in the future.
Rating: 6 /10