Miraculously messy, engagingly poignant and gleefully lacking in subtlety, the finale of “Sense8” was a joyous celebration of lust, love, wonder and the perseverance in unifying people of all cultures and creeds. “Sense8,” a beautiful and unflinchingly haphazard story created by the Wachowskis, has always been something of a miracle for a television series – even one that made its home at a streaming service giant such as Netflix. It was undoubtedly LGBTQ-focused, had deliberately steamy and frank sex scenes, and shot in multiple locations all over the world in order to tell their story of unity to its fullest. It was a massive undertaking for any storyteller and as much as we could cross our fingers for more, its shelf life was never too mighty. The finale offers fans two and a half hours of closure that is both fine-tuned for the series we’ve come to know (and, if you’ve stuck around this long, adore) as well as offering moments that transcended what we’ve already come to expect. The circle of eight grows, incorporating all of the side characters who have accompanied the main characters on their individual journeys, and the result is rapturously hopeful.
Its teeth-rotting sentimentality and questionable dialogue have always and forever been the weakest aspects of the show, but the sincere sweetness in the idea that this group would go out of their way to save the “monster” among them is a beacon of the human kindness and general heroism that we need to see more of in entertainment these days. We’ve seen the future depicted onscreen as depleted, barren wastelands ruled by dictatorship, where women are ground down to the very baseline sum of their parts. “Sense8” offers up an alternative to such bleak scenarios. Every character from Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) to Sun (Doona Bae) and Nomi (Jamie Clayton) endure loss and are punished for it but the way in which the Wachowskis were able to subvert expectations was to allow those characters to channel their pain and grief into something greater than themselves. One of the many themes of the series is the notion that the characters are no longer an “I” but a “we” and it’s that wholeness of being more than a singular entity that makes the series so delightful.
That being said, Nomi, Sun and Co., do have plenty of hurdles to overcome before getting to a night of festivities that include familial reunions, fireworks and sexual escapades (in what other show will you witness group, mental orgies quite like this?) The BPO (a corrupt corporation trying to control the sensates for their own purposes) are edging closer to them and Wolfgang is still being held captive by the Whispers. Season two left us with the sensates finally all coming together in person in order to rescue their missing member and the finale makes great use of finally being able to play with the idea of all of these characters existing in the same physical space.
The charm of having links all over the world wears when you’re forced to deal with the mundanity of them as roommates who take up more than just mental real estate. The moments of the core group which also includes Will (Brian J. Smith,) Kala (Tina Desai,) Riley (Tuppence Middleton,) Lito (Miguel Ángel Silvestre,) and Capheus (Toby Onwumere) along with their significant others and friends including Amanita (Freema Agyeman,) Hernando (Alfonso Herrera) and Daniela (Eréndira Ibarra) are some of the highlights of the special. All of them get a moment to shine — though some less than others — and even Amanita and Daniela are allowed a moment of singular bravery which separates them from the rest of the group. More importantly, they’re all gifted closure. Sun and Lito may not be the focus in the same manner that they were in season two while Kala and Wolfgang take what is closer to center stage, the main draw will always be the group as a whole.
Unfortunately, the shared charisma and chemistry of that group can’t save clunky writing and plotting that’s instantly forgettable in favor of the splashier or more heart-tugging moments. It’s a show made up of memorable scenes rather than one which will be lauded for its narrative structure or cleverness. The show fails in presenting any satisfying answers to the dozens of questions they’ve had queued for two seasons and rather than try and aim for anything resembling nuance, the creative team would rather introduce a late-to-the-script literal and figurative bazooka to blow up our expectations and instead lay on a swift and tidy ending to any imminent threat.
The series finale was never meant to rely of dire or dour circumstance, that much has been clear since the very conception of the show. Sure, the darker parts of humanity were going to be shown and they would add fuel to the fire of all of the sensates storylines both as part of a unit and as separate beings, but it wasn’t a show to fuss over the minute details of human-made horrors. Instead, it was intrigued by offering a light to oppose that darkness. Be it with a shared night of karaoke, relief-ridden drive down an empty highway with the top down or a night of sensational sex, “Sense8” concerned itself with what links us as humans. There’s a moment in the finale where it’s explained that pain is what can strengthen the connection of all of the sensates and, to a degree, humans. The show offers the counterpoint that what links us further and strengthens our bonds is happiness, love and camaraderie.
“Sense8” won’t ever be looked upon as being “one of the greats”. It’s a gorgeously shot, oftentimes vapid show that prioritizes how we feel over how we got to the point of experiencing that feeling. It’s going all in for a sense of euphoria rather than pausing in the middle, in between moments to explore what make us tic. It’s too preoccupied with it’s sensational characters and the lives the actors have built within them to pause and understand motivation beyond what makes sense for the story at hand. It’s the prioritizing of emotional response over structural finesse that remains the most divisive aspect of the series. The Wachowski’s succeed by refusing to try and please everyone. Their filmmaking has always been big, bold and broad and “Sense8” isn’t any different, a wonderful swing for the fences series that, while it lasted, was a sigh of relief for science fiction fans who’d been waiting for a show to come along that offered a promise of silver linings. Imperfection is worth celebration when it’s done with such confidence as this. [B+]