The first season of Sense8 remains, easily, the most interesting thing Netflix has done (maybe not quite the best, but certainly the most original), a tale of empathy and how people are defined and enhanced by their shared humanity. The Christmas special - which was really the first two episodes of Season 2 combined for an event episode of television - was likewise accomplished and intriguing.
The second season is up on Netflix right now.
I only made it through the first 4 episodes of the first season. I'll admit it was innovative, but it also came across to me more as a vanity project than an attempt to create compelling entertainment with a coherent narrative. At the point I quit, I cared about very few of the characters and assumed we were being lead on a "Lost" style journey that wouldn't have much of a payoff. Based on what you've seen of the second season (or even the rest of the first), should I give it another chance?
ReplyDeleteI would say that Season 1 takes off only very much after Episode 4. I'd also say that Straczynski (who wrote Babylon 5, probably still the last word in long-form, arc storytelling on TV) was very much aware of the foibles of LOST and made major efforts to avoid the same issues they encountered.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Season 2 yet (beyond the first two episodes released at Christmas) so I don't know (yet) how they've handled that.