Netflix are going the right way to become some sort of TV
power house. They are investing in making their own TV shows – but not wobbly
cardboard backgrounds with silly scripts and dodgy acting, oh no! These can
take on the likes of ITV, Sky, ABC, CBS or whatever. Dubbed as ‘Netflix
Originals’ these shows are becoming hits in their own right and are becoming
household names. Shows such as House of Cards, Breaking Bad prequel Better Call
Saul and Marco Polo (oh yeah and Orange is the New Black) there seems no sign
of them stopping. They’ve recently sided with Marvel too – and are now are
releasing shows like Daredevil and the soon to be broadcast AKA Jessica Jones.
However the latest fanfare approach is the ‘Netflix Original’ Sense8 by the
Washowski siblings and, you know what? It’s actually pretty good.
So many times we have a show or movie where there is a
fantastic idea and it’s executed so badly that the piece of inspiration that
grew it struggles to develop. Well, you’ll be pleased to know this is not the
case here.
Sense8 is about a set of 8 individuals who are vastly
different and live in different parts of the world. However, they can all share
the same consciousness. One of the other 8 can either appear next to the other
– in which case appear a bit like Al in Quantum Leap. This means that they can
communicate and chat with the other person but no one else can see them. If an
onlooker sees them talking it looks like they are talking to themselves.
Alternatively they can inhabit their body and thereby gaining the skills of the
other person to allow them to achieve a goal or do something cool.
Scattered across the 8 are all in different situations. We
have a cat-burglar called Wolfgang in Germany, a closeted Mexican gay actor who
is in a relationship with a man, but has a public persona as a ladies man.
There’s Riley, a young DJ of Icelandic descent based in London, Will (a police
officer in San Francisco), Sun (a Korean business woman who is particularly
talented at kickboxing) and Nomi, a trans woman in a relationship with another
woman. The final two are a black African man in Kenya who is constantly
searching for medicine to treat his mum suffering from HIV and finally, but by
no means least, an Indian girl who is due to be married and is a chemist. All 8
eventually meet and when they do it is to fight a bigger force at work. It is
then that all of their skills come into play. For example, the guy from Kenya
is under attack by the town crime boss and the Korean kickboxer goes into his
body and fights all of them on his behalf, even though one is in Kenya and one
is in Korea. Who needs FaceTime?
As a creative writer myself, I have thought about this whole
mind melding storyline before but it was only with 2 people in a relationship.
But to take 8 very different people and meld not only their minds but the story
is a big ask and they do it very well. Merely explaining the people who are in
this show is madness – what an operation to try and get the locations and
actors all together to do this – it’s ambitious to say the least! All of the
characters mentioned above are (in the main) played by real life actors of the
nationality or situation. They guy who plays Wolfgang is actually from Germany.
The trans woman is actually played by a trans performer, etc.
I loved this show – it’s great, creative and the characters
are great, The acting is good, the stories are engrossing and it’s such a fresh
new idea. However, I found it very slow to begin with and it doesn’t really
pick up until about episode five. When they are all working together in the
later episodes you can see how great this programme could be.
The Washowski’s have been riding on the coat tails of The
Matrix for many years now – and like this, was a work of genius. However the
Matrix sequels and some of their recent endeavours have been met with poor
critical reception. Cloud Atlas was okay, Jupiter Ascending was good but not
right, and let’s not mention Matrix 3. Just don’t.
If you have Netflix, it is worth a watch and I eagerly await
season two. Well done Washowski siblings. Well done Netflix. Keep it up.
POPSCORE – 9/10
What am I talking about? ‘Netflix Original’ – Sense8 (TV
Series)Where can I find out more? https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80025744
Anything else?
This first season features 10 episodes and all are available on Netflix now. However, you do have to be a subscriber to get this.
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