Sense8: Amor Vincit Omnia   First Watch 
June 8, 2018 3:46 AM - Season 3, Episode 1 - Subscribe

A 151-minute wrap up of Season 2. [It's listed as the sole episode of Season 3 on IMDB]

After the cliffhanger of the season 2 finale, the end of the Sense8 story is finally here.

The final episode of Season 2 was titled 'You Want a War?"

So many questions! But which - if any - will be resolved in this, the final Sense8 story?
  • Every war has casualties, so who will survive this one?
  • Will the main Sense8 cluster be able to rescue Wolfgang?
  • What is B.P.O. Ultimately planning?
  • What does Whispers want?
  • Who is the Chairman?
  • What songs will frame the (undoubtedly) epic action scenes?
posted by Faintdreams (34 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Just watched it.
.
.
.
.
.

I ... words almost fail me.

Nothing is perfect, but .. that.. that came pretty darn close.

And yes some people are gonna haaaaaaate it, but I'm guessing Sense8 was never for them in the first place, so ::shrug::

I loved it.
posted by Faintdreams at 3:47 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]


(Very?) rough around the edges, technically, narratively, and probabilistically, of course. But, once again, it utilized the medium extraordinarily skillfully to convey emotional and cognitive experiences above and beyond what was previously possible with television, even beyond the original series. Basically net perfect. Blown away.
posted by zeek321 at 1:49 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]


Issuing the caveat that my response is going to be a little raw and unconsidered because I literally just switched Netflix off about 3 minutes ago...

...there were some characters' plot points I felt got short shrift and had some loose ends left dangling. And as much as I understand intellectually why those last 3 or so minutes were there....I still would rather have switched them out for a bit more of a wrapping-up of things for a couple of the characters.

The movie! The election! WHAT HAPPENED with those things???
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:56 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]


Yeah, Actual Plot Points set up for Season Three got short shrift but I'm all for the way they solved the emotional lines. Everyone together. Families (and the ways they intersect). Best way to solve a love triangle :D

Watched it last night, it's the morning and I'm still grinning.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:30 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]




I could have done with way less gunfighting -- I know that was always an aspect of the show, but, this time around it struck me as both more disturbing & more cartoonish than ever before. In the course of the regular seasons, they had more time to stage more interesting "by our powers combined" fight scenes, but I feel like they just defaulted to guns in this finale out of expediency in trying to get the BPO plot resolved. I think my days of being able to watch big-dumb-action-movie-style use of guns without wincing may be behind me.

I did get appropriately weepy at the end. (I think it was the flash of Mun & Sun with the dog that got me.) Some of the happiness of the happy endings was rushed, like Rajan turning bi & poly, or Nomi's mother's drug-assisted near-complete personality transplant, but, fuck it, might as well go big.

(FYI - imdb has fixed their entry for this episode to be S2 episode 12. Can we get this post corrected to match, and maybe remove the 'First Watch' spoiler condition? Not sure what purpose that serves in a finale thread.)
posted by oh yeah! at 7:22 AM on June 9, 2018 [7 favorites]


Me, when Depeche Mode's "I Feel You" started playing: LANA WACHOWSKI, ARE WE SOULMATES????
Me, at that ending: This is the best thing that could ever or will ever happen in the year of our lord 20gayteen, god bless everyone involved in this queer poly orgy
posted by yasaman at 4:30 PM on June 9, 2018 [9 favorites]


My roommate and I were watching through the previous episodes together for a while early this week (a rewatch for him, a first watch for me), but then I went out of town a few days and we kept going separately. And as it turns out - it looks like he's only gotten a chance to get halfway through the finale, whereas I've seen the whole thing.

I am very very very tempted to tell him that i've watched the whole thing, and to then tease him by saying "you could say that....it ends with a bang."

*rimshot*
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:57 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]


Some movie directors live a charmed life, your first tv show gets canned and whee a few weeks later you take your crew to film on the rooftops of Paris. Just like (spoiler) crew in the show gets raided but not for long. Have not finished, am a bit underwhelmed by the giant evil corporation's effectiveness and some interactions like the Indian husband "I believe you, you couldn't make up being psychic, glad it's not a cult". Would love to have seen something like one of the non-athletic gets taken over, huge amazing fight, then wakes up with every muscle sore cramped and barely walk.
posted by sammyo at 4:59 PM on June 9, 2018


I'm only an hour into it. But I've liked this show maybe more than it's deserved. It does have it's excesses. Obviously it's expensive to fly your cast around the world each season. I have a feeling this show will be back at some point in the next 20 years with a slightly lower budget and guest starring members of the original cast. I mean, it's a tremendously great setup.

But this extended final episode. They've gotten all the side characters together and they are breezing through things that in a final season they would have spent several episodes on. But that's ok to me. I was wanting them to wrap it up and they are. (I just scrolled down to the bottom here to post, it might take all weekend to finish watching the finale.) I think after that first season I was going to be a fan of this show no matter what. This episode isn't disappointing me at all so far.
posted by Catblack at 6:20 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yah, I agree that all the gun violence felt a little weird. When Wolfgang does it it's one thing, but then when you have every character gleefully shooting mooks, it starts to feel rather off.

That being said, I found I just turned off my brain a little bit for those sequences, and overall I found it really enjoyable. I'm thankful to have some resolution for this crazy mess of a show, and I think they did a good job of tying up a lot of the loose ends, and more importantly, reconnecting all the characters we cared about.

Sometimes (a lot of the time?) the dialogue was groan inducing, but it's still the most memorable show I've watched in a long a time. In a perfect world, the whole team would get its five seasons and huge budget, and a team of top notch editors to sharpen things up.
posted by Alex404 at 6:03 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]


The fanservice was some pretty servicey fanservice. And I am not complaining about that fact one whit. LET'S GET THE UPTIGHT MOM HIGH! LET'S HAVE A BIG HUGE QUEER SENSATEORGY. SURE WE CAN GET THE EIFFEL TOWER FOR A WEDDING!

And here's the part where we go visit the Oracle, I guess?

I'm kind of shocked that they didn't kill Felix or Diego. But it's a series finale, so everyone can be happy and alive.

I think my absolute favorite tiny throwaway bit was the end of the music on the train scene when they cut from reality to big dance party back to reality.

And let's hear it for Chekov's rocket launcher.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:29 AM on June 10, 2018 [13 favorites]


I will miss this show
posted by vibratory manner of working at 7:35 PM on June 10, 2018 [6 favorites]


> vibratory manner of working:
"I will miss this show"

Who of us won't? My buddy in Washington and I cowatched on Rabb.it so we could chat while we watched. We BOTH loved it.
posted by Samizdata at 7:20 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]


And let's hear it for Chekov's rocket launcher.

I was particularly pleased by Chekov's taser gun.

I was pleasantly surprised that they were able to make a two and a half hour series finale. Given that that isn't the two or three seasons we might hope for I am happy with how it played out.
posted by mountmccabe at 9:03 AM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]


My primary complaint is that it needed about 1200% more Lito.
posted by Spathe Cadet at 10:22 AM on June 11, 2018 [7 favorites]


I'm mixed. On the one hand, Season 2 had serious problems finding the right balance between life is beautiful and evil worldwide conspiracy plots. Compressing the conclusion to 2.5 hours helped restore a lot of focus that I find lacking in Wachowski work lately but we had two or three entire factions (Lacuna, Archipelago, and Original BPO) and a big bad who had been barely introduced previously. The connections between Rajan, Kabaka, Joong-Kai Bak, and Fuchs were thoroughly hinted at and dropped. I think other cuts are more welcome, like creepy gay director dude. I never could figure out how he was supposed to be read. The Jonas/Angelica mystery got compressed to a montage and a machina ex deus for the conclusion.

On the other hand, this and Dirty Computer are the unapologetic queer message media that right-wing fans accuse Disney of pushing, and it is gloriously queer and I love those beautifully flawed gems because straight media almost always gets away with many of the same structural flaws. I was overjoyed to see the hash fairies reappear in the final scene to close the circle.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:09 AM on June 11, 2018 [6 favorites]


Although Will sort of lampshades that in the first half hour with, "I know you guys have a lot of stuff going on, but we're here for Wolfgang."
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 11:55 AM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]


On further thought, one of the things I'll miss about that show are the scenes where the entire cluster gets grumpy, moody, horny, or groovy together in their own little dramas.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 6:53 PM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]


That was like four episodes of an overdone 90's Whedon show, plus a bonus orgy ep.

When I got to the part where Bae's character was doing a kung fu form, and I recognized pretty quickly that she was just waving her arms around, is when I realized they were gonna just have fun and forget about any realism.
posted by P.o.B. at 9:59 PM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ok I finally watched it. I hope the Wachowski's give up filming gunfights. It was ok in The Matrix, but I kept worrying about all the henchmen who were lying around dying for no reason. It was pretty excessive.

But I loved that bit at the end where Raj sang out "God bless Lili St. Cyr!"
posted by Catblack at 6:54 PM on June 12, 2018 [5 favorites]


I remembered Bodhi as being detached and uninvolved. Was there an earlier scene that I'm forgetting when that shifted? Or was the little speech about complicity and resistance part of the general compression / wish fulfillment of the episode?

On the whole, I agree with everyone about gun fights (they really need to get over that in these times) and the rough perfection of the wrap up.
posted by kokaku at 10:12 PM on June 12, 2018 [1 favorite]


There was a stretch in the middle where I was convinced that all the sapiens-humans were going to die, and that would've sucked.

Yeah, it handwaved past a lot of complications and no small amount of physics, especially in regards to the limits of human bodies. Too many guns. Several obscure plot threads dragged into the light with exposition dumps. DON'T CARE. I got my happyqueer ending with the everyone-together orgy, bad guys all gone, main story all finished yay.

It felt a bit rushed to me, but not implausible; it didn't feel like they'd changed the story for fanservice, just that they'd left out everything else.

As far as I can sort out, all the flaws are from the fact that there weren't another 1-3 seasons to explore the details, and rather than try to condense all the details of full intended storyline was into a couple of hours, they went with, "Give the fans what they want! Drop any planned scene that doesn't relate to details they've already seen, and cut to the end: Our heroes win; bad guys lose; queer sex for everyone!" (I mean. Felix and Diego had to hook up, right? It just wouldn't be polite to exclude them from the orgy.)

... Now, what would a Sense8 tabletop RPG look like? It probably needs a flexible platform like FATE or even FAE, to deal with the fact that (1) not everyone is on the same power level and (2) being able to grab skills, languages, and swap info across the globe is way too overpowered for games that are based on point balances.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:02 PM on June 13, 2018


> Spathe Cadet:
"My primary complaint is that it needed about 1200% more Lito."

Although I love Lito as much as the next anyone with any sense of taste, this WAS Sens8, not SensLito.
posted by Samizdata at 8:43 PM on June 13, 2018


Also, part of me wished I could be in a cluster just to be a part of their joyful celebrations. (See Mode, Depeche.)
posted by Samizdata at 8:51 PM on June 13, 2018


There was a stretch in the middle where I was convinced that all the sapiens-humans were going to die, and that would've sucked.

The roommate (who has caught up) actually heard a rumor that one of the cluster was going to die, and even read a piece from one of the creators where they teased that "you know, Will would make for a noble death..." or something, and he was sort of playing odds with himself about whether that was a red herring move or what.

Thus, he says, when he got to the point with Kala's near-death experience, he completely flipped out because Kala is one of his favorites ("you are NOT going to kill KALA, dammit!!!!")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:22 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


BRING ON THE FANSERVICE QUEER ORGIES.

Man, it's been a rough week and I totally needed this.
posted by desuetude at 9:18 PM on June 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


I don't actually care overmuch about all of the details of the BPO thiiiiing and the conspiracy, for me it was just a plot excuse to enjoy watching our cluster do their thing together. And I loved watching them bring their people into it. I'm going to miss these characters and their chemistry.
posted by desuetude at 9:21 PM on June 14, 2018


What a way to end it: last shot of the series is a strap-on!
posted by LizBoBiz at 9:48 AM on June 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


I watched it last night. It was big and messy and almost perfect.

When I watched the first season I was barely out as trans to myself. I was happy to see Nomi, but it was more of a intellectual happiness. When season two came out,I knew I wanted to transition, but still wasn't sure if it was going to happen. I was still happy to see Nomi, but it was still a sort of detached happiness.

I've been medically transitioning for six months now, and living full time as myself for two and a half. For the first half of this episode I was nearly in tears every time Nomi was on the screen. Thanks for that, Lana and Jamie.

On the other hand, as happy as I am to see Nomi and her great relationship with Amanita, my favorite relationship on the show is still Lito/Hernando/Dani. I love those guys. I wish we'd gotten to see more of them being them this episode. Or, better yet, more episodes to see them being them, and more of everyone else, too.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 1:50 PM on June 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


Ooof, I thought this was some pretty awful schlocky TV. I mean I love queer psychick orgies as much as the next fellow. But trying to cram a whole year worth of story into 2.5 hours didn't work. Production was too ambitious for what they could do. And I hate to say this, but I'd grown to dislike a lot of the characters. Sorry to be a bummer, I'll stop now. I'm looking forward to the next thing the Wachowskis do. (Although I just noticed season 2 + finale is only credited to Lana, not Lilly.)
posted by Nelson at 7:59 AM on June 22, 2018


I feel like the wrapped-up-with-a-bow-iness was a little bit corny, like, a partner for YOU! and YOU! and YOU!
But on some level that kind of corniness is why I watched the show in the first place.

Something I was struck by in general, throughout the series: when the sensates confessed their weird secrets to their local family, people pretty much believed them. I never figured Neets for a leaver but with everyone else, I got to be pleasantly surprised that their people had their backs. Like: you can have this family that you share something deep and weird with, and they know you, but you can ALSO have this other family that doesn't share that with you but they love you as you are, and will stand by you through the weirdness. I was so moved at the end of S2E11 when everyone came to Paris.

Also, I loved all the Looks that everyone kept giving, regarding the Kala-Rajan-Wolfgang triangle. Perrrr-fection. *mwah*
posted by eirias at 10:10 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]


Just watched this and am so happy to get this one final wrap up rather than having things end with the previous episode.

Yes, too many guns. And I wish Caphaeus' character had had more screen time. But overall, I liked the shameless happy ending everyone got. Sometimes it's just nice to have a happy ending!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:57 AM on July 10, 2018


Two things, Bodhi's words, “Neutrality in the face of such evil is complicity.”, was the entire point of her being there. Since S03 was just E01, they had to get to the message without any preamble.

Secondly,

I feel like the wrapped-up-with-a-bow-iness was a little bit corny,

It looks like the clips running next to the credits are the CREW partying. So yeah. This show was also a wrap party. And it knocked it out of the park.
posted by mikelieman at 4:28 PM on July 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


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