I’ve been meaning to post this for a long time as a recommendation to everyone here, but especially to the strong LGBTQ community. Sense8 is a Netflix exclusive show but you can find places on the Internet to watch it outside of the network (as with everything).
Sense8 is a television series by the same people who invented the Matrix film series and that follows the story of 8 people all from different parts of the world and with different backgrounds who find themselves intriniscly linked. They are able to see each others experiences, share emotions, and even jump into each other's bodies in real time. This connection that this cluster of people share (and it’s called a cluster in Sense8 terminology), allows the show to focus intimately on bringing the human experience into the spotlight and embracing the things that make us, each of us, unique.
While there is an underlying story that goes with the show (and the dark opening the show starts with on the first episode may put a lot of people off; if it does, skip past it and continue watching), the real gems come from the interactions of these eight, with people they meet, and with themselves. In how they come together, in how they come to terms with who they are, and in how they can express that to the world.
What makes it
truly relevant to this side of the community is in the strong representation of the main cast. Of the eight, one is a Mexican actor who is male and gay (and in a hidden relationship), and one is trans woman hacktivist who is also in a same-sex relationship (and for the first time ever, both the actress and the writer who scripts her scenes are trans). Both of these two are explored with the same level of care and compassionate detail as everyone else in the series, and celebrated for being who they are, with them learning to find, express and celebrate their own paths.
In addition to these two, you have a Chicago cop, an Icelandic DJ living in London, a matatu driver living in Nairobi, the daughter of a Korean businessman, a university-educated pharmacist and devout Hindu in Mumbai, and a Berlin-based locksmith. This wide cast takes the series to various parts of the world where they use locally sourced crew and cast to reveal how people all around the world live both differently, and the same. This further enhances the learning experience and brings you deep into their culture, while helping us to understand that differences are what make us unique with the aim to unite, not divide.
I’d like to leave you with the below video which is one of my favourite scenes in the entire series and really shows how the show brings this together. If you don’t like minor spoilers (and given that it's a short 5 minute segment, it's only minor) before you watch a series, then don’t open the spoiler below, and instead watch the
trailer on YouTube. However, it is worth a watch just to see the depth the series goes to.
Spoiler
In this video, Lito Rodriguez the Mexican actor has recently had a video splashed across the world with him and his boyfriend in intimate acts, while at the same time Capheus “Van Damn” is being caught out by an interviewer about his association with the movie of the same name. Their response pulls all of the Sense8 cluster together with an astounding answer.
Post below if you’ve seen this and what your view is, or if you plan to see it as well. And if there’s one more reason to watch it, know that two seasons in and Netflix cancelled it on a cliffhanger, and there was such an outpouring of love and support for the show that Netflix caved and promised a two hour special (know any other shows that came back from cancellation due to fan support?)
