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Netflix Series SENSE8 Coming June 5

I've only watched the first episode so far.

The photography is great and I like the casting. So far the narrative doesn't seem very coherent and they give disproportionate screen time to the characters who are drug addicted fornicators. And I really hope they have better ways to show characters talking to each other in their heads than doing the whole Galactica #6 thing.
 
i gave up half way into the third episode. its just too much soap opera and not enough sci fi for me. none of the characters were especially compelling.
 
The sci-fi element serves as a prop for the drama element a lot of the time. I think maybe if there is a season 2 that might change.
 
Watched the first 6 episodes yesterday. Things really picked up at the end of episode 3.

Some of the social agendas being pushed were way too in-your-face, and I rolled my eye for the Mexican actor, but then they salvaged that and made it hugely entertaining just 15-20 minutes later in the episode.

Some of the characters who seemed to be getting short-changed in the first episode or two got their due soon enough. I'd be lying if I said I liked them all equally though. (That Indian girl. Lady, you've got the world's most perfect husband right in front of you. Handsome, charming, rich, talented, kind, polite. What the hell is your problem.)

Will probably watch the rest of the series tonight or tomorrow.


I really want to ride in the Van Damn.

(I noticed Van Damme got thanked in the credits. He so needs to show up for a cameo in the future.)


Really ambitious filming and crowd scenes so far. You gotta admire the scope of the show.
 
Watched the first episode last night and you can tell that this was written with binge watching in mind.

The episode is little more than vignettes strung together to introduce the mystery and the characters, which I think was more a downside than a plus. We're being introduce to so many characters at once and there is no single narrative being told in the episode — it's all set up for the longer arc.

There's some interesting elements here but I couldn't get interested in any one story or person in the episode, which is a problem with the modern, binge-watching storytelling technique of today's television. Rather than telling a single story in the episode that dives into another, we get nothing but set up.

The characters are little more than ciphers and everything feels just a bit too on the surface.
 
Ryan Thomas Riddle said:
The episode is little more than vignettes strung together to introduce the mystery and the characters,
Click to expand...

And it stays that way for the whole series.

Most of the characters are strong though, some great acting, and their stories are decent and/or compelling. Every episode there is a little more progress of the actual sci fi part.

It could have been a lot worse, at least it is very pretty to look at! My main complaint is the cliched storylines of some characters. Well, all characters. Hopefully season 2 will be less home drama and more sci fi drama.
 
I'm six episodes in so I'm not gonna read this thread for spoilers... I want to like this show (I loved Cloud Atlas!) but it is just really dragging for me. Six episodes in and there's been almost zero advancement of the larger story. It's just about their individual lives over and over. I want to know what they are and why and who's after them, damn it.
 
So having watched the whole thing, I'll say that this is easily one of the most beautiful shows ever put on television. There are a number of shots that you would call "movie quality". Some of the crowd scenes are stunning. The locations are stunning. Too bad most of the characters and plot are so paper thin.

The final shot happened, and we listened to Sigur Ros, and I felt like I had just watched the beginning of a story. I wanted to see more, and that's a good thing, but at the same time, I knew that this was the end of the story (for now), and I did not feel like I was sitting there with anywhere near a complete story.

A couple of the complaints in the previous posts mention about this show being made for binge watching, and being set up with a long term story in mind. Frankly, it feels like the whole first season should probably be binge-watched with the second or maybe even all the following seasons too. (Though who knows if we'll even get a second season.)

That said, there was a lot to like. The Van Damn was incredible, the showdown in Germany in episode 10 was great, and the slow motion stepping out of a car in Mexico later that episode was gorgeous. My eyes alone tell me that this is a show worth watching. I mean really, Iceland is always beautiful on film.

Unfortunately, because it was so beautiful, I don't imagine this was an easy show to film at all. And for that reason I'm definitely worried about the prospects of a season 2 ever getting made.

If it does get made, hopefully they can work on some of the characters and storylines. I thought the Mexican actor seemed the least connected. It seemed like he would almost never visit with anyone else, and it was a real rarity when he finally did. Though perhaps that was just him personally not being very open and forthcoming, and that will all change with a potential season 2.

All of the other 7 need to be volunteering to put in a couple hours every day to keep their Korean comrade entertained in prison. She obviously deserves it, especially as she's pretty much the one that saved all of them multiple times, but then on top of that she's innocent. (Wolfgang always seemed capable of helping other folks too.)

As for the bad guys, they're pretty much straight out of the X-Men style of mutant haters. Not much depth to their story. But with so many main characters to focus on, I'm not sure I'd want to waste too much more time giving depth and logic to the bad guys.
 
The Wife and I are making our way through this show too. I think we finished Episode 7 last night. As others have mentioned, the pace seems to be picking up considerably from episode 4 on thru 7. I really like how at this point they're diving into the "who's behind this" aspect (in 7). Took a while to get used to the jumping around narrative, but I'm really enjoying this.

More episodes tonight!

Q2
 
I'm just about to watch the season finale. Although, like most, it seems, I thought it had a bit of a slow start, I thought it started to take off in episode 3. I loved Cloud Atlas so the jumping around didn't bother me.

I just love the many ways in which they convey the characters' experiencing one another's thoughts, presence, and sometimes, cohabitation.

One of the reviews I read said that Sun had no personality and for a while I kind of agreed but her "personality" is actually explained in story in one of the episodes. Wonder if the IGN critic just missed that.

Love the diversity of the cast, and locations. This show is like IDIC on steroids.

And damn, the Indian girl (Kala) is effin' gorgeous. :)

Freema is really cute too, and I love her little American accent.

In addition to trying to extricate themselves from some ticklish situations, most of the characters are trying to become better people. I think that's just great. Hope it gets picked up for another season.
 
I finished it a few days ago. I'm afraid I only found it somewhat good. I absolutely loved Cloud Atlas, but I wouldn't want to watch a twelve hour version of it. I just felt that it went on for too long. I didn't really care about the characters' personal stories, not to the extent they went through it. I was interested in the nature of what they were and who was after them, and sadly that just was not a large part of the series.
 
Kind of a no-news post, but Netflix has a Sense8 panel at TCA today, which was odd in of itself because there hadn't been a renewal yet, though the speculation was that renewal would be announced at the panel. Well it wasn't, so we're still up in the air, but JMS did state that he remains cautiously optimistic about a season 2, which is the same lines he's been giving for about 2-3 weeks now, since Comic-con. Take it for what you will I suppose.
 
When JMS said that they hoped to hear about renewal within about two weeks, it was just a best guess. Lots of people took it too literally. As for the TCA panel, this tweet sheds some light on that, I think. It's not like the upfronts that networks do.

JMichael Straczynski ‏@straczynski Jul 28
@sense8linked TCA is about starting the awards consideration process going for S1 not renewal announcements.
Click to expand...

Though I gather that there were some renewal announcements. Time will tell.

Jan
 
Slow, slow, slow. I have watched 3 or 4 episodes but don't seem in a hurry to watch more. I watch on a tablet and find myself fast forwarding thru at least 10-15 minutes an episode. Someone earlier mentioned it well . . . too much soap opera and not enough Sci-Fi. I'm not sure I will ever get around to finishing it. Especially if there might not even be a second season.
 
I found it a little slow and uneventful too but it really picked up a few episodes in and had some pretty spectacular moments.

It's an interesting concept and I hope it continues.

Netflix has some good original programming but they have to stop spending so much on their shows just because they have the money for now.
 
They're being gouged on content prices, and have no choice but to pursue originals. Another factor are exclusivity deals where the other cable and streaming based pay TV channel/services, lock recent and library titles under contracts which block their competitors from also offering them. Add in that studios are launching their own streaming ventures, and are pulling away films and shows away from Netflix, in an attempt to blunt their popularity while giving themselves 'street cred' by having content that used to be available on NF.
They don't have much of a choice, they need as much as they can get their hands on.
 
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