2) Sense8
Trippy, intense, and bravely languid, I’m still not entirely sure I know exactly what happened during Sense8‘s first thirteen hours. Here’s what I do know, though: it’s about eight people around the globe who discover that, thanks to Daryl Hannah, they are psychically connected to one another’s lives.
What this means is difficult to explain, and that’s where Sense8 flourishes – its depiction of each of its sensate’s visitations to one another’s drastically different environments and their dumbfounded reactions gives the high-concept an easy barrier-to-entry. But amid all of the sci-fi shenanigans, it carves out shocking emotional depth in each of its endearingly flawed leads that makes the show far easier to recommend on a traditional dramatic level over a straight-up genre one.
And it’s the emotional avenue that The Wachowski siblings and J. Michael Straczynski take in untangling their web of international intrigue – specifically the surprisingly deep focus on characters over world building – which results in the reason behind any of the show’s success. Getting to know Sun, Nomi, Riley, Kala, Wolfgang, Lito, Capheus, and Will is the hidden weapon of Sense8‘s sufficiently intricate sci-fi setup. You get who each of these people are, know what they want, who they love, and what they stand for, so that when the inevitably bonkers Wachowski shoe is dropped, even if you can’t exactly follow what’s going on, you care about what’s going to happen.
