...bothering to watch Sense8.
I wouldn't even mention it here except I blogged yesterday about losing sleep to it.
After watching the entire eleven hours over two days, I just didn't care at the end.
Yes, I kept watching--it has a soap-opera stickiness, and some of the episodes were way better than others and kept me hoping.
And the idea is cool: pods of people can commune with one another across space and time.
But the 8 sensates' concerns are the stuff of a Magic 8 Ball:
One's story arc consists of her wondering, "Should I marry this man I don't love?" After 12 episodes, this still isn't resolved, which tells you something about the pacing...
Some arcs are more interesting, but, worst of all, not a single actor impressed me.
In comparison---did you watch The Wire? Those people still linger in my mind.
I'll probably even go see the new Star Trek movie just because Idris Elba will be in it. Remember him?
He played Stringer Bell, whose speech below could apply to acting: "you gotta be fierce . . . you gotta show some flex".
And LGBTQA characters?
Sense8's were so old school, even though one of them was trans; they made lame speeches about gay pride that reminded me of the seventies. "You've got to be true to your heart!"
Not that these platitudes aren't still true, alas, but they haven't been interesting to hear onscreen since Ellen won a toaster oven for coming out in 1997. (Humor. That's another thing missing from Sense8.)
Has there ever been a more memorable gay character than the Wire's Omar Little (Michael K. Williams)? "Gay" is far from the first thing you remember about this character, while sexuality/gender is the character of the two GLBT sensates.
I wouldn't even mention it here except I blogged yesterday about losing sleep to it.
After watching the entire eleven hours over two days, I just didn't care at the end.
Yes, I kept watching--it has a soap-opera stickiness, and some of the episodes were way better than others and kept me hoping.
And the idea is cool: pods of people can commune with one another across space and time.
But the 8 sensates' concerns are the stuff of a Magic 8 Ball:
One's story arc consists of her wondering, "Should I marry this man I don't love?" After 12 episodes, this still isn't resolved, which tells you something about the pacing...
Some arcs are more interesting, but, worst of all, not a single actor impressed me.
In comparison---did you watch The Wire? Those people still linger in my mind.
I'll probably even go see the new Star Trek movie just because Idris Elba will be in it. Remember him?
He played Stringer Bell, whose speech below could apply to acting: "you gotta be fierce . . . you gotta show some flex".
And LGBTQA characters?
Sense8's were so old school, even though one of them was trans; they made lame speeches about gay pride that reminded me of the seventies. "You've got to be true to your heart!"
Not that these platitudes aren't still true, alas, but they haven't been interesting to hear onscreen since Ellen won a toaster oven for coming out in 1997. (Humor. That's another thing missing from Sense8.)
Has there ever been a more memorable gay character than the Wire's Omar Little (Michael K. Williams)? "Gay" is far from the first thing you remember about this character, while sexuality/gender is the character of the two GLBT sensates.
Some critics said that the style of Sense8's directors, the Wachowskis, would work better on TV, which allows time for ideas and characters to develop, which the Wachowskis' overcrammed movies such as Cloud Atlas seemed to need.
But more time didn't sharpen the clarity, it diluted it, like spreading the same amount of pixels over more space. Disappointing.
Try the British series "The Detectorists". You'll even like the song. I only lasted about 10 minutes with Sense8, Due to its bombastic opening sequence.
ReplyDeleteAs for the new Star Trek movie, any chance to see Zachary Quinto in action is reason enough to see a film.
Urgh! I hate that feeling--just compelling enough to make me continue, but also clearly poor enough quality that I am disliking my choices the whole time. Depending on the medium, I sometimes try to put it down and just read the spoilers/criticism.
ReplyDeleteSPARKER:
ReplyDeleteOh---you're the 2nd person to recommend "The Detectorists" to me (bink was the other)---and I see it's streaming on Netflix, so I'll give that a try.
"Bombastic"--that's the word.
I don't regret watching Sense8, exactly, but if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't bother.
JULIA: Yah, about halfway through, I thought, should I just bite the bullet and turn this off? But I was just interested and hopeful enough:
it COULD have gone either way: better or worse.
Alas, it was the latter.
I have a blogpal who also likes to read the criticism sometimes more than the show!
--Frex = Fresca