Sense8 Episode 5: Art is Like Religion

Welcome back once again to Sense8. Last time, Will, learning more about his newfound abilities, was able to help free Nomi from the hospital, Capheus agreed to work for a dangerous man in exchange for medicine for his mother, Sun reluctantly decided to take the fall for her brother’s embezzlement scandal in the hopes that her father’s company will save face and finally, all the Sensates got together and sang a happy song. We open in Mexico with Lito in his makeup trailer. At the same time, Sun is waking up in her apartment. As Sun passes by the mirror, she sees Lito staring back at her and vice versa, each one asking if the other is real. Their link is broken when Lito’s makeup artist re-enters the room who, much to Lito’s confusion, did not see a skinny Asian woman as she was coming in.

Over in Chicago, Will is getting chewed out by his captain for trying to get in to see Jonas. While Will is far from ready to give up, he obeys his captain and promises that it won’t happen again.

In Berlin, Wolfgang is brought in to meet his Uncle. It seems that Wolfgang’s cousin had been planning to steal the diamonds that Wolfgang and Felix stole for months. Wolfgang’s Uncle clearly suspects Wolfgang was behind it, and lets him leave with a warning not to cross him.

Over in Nairobi, Capheus spots Riley and suddenly finds himself in a London flat, as Riley finds herself on the warm streets of Nairobi. Upon hearing that he’s in London, Capheus starts making Harry Potter jokes and takes of sip of tea mimicking a stereotypical English gentleman. I really like scenes like this. One of the strongest aspects of this show is its character interaction, particularly between the Sensates as they learn about one another. Sure the scene is brief, but I love how both Capheus and Riley are more excited than confused by it. Very well done. However, the link is broken when a car approaches Capheus containing a group of thugs demanding the bag from Silas Kabaka. Capheus prepares to fight back, mimicking a Jean Claude Van Damme fighting stance, but since Sun isn’t here to help him this time, he falls flat on his ass as the thugs kick him while he’s down. The thugs leave, taking the bag with them. Capheus focuses really hard trying to channel Sun, calling her “The Spirit of Jean Claude Korea Lady.” However, even though Sun doesn’t show, he still runs after the bad guys.

As we rejoin Lito, he and Daniela are getting ready to film a scene. However, Lito cannot get through the scene without bursting into tears. Elsewhere, Kala’s wedding has finally arrived as her mother helps her get ready. She asks her mother how she felt when she was engaged to her father. Kala’s mother assures her that everything will be all right, but Kala can’t help crying, which is likely where Lito was getting it.

Rejoining Lito, he’s caught in traffic and freaking out because of his bad day on the set and everything else going on in his life. Lito’s mood isn’t exactly improved when he finds Sun sitting next to him in the car. I absolutely love this scene. I know what I said about Nomi and Capheus when this retrospective started, but as I watch through this series a second time, I may have to re-evaluate my choice for favorite character because I cannot get enough of Lito as he dramatically loses his mind in the car while simultaneously pooring his heart out to Hernando, freaking out over finding himself in Korea all of a sudden and angrily yelling at traffic. Back with Capheus, he’s finally caught up to the thugs who took his bag and steals it back by smashing their car with a brick.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Will, who’s been looking up information on Nomi since his experiences last episode, calls up Nomi’s mother to inquire as to her whereabouts. As per usual, Nomi’s mother acts like an incorrectly lettered witch. I honestly do not believe that a written explanation of Nomi’s mother really does justice to how detestable a person she really is. After all, if someone else read her dialogue in a different tone, her words would sound like those of a caring mother. The worst thing she does is misgender her and call her by her birth name. Now, me personally, speaking as a strong supporter for trans rights who has several close friends who have transitioned, if I had a child one day who came out to me as transgendered even I may occasionally slip up and call them by the wrong name or gender, as I’m sure other accepting parents of transgendered individuals have. There’s no malicious intent behind it, but when someone very close to you goes through a change, it takes some getting used to, much like how if you’ve recently moved, you may instinctively write your old address on an application. We all make mistakes, were’ only human. However, what sets Nomi’s mother apart is the fact that her body language and tone of voice make it abundantly clear that she has no intention of making the effort to adjust to this change. Every time she uses a male pronoun or the name Michael to describe Nomi, it’s like there’s a poisonous barb hidden within each of those words. Fortunately, Will is able to shut Nomi’s mom up good by reminding her that she has a daughter, not a son, and that her name is Nomi.

Speaking of Nomi, she’s sitting on a park bench waiting for Amanita. Nomi, who heard all of Will’s conversation with her mother by the way, finally explains to Amanita that she’s scared of whatever it is that’s happening to her. Amanita, being a loving girlfriend, assures her that everything is going to be okay and reminds them of how they first met as the two kiss. However, strange things are still happening as Nomi’s coffee now tastes like the sugary dessert that Kala’s father prepared for her over in India. Nomi begins to wonder if there really is something wrong with her brain. Amanita suggests another possibility, that Metzger is lying and they need to find out why.

Back in Nairobi, Capheus delivers the bag, but is surprised to find Kabaka waiting for him. Turns out, the whole business with the bag, including the thugs, was a test for Capheus and the bag contained nothing but a pair of coconuts. Capheus leaves with Kabaka assuring him that he’ll be in touch.

At a bar, Wolfgang needs to take a leak, and his father’s grave is nowhere to be found so I guess the bathroom will have to do. Kala hears him let out a loud belch and assumes there’s a stranger using her bathroom, likely a customer who got lost (Kala lives above her parent’s restaurant in case I forgot to mention that). Wolfgang, thinking Kala is someone in the other stall is surprised that there’s a woman in the men’s room. However, Kala recognizes Wolfgang’s voice as from the big musical number last episode, which Kala dismissed as a dream.

Meanwhile, Will gets a 911 call about the kid he saved in the first episode, the tension of which is cut with an intense action scene Lito is shooting. It’s an affective scene, as Lito and Will periodically switch spots.

Meanwhile, Capheus and Sun are finally properly introduced in a really nice scene where they approach each other through crowd, the setting constantly switching between their respective homelands. As they wonder how they are able to understand each other, since Capheus doesn’t speak Korean and Sun doesn’t speak Swahili, Capheus recognizes Sun as “The Spirit of Jean Claude.” Much to his own surprise, he not only knows Sun’s name, but also knows that she faces a difficult decision. Sun, being of a more practical mind, prefers to assume that Capheus is a hallucination, which Capheus completely understands. However, when Sun tries to continue her walk, Capheus doesn’t seem to be able to leave. Since she can’t get rid of him, Sun and this mysterious Kenyan man that only she can see have a seat and talk for a bit. Capheus’s realizes that they both have very similar choices ahead of them. One path will mean their own personal safety, but will put their families in danger, the other will be dangerous for them but is the only way to help their family. Capheus tells a story from when he was eight, and his father’s enemies, wielding big machete’s came to his home, and his mother forced them to back down with only a kitchen knife. She knew these men would kill her, but they also knew from the look in her eyes that she would take at least one of them with her in order to protect her son, and so they left, because none of them wanted to be that one. Sun, reminded of her own mother and the promise she made to her, begins to cry as Capheus disappears.

In India, Kala is finally getting married, and even though the general mood of the festivities is that of celebration, the background music reflects an empty feeling in Kala’s heart. Meanwhile, Wolfgang is skinny-dipping in his pool. This will be important shortly.

As Kala and Rajan’s ceremony is performed, the reality of the situation begins to set-in for Kala. You can tell by her tone that she would give anything to be able to escape this right now. That anything turns out to be Wolfgang, with a certain variety of “tackle” appropriate for such an occasion as this on full display, asking what the hell she’s doing marrying a man she doesn’t love. Being under enough stress as it is, the sight of a stark-naked soaking-wet German man is more than Kala can handle right now and she passes out, ending the episode.

This episode finally gives us what we’ve been waiting for since the series began, honest to god interactions between the sensates. Whether it’s the heartfelt moment shared by Capheus and Sun, or Kala and Wolfgang’s comedic bathroom incident, it’s fun to see these characters we’ve come to know over all these episodes finally get to meet and learn about each other. Even though it’s brief, I think my favorite in this episode is actually Capheus and Riley’s brief scene. As I said, they both approach their situation with excitement rather than confusion and are fascinated by these new experiences they are feeling, from Riley feeling the warm weather of Nairobi, to Capheus enjoying the taste of English tea.

Lito of course is always a delight, his breakdown in the car being especially fun.

The final scene with Kala and Wolfgang was interesting as well as humorous, but also helps to demonstrate the growing connection between the sensates. Whereas before, it was just an occasional odd sensation that could be dismissed easily, now, they are able to actively sense each other and even access the other’s thought’s and feelings, as Wolfgang did with Kala and Capheus with Sun.

While episode five doesn’t really do much to advance the overall plot, that’s okay because while there is a central story to this show, it is no more important than the individual stories going on with our eight leads. There seems to be a theme of stress in this episode. Sun is stressed over the choice she needs to make, Kala is stressed about her wedding and Lito… well, take your pick. It helps to tie this series of seemingly unrelated stories together and sets up opportunities for the sensates to interact. Another triumph by JMS and the Wachowskis.