Sense8 Episode 6: Demons

Once again my friends, the time has come to talk about Sense8. Last time, Capheus successfully completed a test by Silas Kabaka to see if he was the right man for the job he had planned, Sun contemplated taking the fall for her brother’s embezzlement scandal and finally, Kala passed out during her wedding ceremony after Wolfgang appeared to her and Kala got an eyeful of what shall henceforth be known as “The Wolfwang.”

We open in Chicago with Will meeting up with some colleagues at a bar where he spots Riley, both declaring that they were just thinking about the other. Will sits next to her and they share a drink as they get to know one another. As I’ve said, the best scenes in the show are the ones where the sensates interact with one another and this is no acception. Will and Riley have instant chemistry, their dialogue is very natural and both seem genuinely excited to be getting to know one another. However, the topic of conversation soon turns to their bizarre situation. To prove to both of them that they’re not crazy Will suggests that Riley call him. Will gives the phone to his partner Diego, who picks up and says “it’s a chick with a weird accent, and she sound hot,” that last bit prompting Riley to say “I like him.” Well, now that they’ve definitively proven they’re not crazy, Riley and Will continue to flirt with one another until Riley says she must be getting to sleep.

Over in Korea, we join Sun, taking the walk towards her fathers office to take the fall for her brother. For some reason, she spots Nomi on her way there.

Speaking of, Nomi and Amanita return to their apartment to find it ransacked by whoever Metzger is really working for. All of her stuff, even her private journals have been stolen. Nomi finally has had enough, and decides that she needs to do everything in her power to stop them.

At a press conference, Sun confesses to her brother’s crime and is escorted from the building by the police.

Meanwhile, in London, Riley returns home to find the guys she took the money from waiting there for her. They demand to know where the money is, and when they learn she gave it away, he has his boys try suffocate her with plastic wrap until she comes up with a more favorable answer. Sensing her suffering, Will begins to collapse. While he’s choking to death in the bar in Chicago, he’s simultaneously fighting off the bad guys in Riley’s apartment. After it’s all over, Will finds himself on the floor of the bar, with everyone staring at him, terrified.

In Mumbai, Kala awakens to find her entire family staring at her, understandable, given what happened, but still just awkward and uncomfortable enough to be funny. When her family leaves, Kala finds Wolfgang waking up next to her. Well, after the Wolfwang incident, Kala is none too thrilled to see Wolfgang, with or without clothes but she can’t exactly get rid of him, so instead she yells at him for ruining her life. However, Wolfgang sees right through her and knows that she never wanted to marry Rajan in the first place. Kala is still indignant, and thinks that she’s either losing her mind, or she’s somehow angered the Gods, and sent a demon to punish her… a demon who never seems to have any clothes on. However, Wolfgang, being a player, says asks if she’s so repulsed by him, why was she checking out the Wolfwang. (Why yes, I am a mature adult, why do you ask?) Anywho, Wolfgang cuts to the core of the issue and says, while he doesn’t understand what’s happening any more than she does, he knows that from the moment he first saw Kala, he wanted her, and somehow, he can sense that she wants him too.

Over in Mexico, Lito, Hernando and Daniela are attending a Lucha Libre wrestling event. I absolutely love this scene, and not just because of my love of professional wrestling and Lucha Libre in particular, but also because it gives us some nice insight into Hernando’s character, and by extension Lito’s. See, at first glance, the quiet and sophisticated Hernando doesn’t exactly fit the profile of your typical wrestling fan, but his justification for this passion is great. He loves art, in all forms, and in many ways, a wrestling match is a work of art. It is a dance, but it is also a fight between good and evil. Lito clearly isn’t as passionate about the match as Hernando, but he loves that Hernando gets so excited about it. However, when Lito spots a shady looking guy in a luchador mask eyeballing him, Lito gets a sense that his own battle between good and evil may be imminent.

Back in India, Kala faces Rajan for the first time after passing out at the wedding. Kala thinks Rajan is going to break it off with her, and more than likely hopes this to be the case, but Rajan is still hell bent on getting married.

In Nairobi, Capheus is taking a tour of Silas Kabaka’s compound, which is quite the ritzy place compared to what he’s used to. Kabaka, not oblivious to the awkwardness of the situation, tries to put Capheus’s mind at ease by telling him he was no intention of having him run drugs or weapons. Instead, Capheus will be caring for cargo that is infinitely more precious, Kabaka’s daughter, Amondi. Amondi is the most precious thing in the world to Kabaka, and clearly one of the few people in his life who does not see him as someone to be feared, but she has Leukemia and must receive regular treatments at the world health organization. Since the road to the hospital is long and Kabaka has many enemies, he needs someone who has proven they are up to the task to transport her, and he’s chosen Capheus for the job. Capheus still isn’t sure about all this, but he clearly has no choice in the matter.

In Korea, Sun arrives at the jail, and soon is faced with all the indignities that come with that, including being forced to strip naked and submit to a thorough body inspection. This scene is cleverly cut with Lito in an interview, emphasizing how uncomfortable both situations are.

Nomi and Amanita, who have decided to hide out at Amanita’s mother’s house, are cuddling each other and start making love. Meanwhile, Will is at the gym working up a sweat, while Lito and Hernando are doing both at the same time. Meanwhile, Wolfgang is alone in his jacuzzi picturing Kala and starts masturbating. What follows is one of the most infamous scenes in the entire show as Will, Wolfgang, Nomi, and Lito all start experiencing the same sexual sensations and everything quickly devolves into, what must be the most appropriate application of the term “mind-f*ck” since its creation. I don’t much care for this scene, but I’ll get into that in further detail when we get to the wrap up. The scene does end on an amusing note however, with Capheus watching one of his Van Damme movies with a look on his face that either means he’s unsure why he’s being turned on by the movie, or that he’s annoyed that he got left out of the mental gang-bang.

In London, Riley is sitting on a bench crying when Sun comes to comfort her. After the two introduce themselves, Riley gives Sun some of her weed to help her relax, something she obviously needs right now. When Riley asks why Sun is in jail, Sun says that she’s made the biggest mistake of her life. When the conversation, as it often does in these situations, turns to the subject of their strange new gifts, Riley tells Sun of an Icelandic legend about a tribe of Elves known as the hidden people. Apparently, when Riley was a little girl, she thought she heard one in a cave telling her she was born with a hex, and if she stayed in Iceland, bad things would happen, which is why she believes her mother died when she was young. Sympathizing, Sun shares that her mother also died when she was little, and even though she never heard a voice telling her she was hexed, she always blamed herself for it. Emotional, Riley decides the time has finally come for her to return home to Iceland, with Sun helping her find the courage to face it.

Back in Nairobi, Capheus picks up Amondi and the two have a discussion about their shared love of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Capheus further elaborates on why he loves Van Damme so much, and we learn that the characters that Van Damme plays inspire him to always be brave and do the right thing.

The episode ends with Sun having a dream about her mother, warning her that she must not reveal what she is, lest she be hunted. When Sun asks what she is, her mother transforms into Angelica and whispers “the future” into her ear.

It’s kind of impossible to discuss this episode without discussing the mind orgy scene. Look, I’m by no means a prude, but this scene is just too gratuitous even for my taste. I shouldn’t really be surprised, seeing as how this is the Wachowskis we’re dealing with, the same individuals who gave us the equally gratuitous sex/rave scene from The Matrix reloaded. The problem with this scene is that it doesn’t really add much to the overall story or to the individual stories of the characters. It exists solely as spectacle, and, save for an awkward moment between Lito and Will in a later episode, it is never mentioned again.

That said, this episode still has plenty of great moments, particularly the interactions between the sensates. Will and Riley’s moment was nice as I said, Kala and Wolfgang’s moment had its fair share of good laughs, and Sun and Riley’s scene was powerful and gave insight into both characters.

I also appreciated the scene at the wrestling match with Lito, including the cameo from famous Luchador, Myzteziz, better known to most as the original Sin Cara. As I said back in the second episode, Hernando is my favorite character outside of the eight leads and it’s nice to see him get some more development.

Overall, despite that one infamous scene, episode six was still quite good. The character interactions were great, and I don’t just mean the interactions between the individual sensates. Another triumph by JMS and The Wachowskis.