Sense8 Episode 7: W. W. N. Double D
It’s been a while since we’ve covered an episode of Sense8. Last time, Sun found herself in jail after taking the fall for her brother’s embezzlement scandal, Capheus became the personal taxi service for the daughter of a dangerous crime lord, Will and Riley took some time to get acquainted with one another, beginning a budding romance between the two and as for the rest of the gang, they all had gratuitous mind sex, and it was weird.
We open with time around with Sun being taken to prison while Nomi and Amanita about to meet with an old associate of Nomi’s from her hacking days. Amanita is visibly uncomfortable with asking a criminal for help, but Nomi thinks they can trust him, especially after she took the fall for him after he hacked the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Sun is introduced to her new cellmates who surprisingly give her a warm and friendly greeting. Back with Nomi, we meet her hacker friend, Bug. Now, I like the character Bug way more that I probably should. When Bug first arrives he asks where “Mike” is, clearly not aware of Nomi’s transition and immediately starts hitting on her once he learns of “Mike’s” new development. Patton Oswalt once said during a standup performance that individuals who are anti-LGBT have memorized the proper terms so that their hatefulness sounds intelligent, while those who are pro-LGBT and don’t know the correct vernacular end up sounding like assholes. That’s sort of what Bug reminds me of. He’s obviously a complete scumbag, and his advances clearly make Nomi, and even moreso, Amanita visibly uncomfortable, but you can tell he’s genuinely happy for his friend and is trying to compliment her, in his own sleazy way of course. Despite his eccentricities, Nomi is glad to see her friend but suggests they get down to business. After Nomi and Bug list off a bunch of odd names for hacking devices that sounds like the lineup for a power metal band convention, Nomi and Amanita are ready to get to work.
In Sun’s cell, she and her cellmates are swapping stories about how they ended up there. As it turns out, many of them were sent to prison for killing or assaulting abusive male authority figures, something Sun could relate to in her own way. One of the cellmates sais that in Korea, sometimes the only place to find a strong and honest woman is in prison. As the four women share tea, Sun appears to have a new sense of optimism about her situation.
In Mexico, Lito, Daniella and Hernando are out on a date, Daniela having suggested that Hernando pose as Lito’s bodyguard so the two can go out together in public without exposing Lito’s secret. Lito’s visibly nervous, but once some paparazzi come by for a picture and Hernado scares them away, Lito startsto warm up to the arrangement.
On a plane, Riley is returning home to Iceland when Capheus stops by to visit. Having never been on a plane in his life, Capheus is naturally overcome with excitement at the prospect of flying high above the clouds. When Capheus tells Riley how lucky she is, Riley says that she’s privileged, but not lucky. However, Capheus answers by saying she’s lucky because she is still able to see her father, which is something he’s always dreamed about, but knows will never happen. Riley is envious of Capheus’ simple and optimistic view of the world, but is still worried that something bad may happen if she returns home, recalling what happened to her mother because of her supposed hex. However, Riley’s worry soon turns into happiness when the plane lands and she sees her father, Gunnar, waiting for her at the terminal. I instantly like Riley’s dad. The two genuinely feel like father and daughter and their relationship is really sweet, demonstrated when he greets his daughter with a ukulele rendition of Baba O’Riley by The Who, something he likely did for her many times as a little girl and though we never get official confirmation on this, may very well have served as Riley’s namesake.
Back in Mexico, Lito, Hernando and Daniela return home after what turned out to be the best night any of them have had in years, only to find a very drunk Joaquin in a luchador mask waiting for them on the couch. Amidst his drunken ramblings, Joaquin asks what he did wrong that Lito did right in order to get Daniela. Daniela responds by saying that Lito never hit her for starters. Joaquin admits to hitting Daniela but justifies it by saying that it’s how to make a woman respect you. However, Joaquin’s not here for that, but rather, to watch Lito and Daniela have sex, his logic being “If you want to be a better footballer, you study the best, if you want to be a better lover, you do the same.” Twisted logic I know, but remember, we’re dealing with a guy who’s a complete maniac on a sober day and right now, he’s so drunk that even Charlie Sheen would say “dude, I think you need to sober up,” so I bet Joaquin’s crazed ramblings make perfect sense to him. When Daniela threatens to call the police, Joaquin starts to get violent, forcing Hernando to throw him out of the apartment.
In San Fransisco, Nomi and Amanita are getting set up to take down the bad guys with Nomi’s mad hacking skills, Amanita’s mom taking all of this, including the fact that Nomi is hearing voices remarkably well. Digging into Metzger’s history, Nomi finds the location of someone who survived the same procedure that Metzger would have performed on Nomi.
In Chicago, Will makes a deal with some street thugs, one of whom got footage of Angelica’s body being taken. Will gets the License plate number of the van that took her and sees the mysterious bearded man from the first episode whom will seems to recognize.
Nomi and Amanita find the survivor in a home for the disabled only to find him completely and utterly brain dead. Realizing that that could have been her fate, Nomi loses it, and makes Amanita promise that no matter what happens she will not let that happen to her.
In Mumbai, Kala prays at the temple of Ganesha, believing all of the visions she’s been having as of late have been signs from the gods. I touched upon this earlier, but I really the way Kala talks to Ganesha, and is in keeping with the way JMS uses religion as a tool for storytelling in his other works. JMS himself is an Atheist, but has often used religion as a means of character development in works like Babylon 5 and others. As such, when Kala talks to Ganesha, it doesn’t read as some poor helpless girl asking a higher power for guidance. Instead, Kala uses the same tone she would with a parent or a close friend who would often give her advice. Kala’s connection to Ganesha isn’t born of fear or worship, it’s born of trust. However, as she asks Ganesha for a sign, who should show up but Wolfgang, thankfully wearing clothes this time. Suddenly, Kala finds herself outside a café in Berlin in the middle of the pouring rain. Kala wants Wolfgang to leave her alone, but Wolfgang tells her that he’s honestly tried but every time he does, it just brings him right back to her. Sensing that he’s being genuine with her, Kala finally gives in and has a seat next to Wolfgang. The two wonder if their connection truly is a miracle from the Gods, and it’s clear that Kala is finally warming up to Wolfgang.
In Iceland, Riley wakes up to the sound of her dad playing the piano. Once again, Gunnar shows how cool he is by making her pancakes and saying how much he’s loved watching her performances online. However, once Gunnar leaves for rehearsal, things take a turn for the creepy as a mysterious voice tells Riley that she should not have come home.
In prison, Sun is being forced to sew, something she never learned as a child. Fortunately, one of her cellmates volunteers to teach her. However, Sun is concerned when a large and surly looking inmate starts stealing finished products from other inmates so she has to do less work.
Back with Wolfgang and Kala, Kala tells the story of how her she found her connection with Ganesha. As a child, she lost her father in a crowd during a festival and a boy her age brought her inside a parade float of Ganesha and let her look through the eyes. Kala was overwhelmed by what she saw. When Wolfgang asks how she reconciles her faith with her career as a scientist, Kala says that the two do not contradict each other and believes it to just be another language for the work of the gods. The two nearly kiss, but Wolfgang’s friend breaks the connection.
As Capheus waits for Amondi to be done with her treatments, he has a flashback of his mother standing up to the superstitious people of his village as she leaves with him for the city. When Capheus returns her to her father, Kabaka says he wants to speak with Capheus.
In Mexico, Lito gets a text from Joaquin from Daniela’s phone, a major problem as Daniela took pictures of Daniela having sex. Daniela promises that she will fix it, leaving Lito and Hernando distraught over what to do.
In a Starbucks in San Francisco, Nomi and Amanita are spying on Metzger, Nomi using her hacking equipment to download all the data on his phone. However, Metzger soon gets a phone call, which prompts him to leave the coffee shop in terror. Nomi, wondering what’s up, calls the number, only to find that the voice on the other end knows who she is and what she’s up to. Freaked out, Nomi suggests something drastic: break into Metzger’s apartment, tonight.
In Nairobi, Kabaka is throwing a birthday party for his daughter and he’s invited Capheus. Kabaka says that Amondi really likes Capheus and that he’s pleased with the work he’s done so far. As the two talk, Kabaka pulls Capheus into another room where he shows what will happen if Capheus ever stops pleasing him, as he chops off the hands of a traitorous employee with a machete.
In Metzger’s apartment, Nomi and Amanita dig through his files, finding almost nothing personal, not even any porn. That combined with a photo of Metzger standing next to former vice president Dick Cheney leads Amanita to believe that Metzer must be evil.
In Berlin, Wolfgang’s friend, Felix tells him that the buyer for the diamonds they sole seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Things soon get worse when Wolfgang’s Uncle’s men do a drive by on their place and Felix ends up shot.
At Metzger’s apartment, Metzger has returned home prematurely and Nomi confronts him. When Nomi reveals that she talked to the mysterious man on the phone, Metzger’s attitude quickly changes to one of cold fear. Jonas comes to Nomi, warning her that someone called Whispers is coming. The brain dead patient from earlier in the episode suddenly breaks through the door and starts attacking the three of them, shooting Metzger in the struggle. After killing Metzger, the brain dead man kills himself, Nomi getting a Glimpse of the bearded man from the first episode, Whispers, in the mirror, ending the episode. Episode 7 represents a turning point for several of the ongoing storylines, most notably, the reveal of the threat that all the sensates now face. There’s still a great deal about Whispers that remains unknown, but we do know that he appears to be a sensate himself, he’s systematically hunting other sensates and he seems to have to ability to control sensates like puppets if they’ve been lobotomized first. The looming threat of Whispers adds a chilling new sense of fear for all our heroes.
In addition, we get Sun adjusting to prison, Riley returning home and Kala and Wolfgang finally starting to admit their feelings for one another. All are done very well. The addition of Riley’s father to the main cast is a nice touch, as I stand by what I say about the two actors genuinely feeling like a real life father and daughter.
Overall, episode seven was solid, though I would have appreciated a little more interaction between the sensates. Still, the main threat has been revealed and the story that will bring our eight heroes together is starting to take shape.