In 1999, the movie The Matrix hit theaters. To date, the movie has earned more than a billion worldwide –$1,632,989, 142.
And with good reason. It wasn’t just because Keanu Reeves played Neo and because Laurence Fishburne played Morpheus or even because Carrie-Anne Moss played Trinity. The Matrix was a phenomenon because Andy and Lena Wachowski, the brothers who conceived and directed it, had a message: reality is NOT what we perceive it to be.
Now, fast forward to 2015. Our daughter Megan, is always recommending TV shows to us. You guys gotta see this. Usually, her recommendations are good – The Whispers, a spooky show with Spielberg as executive director; Wayward Pines, with M. Night Shyamalan as executive producer; and now, Sense8, with The Matrix boys- – the Wachoski Brothers – as executive producers. These guys also produced Cloud Atlas.
Sense8, an original Netflix production, is about eight individuals in different countries and cultures who suddenly discover they are connected telepathically to strangers – IMDB calls it linked mentally. Thing is, this connection among the eight goes well beyond telepathic. Each of the eight is able, under duress, to connect physically and emotionally with their counterparts and change the outcome of whatever one of the eight is facing.
The connecting thread appears to be Naveen Andrews, a character from Lost, who is able to manipulate his consciousness so that he can appear to the others – a Hindu woman, a Chicago cop, a tortured singer/performer in London, a thief, a van driver in Nairobi, a gay American woman, a young Korean woman, and a closeted gay Spanish actor. Navene is apparently trying to protect the others from another sensate who is trying to tap into their psychic cluster and capture them. After we watched the third episode this evening, I was struck by a couple of things.
The Wachoski brothers have a vision for this show, just as they did for The Matrix. But it’s not just a storyboard about who does what to whom and when. It’s not just about plot twists and characters. It’s about the nature of reality. While watching tonight’s episode, I felt as though I were watching a visual depiction of how Indra’s Net works, how each of us is connected in a real, vibrant way and how this connection is strengthening, gaining momentum.
In this episode, that connection happens through music, where each of the eight are singing, What’s Up by Four Non Blondes, the video at the top of the post, a song from 1992. The scene is extraordinary for television, so real and visceral that when it ended, I was on my feet, shouting, Yes, yes, this is it, this is the Wachoski defining moment for the 21st century!
Okay, so maybe I overreacted. But honestly, it’s so refreshing to see psychic ability and soul connections depicted in such a real, emotional way across such cultural divides, that I would binge on the rest of the episodes if they were available. Netflix didn’t just pound Blockbusters into the ground. With their original programming, they are redefining television – and the nature of what we may be willing to accept as true.
At the very least commit to three episodes of Sense8. I’m pretty sure that’s all it will take for you to be hooked. The Wachoski brothers not only understand synchronicity; they show us how it works and why.
I get such great programming ideas from you! Love Wayward Pines!
And we get the programs from Megan! My favorites now, I think, are The Whispers (Spielberg) and Sense8.
I was wondering about this series, since I get Netflix streaming and it’s available. Okay, I’ll watch three episodes and see what I think. 🙂
We are now 6 episodes in. Yes, there’s a lot of sex and a fair share of violence. But the characters are well delineated, their stories are vivid and real, and the connection among them, the way it’s shown, it something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in TV before.
there R 2 movies, one of them “decades” old, one of the them recent…both movies have the same underlying theme…along the line of “M”… coincidence.. both geniuses (0ne each movie) have the same “IQ”…what dah think “Robbie”…now either of the films?
What are the names of the movies? We still can’t read minds here!
I see Sense8 is now on in the UK but only on Netflix which I can’t get – pity! Will keep a lookout though.
I really loved the early episodes of the (unfortunately short lived) program TOUCH, beautifully done take on synchronicity. And it’s exciting, as you point out, that these ideas are being presented – important ideas indeed.
Still……………. I watched the first few episodes of Sense8 – some very intriguing and likeable charachers. But dismayed, to be honest, with the way they so quickly went into excessive violence and the usual conspiracy/paranoia, along with as much explicit sex they could get away with, which is a lot these days. Did we really need to see, with pretty much no holds bared, a lesbian couple doing it with a dildo? Or other such borderline pornographic images in various permutations? I always cringe at how explicit all of this is on tv now, thinking always of impressionable 10 year olds watching.
Cloud Atlas was a very ambitious project, but I felt the producers failed to do a good job with editing – it went on so long, and was so confusing, that the audience became bored, or at least I did.
Yes, you’re right. But I love the idea of this series and the fact that the Wachoskis have a vision for the story. The novel, Cloud Atlas, was also complex and way too long. Again, though, the ideas were good.