Mark Watches ‘Sense8’: S02E12 – Amor Vincit Omnia, Part III

In the finale of Sense8, the cluster attempts to finally change BPO for good. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to finish Sense8. 

Trigger Warning: For discussion of transphobia, blood.

Forcella

The prevailing power of Sense8 is love. 

Over the course of these two seasons, that theme has been evident. Even as most of this finale has dealt with the logistical nightmare of taking out BPO and Whispers, we still never strayed from the importance of love and its many forms: physical, sexual, romantic, familial, platonic, and the love that sensates experience for those in their cluster. The reason Riley turned down assassinating Whispers while they had him is because the cluster loved Wolfgang too much. And here, as they all infiltrate the Forcella, love still matters. 

Granted, it’s not until the horrifically upsetting scene with Kala that it necessarily rears its head. Y’all, the Trojan Horse sequence is just so delightfully weird and funny, and I’m glad that this show was able to successfully mix the serious with the humorous. I just love how ridiculous it was that they all pretended to be tourists, then created an explosion to divert the guards’ attention, and this all allowed them to storm the Forcella. This whole thing was a lot bloodier than most episodes, but it had to way. They had to fight their way into an impossible place, and the body count would be high. But holy shit, THERE’S SO MUCH BLOOD.

But it’s through Kala that love still matters. There’s that scene, for instance, where Rajan witnesses Kala shooting down some of the guards. I’d forgotten that he’d not quite seen Kala in action, so I was worried. Would this suddenly be too much for him? However, that’s sort of the point. Rajan’s love for his wife is so powerful that he’s able to view things through that lens. So he doesn’t criticize Kala for killing the guards who would have killed them both; no, he ASKS HER TO TEACH HIM HOW TO USE A GUN. 

But it’s also how the show slowly addresses the strangeness and beauty of the Kala/Rajan/Wolfgang scenes. Because when Wolfgang, through Kala, is teaching Rajan about guns, it honestly feels romantic and exciting. Which was probably foreshadowing!!! Then, when Kala is shot, the show doesn’t try to deny that both men in her life love her and would grieve her absence. Their relationship might not be what most people experience or expect, but it’s not any less than others. It’s still love. Also, thankfully we didn’t actually have to explore Kala’s death. I WOULD HAVE BEEN SO FURIOUS. But my big takeaway from that scene was that the show was validating both of their love for Kala. ALSO: It was so goddamn funny to have her acknowledge how sad this moment was, but ALSO I AM NOT DEAD, PLEASE SAVE MY LIFE. Bless this show. 

Jonas

HE MADE A PROMISE AND HE KEPT HIS PROMISE AND THE ANSWER WAS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT THE WHOLE TIME. A good twist can leave the audience feeling floored, but the truly great ones also have to make a lot of sense. In hindsight, this explains so much of Angelica’s motives and why she was willing to appear as a collaborator the entire time. And given what we saw in the last split about the groups that hunt collaborators, I was hoping that Angelica would be vindicated in the end. Her plan the whole time?

To kill the Chairman. To prevent Whispers from ever demonstrating the true power of the drone program. WHICH WAS ALSO A LIE, I’M LOSING IT, Y’ALL. I like that this finale makes it clear that the Chairman is still complicit in this nightmare and deserves his fate. And what an irony! Angelica hid an essential truth from Whispers: ANYONE COULD HAVE USED A PSYCRANIUM. She just tuned the main one to Whispers’s brain, making him believe he was the sole person who could control it! Thus, I love that look of panic on his face once he recognizes the zombie drone from earlier. He figured this shit out, and his fate was SEALED, and I bet he knew this would all be over soon once the Chairman was killed. GOD, THAT SCENE WAS SO FUCKING GREAT.

And in the end, Jonas fulfills his promise. He murders the Chairman, and he destroys the ENTIRE zombie facility. In a second, it’s all gone.

But the game wasn’t up yet.

Will

I feel less conflicted about Will being a centerpiece here because it’s really only in this scene. After what he was put through—and after what Whispers did to him and his father—it felt right that the big showdown would be with Will at the healm. But there’s still an important part of Wolfgang in this, too, which was also poetic and appropriate. After all, it was Lila’s treatment of Wolfgang that caused much of this nightmare, too. So, as long as these two took them out? I would be happy. But watching them explode because of a rocket launcher? HELL YES. There’s something poetic in them thinking they escaped again and then NOT ESCAPING AT ALL.

Wedding

Sense8 was always about love. The journeys these characters went on sometimes showed us the toxic aspects of love, like how Nomi’s transphobic parents often hurt her in the name of “love.” Or how familial love could be corrupted. Or how love is confusing or damaging or complicated. But this finale centers all of its post-confrontation attention on a love that has remained pure and gorgeous and supportive throughout: the love between Nomi and Amanita. Now, there’s some exposition given throughout the ceremony, such as mention of some sort of “accord” with the BPO. We also learn from Detective Mun that all of the charges against Sun were dropped. I do think the show kinda forgets about Capheus’s whole plot line? I mean, it’s not like an election could have taken place here, but it’s really the only character subplot that’s left unresolved here.

Otherwise, this wedding (and the subsequent sex scene) resolves the last thread left behind. Or at least the big one I needed to feel happy with this finale! 

It was surreal to see the entire cast in one location. This unfolding drama was set all over the world, and I assumed it would remain that way right up until the end. But this is so PERFECT. Each of the sensates invites their close friends, tells them the truth about who they are, and then celebrates the love of Nomi and Amanita. It’s a spectacle to watch, but y’all. 

Y’ALL.

Those damn vows destroyed me. I admit to being a bit tender about love these days, and sometimes, it’s hard to see happy couples. But this was just so damn beautiful, and in many ways, I’d argue that the writers used Amanita’s and Nomi’s vows to give us their thesis not just on Sense8, but on humanity as general. There’s so much uncertainty in the world; change is inevitable; everything is impermanent. And yet, through this all, sometimes we find the special someone—be they a lover or a friend or a sibling or a husband or a wife or a life partner—and they help us see the world anew. Love does not manifest for everyone and it certainly doesn’t look the same to everyone either. But watching that wedding unfold on the Eiffel Tower, I felt like I was witnessing magic. It’s not lost on me that the big emotional moment of this finale is also so damn queer, and Sense8 will forever hold a huge place in my heart for how unapologetically queer it’s been. This has been the kind of storytelling that I’ve thirsted for all these years, and I’m so happy that I got to witness this. 

And look, I would be remiss in my duties as a reviewer to NOT address the ABSOLUTELY incredible threesome between Kala, Rajan, and Wolfgang. Like, yes, the huge orgy is just spectacular and gorgeously shot, but I also love that this finale asks Kala a question: What does she want? The final scene is her answering the question: Why can’t she have both of the men she loves? WHO ALSO ARE INTO ONE ANOTHER??? HELP ME, THIS IS A QUEER PERSON’S DREAM COME TRUE, I CAN’T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY GOT TO WITNESS THIS.

I know it was a bit of a rough start with me and Sense8, and I certainly didn’t expect like a nearly four-year gap between watching seasons. But I’m glad I came back into this world right now. It reminds me of my ex, and how could it not? He’s in all of last season’s videos. And while that made this hard to watch at times, I got to experience it anew, with new memories and experiences. It added to the journey, probably in ways the creators never intended. And that’s the beauty of fiction: we all bring our own lives to these experiences, and they affect what we get out of it.

Thank you for following along.

Up next on Friday: I’ll be watching season 4 of Veronica Mars. This is to buy me time to get the DVDs for what I’m watching afterwards: the anime Monster! There are still episodes left to be claimed, so head on over to the Commissions page if you’d like one.

The final video for the finale can be downloaded here for $0.99.

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