Let me start out by saying exactly what people have said already... Sense8 is a bait and switch. I'll get to the shortcomings (as well as the less numerous strong points), but first and foremost, this show is not what it was advertised to be. The trailers paint a picture of a gripping sci-fi thriller and what we're actually presented with is a political activist's wet dream that actually comes out to about 15% sci-fi and 85% slow-burning coal.
Of all the reviews I've read, there are many people who have both good and bad things to say about The Wachowski's new venture. Some hail it as groundbreaking while others consider it par for the course in the string of arguably awful storytelling succeeding The Matrix and Bound (I should mention I love V for Vendetta, but alas, it wasn't written by them and many comic fans hated it). Now for the reviews, the problem with a lot of the good ones I've seen is that they are very vague. The critical analyses generally go into a lot of depth about where the show failed... while on the other hand, we have people very glibly saying they loved it. Two articles I recommend reading however both present very good points and are on polar opposites of the spectrum. I personally fall somewhere in the middle.
Those two articles are on Collider and Den of Geek. Google should be able to help you find them.
The show wasn't the worst thing I have ever seen. It started out painfully slow and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt considering the story's scope, but Game of Thrones did fine while this attempt feels forced. I found myself not caring about characters and even disliking some just for how stereotypical they are. By episode 9, the dragging pace turned to spinning wheels where story advancement seemed like a mirage and I found myself getting depressed watching to the point that I had to take a break and do something fun. The actual sensate aspects of the show fall to the wayside in favor of ALL 8 people (all misfits who society has been cruel to) whining about their problems and complaining about how messed up the world is.
Now for the gay/lesbian aspect. Things got preachy very quickly. Not only did many of the graphic scenes alienate many viewers (especially straight ones) but nobody wants to be slapped on the wrist so repeatedly to drive home a point. It's insulting to the viewer's intelligence and not the way to get a society to look at something differently. If you want people to change, don't cause them to look away.
Finally, plot holes galore make things hard to watch. You have to question most of the characters' decision making, and by the end, you wonder why the hell they didn't do (x thing) differently and save themselves the hassle. Forget the point of making drama for a story, these are the kind of holes where a characters says something must be done in the way he or she says, when there's very clearly another MUCH better option. It should have been a conclusion that left people excited for more or thinking about the impact of what they just watched, but I guess that was a pipe-dream. We're left pretty much back where we started.
To say the show is awful is horribly unfair as well though. It's thoughtful, beautifully shot, and does touch on some important issues, but unfortunately it's still a very rough block of marble... you can see what the statue could have been, but David turned out faceless here.
Of all the reviews I've read, there are many people who have both good and bad things to say about The Wachowski's new venture. Some hail it as groundbreaking while others consider it par for the course in the string of arguably awful storytelling succeeding The Matrix and Bound (I should mention I love V for Vendetta, but alas, it wasn't written by them and many comic fans hated it). Now for the reviews, the problem with a lot of the good ones I've seen is that they are very vague. The critical analyses generally go into a lot of depth about where the show failed... while on the other hand, we have people very glibly saying they loved it. Two articles I recommend reading however both present very good points and are on polar opposites of the spectrum. I personally fall somewhere in the middle.
Those two articles are on Collider and Den of Geek. Google should be able to help you find them.
The show wasn't the worst thing I have ever seen. It started out painfully slow and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt considering the story's scope, but Game of Thrones did fine while this attempt feels forced. I found myself not caring about characters and even disliking some just for how stereotypical they are. By episode 9, the dragging pace turned to spinning wheels where story advancement seemed like a mirage and I found myself getting depressed watching to the point that I had to take a break and do something fun. The actual sensate aspects of the show fall to the wayside in favor of ALL 8 people (all misfits who society has been cruel to) whining about their problems and complaining about how messed up the world is.
Now for the gay/lesbian aspect. Things got preachy very quickly. Not only did many of the graphic scenes alienate many viewers (especially straight ones) but nobody wants to be slapped on the wrist so repeatedly to drive home a point. It's insulting to the viewer's intelligence and not the way to get a society to look at something differently. If you want people to change, don't cause them to look away.
Finally, plot holes galore make things hard to watch. You have to question most of the characters' decision making, and by the end, you wonder why the hell they didn't do (x thing) differently and save themselves the hassle. Forget the point of making drama for a story, these are the kind of holes where a characters says something must be done in the way he or she says, when there's very clearly another MUCH better option. It should have been a conclusion that left people excited for more or thinking about the impact of what they just watched, but I guess that was a pipe-dream. We're left pretty much back where we started.
To say the show is awful is horribly unfair as well though. It's thoughtful, beautifully shot, and does touch on some important issues, but unfortunately it's still a very rough block of marble... you can see what the statue could have been, but David turned out faceless here.