History Series / Sense8

* GameOfChicken: The finale has one that pits [[spoiler:Whispers in a helicopter]] against [[spoiler:Will and Riley in an ambulance]].

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In this episode, Felix [[spoiler:finally recovers from his gunshot wound]], so when Volker Bohm shows up outside his shop to talk to Wolfgang, [[spoiler:Felix comments that he can't get shot again because he just got out of the hospital]] and that would be "terrible plotting". [[spoiler:Felix later almost is shot again, when he and Wolfgang are attacked by a rival gang on New Year's.]]

* SelfDeprecation: Lito's film is a horrific ClicheStorm full of melodramatic {{Narm}}, feeling very much like the Wachowskis taking a poke at their own tendencies.

** [[spoiler:Averted in season two, when Will suddenly loses his father and is unable to be with him when he dies; he breaks down sobbing, utterly alone and without comfort from his clustermates. Kala's question to Riley in the next episode about his status suggests she genuinely doesn't know the answer.]]

* BrokenAesop: The show deals with themes of empathy and how all people are connected by their shared experiences. However, even though callous acts of cruelty on the part of characters the show sees as villains are depicted as the wrong way to live, when those in the cluster brutally beat up or murder people, it's almost always treated as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome; treating violence as empowering seems out of place with the show's themes, especially since the people they hurt aren't always acting out of a place of cruelty to begin with. For example, when Sun is trying to save Nomi from the research facility in Iceland, she encounters a middle aged security guard on a walkway trying to apprehend her; she promptly pushes him off the side of the walkway, causing him to fall six stories. Aside from working with BPO to abduct and lobotomise an innocent woman, there's no other indication that this security guard had any knowledge of what was going on at the facility, or that he was a bad person, but he ends up badly injured or dead and the show treats this as a cool action moment despite its theme of compassion. [[spoiler:In another example, in the third episode of Season 2, Sun is taken to a secluded location of the prison and ''hanged'' by three guards with Tazers, only surviving thanks to a fellow prisoner sneaking out and driving a broken broom handle through the chest of one of the guards, giving Sun, Wolfgang and Will a chance to team up and snap the necks of the other two - followed by a high-intensity jailbreak where they gleefully knock a guard unconscious who is ''not'' involved in the murder attempt (this may have been necessary, however, as the guard would probably not have let Sun just walk out of prison uncontested)]].

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Wolfgang isn't content to simply shoot his cousin Steiner. [[spoiler:He blows up his car with a ''rocket-propelled grenade'' as Steiner is driving away.]] Lito is [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome suitably impressed]].

->'''Will''': I'm losing my mind!\\
'''Jonas''': No, it's just expanding.

** What happened to [[spoiler: Riley's baby Luna]] is terrifying. Born in a snow storm in a car wreck, and then froze to death in her mother's arms as she desperately tried to walk to safety.

** Will [[spoiler: being on the run from Whispers]] is a huge one for his father. [[spoiler: One day, out of the blue, your child leaves without a word and you don't hear anything from them for months. For all you know they could be dead. Then, when you finally get a phone call, it's evident that they're in some terrible trouble but they won't tell you where they are or what's happening]].

--->'''Lito''': Lying is easy. It's what I do.\\
'''Wolfgang''': Fighting is easy. Fighting is what I do.\\
'''Nomi''': It's easy. Hacking is what I do.

--->'''Lito''': It's a fake... [[LargeHam Like everything in my life!]]
** [[spoiler: Riley]] almost does as well in order to protect everyone else, but Will talks her down.
** Niles, Metzger's lobotomy patient, after Whispers takes control of him to [[spoiler: assassinate Metzger]].
** [[spoiler: Will dreams about doing it in the Christmas Special.]]

** [[spoiler: Detective Mun]] gets a moment of this in the series finale when Sun is cornered by BPO goons. [[spoiler: He illegally traced her burner phone in order to find her.]]

--->'''Diego''': The fuck you doin', Gorski?
** Wolfgang and Kala in Episode 11, which is more heartbreaking as it comes in a conversation where she's begging him not to [[spoiler: try to kill all his remaining family]].

** As [[spoiler: Rajan's father is stabbed in the temple by the religious fanatics,]] Kala gets some blood on her.

** Riley's heavy drug use [[spoiler: is crucial when she isn't responsive to sedatives and BPO has to fully sedate her, meaning she's ''completely'' unconscious when Whispers gets to her and he can't make eye contact, protecting the rest of the cluster.]]
** The taser Rajan mistakes for a gun in the finale [[spoiler: which he uses to restart Kala's heart after she is shot by Lila.]]

** Wolfgang's general thuggery and borderline insane fearlessness comes in useful. Surprisingly, his thieving skills aren't used in the first season by anyone else. In the Christmas special, he helps Lito break into [[spoiler: his apartment building after he's evicted for being gay]], and in season 2 he [[spoiler: cracks Whispers' safe.]]

** Kala's biological and pharmaceutical knowledge; particularly when it comes to antidotes [[spoiler: or bomb-building]]. In season 2, she figures out how to make blocker pills for the cluster.

* DarkReprise: The first time Riley's father Gunnar sings "Baba O'Riley" to her, its at their airport reunion. The second time, it's [[spoiler: while she's comatose in the hospital while BPO closes in on her (although he's not aware of the latter)]] and is fittingly slower and sadder.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Riley]], probably over the loss of her husband and newborn baby. Obviously she failed, however. [[spoiler: Lito]] also attempts this after his lover has left him, but the gun he uses is a fake. [[spoiler: Sun's brother]] also says their father killed himself, but she instead thinks he did it.

** Wolfgang's father was physically and emotionally abusive all the way until his death and there's no mention of his mother. At least, not until the Finale Movie, where [[spoiler: his mother is revealed to also be his sister in a squick-stravaganza flashback while he's under sedation at the Zombie Assassin facility]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: It takes the business end of a rocket launcher to finally let the sensates live out happy lives [[MarryThemAll with each other]].]]

* EveryoneIsBi: Because sensates share each others' feelings, they share their sexualities as well. This is displayed in the orgy scenes featuring all of the Sensates (including a gay man, a gay trans woman, and two straight men) despite their clashing sexualities. The creators have stated that all the sensates are pansexual. In season 2, Capheus's girlfriend Zakia admits to past relationships with women, and in the series finale [[spoiler: Rajan doesn't seem to mind kissing Wolfgang.]]

* EvilPowerVacuum: [[spoiler: Wolfgang killing his uncle left a hole in Berlin's criminal underground. There still are other crime lords, but his uncle's death has drastically shaken up the dynamic]].

* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: Justified, of course -- with eight main characters, that's 28 possible ways two clustermates can share the screen, and some combinations are given more spotlight than others. For example, Will and Lito don't meet until the first season finale [[note]] the "psychic orgy" and the scene in which Will briefly takes his place to make Lito's shoot look cooler notwithstanding [[/note]], and Will lampshades it.
-->'''Will''': Do I know you?\\
'''Lito''': Yes. We had sex.\\

''([[spoiler:Wolfgang takes Will's place and drives straight for the helicopter without hesitation.]])''

* GoryDiscretionShot: Inverted. When violence happens, it is almost always shown directly on the screen. Several times people are shown getting their limbs cut off, gunshots to the head show uncut sprays of blood, and when [[spoiler: Wolfgang kills his uncle]], there is an up close shot of his head as it is riddled with bullets.

* HappilyEverAfter: [[spoiler: Every one of the main characters and their significant others. Except [[HeroicSacrifice Jonas]] that is.]]

** [[spoiler: Nomi and Nita as of the GrandFinale.]]
* HasAType: This can be inferred about Wolfgang, who shows an interest in three different woman throughout season one: a contestant in a singing competition, a customer of Felix's, and Kala. All three of them are women of color. [[spoiler: Averted in the Christmas special. The woman he hooks up with from a dating app is white.]]
* HeroicSuicide: Angelica shot herself to prevent Whispers from getting other sensates through her. Later [[spoiler: Riley]] almost does this as well. [[spoiler: Jonas and Angelica try to convince Will to do this as well, after he makes eye contact with Whispers.]]
* HiddenDepths: Wolfgang's passion for singing and televised music competitions. Bear in mind that this is the guy who [[spoiler: brutally murdered his entire family.]]

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In this episode, Felix [[spoiler: finally recovers from his gunshot wound]], so when Volker Bohm shows up outside his shop to talk to Wolfgang, [[spoiler: Felix comments that he can't get shot again because he just got out of the hospital]] and that would be "terrible plotting". [[spoiler: Felix later almost is shot again, when he and Wolfgang are attacked by a rival gang on New Year's.]]

* TheLoad: Riley. She's the only member of the cluster in season one without a useful skill to contribute, and she serves as the season's overall DamselInDistress. [[spoiler: Averted, however, come the finale, as she manages to get Will to safety away from Whispers, saving the whole cluster in the process, and will presumably protect him now that ''he's'' become TheLoad.]]
* {{Lobotomy}}: A standard part of the procedure BPO performs on sensates. As a result, [[spoiler: Whispers can use them as people puppets]].

* ManVersusCareer: Lito must choose between [[spoiler: allowing Daniela to return to Joaquin, saving his career from being destroyed by the photos Joaquin possesses, but losing Hernando's love]] and [[spoiler: rescuing Daniela and reuniting with Hernando, running the risk of his career being ruined]]. He chooses [[spoiler: Hernando]].

* MidSeasonTwist: The seventh episode raises a lot of stakes in the various plotlines, but most importantly [[spoiler: it reintroduces Whispers in a big way, and shows his ability to possess lobotomized Sensates.]]

* MoodWhiplash: An occasional result of the many plotlines. An early example is Lito [[spoiler: forming his triad relationship, which is awkward and funny]] immediately followed by Riley [[spoiler: returning home after witnessing a multiple murder and having to wash the blood off.]]

** Lito, Daniela and Hernando are having a sweet breakfast moment when [[spoiler: Joaquin texts pictures of Lito and Hernando having sex, which Daniela took without their knowledge, and which Joaquin now has because he stole Daniela's phone.]] The guilt has an immediate, powerful effect, [[spoiler: which causes her to go back to Joaquin to protect Lito.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Crops up in a couple of the plotlines. In Nomi's, [[spoiler: if Dr. Metzger had treated her like a human being and allowed Amanita into the decision making process, he could have persuaded Nomi to submit voluntarily.]] In Capheus's, [[spoiler: if Kabaka had kept showcasing the loving father and BenevolentBoss aspects of his nature, Capheus would have never wanted to quit.]]
* NobodyPoops: Averted - Riley has to ask for a laxative because of [[spoiler: Will's]] heroin-induced constipation.

** [[spoiler: When Will passes out, we don't get to see how Riley evades Mr. Whispers and gets them to the boat.]]

* OhCrap: Numerous, but most notably [[spoiler: Will making eye contact with Mr. Whispers in the finale,]] complete with some dramatic music. Later Whispers get a moment of his own like this, after Will discovers his real name and says they're coming for him.

** The finale involves the other members of the cluster busting [[spoiler: Riley out of the same lobotomy]].

** As revealed in the last episode of season 1,[[spoiler: Wolfgang killed his own father.]]
** [[spoiler: Sun's brother kills their father and makes it look like a suicide in order to keep him from telling the truth about his embezzlement.]]

** The most egregious instance comes when [[spoiler: Wolfgang retreats from his uncle's henchmen]] in the season one finale. [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy None seem able to score a hit]] at point-blank range with automatic weapons, despite cover which is [[ConcealmentEqualsCover flimsy at best]].

** [[spoiler: Not only does Nomi not have too much trouble escaping the hospital]], but once she's free, the police are apparently unable to apprehend her at her hideout after failing to surround it. They later don't bother to look for her in her own apartment, an oversight [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by her using her hacking skills to lay a false electronic trail.
** [[spoiler: Wolfgang, in the middle of Berlin]], blowing up a car with an RPG? Far from a major terrorist incident, yet the authorities barely bat an eyelid (and for that matter, [[ApatheticCitizens not a single witness called the cops either]] as far as we can tell).

* ReverseMole: Invoked in-universe. [[spoiler: According to Jonas, there is at least one member of the BPO who is helping the sensates behind the scenes.]]

* SadBollywoodWedding: Everyone is delighted that Kala's marrying Rajan except for Kala herself, because Rajan is by all accounts the perfect husband but she doesn't love him. At her wedding in episode 5, she's clearly reluctant when going through the proceedings. And just before it's time to take the binding vow, [[spoiler: Wolfgang appears to her naked, causing her to faint and the wedding to be postponed]].

** The ending of the first season hints at the plotlines to come. [[spoiler: Will has to be kept in an induced coma and Riley has to protect him; Sun is still in prison while her murderous brother is free; Kala is going to marry a good man whom she does not love; and Wolfgang broke up with her for her own good (as he sees it) and has to deal with the fallout of murdering his remaining family; Capheus will need to find another source of money for his mother's medicine; Lito's career is in jeopardy; and Nomi is a fugitive. However, it turns out Riley, now that she has revealed her deepest pain to the cluster, is no longer the DistressedDamsel but the first sensate capable of visiting every member at once.]] In addition to that, Jonas's motives are still unclear and we aren't given an explanation as to who Sara Patrell is.

* SuicideAttack: In the series finale [[spoiler: Jonas]] launches one against BPO, blowing up the building with him inside.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Wolfgang isn't content to simply shoot his cousin Steiner. [[spoiler: He blows up his car with a ''rocket-propelled grenade'' as Steiner is driving away.]] Lito is [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome suitably impressed]].

* TooDumbToLive: Rajan's father going to talk to Kala at the temple, walking past [[spoiler: all the posters denouncing him and calling for his destruction]] in order to see her. Why the heck did he think going there was a good idea? Past episodes shows he knew very little about the local religion and customs. Meaning that he had both underestimated the devotees anger, and just how far they would [[MurderIsTheBestSolution go to stop him.]]

* UniversalDriversLicense: Subverted in season 2 during [[spoiler: Sun's escape from prison. Min-Jung asks if Sun is sure she can drive a bus. She easily can, since she has help from Capheus.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: From the very beginning, there's a high degree of sexual tension between Wolfgang and Kala. Unfortunately, Kala is about to get married. [[spoiler: Wolfgang inadvertently "visits" her wedding... naked. And then in season two, when she's married to Rajan, she not only has sex with Wolfgang but looks forward to the safe house in Paris that Rajan bids her to go to, as she'll be able to be with Wolfgang in private.]]

** And at this point, a funny-looking brown person opens fire with an automatic weapon, killing dozens of listeners along with the targeted politician, clearly establishing that whoever runs BPO, they ''want'' to create [[ANaziByAnyOtherName a mono-cultural, repressive society]].

** Nomi's family is dismissive of her gender identity, she tells Lito about a traumatic incident regarding her father in the past, and her mother's reaction to her needing surgery is that she'll have to fall back on the family's insurance.

** Nomi's mother is a homo/transphobic Bible-thumper who refuses to acknowledge her daughter's gender identity. Nomi's father shared many of the same views until the episode "What Family Means".

* BeastAndBeauty: The romantic relationship between Wolfgang and Kala is played like this. Wolfgang is handsome but troubled and the most morally grey sensate, while Kala is a beautiful and religious virgin.

* HumansAreBastards: The series goes hard with this in regards to ''homo sapiens.'' Whenever the topic of the regular humans vs sensates comes up, the show would have you think that compassion was invented by sensates and borrowed grudgingly by humans. One anthropologist even hypothesizes that the advantage ''homo sapiens'' has is the ability to lie, and they probably wiped most sensates out in the past (like the Neanderthals). A less-evil -- and 100% human -- member of BPO states that he believes the entire ''concept'' of empathy is the result of humans subconsciously mimicking sensates [[spoiler:just before Whispers has a remote-controlled lobotomized sensate stab him in the neck with the handle of a paintbrush]].

Following a traumatic event, eight strangers in eight different parts of the world find themselves telepathically and empathetically linked. While they struggle both with this new connection and with their own personal lives, forces beyond their control seek to manipulate or destroy them. Now the eight must work together, lending each other their different skill sets and expierence, as they try to get the bottom of who and why.

** Additionally, Riley has the number 8 (or an infinity symbol) tattooed on the back her neck, and Jela holds a card with an 8 on it while recruiting passengers for Capheus's bus.

* PowerPerversionPotential: The series acknowledges the likelihood of kinkiness coming up when eight attractive non-asexual adults become emotionally linked. Summed up wonderfully in one scene which has Wolfgang, Will, Lito, and Nomi having a psychic four-way in a Jacuzzi, later on in the Christmas Special, all eight of them are in psychic orgy, and finally [[spoiler:on Nomi and Amanita's wedding night]] when the eight sensates, Amanita, Hernando, Daniela, Rajan, [[spoiler:Detective Mun]], Zakia, have another psychic orgy.

Following a traumatic event, eight strangers in eight different parts of the world find themselves telepathically and empathetically linked. While they struggle both with this new connection and with their own personal lives, forces beyond their control seek to manipulate or destroy them. Now the eight must work together, lending each other their different skill sets and expierence, as they try to get bottom of who and why.

Following a traumatic event, eight strangers in eight different parts of the world find themselves telepathically and empathetically linked. While they struggle both with this new connection and with their own personal lives, forces beyond their control seek to manipulate or destroy them. Now the eight must work together, lending each other their different skill sets and expierence, as they try to get bottom of who and why.v

Following a traumatic event, eight strangers in eight different parts of the world find themselves telepathically and empathetically linked. While they struggle both with this new connection and with their own personal lives, forces beyond their control seek to manipulate or destroy them.

* EveryoneIsBi: Because sensates share each others' feelings, they share their sexualities as well. This is displayed in the orgy scenes featuring all of the Sensates (including a gay man, a gay trans woman, and two straight men) despite their clashing sexualities. The creators have stated that all the sensates are pansexual.

** Wolfgang's general thuggery and borderline insane fearlessness comes in useful. Surprisingly, his thieving skills aren't used in the first season by anyone else. In the Christmas special, he helps Lito break into [[spoiler: his apartment building after he's evicted for being gay.]]

** Kala's biological and pharmaceutical knowledge; particularly when it comes to antidotes [[spoiler: or bomb-building]] .

** [[spoiler: Detective Mun]] gets a moment of this in the series finale when Sun is cornered by BPO goons. [[Spoiler: He illegally traced her burner phone in order to find her.]]

* PowerPerversionPotential: The series acknowledges the likelihood of kinkiness coming up when eight attractive non-asexual adults become emotionally linked. Summed up wonderfully in one scene which has Wolfgang, Will, Lito, and Nomi having a psychic four-way in a Jacuzzi, later on in the Christmas Special, all eight of them are in psychic orgy, and finally [[spoiler:on Nomi and Amanita's wedding night]] when the eight sensates, along with ALL of their significant others, have another orgy.

* PowerPerversionPotential: The series acknowledges the likelihood of kinkiness coming up when eight attractive non-asexual adults become emotionally linked. Summed up wonderfully in one scene which has Wolfgang, Will, Lito, and Nomi having a psychic four-way in a Jacuzzi and later on in the Christmas Special, all eight of them are in psychic orgy.

->'''Rajan''': My God. [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome I didn't think such things were possible.]]

->'''Rajan''': My God. [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome I didn't think such things were possible.]]

* EveryoneIsBi: Because sensates share each others' feelings, they share their sexualities as well. This is displayed in the orgy scene featuring four of the Sensates (a gay man, a gay trans woman, and two straight men) despite their clashing sexualities. The creators have stated that all the sensates are pansexual.

->''"My god. I didn't think such things were possible."''

->'''Will''': I'm losing my mind!\\
'''Jonas''': No, it's just expanding.

** The taser Rajan mistakes for a gun in the finale [[spoiler: after Kala is shot be Lila, he uses it to restart her heart.]]