Awesome / Sense8

Season 1

Episode 01: Limbic Resonance

• Angel, after she's birthed the cluster at the very beginning of the series, having the courage to defy Whispers and commit suicide to protect them from him.
• Amanita slapping down the TERF^note Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist who accuses Nomi of being a man trying to invade a woman's space. Also heartwarming, as Nomi starts crying because nobody's defended her that way before.
  Amanita: You say one more thing about my girlfriend and I'll "colonise" your face with my fist.
• Wolfgang manages to finally crack a safe that no one else has apparently been able to get through without cutting. Not even Wolfgang's father was able to do it. This reaches new levels of impressive later on, because when Steiner is asking him about the safe, he refuses to believe that Wolfgang actually cracked the safe, because that's impossible.

Episode 03: Smart Money is on the Skinny Bitch

• Sun breaking the table of the receptionist to get her father's attention. It's suave, elegant, violent and immediately effective.
• The sequence where Capheus finding the courage and determination chooses to chase down the men who stole his mothers pain medication and drove off . Using some Car Fu he disables one car and takes out a couple of hoods with a steel pipe. Will then takes over and stops the lead car with a few well placed shots. When Capheus is then dropped from behind and surrounded Sun then takes over to kick the whole gang's ass.
  • A more subtle one, an old lady was the only one who stayed with Capheus because she wants to get her late husband’s ring back. Although clearly out of her league, the fact that she stayed to make sure she her ring back from her muggers shows how brave she is.
• Also, Sun's victory in the underground boxing ring especially as she was helping Capheus simultaneously. Meaning she managed to defeat multiple armed, willing-to-kill attackers while simultaneously defeating a larger, trained fighter – while switching between two separate bodies.
• Amanita gets an offscreen one where she follows through on her promise from the previous episode and starts a fire in a waiting room at the hospital. The resulting alarm causes the building to be evacuated and Nomi's lobotomy is called off seconds before she's put under anaesthetic.

Episode 04: What's Going On?

• Will pulling off his first sharing to break Nomi out of the hospital, with a handy assist from Amanita.

Episode 05: Art is like Religion

• Capheus' flashback how his mother protected him from six machete wielding men who wanted to hack him to death. She was outnumbered and had only one knife. But they looked into her eyes and knew she was taking at least one of them with her. With that look alone she scared them off.

Episode 06: Demons

• Will is in a bar when Riley is attacked and being suffocated. He manages to take down the men who are attacking her while being confused, switching between himself and Riley, and not being able to breathe.

Episode 07: W.W.N.Double D.?

• The old woman Sun meets in prison tells her about how much she feared her abusive, alcoholic husband and how grateful she is to finally be away from him. When Sun asks how she ended up in prison, the old woman answers, "Because I put rat poison in his bibimbap and killed the motherfucker."
• Joaquin breaks into Lito's apartment, while drunk, and attempts to scare and insult Lito and Daniela. As soon as he lays a hand on Lito, Hernando (who is one of the kinder, gentler characters in the series) immediately puts himself between them and coldly tells Joaquin "Don't touch him." His scowl pretty much sells that if Joaquin missteps, his fake persona as Lito's bodyguard will become very real in the most violent way possible.
• The proper entrance of Big Bad Mr. Whispers, brain-jacking a lobotomized man to kill Dr. Metzger before also taking out his meatsuit. Fully justifies the half season of buildup.

Episode 08: We Will All Be Judged By The Courage of our Hearts

• Wolfgang's flashbacks to his childhood with Felix show just how loyal his best friend is.
  • A group of older kids ganged up on Wolfgang and tried to beat him up for being from East Germany. Wolfgang told Felix to run and save himself. As the boys pin Wolfgang to the ground, Felix comes running back into the square with a pipe and chases them away.
  • One night Wolfgang's asshole father shoves Wolfgang to the floor and insults him for getting upset. When his back is turned, Felix sneaks up behind him and cracks a bottle over the man's head.
• Will, Sun, and Capheus all teaming up to get Nomi away from the cops, capped off by a Car Fu stunt inspired by Hard Target. This is also the first time more than one of them consciously work together to help one of the cluster.
  • To be specific: Will uses Awesomeness by Analysis and his understanding of gunplay to understand how the cops are going to approach Nomi, uses that to tell Sun their weaknesses. Sun takes the two cops down, with Will stepping in for an instant to disarm one, and then Will gets Nomi onto a bike she had no idea was even there at that point. Nomi dodges the cops on the bike for a few minutes until she finds an unlocked car, and Capheus comes out of nowhere to drive it when Nomi realizes she can't. Best of all, with the exception of Will and Nomi, this is the first time any of these particular members of the cluster have seen each other, but they work together like they've been side-by-side for years.
    Nomi: I don't know how to drive.
    Capheus: (suddenly appearing) I do.
• It looks more funny than awesome on paper, but seriously; Amanita thinking on her feet and stalling one of Whispers' goons by pretending to be changing her tampon, with the help of some red cough syrup.
• Sun putting the hurt on a bully in the prison courtyard, especially when the other inmates recognize and appreciate her for it.
  • Note that when Sun utterly destroys the bully and all of her backup and the guards come in to break up the fight, two of them have to drag out the bully... and four of them have to restrain Sun.

Episode 09: Death Doesn't Let You Say Goodbye

Episode 10: What Is Human?

• Less physical than emotional, but Lito deciding that he doesn't care about being exposed as homosexual, and professing his love to Hernando to the barkeeper, later followed by casually shrugging off Joaquin's threats.
• Wolfgang's entire revenge plot against his family, especially blowing up Steiner's car with a rocket. There's No Kill like Overkill, indeed.
  • Anticipating Steiner's actions enough to do things like plant a gun underneath his own car, and especially bring a rocket launcher in the first place is a moment of awesome in itself. Wolfgang is more than just a criminal: he's a smart criminal.
• Wolfgang helping Lito fight Joaquin and easily take him down. The first punch from Wolfgang makes Joaquin's nose bloody and his punches don't phase Wolfgang at all or he counters them easily.

Episode 11: Just Turn the Wheel and the Future Changes

• Sun punching lights out of her Jerkass brother and swearing to make him pay for murdering their father]], if only for the Catharsis Factor.
• Kala standing up for her own principles, with a little help from Will, and sufficiently intimidating the religious zealots who tried to make her into a symbol of their own cause.
• "Call me a bitch one more time and I'll kill you."
• "Van Damme always comes back." Indeed he does, even when facing off, unarmed, against an entire gang of vengeance-obsessed gangsters who Would Hurt a Child.
  • The conclusion to the entire car chase ends with Capheus spin-kicking the leader of the gangsters using the Van Damn. The camera even lingers on the word "Damn" after the fight is over—which is exactly what most of the viewers were thinking at that moment!
  • When the gangsters are about to catch up with Capheus, Will simply says "Nobody's gonna die", and throws in his cop skills to keep Capheus safe. And it is awesome indeed.

Episode 12: I Can't Leave Her

• It doubles as a tearjerker, but when Riley escapes out of an upside down van by punching through the glass windows while on a snowy mountain in the freezing cold after giving birth by herself next to her dead husband is awesome. It's a short lived Action Mom moment.
• Will realizes that Steiner's father is wearing a Kevlar vest by the sound the bullet makes, and that the bodyguard's gun is gone; he simply puts a hand on Wolfgang's shoulder in order to make him more careful.
• Kala making a BOMB out of kitchen supplies (and this was just from the cabinet that happened to be nearest to her!) to help Wolfgang in his attack on his criminal family.
• When everyone comes together to save Riley, it's immensely satisfying to see everyone put their specific skills to use.
  • Kala making a drug cocktail, with almost no time, in order to both wake Riley up from her drugged stupor and not kill her in the process. Do not mess with a chemist.
  • Amanita is as crucial to Riley's rescue as any of the sensates. She points out the fog in the mountains. The fog bought Will and Riley the few extra minutes they needed to get away.
  • When Whispers threatens: "You won't kill us all", Will says "I know someone who will" and switches to Wolfgang, who casually (and with a smug smile) drives into Whispers' helicopter, forcing him to retreat.
• After being forced to relive the worst day of her life and losing the will to go on, Riley (with some assurance from Will) manages to get herself together and safely escapes Whispers with Will in tow.

Season 2

Episode 01: Happy Fucking New Year

• The quick and witty comeback by Amanita towards a hostile Agent Bendix questioning her.
• After being caught off-guard by the pictures of him and Lito being released while he's in the middle of class, Hernando simply takes a moment to compose himself and then calmly incorporates the pictures into his lecture, turning the words of a student who mocked it as "shit packer porn," right back at him by arguing that art critiques often just reveal things about what the critic wants to see. Where one person might see porn, another can see a beautiful expression of love.
• Sun is confronted with a trio of thugs her brother hired to kill her. The entire cluster is promptly at her side, Riley calling for help and everyone else assessing the situation, followed by Lito using his acting skills to buy Will time to pick her handcuffs, then Will and Wolfgang lending their fighting chops to her already considerable talent in a complete Curb-Stomp Battle.
• The "Hallelujah" montage in the Christmas special. The simple fact that this show can provide a completely straight-faced use of one of the most infamously overplayed songs ever and actually make it work, earning every bit of emotion along the way, is a towering sign of just how well the whole thing is put together.

Episode 02: Who Am I?

• As they are both ambushed by a hostile reporter at a major arrival, Lito and Capheus swap in and out of each other's interviews— along with the rest of the cluster— to deliver an epic speech on the nature of their shared identity as well as why being true to themselves is of paramount importance. It shuts down the paparazzista at Lito's premiere, and earns Capheus a less hostile meeting with the reporter he'd dealt with.
• After Whispers taunts Will with how he's been foiling Will's attempts to use their connections to track him down, using a completely fake room, it turns out Riley's been doing the same thing on far fewer resources and to far greater effect.
  • Said resource primarily being Riley's dad, smuggling iconic goods out of Iceland and singing "Secret Agent Man" in the middle of Amsterdam.
• And then the cluster actually does manage to track Whispers down, and get the name of his boss (and him!) in the bargain. Whispers' epic Oh, Crap! expression is a tremendously satisfying sight after he was so smug throughout all of Season 1.

Episode 03: Obligate Mutualisms

• Sun is removed from her cell by three men dressed as prison guards and taken deep into the bowels of the prison where the cameras have been disabled. The rest of the cluster quickly realise they're actually men sent by Joong-ki and immediately put their plan to break Sun out of prison into action.
  Nomi: She thinks they're gonna kill her.
  Amanita: The hell they are!
  • At one point during the fight the "guards" get a noose around Sun's neck and almost manage to strangle her which, because she's connected to them at the time, means the rest of the cluster start choking too. Cue Min-Jung, Sun's cellmate, stabbing the guy holding the rope with the broken-off handle of her mop saving Sun, and by extension the entire cluster, from a grisly death.

Episode 4: Polyphony

• As Amanita is leaving work she spots Agent Bendix watching her from a nearby car, obviously planning to tail her back to Nomi. Instead, Amanita rides her motorbike through the streets of San Francisco until he can't follow her anymore.
  Nomi: What are you going to do?
  Amanita: Lose him.

Episode 05: Fear Never Fixed Anything

• The cluster's joint "No More Holding Back" Speech as they decide to stop hiding and take the fight directly to BPO by finding other clusters, culminating in the triumphant return of "What's Up."

Episode 06: Isolated Above, Connected Below

• Lito's speech at the Pride Parade, calling himself a gay man in public for the first time and declaring he doesn't care what it costs him.
  • More importantly, unlike the interview at the premiere, where the rest of the cluster assisted, the speech in São Paulo is all Lito. The others are only watching. This is his courage.
• Hoy using the entire worldwide network of Sensates to track down Whispers. This is our biggest demonstration yet of just what a fully developed cluster is capable of.

Episode 07: I Have No Room In My Heart For Hate

• Daniela, Lito and Hernando stand up to Joaquin and Dani's parents who've come to try and convince Dani to leave. Wolfgang shows up to help Lito remind Joaquin that they already kicked his ass once and are happy to do it again if necessary.

Episode 08: All I Want Right Now Is One More Bullet

• Kala realises that Will is close to using again, so she Visits him, distracts him by chattering about her husband while putting the heroin away, taking his vitals and administering his detox meds, before (lovingly) telling him he needs to eat better and keep his focus on Whispers. A low-key bit of awesome for one of the non-action-hero sensates.
• At long last, we get to see one entire cluster go up against another. It's just as awesome as you'd expect, with both groups shifting in and out of each other and constantly trading the upper hand.
• "Bring it, bitch!" and the fire after that.

Episode 09: What Family Actually Means

• Agent Bendix storms Teagan's wedding to arrest Nomi. He's about to cuff her when Amanita realizes that he was so gung-ho on arresting her that he was unaware that her arrest warrants had been expunged. She calls him out in magnificent fashion, and when Bendix proves obstinate, Nomi's father (a high powered lawyer) threatens to ruin Bendix's career if he doesn't take his hands off of his daughter and leave. He does.
• Daniela discovers the perfect role for Lito. Lito has been released by his agency because he came out, so Daniela takes it upon herself to get him an audition. Fifty-eight minutes of phone calls (and epic bullshitting) later, and Lito has three first class tickets to Hollywood for a meeting with the film's producer.
  Daniela: Can you bring a timer? Fifty-eight minutes. [Why?] It's the longest it's ever taken me.

Episode 11: You Want A War?

• The entire fight scene to capture Joong-ki. It starts as a gunfight where Will, Wolfgang, and Sun all trade off. When they're pinned down in the garage, Kala of all people uses the slope of the floor, a few well-placed bullets, and a lighter to blow up a car and take out the guards. He breaks through the gate and Capheus takes over to grab a motorcycle, leading to a car chase ended by Wolfgang throwing rebar through the driver's window. Sun then corners him and nearly impales him through the neck before police arrive. What makes the whole scene, however, is Joong-ki's Villainous Breakdown as he gets increasingly more desperate, ending with him pleading for his life. After all he's done, the catharsis is very, very sweet.
• Whispers and Will have one final discussion, with Will bargaining for Riley's life. Whispers mocks him, saying he has no cards on the table and detailing how he will make Will feel every bit of Riley's pain as he tortures her to death. Will at first seems despondent, then grins, before revealing that it's not a visitation, he's actually there. Whispers panics as Will grabs him and starts beating him down, desperately pleading for Jonas' help before he's knocked out. Jonas tries to warn BPO, only for the cluster to arrive on his doorstep and capture him too. We end with the entire cluster (sans the captured Wolfgang) physically together for the first time, driving out of London in a BPO van with Jonas and Whispers in their custody. The tables have been thoroughly turned.
  • In "Who Am I?", Whispers mocked Will's assessment that the former was in London and claimed the "clues" he picked up on were staged to deceive him. This episode proves that Will was actually completely right and that Whispers really was in London the whole time.
  • To top it off, Will finishes the scene by grabbing Whispers by his collar and delivering this line:
    Will: You think you're hunting us? We're coming for you.

Episode 12: Amor Vincit Omnia

• Will and Capheus aren't available to give Whispers the liquid blocker shot, so Neets volunteers and needs somebody to back her up with the gun. Cue Dani taking the pistol, dropping the mag, and spinning it a few times before reloading while the others look on in awe. Dani's response? "Joaquin."
• Dani gets another in the next scene. Whispers manipulates Amanita into attacking him to steal the syringe. Dani not only spots the feint, but puts the gun under his throat and delivers an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  Dani: I know your kind. Men that mistake cruelty for strength. Living your petty little lives, so limited. We both know that if I were to pull this trigger, not a single person would shed a tear. The smallness of your kind of life is nothing to fear only to pity.

General

• Any time the Sensates get together and help each other out, it's incredibly awesome.
• The fact that every other cluster or Sensate we meet is either in line with BPO or hiding away from them; they are the only ones to fight back against Mr Whisper and BPO.