After the things going down last episode, I knew they would do one of two things… they would either continue the action and progression of the plot or they would slow to a crawl and allow the characters to think about what had happened… sadly, they went with option B. “We Will All Be Judged by the Courage of Our Hearts” is one of the slowest episodes of the series despite the noticeable ramp up in action during the last act which, surprisingly, come from my least favorite story arcs.
First, the slow stuff… everyone in this episode is depressed and sad. Therefore, it makes me depressed and sad. Wolfgang is sad because of what happened to Felix last week (incidentally, it turns out that Felix didn’t die, but is in the hospital on life support now), Kala is sad because she doesn’t want to get married (which is how the dummy has been since episode one) Lito is sad because he has his beard/friend Daniella who has gone back to her ex boyfriend Joachim so he won’t spill the beans about Lito being gay. Since Lito won’t do the right thing and come out to spare Daniella from an abusive relationship, Hernando leaves him… so he’s sad too. Will loses his job, so he’s sad. Nomi and Amanita are on the run and so they’re sad. Sun is sad because she’s in prison and it sucks, Capheus is sad because he can’t get out of the seedy criminal underworld he’s found himself in, and Riley is… actually, she seems to be the only one who’s not sad now so I’m sure something terrible is about to happen to her.
Here’s the thing, though… this show has no balance. Everyone is depressed, so the episode is depressing. The Walking Dead has the same problem sometimes. The promised progression of the overall plot seems to have stopped… everything is holding its breath.
We’re only four episodes until the end of the season and nothing is happening!
The episode isn’t terrible, but there is nothing memorable about it aside from the last act when things seem to kick into high gear again with Nomi and Amanita separating when the authorities come after them headed by the mysterious Doctor Matheson. Nomi must escape thanks to Sun’s kickboxing, Will’s police knowledge, and Capheus’ driving… it’s a genuinely exciting sequence.
The most surprising thing happens in, of all things, the normally boring Kala story as Papa-ji is stabbed to death in front of her outside of Genisha’s temple in, what’s I’m sure is another example of religious love. Hey, I was pretty shocked but, then again, since this story has been boring the heck out of me for eight episodes, I guess Kala taking a huge fart would have shocked and amazed me.
“We Will All Be Judged by the Courage of Our Hearts” wasn’t horrible thanks to the last act save, but it does continue the trend of Sense8 meandering and wasting time. I’m beginning to think this series should have been six episodes instead of twelve.
Jason Gaston 