What's Your Superpower?

With the second season of Sense8 — the popular Netflix show — out this month, here’s an exclusive chat with the cast from the show’s sets in Seoul, South Korea.

- Arnesh Ghose

“KIMCHI IS VERY SPICY!” laughs Tuppence Middleton, who plays Riley Blue, an Icelandic DJ on Sense8, Netflix’s science fiction drama by Lana and Lily Wachowski about eight strangers who are linked by a mental and emotional connection, making them able to sense and communicate with each other, as well as to share their knowledge, language and skills. We are hanging out on the sets of the show, outside Seoul, at a sprawling cemetery in the mountains. We can see Lana directing Doona Bae (who plays Sun Bak) in a fight sequence. It all feels a tad surreal. I am watching the Wachowskis in action while sitting in a room full of outrageously good-looking people from various corners of the world, who star in an equally mind bending show which has taken global audiences by a storm.

India has also been represented on the show — albeit confusingly, and ridden with stereotypes — by Tina Desae (one of the sensates), Purab Kohli  and Anupam Kher. Unfortunately, the Indian chapter is hardly the show’s crux, and doesn’t add much to the show’s running narratives of sexuality, gender identity, organised crime, racial violence and misogyny, amongst others. I personally love Middleton’s character, for the sheer grit and strength of will she displays, and Lito Rodriguez, the closeted Mexican movie star, played by Miguel Angel Silvestre.