Sense8 season 1 was a highlight of Netflix’s first year of original programming. Created by the Wachowski sisters and Babylon 5’s J. Michael Straczynski, it played like nothing else on TV that year.

Sense8 is the story of a cluster; eight people scattered across the world but linked by a single mind. A Nairobi driver, an Icelandic DJ, a Chicago cop, a Mexican film star, an Indian chemist, a German thug, a San Francisco hacktivist and a Korean business woman mixed martial artist. None of them have anything in common except a shared mind and a common threat; an organization dedicated to hunting and killing Sensates. An organization that already know where one of them is…

[NB Netflix count the Christmas special as episode 1 of Season 2 – but this is the first new episode of 2017]

There’s a trend I’m starting to see this year in genre TV that’s immensely pleasing; the acceptance that every season is someone’s first. iZombie did a fantastic job of welcoming new viewers at the start of its third season and now, Sense8 has done the same thing. In the space of ten minutes, a new viewer gets everything they need to know:what the Sensates are, who’s chasing them, what the stakes are and how they interact.

Much of the episode follows Will and Riley, on the run from Whispers and constantly trying to outwit him. There’s a brilliant sequence which is essentially observational Judo; Will and Whispers using what they see (or think they see) to control the senses of the other. There’s another, chilling moment that seems to show us just what Whispers and his organization want. In each case the series trusts us and, in each case, the weight and drama of the scene is driven by the top notch performances. This is a show that can make two people talking exciting and that’s a mark of great writing.

Elsewhere, Capheus gets a (possible) girlfriend and a brilliant, and moving, crossover sequence with Lito. The two men find themselves in similar situations at the same time and the way they tag in for each other is the show at its very best and its very simplest; two people with nothing in common, helping each other out.

Better still, the show moves Nomi and Neets, played by Jamie Clayton and Freema Agyeman, into the driving seat. They’re leading the charge to track Whispers down and their combination of rock solid detective work and hacking gives the show a narrative spine it sometimes lacked in season one.

The other Sensates get slightly short shrift this week. Wolfie is starting to find the crown of Berlin hangs heavy. Sun is at peace in prison although not for long. Kala is dealing with the political ambitions of her extended family and Capheus is still trying to figure out whether he’s famous, infamous or both. They’ll undoubtedly get their moments in the spotlight as the season progresses though.

But even without them there is a LOT going on here, leading to a series highlight closing sequence which sees Will and Nomi win a massive victory in the war with Whispers. Again, it’s nothing more than people talking. Again, it’s edge of the seat stuff.

Verdict: Sense8 is unique. It’s a hopeful, high concept SF series which is a little superhuman, a little action thriller and almost entirely a story about eight extraordinary ordinary people. It’s first season suffered a little from getting the massive scale and premise on screen. Based on ‘Who Am I?’ that’s a problem season 2 is not going to have. The Sensates are fighting back. And God help anyone who stands in their way. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart