Hello, sensies! Welcome to my first episode by episode guide. In anticipation for the special coming out next year, I will be breaking down every episode of Sense8 Season 2; providing my interpretation of each scene among theories, parallels and meta’s I picked up along the way. Hope you enjoy!

As always, I will be writing you the length of a book. Sorry not sorry.

*This will be my longest post since it is a 2 hour, special episode.

Part 1/11

AKA “The Christmas Special”

ACT I - Scene 1:



-Sense8 Season 2 opens the same exact way that Season 1 ended: with the entire cluster together. We hear Avicii’s “Feeling Good”, which ushers in a new dawn and a new day. But before they all arrive on screen, we see Kala swimming alone in the Positano ocean. She is on her honeymoon with Rajan.

Side Note: Let’s quickly go over the current time frame: Given the fact that we know Season 1 took place during the month of July (Will & Wolfgang have their Independence Day scene in episode 1x10 which, for non-Americans, is on July 4th) and the fact that we know the cluster’s birthday is a month later on August 8th (which we see take place later on in this episode), means that there must have been about a 2-3 week time jump in between seasons, give or take; just enough time for Kala to get hitched to Rajan (off camera) during her rescheduled wedding date. At this point in time, the cluster has only been connected for a grand total of about 1 month. That’s it!



-Before the rest of the cluster appears in the ocean, Kala swims into the arms of Wolfgang. It isn’t even 30 seconds into the very first episode of the season, yet the first image we see after two whole years of waiting for the premier (for some of us) is Kalagang swimming towards one another with a longing look of desire. This is to remind the viewer that they cannot avoid each other no matter how hard they try and that they are picking up exactly where they left off by constantly being drawn to one another for a reason (their love is inevitable). To begin the second half of the story with the two of them locking eyes was an extremely satisfying moment for me. It set the tone for their relationship throughout the rest of the season.

-After a brief moment alone, the cluster joins them in their swim. Throughout 12 whole hours of Season 1 we only saw the 8 of them together in one shot at the very end of the season (when Riley & Will were escaping Iceland on Sven’s boat). So opening up the new season with them all united shows us that their connection to one another has only been growing stronger. It is a foreshadowing moment that once again sets the tone for the rest of the season, exploring the bond that has developed between the members of this special sensate cluster.

-During this particular montage (and there are a lot of them), the cluster is linked through each of their individual connections to water in that very moment:



Kala: Swimming in the Positano ocean

Wolfgang: Drinking vodka at a bar

Riley & Will: Cooking up liquid heroin

Sun: Sweating in solitary confinement

Capheus: Carrying a large jug of water

Nomi: Hand-washing laundry with Neets

Lito: Taking a dip in his now-fixed hot tub

-Towards the end of the scene, Kala and Wolfgang (as they tend to do often) branch off from the rest of the cluster in order to have a moment to themselves once again. See how often they separate from the cluster here [x]

-These two have been linked many times in the past in relation to water: Both Kala & Wolfgang had water surrounding their first biological birth (Kala was born during a downpour and Wolfgang had a water birth). Wolfgang stopped Kala’s wedding while he was swimming naked in a pool. They also had their Season 1 conversation during the downpour in Berlin (which happens in episode 1x07 W.W.N.Double.D; which is totally my episode). So this scene is yet another homage to their link with this particular element, foreshadowing the viewer to watch for water signs when it comes to the two of them.

-Towards the end of the scene, Wolfgang seems to be trying to push Kala out of his head. No matter what they do, their bond is inevitable and he can’t escape her. But even so, he swims away from her as she heads back up to the surface; pushing her back towards Rajan (who he currently believes can make her happier than he can). Wolfgang sure can be stubborn, can’t he?

-We see Kala’s brand new diamond wedding band next to her giant diamond engagement ring when she climbs out of the water and onto the boat with Rajan, affirming that the knot has officially been tied. For me personally, my heart immediately dropped when I saw it even though I knew it was coming (I guess that’s what happens when you’re Kalagang TRASH).

-At the very end of the “Feeling Good” montage, right before Riley injects Will with heroin, he sees Angelica floating in the ocean as well; reminding him that he is now mirroring the same exact struggle of the final days of his sensate mother’s life. He has become addicted to heroin just as she was and because of the similarities between their “sense experiences” with the same exact drug, Will has become more connected to her than ever even though she’s dead. Riley, who is with Will in person, seems to “share” in his high without physically injecting herself with any drugs.

Side Note - The cluster swimming in the ocean was the very last scene they ever filmed during Season 2 production. It was originally shot months earlier in Positano, but just so happened to be filmed right after Aml left the cast and right before Toby joined, so they needed to re-shoot in a different location in order to include Capheus. The scene was filmed off the coast of the beautiful archipelago island of Malta. It’s pretty cool and ironic that the very last shot they ever filmed was used as the very first shot of the new season.

Scene 2:

-Amanita is working at City Lights, which is the same bookstore in San Francisco that she has worked at since before she ever even met Nomi. She is reading a book about psychic links which covers stories of magic, witchcraft, ghosts and conspiracy theories (sure sounds like my kind of book!) This shows the audience that she has been researching the sensate bond as much as possible, trying to arm herself with as much other-worldly knowledge as she can. Amanita has never questioned Nomi & her situation but instead has taken the entire scenario on as her own (I like to think of her as the honorary 9th member of the cluster). She mentions that her mother Grace has always been into this kind of thing, which we know already from meeting her in Season 1.

-The door opens and in walks Agent Jeffrey Bendix. For everyone who doesn’t know, this is a HUGE homage to Agent Smith of The Matrix Trilogy (another Wachowski masterpiece). He talks like him and dresses like him, even wearing the same kind of shades that eerily resembles the turn-of-the-millennium, epic, antagonistic character from the films.

-We find out Amanita’s last name: it’s Caplan!

-Agent Bendix has been assigned by the FBI to hunt down Nomi and bring her in because she is a “wanted felon”, therefore he continuously harasses Amanita about her whereabouts. The only reason there are warrants out for Nomi’s arrest in the first place is because she originally put them out on herself. She ran away from the hospital in Season 1 when Dr. Metzger tried to perform the neural graft procedure (lobotomy) on her. (After passing out at the Pride Parade because of the eye contact/connection she made with Jonas, the hospital gave her a brain scan and BPO was notified that she was sensate). Whispers almost caught her at Grace’s apartment in Season 1 as well but, with the help of the cluster, she escaped from that too. She also discovered Niles Bulger, the lobotomized sensate that Whispers jumped into to kill Dr. Metzger in Season 1 (Nomi even coins the phrase “Bulger’d” for sensates who have had the procedure done). Because she found out first hand what Whispers & BPO are capable of, she had to send an official BOLO out on herself (Be On the Look Out) in order to throw BPO off from her tracks. We also have to remember that BPO is a government-funded organization that obviously holds a lot of power over other government-funded organizations like the FBI. They are the ones who have assigned Bendix to bring her in since Whispers currently has his hands full with Will. As far as I am aware, Bendix doesn’t even seem to know about sensates or the sensate world at all. He is just “doing his job” by following the orders given to him by his superiors. It almost makes me feel bad for him. Almost. This is obviously not the first time Neets has had to deal with him either, as she brushes him off and puts him in his place with her legal knowledge. Take that, Agent Bent Dick! (and I wish I could take credit for that nickname but I can’t, because Neets totally comes up with it herself later on).

-Nomi is listening in via an earpiece and she has eyes on Amanita via a security camera that is installed behind the front desk. “What a douche.” Right, Nom?! We find out that Nomi is still bouncing her cell signal from Australia which, again, is a nod to Season 1 because of the BOLO she sent out on herself using Will’s police codes and her awesome hacker skills. The BOLO read: “last seen boarding a plane to Australia.”

Side Note: Amanita has a cute black & white elephant sticker stuck to the back of her computer. Hi Kala!

Scene 3:

-Sun, who has been in solitary confinement since attacking her brother Joong-Ki in the prison visiting room in Season 1, is deep in thought. What else is there to do in solitary confinement anyways? We see that some time has been passing by, maybe a few days or so, and Sun cannot stop thinking about everything Joong-Ki has done (like hiring someone to murder their father in cold blood and then staging it as a suicide). She is consumed by her thoughts and releases stress by working out in her cell; doing Thai Chi and practicing her Martial Arts skills. After a warning, the guard gives her “another two weeks” in solitary for kicking the wall of her cell.

Scene 4:

-Wolfgang is visiting with Felix in the hospital, who is still recovering from Steiner’s shotgun blast from a few weeks prior. He has been in a coma ever since it happened and hasn’t woken up yet. Wolfgang immediately says out loud: “It feels like I’m hitting a wall…” which is exactly what Sun was just doing in the previous scene. His heart is heavy and he talks about how he made a mess of things after murdering his uncle, cousin, and all of their men. He says he was trying to fix everything but just fucked it up instead, costing him “the only thing he has ever really wanted”. On queue, Kala walks by because she is the only thing he has ever really wanted… and yea, fucking kill me now.

-Kala is shopping in Positano. As soon as she sees Wolfgang, her face lights up. She is obviously excited that he has appeared since it has probably been a few weeks with barely any contact between them since he massacred his family. He thinks she deserves better and he wants her to be happy so he’s been avoiding her. Instead of facing the situation, he drops his head with a look of defeat then turns and walks away. Kala’s face drops as well, disappointed that he is avoiding her once again. Oh, the fucking angst with these two I swear!

Scene 5:

-We are introduced to Toby Onwumere as the new Capheus by a meta introduction. Jela & Capheus discuss how “faces change, but not the heart,” then Capheus blames his new barber shop for his new look. For everyone who doesn’t know, I have a personal obsession with Toby so I more than approve of the re-cast. Check my Toby Onwumere Appreciation Post here [x]

Scene 6:

-My love, Hernando! Throughout all of Season 1, I remember when we would try and imagine what Hernando did with his every-day life. With an open, creative mind such as his, we knew he had to be some kind of artist but finding out he is an Art History professor was extremely satisfying. It is the PERFECT profession for our favorite guy. We also find out his last name: Fuentes. I could listen to him talk about art and beauty all day long. I could listen to him put assholes like his prejudice, judgmental student in their place all day long too. Go Hernando!

-We see that Joaquin came through on his threat and leaked the photos of Lito & Hernando being intimate to the press. Lito says the photos are all over the internet. Hernando braces for however Lito is going to react, but to my surprise he immediately faces the truth and assures Hernando that they are in this together. “Here we go…” - - - “Here we go…” Their love is so pure, I can’t.

Scene 7:

-Blueski is asleep in bed at their first safe house. We know they left Iceland in the Season 1 finale but at this point, the viewer still doesn’t know where they have relocated to (which turns out to be Amsterdam). While sleeping, Will is connecting to Angelica and is reliving one of her past memories. Because she is his sensate mother and he & the cluster have a special bond with her, he is actually able to interact with her during these memories even though she’s dead; mostly because of his deep connection to her sense experience with heroin. He sees her in a green, wooded forest area at first but then is transported to the abandoned church in Chicago, where she killed herself. They are shooting up heroin together and she asks him “You were a cop?” He responds by saying “I am a cop.” It is very important to remember that Will never loses sight of this throughout the entire season (with the exception of one depressing moment in a much later episode, after his father dies). Just because he is on the run, doing drugs and thinking & acting like a criminal, does not mean he is one. He is being hunted down for the sole reason of who he is as a human being and he has been forced into this situation. No matter how long it takes, he can’t let Whispers make him feel like he’s a criminal when he most certainly is not.



-We find out Angelica was an ecologist (which is the study of the relationships between living things and their environment). We knew she was some kind of scientist but now we know the specifics. We are reminded of the struggle she faced when she was still alive after she tells Will that she used to see so much beauty in the world but that once she was connected to Whispers, she was only able to see what he sees; and knowing Whispers, that probably wasn’t very pleasant. We are reminded of how she ultimately wasn’t able to live under the weight of whatever it was that she had done while working for BPO (we find out the specifics later). She warns Will that Whispers will find him as well, just like he found her, and she encourages him yet again to take his life and “end it”. Angelica seems to think that death is the only answer; the only way out. Will imagines himself going through with it and killing himself (because he is reliving Angelica’s memory of when she actually pulled the trigger), but he awakens out of his nightmare/memory to the comfort of Riley’s arms instead. And man, seeing a grown adult male be the little spoon is just…. everything. Grown ass men need comfort and protection too!

-Although it breaks my heart to see Will in this drug-induced stupor, I understand exactly why he must do what he has been doing. With no access to blocker pills yet, and little-to-no knowledge about what it even means to be a sensate, they are working with what they got here. It has only been about a month or so since Angelica had rebirthed them into their cluster, and they are still trying to figure things out. Until they are armed with concrete facts and knowledge about who they are up against, they need to evade BPO and find out as much as they can before they can make any moves against them. Unfortunately, the only way to do that at the moment is through the use of heroin (or any inhibitor drug for that matter, but heroin is the easiest to get access to while on the run).

Scene 8:

-Sun is escorted into the visiting room of the prison. Her lawyer Mr. Chen from Season 1 has been replaced by someone else (Mr. Lee) and he explains that this is because her original lawyer was threatened by Joong-Ki. It was awfully brave for Mr. Lee to take over Sun’s case instead (he says it’s because he believes in the law and wants to help Sun because he knows she’s innocent) but he better watch his back. Joong-Ki is on a mission to take his sister out because she is the only one who knows the truth about what he has done. He doesn’t care who gets in his way because without any hesitation, he would easily take them out too.

-Without Sun’s father’s testimony, her appeal has been rejected by the courts. Mr. Lee wants to subpoena Joong-Ki but Sun urges him to leave him alone because when she gets out, she “wants him right where she can find him”.

Scene 9:

-Neets pulls up to the San Francisco Women’s Shelter on her motorcycle where she and Nomi have been hiding out. She runs into her friend Lola, who tells her that Bendix had shown up earlier to harass them about Nomi once again. Neets still has her ear piece in and Nomi hears the whole conversation, telling Amanita that this is what it’s like to have voices in your head. “I heard that.”

-Lito appears to Nomi just as she’s calling him a Drama Queen. “I heard that.” (I really love when they tie two scenes together like that). He wonders out loud why he always ends up with her whenever he feels scared and I definitely think it has something to do with the fact that Nomi is the only one from the cluster who knows what it feels like to come out. Since Lito is currently going through this milestone, he knows Nomi would understand the most; therefore, the sensate bond leads him directly to her.

-They discuss the conversation they had in the art museum during Season 1 when Nomi told Lito the story of her childhood and what it means to accept yourself for who you are. Lito says it was exactly what he needed to hear. I just love the fact that they brought this up because it is one of the most powerful scenes from the entire show and it resonates on such a deep level. I have seen that conversation play out between the two of them TEN TIMES yet I still cry like a baby every single time.

-Lito proceeds to show Nomi what he is currently going through at home, as some asshole in Mexico City has hatefully spray-painted the word “faggot” on the side of his apartment building.



Scene 10:

-Kala becomes connected to Lito’s experience because it is so intense. He is feeling trapped in that moment and so is she. In my opinion, Kala has felt trapped in her situation since the very beginning. Rajan wonders if he’s the reason she feels this way but she immediately says no and attempts to explain her sensate bond to him instead, but it doesn’t exactly come out right. She really seems to want to tell him everything about what’s going on with her but she worries that he will think she’s crazy or that he won’t understand. I become frustrated with Kala in this moment because I know for a fact that one of the reasons she is feeling trapped is indeed because of her marriage. But this girl could talk her way out of anything if she set her mind to it, so she is constantly trying to convince herself that she did the right thing by marrying him. Social pressure and the need to give everyone else what they want instead of what she wants herself has left her trapped in a situation that doesn’t make her as happy as she thought it would. The entire relationship between the two of them is forced and personally, it makes me feel uncomfortable. There are varying opinions about this marriage and trust me, I have heard them all. I completely understand how it ended up this way, especially in regards to how different Indian culture is from the western culture I grew up in when it comes to marriage in particular, but I still walk away from it feeling frustrated; mostly about the fact that she actually went through with the wedding when she could have put a stop to it before it began. But Kala is living under the constant strain of societal pressure and so far, she has succumbed to it all. Now that it’s too late to turn back, she must give all of her focus and attention to her husband and see if they truly belong together or not (which is obviously the latter but Kala needs to discover that on her own, in her own time).

-Rajan & Kala have not had sex yet, confirming she is still a virgin. The fact that he went behind her back to gossip with her mother about it shows that he doesn’t know her as well as he should, as he oversteps his boundaries with her constantly. But as soon as he sees her reaction and how upset she is about it, he knows he has messed up and he immediately begins apologizing for his actions. This is why I like Rajan so much.

-The controversial “hateful words” montage begins and each sensate who “shares” with Lito in his car sees a word that is offensive to them as an individual in place of the word Lito sees. I have heard varying opinions about this scene, with some people being appalled at the fact that the word “pig” was used as an equivalent to the N-word but I completely understand what was trying to be done here. The words weren’t being used as an equivalent, the emotions were. “Pig” bothers Will just as much as “bitch” bothers Sun, or “Nazi” bothers Wolfgang, or “slut” bothers Riley. It isn’t supposed to be a comparison between the weight of the words on a general scale (because then there would be no comparison at all). It’s supposed to be a representation of the fact that they all know how it feels to be called a name that is offensive to them as individuals. It is a shared emotion, not a particular black & white kind of situation like pinpointing the differences between how offensive one word is compared to the next. There are grey areas here and Lana does a beautiful job in showing the juxtaposition between each individual scenario.

-Lito & Kala connecting during this scene is quite intense and it gets Kala pretty riled up and upset about all of the injustices her cluster has been facing throughout each of their lifetimes.

-We jump back to Lito as Daniela tells him & Hernando to come over to her place so they can escape the press. She says that they took her in when she left Joaquin and now she wants to return the favor. Dani is such an important part of Lito’s story line and it is easy to see how unconditional her love is for both of these men. She would die for them, no questions asked, and knowing this makes my love for her grow even deeper.

-We jump back to Rajan as he asks Kala if she still has second thoughts about their marriage. She responds by saying “No. I told you they were done… and they are.” She even gives herself a little head-nod, as if she is trying to assure herself, but actions speak louder than words and as soon as the words escape her lips, Wolfgang appears right next to her; contradicting everything she had just said. Her second thoughts are no where near done.

Scene 11:

-Capheus & Jela work on repairing the Van Damn. Jela confronts him about the events from Season 1 (when he saved Silas Kabaka from the Superpower gang) since they have never actually talked about what happened that day. He reveals that he has known Capheus since he was 10 years old and he knows for a fact that mixed martial arts is not one of his skills so he wants to know how he defeated the Superpower gang on his own. This is when Capheus finally reveals his sensate bond to Jela. He does not tell him about the cluster in particular but he tells him about the spirit of Jean-Claude-Korean-Lady, explaining his connection to Sun. They talk about how both of their fathers were murdered and that they have that, along with many other things including their birthday, in common. I really love their friendship because Jela is an unconditional friend just like Dani, Amanita, Bug, Felix, Diego & Hernando. Plus, this scene is great because Capheus can always put a smile on Sun’s face, no matter what.

Scene 12:



-Nomi & Amanita are painting each other’s toe nails and Neets is talking about the photos of Lito & Hernando that were leaked to the press. She asks “why can’t the rest of the world see what we see? It’s so hot!” Well Neets, that is the million dollar question, isn’t it?!

-Nomi “visits” with Lito at Daniela’s apartment and they are doing the same exact thing: Lito, Hernando & Dani are all wearing pink bath robes while they paint each other’s toe nails, drink margaritas, and watch Legally Blonde. Lito gives Nomi a smile and the stress of their day has finally settled down.

Scene 13:

-Wolfgang exits his apartment on high alert. He inserts a toothpick into the door frame to serve as an alarm, which will let him know whether or not someone has opened the door and entered into his apartment while he was gone. Sun immediately senses his nerves & “visits” with him from her cell. She pops up on him for the sole reason of wondering if he is okay. She knows that he has been waiting for some sort of gang war retaliation after what he did to his uncle and cousin so she is simply just checking up on him to see if he needs her assistance with anything. Fucking adorable, isn’t it?

-Wolfgang says that someone has been following him. When Sun wonders if it’s the cops, he says that they made it clear that they didn’t give a shit about the shooting. He basically did them a favor by taking so many criminals off the street and he is the least of their worries. He isn’t in fear of the law, he’s in fear of whoever has been following him (who we find out later was Volker Bohm, King of the Western Berlin Kingdom, because he’s trying to recruit him).

-I need more Sun & Wolfgang in my life! The smirks they give each other before they leave is just everything. They have such a deep understanding of each other because they are definitely the most similar of the cluster.

Scene 14:

*A very important scene in regards to information about the Sense8 Universe.

-Will, who is physically sitting in his & Riley’s current safe house, “visits” with Whispers who’s blocker pill is finally wearing off. Will is in between heroin doses, in a hazy mostly-conscious kind of state, which seems to help him connect with Whispers unnoticed. He watches from afar. He sees Whispers standing on a bridge over a river, set in the green countryside of England (Stratford or Cambridge, according to Jonas). He has a little girl with him and Will instantly gets protective, knowing exactly what Whispers had done to the other little girl he knew in the past; Sara Patrell. He begins to walk towards them when Jonas appears, hopping onto his “visit” to join him. He tells him “it’s not what you think,” and stops Will in his tracks.

-Whisper’s watch alarm goes off to tell him it’s time to take another blocker pill. Jonas hints that he may have done this on purpose, allowing just enough time for Will to see this moment and discover that the little girl standing next to him is actually his daughter. Maybe this was an attempt to humanize himself in the eyes of Will Gorski, to no avail. The little girl has a British accent, meaning she was raised in England and has probably resided there her whole life.

-Jonas says that Whispers fancies himself quite the family man because he loves pretending to be “one of them” (sapien). Will is hiding in the corner of Whispers’ mind, waiting for him to make a mistake and collecting intel like the good cop that he is and Jonas says he is most certainly not the first sensate to attempt to do so (but Will isn’t like other sensates because his detective skills are on point). Jonas explains that the heroin helps Will fly under the radar and go unnoticed because it makes the connection vague.

-This is when Jonas tells Will that the pills Whispers takes are indeed called “blockers” (we didn’t know the term until now) and that they cut you off from the psycellium, “temporarily turning us into them”.

Side Note - For anyone who doesn’t know, psycellium has been explained as an invisible, psychic nervous system or synaptic network that allows sensates to connect with each other. It acts like a super computer, uploading and sharing files. The term itself makes reference to mycellium, which can be found in fungi (mushrooms). Mycellium is known to connect individual fungi miles apart via a sub-surface network. This functions as an analogy for psycellium, in which each sensate’s individual self or consciousness is a small part of a larger, sub-surface consciousness that circles the globe and encompasses all human beings.

-Because of the way Jonas talks about this drug, we learn that if a sensate is on a blocker pill they are technically a sapien temporarily (which makes me wonder: if a blocker pill can cut off the psycellium and make a sensate sapien, there must be some other kind of drug that can counteract this reaction and allow sapiens to connect to the psycellium and become sensate temporarily, don’t you think?! Some accelerated form of DMT, perhaps? This is obviously yet-to-be discovered and was probably going to be the eventual endgame of this story). Once on a blocker, a sensate will have zero access to their abilities and cannot make a connection to other sensates, including those in their cluster, while they are on them. This also means that you cannot “meet” a new sensate via eye contact in real life if one or both of you is on a blocker pill in that moment.

-The new blocker that Whispers takes dissolves the connection and we can actually hear it happening through a pulsating tone that ends up severing the psycellium. Jonas & Will are pushed out of Whispers’ location and we see that Jonas is currently strapped down to a gurney, being transported to a different BPO facility in a van. He was originally being held in the states (since he was captured in Chicago) but they have now moved him overseas. My bet is that he was being brought to the Parliament BPO facility in London to be closer to Whispers, which I will discuss in later episode analyses.

IMPORTANT BPO INFORMATION: We start finding out more and more regarding BPO as the season progresses but this is the first discussion we have heard so far. Jonas says that BPO has “pits all over the world” to throw sensates into, reminding us that this is a global institution with a lot of money and power. Will continues by saying that they know BPO is receiving funding from governments all over the world but that they have very little information on who they actually are. Jonas responds “of course not, this is an organization responsible for hunting and controlling what they see as a very dangerous species.” Now we have motive: BPO is solely driven by fear. Sure, it is also driven by power, control, money and greed; but mostly by fear (more on that later). Jonas continues to explain that there are many other sensate hunters and collaborators, networks of recruiters working for BPO, but that no one -no one- is like Whispers. This reminds us to stay on high alert and remember that we can’t trust every new sensate we meet.



-Will tells Jonas about the visions he’s been having of Angelica in the woods at some kind of cabin. He immediately realizes that Will is seeing the cabin in California that he lived in with Angelica years prior. It was the first place he called home and this was the happiest time of their lives. Judging by the memory, it looks to have been about 15 years ago.

-Returning back to the subject of the Sense8 Universe, Jonas provides yet another key fact to the science behind how everything works: he says that a genetic (first) birth transfers genes from biological parent to offspring (because even sapien parents carry dormant or recessive sensorium genes) but that a sensate (second) birth -when you are awakened to your cluster- transfers sense experience and memory directly from your sensate parent. This is why Will & the cluster can still connect to Angelica even though she is dead. Everyone who was connected to her before her death is also able to tap into the psycellium and access memories of her as well (Jonas & Whispers included, and this is also why Will can still see Sara Patrell sometimes) but the connection isn’t as strong as the one Angelica has with her children, especially Will. I suspect the reason he is so close to her might have something to do with the fact that she was in Chicago, lived in Chicago, worked for BPO in Chicago, died in Chicago; and Will was always close by. When she awakened the cluster in Season 1, she was literally a few hundred feet away from Will in the abandoned church as his sensate genes were changing from dormant to active. During the rebirth, he even makes Diego pull up in the back alley of the church where Angelica first appeared to him. Little did he know that she was just inside the building, on the other side of the wall from where he stood. Later on in the season we learn (from Lila) that connections run deeper if you are physically close in proximity to one another in real life, so the connection between Will & Angelica has been strong from the get-go. When she rebirthed the cluster, the psycellium exploded out of her and spread to the others on a global scale but Will was the closest in proximity and probably the first one it reached. Plus, the fact that he is doing the same drug she was addicted to also helps the connection between the two of them tremendously since Will is connecting to Angelica’s “sense experience” with the same exact drug. He is literally experiencing everything she experienced at the same exact time as he is experiencing it for himself. No wonder it’s so intense!

-Jonas also reveals that Will and his cluster were not Angelica’s first. She had birthed another cluster years before them who were all eventually hunted down and taken out by BPO.

-Will asks Jonas about the cluster Whispers came from but Angelica is the one who shows up to answer since Jonas has been injected with some sort of blocker or medication that knocks him unconscious. The injection is made up of a clear, yellow fluid that we end up seeing more of later on in other episodes. My guess is that this is a super-blocker that not only cuts you off from the psycellium (therefore your cluster) but also knocks you on your ass as you lay unconscious for God knows how long. When Angelica responds about Whispers’ cluster, she says to Will “They’re all dead… In his sleep, he still talks to them,” which really peaked my interest. I want to find out more about the cluster Whispers is from. What makes him such a sociopath? Was his cluster like that as well? Did he have anything to do with their deaths? These are all questions that could have been answered with future seasons, which hopefully we will still get some day.

Scene 15:

-Nomi & Neets are in bed reading more books about psychic links and connections. Amanita is reading one that is ingeniously named “Being Human Being” and it is written by none other than Professor Kolovi himself. Although this is the very first time we are hearing his name, we find out more about him as the season progresses. He is definitely a key player in this game and the fact that he is brought up in Episode 1 leaves room for a quick foreshadowing moment. Amanita says that Kolovi cites Freud’s theory of pre-language communication in his book, suggesting that the psychic synaptic field (psycellium) could possibly explain a lot of things that happen in the world; like how scientific breakthroughs happen at the same exact time in different locations across the globe. This is actually a link to Season 1 Episode 1 when Nyx explains to Riley that the molecule DMT is part of an eco-biological synaptic network. DMT has played a big role in this show since the very beginning so there have definitely been more instances in which it has come up.

*I’ve written entire posts about DMT in the past. See here [x]

-Amanita mentions that her mother Grace is currently trying to set up an appointment for them to meet with her anthropologist friend so they can ask her scientific questions about the human species.

Scene 16:

-Capheus & Jela continue to work on the Van Damn. Just as they think they’ve been successful, the engine sparks and the beloved matatu catches on fire. Jela & Capheus escape just in time and the Van Damn blows up behind them. I think this entire scene is actually just a metaphor for “out with the old, in with the new”. Bye bye Aml, hello Toby!

Scene 17:

-Sun sits in her cell and sees a guard approach her door. She looks up and to her surprise, Soo-Jin walks in. She says that she, Lina & Min-Jung all pooled their money together and bribed the guard to allow the visit because it is Sun’s birthday and she shouldn’t be alone.

-This means it is officially August 8th, 2016. About 2 months have passed since the very beginning of this Sense8 story. It’s so crazy to think that our favorite cluster has only known each another for this short amount of time but I guess if you are literally inside one another’s heads and inside one another’s bodies, becoming extensions of yourself, then it doesn’t really matter how long you’ve known each other anyways because no one could ever know you better than you know yourself.

-The cluster gathers in their individual locations across the world to celebrate their shared birthday:

Sun: Celebrates with Soo-Jin in prison & then later does Thai Chi with the rest of the cluster.

Riley & Will: Arrive to a new safe house which is totally an upgrade from the last one. Riley surprises him by blindfolding him and lighting candles (she’s so romantic!) They take a bath together in the retro copper tub.

Kala: Has dinner in Positano with Rajan. He has thrown her a birthday party on the beach, complete with a DJ included.

Capheus: Arrives to his surprise birthday party which is thrown by Jela, his mother and the people of Kibera (his neighborhood in Nairobi, Kenya).

Lito: Celebrates in his pink robe with Dani & Hernando, who have baked him a cake (notice the “28″ candle, showing the cluster’s age: 8/8/88). After having cake, the trio heads out dancing for a night on the town.

Wolfgang: Goes dancing by himself at a club where he seems to know a few people. But Wolfie is forever a loner (minus Felix) and celebrates on his own.

Nomi: Sneaks out to have a picnic sex-nic with Amanita, hoping Bendix won’t catch them in the act. This is when Amanita comes up with the fabulous Bent Dick nickname. “Are you really going to let Agent Bent Dick ruin our fun?” - - - “Hell no.”

-Will asks Riley how she has access to all of these safe houses and she says that she knows about a lot of them through touring as a DJ, but that her friend Vincent owns that particular building. She also says that Vincent is the one who has been helping them with the drugs and Will wonders if he should be jealous.

Side Note - There is a really great view of Riley’s “8″ infinity tattoo on the back of her neck in this scene for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet!

-The cluster parties and spends time with their loved ones.

-Rajan gives Kala an excessive diamond necklace with earrings to match.

-The old woman from Capheus’ bus route (the same woman who rode with him to fight the Superpower gang in Season 1 in order to get her wedding ring back) gives him a brand new, grey suit jacket as a gift. Silas Kabaka buys him a brand new Van Damn matatu, which Amondi picked out herself. Jela adorably freaks out over it and I didn’t think I could love Paul Ogola more - but alas, I do. The first thing I notice tho? Capheus’ mother Shiro’s teeth! It seems the first thing Silas has done for Capheus & his family after providing AIDS medication for Shiro is to send her to the dentist for a much-needed cleaning :) Or rather, a much-needed replacement. She’s definitely looking a lot healthier and she’s more beautiful than ever!

-Soo-Jin gives Sun a hand drawn picture of her and her dog, who is a Jindo. Sun, with her soft lovable heart, immediately bursts into tears while she embraces her beautiful friend.

-While Will & Riley take their bath, Riley gives him a shave. They talk about how they can hear music coming from the other members of their cluster: “It sounds like a radio that keeps changing stations.” Will, who seems to be slightly sober at the moment, worries that Whispers will notice that he is “visiting” with his cluster. Riley pleads with him to just let go and celebrate, so he does. They luck out because Whispers doesn’t seem to notice that Will is “visiting” with his cluster. He is either busy at the time or possibly sleeping. They somehow dodge that bullet and get a moment of freedom to celebrate together.

-The epic cluster birthday scene ensues in which Kala & Wolfgang can’t keep their hands off of each other. This entire montage brought such joy to my heart and I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face! Each one of these montages is like it’s own MTV Music Video, am I right?

Side Note - Have you seen the extended Mexico City dance scene yet? Because if not, you’re totally missing out! See it here [x]

-At the end of the dance scene, Kala & Wolfgang break away from the rest of the cluster yet again. Wolfgang suddenly realizes that Kala is actually dancing with Rajan and not with him, so he gets jealous (probably because he can read her mind and knows she is planning to have sex with Rajan later that night) so he leaves the dance floor, visually upset. He can’t bare to see her with him and this ultimately ends the cluster’s birthday “visit” with one another.

Scene 18:

-After the celebrations are over, Sun returns to her cell as the rest of the cluster returns back to their individual lives too. Kala is the only one left behind with Sun and she doesn’t understand why she is still there. Sun gives her a side eye look like “come on Kala, we all know how this works by now,” but Kala seems to think it works inconsistently for her, proving that she is still pretty naive about the connection. The point is that the psycellium is NEVER inconsistent. It knows exactly what it’s doing and the universe sends them to one another for a particular reason every single time (which is why it keeps sending you to Wolfgang, Kala. Duh).

-The reason Kala has been sent to Sun is because she is nervous about her decision to finally have sex with Rajan that night and Sun has the perfect story to help comfort her. She talks about when she lost her virginity at age 17: She had fought against an opponent named Woojin (NOT Detective Mun!) and had ultimately won the match. Afterwards, while she was crying over her father’s disapproval in the locker room, they make love. Sun explains to Kala that she learned more about herself than ever before during that one intimate moment, and that sex is nothing to fear. She says it should be honored and enjoyed because it is the reason we even exist in the first place. Kala seems to be slightly comforted after this conversation takes place but more importantly, the convo sets up for the following scene…

Scene 19:

-The sensate orgy. What. A. Cluster. Fuck.

-Lito has sex with Hernando in real life. Nomi has sex with Amanita. Will & Riley have sex in the safe house and the 4 of them ultimately end up pulling in the rest of the cluster during this gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, artful masterpiece of a sex scene. I just love how half of the cluster is only involved in the emotional aspect of the moment since they are not even physically experiencing it themselves. It shows that sex is not just a physical act. If anything, it’s largely an emotional one.

Side Note - Notice how Wolfgang and Kala are no where near each other during this entire scene? Yea, I noticed too… Lana was obviously saving the contact between them for a later episode, if you know what I’m saying :)

Scene 20:

-After experiencing the sense-orgy, Wolfgang is trying to get some real life action instead. Like I said earlier, he probably had an idea that Kala was planning to sleep with Rajan that night so he tries to nip the situation in the bud by finding his own friend to play with. He goes on a Tinder-like dating app and finds a match who is currently at the same club he’s already at. He meets up with her and they leave to go back to her apartment. (According to the credits, her name is Helga).

-Kala prepares for her night with Rajan and dresses up in skimpy, red lingerie. She looks so damn hot! When she exits the bathroom, fully expecting to see her husband there waiting for her, she sees Wolfgang banging Helga instead. This is one of my favorite scenes of all time. I couldn’t stop laughing because it was SO WELL DONE.

-Wolfie is completely un-phased by the fact that he is currently inside another woman so he gives Kala a bright smile and a cheery “hi!”. Kala is obviously appalled. How immoral!

-Wolfgang continues to talk to Kala while this other girl is literally riding him like a horse but he really isn’t into her whatsoever anyways, is he? He makes the entire scenario revolve around Kala as he is able to carry on a full conversation with her, consistently teasing her, while he is the middle of fucking someone else. If that doesn’t show you that Wolfgang has never linked emotions to sex with other women, then I don’t know what will. His emotions are still focused on Kala; completely honed in on her even though he has a real life woman literally sitting on top of him. They keep trying to place the blame on one another saying “This is your fault!” - - - “No, this is your fault!” when the fact of the matter is that it is BOTH of their faults because every single time they are in a sexual or romantic situation, they think of each other.

-When Kala finally makes it back to Rajan, her face tells us that she’s still unsure of what she’s about to attempt to do. Besides, Wolfie won’t disappear anyways. What a distraction!

Side Note - Wolfgang, who has never said Kala’s name before, calls her Mrs. Rasal instead. Ugh, the frustration!

-Kala can’t handle seeing Wolfgang in this kind of position so she climbs off of Rajan and tries to end the situation. But when Rajan tries to stop her from leaving, he falls off of the bed and lands face-front (or should I say dick-front) onto the hard, tiled floor. Ouch - - - that’s gotta hurt. He has officially taken over Neets’ nickname and becomes Mr. Bent Dick himself.

ACT II - Scene 1:

-The day after his birthday, Lito meets with his agent, his PR manager and his lawyer in the city. They are discussing the “image problem” they now have on their hands, claiming that no one can even prove the pictures of him & Hernando are real because they look “doctored”. They are even talking about suing Joaquin for releasing them to the public.

-Lito sighs and takes a good look at one of his movie posters. He turns to them and says “This is who I am and I don’t want to deny it. I’m gay. Fuck consequences.” I immediately let out a screech and cheered for him like I’ve never cheered before. Lito has taken Nomi’s advice and is accepting himself for who he truly is. I couldn’t be more proud of him as I am in this moment.

See the full GIF set here [x]

Scene 2:

-Kala & Rajan are at the hospital in Positano. They find out from a doctor with TERRIBLE bedside manner that Rajan and his penis are going to be just fine. Damn. I was disappointed to hear this. Don’t get me wrong, Rajan is a good man and I truly like him. I really do believe that Kala’s story line is necessary and that she has a lot to learn from her marriage to him in particular, but the two of them together is just all wrong… and that becomes more and more clear throughout the remainder of the season. I was hoping this would be an obstacle that would keep the two of them from being intimate but alas, it wasn’t so.

-When Kala asks the doctor if there is anything she can do, his response is actually quite interesting. He says, “Well, your husband needs love. Love cures all ills… Well, most… Well, some…” And although Kala might have love for Rajan, it will definitely not cure her ill (Wolfgang) because the situation is way more complicated than that.

Scene 3:

*This may be one of the most important scenes of the episode because it sets up Wolfgang’s story line for the rest of the season.

-A week or so after the cluster’s birthday, Wolfgang is having tea with his Auntie Elke, the widowed wife of his late uncle; Sergei Bogdanow. There is a man at her side that seems to represent the business aspect of the proposition she has for Wolfgang. He obviously worked for Sergei and even though his name is never mentioned in the scene, we know who he is thanks to the credits. His name is Fischer, the Consigliere (which is just another word for an adviser, especially an adviser to a crime boss).

-Elke understands that her husband made his own choices and that Wolfgang made him pay for them. She says, “One day I suspect you will pay a price for your choices as my husband and his son paid for theirs,” which is actually a huge foreshadowing moment for Wolfgang’s plot line. This comment also tells us that Steiner was NOT Elke’s biological son, as she calls him Sergei’s son and not hers. This helps us to understand why she doesn’t seem to be all that upset over their deaths.

-It is explained that Sergei was in power of the East Kingdom of Berlin for about 20 years (since Wolfgang was about 8 years old). He amassed a portfolio of business and property interests throughout his territory. Fischer provides a map of Berlin, which allows us to see a break down of the city and how the 4 gangs (North, South, East & West) are separated into their own locations:

*See my other posts about the Berlin Kingdoms here [x]

-Volker Bohm runs The West, Sebastian Fuchs runs The North, Khalial Dogan runs The South and Sergei Bogdanow ran The East before his untimely death at the hands of Wolfgang himself.

-It is explained that as a consequence of recent events (Wolfgang’s massacre at the end of Season 1) the Eastern Kingdom is currently without leadership, causing tension among the other 3 Kings who will eventually try and fight over the unclaimed territory. Wolfie gives zero fucks about this even though Elke says it’s his fault for pitching the city into a war by killing Sergei. But Fischer says he is in the middle of negotiations with Volker and the other Kings because he believes it isn’t too late to get things back on track and stop the war from happening. When Wolfie asks how, Elke jumps in and says “by coming home.” (he currently lives in the Western Kingdom). She wants Wolfgang to take over for Sergei and become the King of East Berlin. She says his presence would calm everything down because no matter what, he is still a Bogdanow (and we finally learn the correct way to pronounce his last name: Bog-da-noff. With my Polish & Russian decent, it seems I’ve been pronouncing it correctly this whole entire time. Yay, me!) With that, Wolfgang gets up and walks away. He has absolutely no interest in getting involved in the gang war whatsoever.

Scene 4:

-Riley & Will are asleep at their second safe house. Angelica suddenly appears to warn Will that the heroin has faded away enough to allow Whispers to make a connection with him. I believe that the reason Angelica appeared to warn him is because she, herself, was on the run from Whispers. How many times did she, herself, have to stay on high alert for a “visit” from him? How many times did she, herself, go through the same exact fear that Will is currently going through? Since Will is connected to her past “sense experiences”, and she has experienced the same exact situation with Whispers, she appears to warn Will that the same thing is happening to him. This causes him to shoot up out of bed, wide awake. Whispers stands in the corner on the room taunting him about his newfound drug habit. He says that Angelica wasted the end of her life by doing the same thing and wants to know if Will’s plan is to “kill himself with a needle in some abandoned squat in Iceland.” Immediately, Will smirks. They are most certainly not in Iceland anymore and they have managed to keep that information from Whispers by evading him for long enough. This entire scene proves what I have suspected all along; that a connection to a sensate outside of your cluster is not as deep as a connection within a cluster. It may allow you to “visit” with one another while you try to access each other’s surface-level emotions but it does not allow you to “share” with one another, or to be fully immersed inside of each other’s heads and bodies the way a cluster can when they read every single emotion, thought and detail with ease.

*See the difference between “visiting” and “sharing” here [x]

-Because of this, sensates who do not belong to the same cluster (like Will & Whispers) are able to manipulate each other by using a multitude of diversion techniques. They may not be able to straight up lie to each other, but they sure can manipulate situations to their own benefit (see Lila Facchini). This exchange between Whispers & Will allows us to realize that Will has figured this out. He knows that Whispers can only access so much information, as long as they remain vague about their whereabouts.

-Whispers continues to taunt Will but two can play at this game. Will’s snarky attitude gives me life. He is such a damn good cop.

-When Will asks Milton where he is (which we find out is actually Whispers’ real first name), Will “visits” with him in what looks to be a dark, dimly lit interrogation room complete with a two-way mirror. Whispers explains that the reason they are in this room is because there are standard procedures for bringing in a new sensate and that he should understand procedure because he’s a cop. The first step of of the procedure? Interrogation. Will knows exactly how this works which is why he is so damn good at playing this particular game. And remember, that’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s playing with Whispers and we find out to what extent at the end of Episode 2. If Whispers really wants to interrogate Will, then he better be prepared to be interrogated himself.

-Will reveals to Whispers that he has been able to collect intel about his family (specifically his wife) and we get to see Will’s observation skills come into play. We find out that good ol’ Milt was asked to take a voluntary leave of absence after failing to stop him from rescuing Riley from the BPO facility in Iceland. This shows us that Milton may be in a position of power but that he definitely answers to certain superiors who are higher up than he is.

-Whispers threatens Riley & the rest of the cluster but he also threatens Diego and all of Will’s friends on the police force, as well as his father. Will realizes that BPO probably has agents trailing all of them in their every-day lives.

-Riley wakes up and immediately knows Will is being visited. She prepares a heroin injection while Whispers continues to taunt Will about how Riley reminds him of Angelica. He warns him that Riley could come to the same end and seems to take extreme joy in his sinister comments (this guy really is a sociopath, huh?). When the drugs kick in, Will passes out and Whispers is gone.

Scene 5:

-Wolfgang is by Felix’s bedside once again. I can only imagine that he probably visits him at least once a day. He is reading a Nat Geo magazine which literally melts my science geek heart. He starts talking to Felix about his mother, saying that he was thinking about her and wonders if Felix remembers her. This gives us a hint towards the timeline of when she disappeared from Wolfgang’s life (and we still frustratingly don’t know HOW or WHY) but the fact that Felix knew her means that she had to have died/disappeared when Wolfgang was a young teenager. According to Season 1 flashbacks, Wolfgang moved from East to West Berlin when he was about 11 or 12 years old (and the reason for why they moved is yet another unsolved mystery, but it was shortly after Sergei became the King of the Eastern Kingdom so it’s kind of strange that they left his Kingdom to move to another. Did Anton & Sergei have issues? Was Anton escaping that area for a certain reason?) Regardless, after they moved, Wolfgang met Felix in detention. According to Anton’s tombstone, Wolfie killed his father in 2001, making him 13 years old at the time (8/8/88) and I have always suspected that on top of all of the abuse he suffered himself, Wolfgang could have made the choice to kill his father because of whatever happened to his mother. I was really expecting to get way more back story on her this season but we didn’t get as many answers as I would have liked (waaah).

-Wolfie says something very interesting about “secrets”, which I have already written a post about in the past that you can see here [x]

-Felix finally wakes up out of his coma to assure Wolfgang that his mother was crazy as cat shit and that he can’t bare to listen to another one of his sob stories. Such a cute moment! The brothers are united!

Scene 6:

-Capheus and Jela arrive to the train station to drop off customers at the end of their bus route. Jela ushers everyone off of the Van Damn but three customers remain. They explain that they are not getting off and that they want to ride all the way back to the start of the bus route again so that they can stick by Van Damn’s side as long as possible. They claim that riding his bus has diminished any fear they might have had in life because Capheus’ courage is contagious! Capheus wonders if Jela is playing one of his pranks on him but the customers assure him that all they can hope for is that the spirit of Jean-Claude will help them too. It’s adorable.

Side Note - I don’t know what it is about the Kenyan actors but every single time we meet a minor character, they put a humongous smile on my face. Just like Capheus’ courage, the sunshine and happiness they emit from their souls is just wonderfully contagious!

Scene 7:

-After spending the week at Daniela’s place, the trio returns to Lito & Hernando’s apartment building. Lito attempts to enter his entry code only to find out that it is no longer working. Mr. Sicaro at the front desk speaks to Lito through the monitor telling him that he has been evicted while Daniela yells at Hernando “You said he was the nice guy…” - - - “He WAS the nice guy.”

Side Note - The date on the monitor while Lito is talking to Mr. Sicaro reads 4/20/16. Although it is AUGUST in the show, I’ll let this minor detail slide because of one main reason: I followed production and filming while it was happening and I saw lots of leaked photos from Mexico City residents of Max, Erendira, Miguel & Alfonso filming this very scene. The posts were all from late April of 2016 so I just thought it was really cool to see evidence of that left behind in the scene!

*See here [x] and here [x]

-Lito attempts to enter the building anyways by using his body as a human weapon. Only problem is, this is Lito we’re talking about and he just bounces off the glass and onto the floor. But have no fear, Wolfgang is here! I live for the moments between these two. Wolfgang breaks into the building while Lito embodies his characteristics to absolute perfection.

Side Note - Watch as Wolfgang checks out Dani’s ass as she walks by.

*You can look but you can’t touch.

Scene 8:

-Kala returns from yet another shopping trip (no wonder that girl has so many fabulous outfits!) to see that Rajan has packed their bags. Several weeks have passed since their wedding, making me assume that this honeymoon has lasted more than an entire month (to include Kala’s birthday celebration). It sure must be nice to have that kind of privilege (I’m not bitter, I swear) but it seems that they were still not due to leave quite yet as Kala is confused as to why Rajan has packed up their things.

-Rajan is visibly upset. This man has been able to sense Kala’s hesitation from the very beginning (he even says so at their engagement banquet in Season 1) and nothing has seemed to change (because it hasn’t). He begins to talk about the Siren Islands located off the coast of Positano and talks about the myth. He is obviously comparing Kala to a siren; which is a mythological, predominantly female creature that lures sailors to their deaths with their enchanting voices. Kala interrupts to ask him again why their bags are packed (Kala, you are totally Rajan’s siren omfg).

-We jump to Lito, Hernando & Dani as they arrive back to the apartment, only to find that all of their furniture and belongings (with the exception of one lone statue) have been taken. They have been evicted for the sole reason that Lito is gay and my heart explodes with sadness. How can some cultures around the world still punish people for being who they are? I just don’t understand and I don’t think I ever will.

-We jump back to Kala & Rajan as he explains to her how he has always gotten everything he wanted in life by focusing on the goal, refusing to hear or see anything except for what he wanted. We learn more about Rajan’s character in this moment and the reason for his fierce determination because he has “never wanted anything as much as he wants Kala”. He even goes so far as to finally admit that he’s been so blind when it comes to her that he couldn’t even see the most obvious thing of all (the thing ALL OF US have seen since day 1) that “how I feel about you was not the same as how you feel about me.” I was so excited to hear Rajan come to this realization, only to be shut down by Kala’s response. I thought this was her way out but instead she silenced him and reassured him once again that she still wanted to work on their marriage. I understand her, I really do. She must fully explore her marriage and give Rajan the love and respect he deserves before she can come to the realization that each and every single one of us has already come to: that she is supposed to be with Wolfgang, not Rajan. But she is now officially married so she is doing the best she can by her husband. Besides, she only “met” Wolfgang 2 months ago and has still never even seen him in person. She is focusing on her marriage as her number one priority right now and with much hesitation, I get it.

Side Note - I believe that this is the moment Kala & Rajan finally have sex. See my post about it here [x]

Scene 9:

*After all of the events that have taken place since the cluster’s shared birthday, I assume that the current time frame must be around September.



-Nomi & Amanita sit in their safe room at the Women’s Shelter. Nomi gets an email from her sister Tegan, informing her that she is getting married. She asks her to be her maid of honor, aww how sweet! Nomi worries about it because she’s a fugitive and says that even if she tried to show up, her own parents would probably be the ones to turn her in.

-They hear a knock on the door and Amanita immediately gasps “The signal!” They gather their laptops and open up a secret doorway in the wall. No wonder they picked this place to hide out in! There’s a secret safe room hidden behind the wall.

-Just as the door to the safe room closes, their friend who runs the shelter (who’s name is Lucerne, according to the credits) escorts Bendix and a San Francisco police officer into the room. She tells them that it is occupied by someone named Maria but that she is currently at work. Bendix begins to search the room and when he comes up empty handed, he presents a warrant for Nomi’s arrest, claiming that they have “solid information” (AKA a snitch, or by personally stalking Neets themselves) that Nomi is residing in that shelter. He even threatens to shut the shelter down for good, but Lucerne holds her ground and doesn’t give them up regardless.

Scene 10:

-Felix is finally released from the hospital after 2 months of recovery. He & Wolfgang return to the scene of the crime: Felix’s key shop. Felix is on crutches and limping from his wounds. He looks around the room, remembering what happened to him when Steiner shot him. He explains that he wanted to come back first thing to get it over and done with and that he’s been thinking about that day a lot. “I’m not you Wolfie, I’m not Conan.” Felix begins to talk about getting out of the crime life, finding a nice girl and settling down. When he says to Wolfie “Not so bad a life, is it?”, the question really seems to resonate with Wolfgang because ideally, that’s exactly what he wants with Kala. But Felix quickly reveals that he was basically joking and to have Wolfgang “talk him out of it.” They go out for drinks at a bar to celebrate Felix’s recovery.

-A waitress comes by to drop off a bottle of alcohol, revealing that it is compliments of the “gentlemen” sitting at the table across the room. When we see the men who sent it, Wolfgang has an immediate reaction. He doesn’t seem to like where it was coming from and my guess is that’s probably because it came straight from members of one of the Berlin gangs. My best guess? They are most likely Volker Bohm’s men. Volker tries to recruit Wolfgang later on in the episode, so it only makes sense that the men who were trying to kiss Wolfie’s ass probably belonged to his crew. “Who are they?” - - - “Friends.” - - - “We have friends now?” haha s’cute.

Scene 11:

-Sun is escorted to the prison visiting room once again, but this time Mr. Chen and Mr. Lee are no where to be found. In their place are 3 intimidating men wearing suits who have obviously been hired by Joong-Ki (he sure does like to hire other people to do his dirty work, huh?) Sun immediately knows something is wrong. She starts looking around the room, observing the reactions of the 3 men. When she asks where her attorney is, the thug sitting in the chair responds that regrettably, he has chosen to “retire” from practice and that “he will be missed”. Mr. Lee looked to be in his late 20′s. No one is retiring that young. It makes me think that they either killed him or hurt him badly. Damn you, Joong-Ki! All the man wanted was to follow the law he believed in.

-When the thug tells Sun that him & his associates have been “hired to take on Sun’s case”, the cluster gets the signal that she is in grave danger. THIS IS THE VERY FIRST SCENE WE HAVE EVER GOTTEN WITH ALL 8 MEMBERS OF THE CLUSTER ACTUALLY INTERACTING WITH ONE ANOTHER!

*And yes, I added in Riley using my awesome Microsoft Paint skills because she was missing from this still for some reason lolol.

-Nomi reports that the cameras in the visiting room have been powered down, indicating that Joong-Ki has a whole lot of corruption on his side (money can buy you hired men but it sure can’t buy you loyalty). Lito interjects that “these guys are the worst liars I’ve ever seen in my life,” and Wolfgang knows immediately that “they’re killers”.

-Sun asks “who hired you?” and the thug responds “I think you know who.” As a more direct answer to her question, he presents Sun with a file that has a bloody photo of Joong-Ki, post-Season 1 ass-kick, which is paper clipped to the front. He says to her, “he wanted you to know he has never been the forgiving type.” Big mistake, my dude! You just handed Sun (AKA Will) a paper clip and that’s all he needs to bust her out of those handcuffs. Will immediately begins working on them while the thugs basically tell Sun that they’re about to attack and kill her. They even have a taser!

-Riley realizes the threat Sun is facing and yells for the guards to come and help (because she knows that Sun would never ask for help herself and Riley is the mamma bear of the cluster). The thugs let Sun know that the guards are on a “coffee break”; which only means that they’re in Joong-Ki’s pocket too, taking a break at the most convenient time ever. Will continues to “share” with Sun and work on the handcuffs while trying to hold off the thugs as long as possible. This is where Lito comes in. He needs to provide a distraction (AKA a lie) to give Will more time to break Sun out of the handcuffs. Lito lies about potentially paying the thugs more money than Joong-Ki is and he peaks their interest, successfully distracting them long enough to get Sun free (see, I told you money can’t buy you loyalty). Once she has use of her hands, it’s all over from there. Wolfgang & Sun put their fighting skills to the test and take out all 3 thugs before they can even lay a single, harmful finger on Sun. Capheus is 100% amused by Jean-Claude-Korean-Lady (as always) and when Sun thanks her cluster for having her back, Riley responds “That’s what family’s for.” As long as they’re together, this cluster is fucking unstoppable.

Scene 12:

*This is a time lapse montage where different events occur to different members of the cluster back-to-back, showing the viewer that a certain amount of time is currently passing by. In hopes to condense the time from their birthday scene during the first half of the episode to the New Years scene in the second half, we can assume that this particular time jump is taking place over the course of about 1 month, making the current time frame to be around mid-late October. By the end of the montage, it ends up being around mid-late November.

-After their near run-in with Bendix, Nomi & Neets no longer want to put their friends at the Women’s Shelter in danger so they decide it’s time for them to leave. They need to relocate to another location and their friend Disney asks them where they are going to go. Amanita gives Nomi a look, almost like she’s thinking “I can’t believe where we’re actually about to go live…”

-We jump to Kala & Rajan who are finally back in Mumbai to purchase a new home. They tour their brand new, beautiful roof-top penthouse apartment in the city. The real estate agent mentions that there is an ideal room for a nursery off of the master suite, and Kala’s reaction is priceless. First she gives her a *fake smile* then an *eye brow raise* like bitch, I’m not just a baby factory, okay?

-Wolfgang & Felix (who is now off of his crutches) head back to Wolfie’s apartment. This proves yet again that some time has passed since the cluster’s birthday on because Felix has completely healed at this point.

-Nomi & Neets head to a unique waterfront location in San Francisco where a series of “floating homes” are on display.

-Neets asks Nomi if she’s “sure of this” and Nomi responds that if she was, she would have suggested it a long time ago. They might be weary of the decision now, but it sure does end up working out in the long run!

-Capheus is on his way home when he sees Silas Kabaka’s SUV, along with his suit-wearing hired men, standing outside of the home he shares with his mother.

-Kala gets a first look at her brand new swimming pool and we hear her real estate agent say “It just puts me in the mood!” Kala immediately imagines Wolfgang swimming naked and her face lights up. I guess it puts her in the mood too, huh?!

-Just as Wolfgang is about to unlock the door to his apartment, he notices that the toothpick he has been leaving in the door frame has fallen to the ground. Someone has entered his apartment and to Felix’s surprise, Wolfie draws his gun. He immediately transports himself to Kala, which is something he always tends to do when he thinks his life is in danger. With the both of them thinking about each other at the same exact time, they unintentionally commence a “visit”. Kala sees him appear, then walks away with a look of sadness, catching herself fantasizing about him once again.

-Riley gets a knock on the safe house door. She opens it to find a woman who she seems to know, holding a bag around her shoulder.

-Sun, who is still in solitary confinement, gets a visit from Min-Jung. “There is a story you put three men in the hospital.” - - - “It is not a story.”

-Wolfgang busts into his apartment and pulls a Conan the Barbarian move straight out of his ass as he somersaults on the ground and gets the drop on whoever it is in his apartment, which turns out to be Volker Bohm & his “weisswurst” Christian. Volker is amused to see that Wolfgang is living up to his infamous reputation. He tells Felix to “take a walk” because this is a “conversation for adults” but Wolfgang is immediately insulted. Don’t you dare talk shit about his brother, yo. He tells Volker that there is nothing to talk about and to get the fuck out of his apartment.

-Nomi & Amanita arrive to their location, which turns out to be Bug’s floating home. “Hello, Angels!” I think the reason that Nomi was so hesitant about going there was because she didn’t want to drag Bug into the whole sensate mess, but I was personally incredibly happy to know that Season 2 was going to have a lot more Bug. How is it possible that I have managed to fall deeply in love with every single character on this show?

-When Capheus enters his home, Silas Kabaka & Amondi have been invited over to have dinner with him and his mother. Although everyone else is happy and smiling, Capheus doesn’t seem to be all that comfortable with the situation; obviously concerned for his mother’s newfound relationship with this man.

-Bug’s place is an absolute disaster, including his “love grotto”, but it’s nothing these two ladies can’t eventually fix. It sure needs some TLC, that’s for sure (and it looks much nicer later on, once they’ve settled in).

-Shiro tells Capheus that Silas is going to change his ways. He is going to build a clinic to provide free health care to everyone in Kibera. But Capheus is weary. He says it is also a good way to smuggle drugs or launder money.

-The woman at Riley’s door, who is there to deliver drugs from Vincent, begins speaking in Dutch. This is a huge clue as to where their current location is (Amsterdam, which has still yet-to-be identified to the viewer). Riley must understand her because Icelandic and Dutch are pretty similar languages or maybe she speaks Dutch fluently as well. She tells Riley that she also has Narcon in the bag which, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a counteractive drug for heroin. If someone is overdosing on H, Narcon can bring them back from the ledge. After the woman leaves, Will tells Riley she needs to be super careful about speaking Dutch in front of him. He says that although he couldn’t understand the language (because he was currently still pretty high on heroin and couldn’t “share” with her to understand it), Whispers would have heard the language if he was somehow able to get through and probably could have figured out where they were because of it. Riley says she’ll be more careful.

-Min-Jung urges Sun to just “do what the guards say” and to stop defying them because she has been locked away in solitary confinement for months (about 3 at this point) and she is worried they may never let her out. Maybe those idiots should just stop letting Sun get visitors who want to kill her, yea?

-Will finds a burner phone stashed in a small bag. He asks Riley why she asked for the phone to be delivered along with the drugs and she says that she thought Will might want to call his dad because it’s “almost November”. This is a key clue that several months have already passed since their birthday celebration, meaning my assumption about the time frame being in late October is accurate. Will is trying to protect his father because he knows BPO has eyes on him so he doesn’t want to risk it but Riley encourages him by saying “Nomi said it would be fine if you threw it out right after.”

-Kabaka tells Capheus that he understands why he is skeptic about him but that he truly wants to change for the better, and I honestly believe him.

-Volker says to Wolfgang that he has “watched him all his life”. Wow, Wolfie truly has been involved in this crime world since birth, huh? Volker thinks Wolfgang has greatness in him (which I mean… duh) and he claims that he understands his true worth. He says he shouldn’t be living in a shitty apartment so he’s come to offer him “wealth, power and pussy like you have never known.” but Felix answers instead. He knows Wolfgang has no interest and so he tells Volker exactly that. Volker stands up, looks Wolfgang in the eye, and says, “You and I could own this city,” but Wolfie has the most epic, badass response ever:

-Volker takes his “weisswurst” Christian and they leave, unable to successfully recruit Wolfgang to join the Western Kingdom.

Scene 13:

*After our time lapse montage, it is now mid-November.

-Lito lays in bed with Hernando sleeping next to him. He is going through his Twitter feed, reading all of the hateful comments made by internet trolls (and some of them are truly awful!) Hernando wakes up and catches Lito in the act. “What are you doing?” - - - “Watching my career die in real time.” Hernando takes away his phone and Lito says it doesn’t compare to what he’s really afraid of; and that’s Mama Rodriguez’s reaction to all of this news. It has been about 4 months since the news came out in the press yet Lito has been avoiding seeing his mother in person until a time when he cannot avoid her any longer: the holidays.

Scene 14:

-Michael Gorski is sitting alone in his living room, drinking Jack Daniels honey whiskey while eating a TV dinner. The phone rings (and he has a Western theme ring tone which is somehow SO fitting for his character). When he answers, no one says anything on the other end but Michael immediately knows it’s Will as soon as he breathes.

-At this point, it has been about 4 months since Will has even spoken to his father. Once he left to save Riley in Iceland, he completely disappeared off of the face of the planet (Chicago) and no one who was close to him is sure about what actually went down. All they know is what the government is telling them.

-We see Will & Riley in the safe house and it is clearly painful for Will to be making this call. Riley sits next to him for support because no one knows pain the way that she does. What would the cluster do without her fierce emotional survival skills, I mean really?

-The whole entire exchange between Will & his father absolutely broke my heart. From Michael’s instant relief of hearing his son’s voice, to Will’s trembling hands and tears streaming down his face, to Michael’s frustration and anger with the situation; this scene just resonated with me so deeply. The bond between the two of them is obviously precious and beautiful but the fact that they are being held from each other due to forces beyond their control is just heartbreaking. And the fact that Michael has absolutely NO idea why his son is on the run, breaks my heart even more. “There are government agents saying all kinds of fucked up shit about you.”

-Michael begs Will to come home for Thanksgiving (making this scene take place around the very last week of November) but that just isn’t possible… Will says he can’t come home and when Michael asks why, Will says “because it’s about Sara, dad” and of course, he means Sara Patrell. She was the start of it all, before Will even knew who he truly was and before he ever knew that the man he saw in his nightmares as a child would be the same man from his nightmares as an adult. Michael never supported Will talking about his connection to Sara because of all the rumors and gossip about Will being crazy. It’s not to say that he didn’t believe him, he just didn’t seem to like the way others viewed his son.

-Will realizes that his father has been drinking, which is terrible for his health. When he was shot on the job all those years ago, he began having problems with his kidneys and liver. The alcohol sure doesn’t help his immune system.

-The support Riley shows Will in this moment is truly unconditional and lovely. Thank God he has her by his side.

Scene 15:

-Nomi “visits” with Sun in her cell while she is rigorously doing push-ups. They are talking about Joong-Ki and the strategy they will need to follow in order to bring him down. Sun stops doing push-ups, pauses to turn and look at Nomi, then says, “Right now, Will is our strategy. And that is enough for me.” The vibe I got from that comment is that although Sun wants to pursue her revenge against her brother, she knows that the most important thing right now is getting Will (& Riley) out of their current situation. She is putting Will’s needs over her own since he is the priority at the moment because he has been shooting up heroin for 4 entire months, trying to keep his cluster safe. Nomi knows this is also her first priority as well, so she nods her head in response.

-Sun changes the subject and asks Nomi “is it time?” while she “visits” with her in Bug’s floating home. Nomi is attempting to block Sun from approaching her laptop, wondering if she’s sure she wants to do this. “I will not be upset… again.” (apparently she punched the shit out of Nomi’s last laptop and beat it to smithereens). Nomi has hacked into Korean network TV in order to stream a live interview being done with Joong-Ki at that very moment.

-Nomi, while trying to change the subject and deter Sun from seeing the interview (because it will only piss her off), mentions that she has been working with Bug & Amanita on a hack of the prison transfer system to try and get her out of there.

-Sun’s only focus is on Joong-Ki’s interview though, which begins at that moment, and we see that the TV program is ingeniously named Smart Money. Remember Season 1 Episode 3? What’s the title? Well, it just so happens to be “Smart Money is on the Skinny Bitch”. And who’s the “skinny bitch”? Sun. See what they did there? Smart money is still on her. It is basically a metaphor, meaning that if you were willing to gamble your money on a winner between Sun & Joong-Ki, it would be “smart” to bet your “money” on Sun, because she’s totally going to win this war.

-Joong-Ki has officially become the CEO of Bak Industries, which was started by his father 25 years prior.

-Amanita & Bug arrive home to find Nomi watching Korean TV Programming. Of course, Amanita knows exactly what is going on and has a rather hilarious moment with Sun but Bug is still clueless as to why Nomi is watching a TV show in fluent Korean. “I didn’t know she could speak Korean.” - - - “Nom’s full of surprises.” And damn, I really hope they explore the languages even more in the upcoming special. Moments like these are so cool! (Plus, now that Amanita is with the entire cluster -minus Wolfie- in London, I would love to see a scene in the special in which all of the members of the cluster are speaking to each other in their own respective languages while Neets looks around the circle like “wtf?”)

-Nomi watches Sun intently, waiting for her to have a reaction, which eventually comes in the form of an angry fist to an innocent box of Chinese take out. Well, at least it wasn’t her brand new laptop.

Scene 16:

*The snow fall indicates that it is officially winter, December of 2016.

-Wolfgang sits alone by himself down near the waterfront, drinking as per usual. He seems to be deep in thought and slightly down and out (probably thinking about Kala) when out of no where, she appears behind him. Yup, he was definitely thinking about her. She runs into the snow and starts playing in it like a precious little child. “Oh my God! I have never seen snow!” Wolfgang instantly lightens up as a huge smile creeps across his lips (and I’m not gonna lie, one definitely creeps across my lips as well. Just look at her!) Wolfgang tells her to give it a few days because the oil, the soot and the dirt turns the snow into a mess. Kala’s face drops and she asks him why he always has to ruin everything. He responds that it’s in his nature, but Kala knows him better than he knows himself when she says “No it isn’t. You have something good and beautiful hidden inside of you. Just as there’s something dark and wicked hidden inside of me.” They are two sides of the same coin, the perfect yin and yang. When Wolfgang says “We’re perfect for each other,” Kala has an interesting response. She says, “No,” but I think she really means “No, not yet.” Her reasoning for this is “because we have to change… become better people.” Kala knows better than anyone that Wolfgang has to get out of his current (violent) situation and leave it all behind. Plus, she knows that she needs to give her marriage a chance, doing everything in her power to try and make it work (even though it is inevitable that it won’t). But she knows that they both need to go through the motions of their individual lives and follow their individual paths, hoping that it will eventually lead back to each other. It makes total sense and I really enjoy how self-aware Kala is, even through all of her confusion. This is a foreshadowing moment in regards to their relationship. Season 2 takes place over the course of an entire year and throughout that year, both Wolfgang & Kala are “becoming better people” by getting to know themselves as individuals. Most of the choices they are about to make in upcoming episodes are mainly focused on that one goal: becoming better people and therefore getting closer to one another.

-The chemistry between these two is palpable; on screen and off. No wonder we all ship them so damn hard. I am living for their adorable snow fight because the pure joy and laughter pouring out of the two of them was much-needed and refreshing. Wolfgang lights up like a star when it comes to her.

-Felix catches Wolfgang playing in the snow by himself. He wants to know what he’s on and if he can have some too! This scene parallels the scene from Season 1, when Diego caught Will kissing thin air. See here [x]

Side Note - This was actually one of the very first scenes that was ever shot for Season 2, back in January of 2016.

Scene 17:

*We see another montage-like scene play out on the screen, jumping back and forth in between different members of the cluster. There are some lovely scenery shots and individual moments happening with the cluster, indicating that the Christmas celebrations are finally here.

For the Christmas holiday, the cluster celebrates in different ways:

Riley & Will: Walk into a snow-covered park to go ice skating.

Kala: Prepares a candle-lit dinner for Rajan on the rooftop of their penthouse apartment because she “felt like celebrating” even though they do not celebrate Christmas personally.

Wolfgang: Paints an “Evil Santa” on the window of Felix’s key shop.

Lito: along with Hernando & Daniela, arrive to Lito’s mother’s house.

Nomi: Waits for Neets to finish getting dressed up in her Christmas attire while Bug takes adorable selfies with a garden gnome.

Capheus: Watches It’s A Wonderful Life with his mom.

Sun: Is visited by Min-Jung who seems to have bribed yet another guard or snuck out somehow. She gives Sun some candy to enjoy for the holiday.



-Riley has Will blindfolded for yet another one of her surprises (ice skating!). Will is worried about Whispers since he is free of heroin in order to celebrate the holiday with his soulmate. Riley says “Come on. He has a family. He won’t be looking for you tonight,” but Will even says “I would if I were him” because he knows it’s the perfect opportunity for Whispers to show up.

-Bug asks Nomi if they are “going to Grace’s?” for the day and she nods her head. She says, “I love her to death but Christmas is like a triathlon to her. Christmas Kitchen for the homeless, children’s hospital, then home for dinner. Finally, midnight Queer Choir.” Grace would obviously treat Christmas like a saint because she totally is one. She raised Amanita, for God’s sake! And she is a saint all on her own.

-We find out that Lito bought his mother Estella’s house for her after his first successful movie. He says that she, more than anyone, always believed in him.

-Volker arrives to find Felix & Wolfgang outside of the key shop. He is still being persistent with kissing Wolfie’s ass and brings him a rather expensive gift: a gold watch. Felix is obviously way more amused by this than Wolfgang, who still doesn’t give a single fuck. Volker claims it is “a token of my respect and gratitude. You did this city a huge service (by getting rid of Sergei) and it was high time someone said thank you.”

-Riley excitedly removes Will’s blindfold to reveal a frozen area for ice skating. He tells her he doesn’t know how to skate but she says “Yes, you do. Because I do!” This means that Will must be fully clean and sober if he is able to “share” in Riley’s skill of ice skating without any type of blocker effecting the activity.

-When Nomi asks Bug what he does for Christmas every year, he responds that he usually just hangs with the “virts”, AKA virtual family/online community. “We’re all pretty tight. Though we don’t actually know each other. Well, that’s not true. In some ways they know more about me than anybody. But we’ve never actually met, you know, physically. Make sense?” Nomi scoffs “Yeah.” because boy, does she ever! And honestly, so do we; being the Global Cluster and all :)

-Lito stands in his mother’s driveway holding several Christmas gifts. He is obviously hesitant and extremely scared to face her. He doesn’t want to let her down or disappoint her in any way. Hernando assures him that no matter what happens, he is there for him.

-Neets, who can never pass up a costume opportunity, completely kills the game with her Christmas attire. “Let’s X-mas!” They turn to leave for Grace’s then, much to his surprise, ask Bug if he’s coming with them. He wasn’t expecting an invite and his face lights up with joy. Can I seriously just have my own clone of Bug? Please and thank you.

Scene 18:

-Lito enters his mother’s home to find a display of empty wine glasses and food. Absolutely no one has shown up to the party. He glances down and sees several tabloid magazines on the table, with photos of him and Hernando kissing and making love plastered on the front. Estella calmly walks into the room, tells him that she always saves his news clippings, good or bad, and makes an animated announcement regarding all of her absent party guests. We quickly find out where Lito gets his Drama Queen personality from when Estella gives a speech on how her friends showed their “true colors” when they found out the news about Lito. She instantly accepts Lito for who he is and assures him that no matter what, her love for him has never faltered. Lito is utterly relieved and we can see the weight lift from his shoulders as he picks her up off of the floor into a loving embrace.

Hernando & Daniela are me:

Scene 19:

-Capheus and his mother watch It’s A Wonderful Life on the flat screen (which just so happens to be a tradition for me and my mother, so this scene really touched my heart). When Shiro asks Capheus why he likes to watch this silly movie every year, he says that he guesses it’s because he likes what it believes in. When Shiro asks “What?”, he responds “People.”

Side Note - Aml Ameen, the original Capheus, actually filmed for 2 months of Season 2. Pre-production began in December of 2015, and this was actually when most of the Christmas scenes were filmed in Berlin & Chicago (some of which were later used for Amsterdam scenes, like the ice skating one). Because Aml left the cast and was replaced by Toby after filming a big bulk of the Christmas/New Years’ scenes, the winter story line suffered slightly and had to be re-shot on different occasions. I think there was supposed to be a few more scenes of the cluster together in Berlin with Wolfgang, but they had to be cut out. Just a little FYI!

-We see the Christmas montage play out over the song “Hallelujah”. Each sensate spends time with their friends and family. During Queer Choir with Nomi, Angelica appears to her sensate children as they celebrate the holiday together.

-”Hello, woman in my head.” - - - “Hello, man in my head.” Will is 100% sober for the first time in months, allowing him and Riley to fully connect emotionally.

Scene 20:

*After the joy of the holiday montage is over, the happiness is ripped from the audience as the sinister Mr. Whispers ruins our day.

-As they feared, Whispers took full advantage of the Christmas holiday and shows up on Will & Riley. Not only did he abandon his family in England, but he flew all the way out to Chicago to personally attack Will where it hurts most: his father. While Will struggles to crawl over the ice and back to his stash of heroin, and Riley rushes to help, we see that Whispers is sitting on the Gorski front porch with the drunken mess that is Michael, allowing Will to experience the entire thing to the fullest emotional capacity.

-As the conversation progresses, I am under the impression that Whispers apparently knows Michael from his time on the Chicago police force. Remember that Michael was the police officer that was assigned to Sara Patrell’s missing persons case all those years ago. I guess it’s possible that he might have met Whispers at some point since he was pretending to be Sara’s tutor back then. Maybe he even interviewed him about the case (my assumption). Whispers tells Michael that as soon as he heard that his son was mixed up in all of this, he couldn’t help but think about that young girl (Sara) and everything “we” went through. It’s the “we” that made me think he already knew Michael. Or, as another possible theory, maybe the “we” was him & Will. It’s possible that Whispers used Sara as an excuse to meet Michael in this moment, for this very reason (to torture Will), claiming he knew about their shared connection to Sara. I guess it’s possible either way.

-Michael repeats that Will is a damn good cop. “A way better cop than I ever was.” This is another foreshadowing moment because once again, we are reminded of the notion that Will is amazing at what he does.

-Whispers tries to spread the lie that Will was working with that “terrorist” Jonas Maliki but Michael doesn’t believe a word. He’s more confused than ever and continues to numb his pain with alcohol.

-Riley injects Will with heroin and Whispers disappears. He tells Riley “I don’t think I can keep this up. I don’t know if I can beat him,” and she responds with a beautiful sentiment: “You don’t have to. We do. And we will.” They are all in this together.

Scene 21:

-The day after Christmas, the Caplan family is having breakfast together. We find out that Amanita has 3 dads, who were/are (?) in a polyamorous relationship with her mom. They tell Neets that they know she and Nomi are in some kind of trouble, so they present the offer for them to come up and stay with them at the commune in northern Cali where Amanita grew up. “The man won’t find you up with us. Neither will email.” Could I possibly adopt her dads tho? Please and thank you.

-The Rodriguez family is also having breakfast together. Estella invites Lito, Hernando, and Dani to stay with her for New Years’ but Hernando interjects and says that they can’t because his parents were killed in a car crash on New Years’ Eve and he visits their grave every year. So sad!

-Dani sees the love between Lito & Hernando and starts to cry. She explains that her family is “nothing like any of this” and she seems troubled at that fact that this was the best Christmas she has ever had because it had nothing to do with her own family. Estella assures her that no matter what, she will always be welcome in her home. She has officially become a part of the family and no longer has to feel alone. Excuse me while I sob tears of joy.

-A few days after Christmas, Sun is finally released from solitary! She returns back to her cell (Cell Block 8) and embraces her prison family: Min-Jung, Soo-Jin, and Lina. They are so happy to have her back.



Scene 22:

*Here we are. After 5 months of turbulent events, it is officially New Years’ Eve.

-Felix & Wolfgang arrive to Volker’s penthouse apartment, which was built on the site of the Berlin Wall. Volker walks right by Felix, completely ignoring him, and says “Welcome, Wolfie.” He still hasn’t given up on kissing his ass, but it seems that that’s about to end shortly (thanks to Fischer). Before shit hits the fan, Volker explains to Wolfgang that the real division between people was never horizontal (like the division between East & West) but that it’s vertical, meaning that the only division people like him care about is social class and wealth; climbing to the top of the economic vertical ladder. Or in this case, the crime boss ladder.

-Hernando & Lito visit with the Fuentes’ at their grave. They bring dahlias since they were Hernando’s mom’s favorite flower. The day of their death reads 12/31/13 and their names were Javier and Consuelo.

-Wolfgang & Felix hug as they watch the fireworks together.



-Kala wakes early and looks out from the rooftop of her penthouse apartment, lost in thought. Rajan walks up and embraces her from behind. He joyfully explains that this is their first official year as a married couple, but Kala’s smile doesn’t reach her eyes (as it never does when it comes to him).

-Hernando begins to speak to his parents about Lito and says “Since you were both taken from my life, I have not felt so loved by another person as I do by this man. You would love him, too.” This gives us the hint that Hernando & Lito have been together for at least 2 years (I still really want to know how they met!), since Hernando’s parents never had the chance to meet him. They died on 12/31/13 and it is currently 12/31/16 as Hernando is saying those words. It has been 3 years to the day since their death.

-Rajan continues to talk to Kala about how different life was a year ago compared to now. Kala’s face says it all: she is STILL unsure and uncomfortable in her situation. Things are drastically different for her than they were last year and Rajan doesn’t have a clue how ironic his words actually are. He makes a comment about “how fast everything can change” and that’s right, it sure can.

-Wolfgang turns his eyes away from the fireworks and towards the living room of Volker’s penthouse. He sees Fischer, his Uncle Sergei’s adviser, who has approached Volker for yet another attempted negotiation (maybe even hinting towards the fact that they still wanted Wolfgang to become the King of the East). Even though Wolfgang said no, Volker is very unhappy to hear whatever Fischer had to say, knowing that Wolfgang is the ultimate threat. I assume that Volker assumes for himself that if Wolfgang is just going to keep turning him down, then it might be smarter to just get rid of him instead before he can serve as a potential threat to his power. He says something about Fischer being “in my fucking house?!” and shoves him violently.

Fischer says:

-Volker points a finger-gun at him, and so the war begins.

-Wolfgang & Volker exchange a look and Wolfie knows it’s time to high-tail it out of there, so he takes Felix and leaves.

Scene 23:

-Wolfgang & Felix begin to walk the streets of Berlin, setting off fireworks and bringing in the New Year. In this moment, we see a quick cameo of Lana & Tom Tykwer (who is responsible for casting Max in the role of Wolfgang in the first place). Thank GOD for these two amazing people!

-Fischer runs out from the crowd and towards Wolfgang, pleading with him to please help. There are men after him, Volker’s men, and they immediately begin to shoot. They kill Fischer right in front of them then turn their guns on Wolfie & Felix as they run off into a nearby parking lot under the hail of bullets. Volker has officially given up on recruiting Wolfgang to the Western Kingdom. Rather than live under the constant fear of Wolfie & his undeniable badassary, he has decided to take the easy way out by trying to kill him instead. He presents a potential threat to his rise to power and Vo