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Isolated Above, Connected Below is the sixth episode of the second season and the 18th overall episode of Sense8.

Synopsis[]

While Capheus enjoys a welcome surprise, Lito makes a splash at a high-profile event. Riley works to gain the trust of a Sensate she saw at the rave.

Plot[]

Will and Riley

Will and Riley are on a train. Riley loves how old it is. Her alarm goes off, meaning it's time for blockers. Will hates them. She hands him a pill, starting off a rare passionate moment of connection. They miss moments like that. Will takes the pill. Seconds later, the man from the rave appears to Riley to tell her life on blockers is not a life. Riley informs Will about his presence. The man doesn't know what drove him to such a reckless action. Riley introduces herself and Will, but the man wants them to stick to the Old Man of Hoy. He doesn't trust them. They either barely got away in time, or it was meant to look like that. You don't get to be free for 30 years by being the trusting kind. He suspects they'll see each other again soon enough. He then disappears.

Sun

Sun approaches her teacher as he's drinking tea. She tells him she has to go, but he already knew that. He gives her a packed bag with food, clothes, and money. She is extremely grateful. The teacher says nothing exceeds the honor of having been her teacher. They bow in respect. Sun's dog makes a noise. The teacher says the dog used to stare at the door awaiting her return. She promises she'll come back. He tells her they will be waiting for her. They hug.

Lito

Lito is cooking while Dani and Hernando fear he's mad at them for having pushed too hard. He assures them he's mostly been mad at himself. He has important news to share. He hands them a piece of his mother's special omelette that he made. When he's upset, Lito can't listen to anyone, but last night, he heard a clear voice. He then announces they are going to São Paulo. Dani and Hernando cheer.

Nomi

Nomi and Amanita return to the loft. They put their bags on the floor and look around, taking in the moment. They laugh and kiss.

Capheus

Capheus finds Zakia waiting for his matatu in the city. She tells him she's looking for some courage. He gets out of the bus. Zakia says he heard about he visit. The guys that talked to him are worthless. Capheus confesses they told her about time in college. She confirms she loved a woman. She falls in love with a person, not their genitals. He understands. She has come to see that luck reminds you how beautiful the world can be. She's not felt so lucky since she met him. Jela and the matatu passengers are giving Capheus encouraging looks. He leans in and kisses Zakia. The spectators cheer and Jela honks.

Kala, Wolfgang, and Capheus

Kala and Rajan are sleeping until she wakes up and wanders out of the bedroom. Meanwhile, Wolfgang is cleaning his shoes on his bed. She goes upstairs and finds him swimming naked in the pool. She sits on the edge of the pool and puts her legs in the water, and then goes to wander around Wolfgang's apartment. She then dives in. Wolfgang looks at the wet Kala in his apartment and asks what she's doing. She's trying to be brave.

Zakia and Capheus arrive at her apartment, which amazes him. He starts looking at the art on the wall. He's never dated someone who owned so many books. She never dated a matatu driver. He admits they live in different worlds. She replies not tonight. They start kissing and undressing.

Wolfgang walks up to Kala and caresses her body. He appears in the pool and holds her in his arms as they kiss. Back in Berlin, Kala tells Wolfgang that when she's with him, all the rules and logic of everyday life, which were so important to her, go away. And all she feels when she's with him is her fast heartbeat. She leans in to kiss him, but he pulls back and asks if she's sure. She is. He then passionately kisses her and proceed to have sex, as are Zakia and Capheus.

Capheus

Capheus wakes up the next morning with Zakia in his arms. He gets up out of bed and walks out onto the balcony to enjoy the view. He then starts investigating the apartment. The fridge and coffee machine blow his mind. Zakia appears behind him as he's gleeful over his first cup of coffee. He hands her a cup. She missed Kenyan coffee when she was in England. Capheus says they have good tea. She asks if he's been to England. He says he's seen many movies. She asks if he's hungry, which he is.

Kala and Wolfgang

Rajan enters the bedroom carrying breakfast while singing and dancing. Kala is asleep in Wolfgang's arms. Rajan goes to kiss Kala but ends up kissing Wolfgang. He says he has to get to work. He again kisses Wolfgang and whispers that last night was a dream come true. Kala only then really wakes up and jumps up, breaking up the connection with Wolfgang.

Capheus

Capheus tells Zakia that the DRP came to his door and asked him to run on their ticket. He thought she would find it funny, but she interviewed Koman Nyagah and wonders why he wouldn't agree to meet with such an intelligent man. He says he's a matatu driver. Zakia says that is why people would vote for him. They trust him, which she saw at the rally. She only pays a fraction of what he does for running water and electricity, because the government doesn't care about poor people. But Capheus does. At the very least, Capheus should hear them out.

Lito

Lito, Hernando, and Dani have arrived at the São Paulo airport. They are welcomed by a small but enthusiastic crowd. A man hugs him and tells him he's a big fan. He hands Lito a packet that includes the schedule of events. The parade will kick off after Lito's address. Lito didn't know about the address. The man clarifies it's only if he wants to do it. The trio then goes to greet the fans.

Capheus

Capheus is almost home when he is confronted with a big car. Silas gets out and goes to let a woman out. It's Capheus's mother. Silas and his mother come up and Silas tells him he saw the interview in YouTube. He was amazing. Capheus is too shocked to respond. Silas awkwardly leaves while Capheus and his mother go inside.

Inside, she finds that the dinner she prepared for him is untouched. It appears neither of them spent the night at home. They ask each other if they should be worried, but the answer is no. Capheus admits he's surprised as they both know Kenyan men are not open-minded. Shiro reveals Silas also has HIV, which is why he had such easy access to the drugs she needed. He told her they may have a cure soon. Capheus starts crying. He sometimes forgets that life is not just full of surprises, it's also full of gifts. She agrees. They hold hands and hug.

Riley and Will

Will and Riley enter a new safehouse in London. He's amazed by the whole network of underground places. The rule is to leave it better than you found it, so she always tried to leave a little gift when she had a good show. She grabs a pile of newspapers from her bag that she got at the train station. They can use them to cover the windows. He mentions again how much in love with her he is. They kiss, but agree it's different without their connection. As they continue kissing, Puck appears on the bed and insults this domesticity. Riley is surprised they didn't connect back at the lab, but Will figures he was on blockers at the time. Will wants to know how he avoids BPO. Puck makes sexual advances on Riley, who rolls her eyes. Will says they need Puck's help, because sooner or later he's gonna need their help, too, if they don't stop BPO. Puck says you can generally assume that a Sensate you meet collaborates with BPO, which is why he doesn't trust them either, especially given their history with Iceland and the rave. Riley wonders why he came to the concert. Puck claims he followed his dick there. He suggests they have sex to build trust, which she turns down. Puck tells Riley to give him a call when she gets bored of Will and disappears.

She then visits him in Italy, where he just bought a snack. She asks him where he gets his blockers. He makes them himself. It's hard to get samples without ending up with a leash around his neck, but she appears to have found the latest version that don't have side effects. That again suggests a connection to BPO. He tells her blockers won't keep her safe forever. He appears next to her and licks her face, and then drives off on his motorcycle.

She returns to the safehouse and tells Will she picked up the equivalent of a sensate STD.

Wolfgang and Kala

Wolfgang and Felix are playing soccer in the opposing team to Fuchs. Kala is feeling hot as she's working. She visits Wolfgang and admires him. Felix is knocked down on the field, resulting in a nosebleed, but he's fine. The game continues and Wolfgang takes revenge on the guy who knocked down Felix by doing the same to him. He and Felix manage to score. Wolfgang walks up to Kala and takes a bottle of water from his bag to freshen himself up. He appears to Kala in her office. Back in Berlin, she asks if he needs to do everything so intensely. He replies only the things that matter. They are about to kiss, but a colleague of Kala's enters the office to bring some reports. Kala brings up last night. She needed him and he was there for her, but it was wrong. He says it's all just in their heads like a fantasy. She disagrees. He thinks fantasies are what keep marriages alive, but she won't let herself do it. He says they are worlds apart, but she needs help to stay away from him. She's trying to make a life. He tells her pretending isn't a life and returns to his game.

Lito

The trio is having dinner in São Paulo. Hernando asks Lito if he knows what he's going to see. Lito isn't even convinced yet that he's going to talk. Hernando and Dani think he should, because he's so good when he speaks from the heart. His speech from the premiere got him here. It has over a million views. Dani turns around and sees a gay couple kiss. She snaps some pictures while Lito is charmed by the happy couple.

Ensemble

The Pride Parade is about to start. The host introduces Lito. First, he thanks the cheering crowd. He wants to see he's honored to be here, but he admits that he's never been as scared as he is right now. His whole life, he had to pretend to be something he's not. To become what he wanted to become, he couldn't be what he is. He says he's a gay man, the first time he's said that in public. He repeats it over and over. He wonders why he was so afraid to say that. His cluster appears in awe of him. He knows people are afraid of people who are different from them. Admitting that he's different may cost him his acting career, but he did it. For years, he was living in the fake life of a movie set, never daring to imagine that one day he might be brave enough to do something like this. He goes to grab Hernando's hand and introduces him to the crowd as the love of his life. He's a better and braver person because of him. Whatever it cost him to be able to do this, he knows that it's worth it. He then passionately kisses Hernando, which makes the crowd go wild. The party starts and the Sensates, Lito, and Hernando celebrate.

Sun and Riley

Sun and Riley connect as they are sitting by themselves in their cities. They agree the Pride was fun. They recall last time they met at that location. They were both trapped. Contrary to back then, Sun now misses prison. Riley wanted to see her father and Sun felt like she had made a big mistake. They have switched places now. They wonder if there's a way out or if it's just how life always feels.

Nomi

Nomi is getting fitted for her bridesmaid dress for Teagan's wedding. She assures Teagan that the problems with her brain are over. She knows their parents must be giving Teagan hell for inviting her to the wedding. Teagen admits their father told her she would regret it, because he thinks Nomi's narcissism would lead her to make Teagan's wedding all about her. Teagan told him he was wrong and she couldn't imagine not having her sister at her wedding. Nomi thanks her for sticking up for her. Amanita interrupts the sisterly bonding because she heard back about the cabin. Abrasax Electronics found an old shipping report. The cabin is near Dancing Water, the commune where Amanita grew up. They need to go up there right now. Nomi quickly apologizes to Teagan and rushes off with Amanita.

Will and Riley

Will's connection with Whispers is amped up, leading to him taking Whisper's place as his wife, whom he sees as Riley, greets him in the morning. Whispers' daughter comes to show him a drawing. Her mother takes her out of the room. Whispers opens the vault in the closet and takes out his phone. He has a message from The Secretary, asking Whispers to call him. He does so. It's an important day for BPO, so The Secretary wants to know how he's feeling. Whispers grabs some blockers and looks directly at himself in the mirror. Will is startled upon seeing himself as Whispers, disrupting the connection. He tells Riley, who was woken up by his startling, that something bad's happening.

Wolfgang and Will

Wolfgang is in the shower when Lila appears behind him with her gun aimed at him. He pushes it aside as she fires. She was bored. He wraps a towel around his waist, to which she objects. Will appears. He knows Wolfgang despises her, but they need information. Wolfgang asks Lila about where she gets her blockers. She refuses to give her supplier's name. Wolfgang shows her the picture of Whispers. A member of Lila's cluster appears and urges her to walk away. Wolfgang derives from her face that she knows him. Wolfgang visits Lila. She's outside on the street, observing Volker Bohm as he's escorted into a building. She tells Wolfgang her date's arrived and disappears.

She crosses the street and wants to enter, but Wolfgang warns her that Volker's bodyguards will return after having swept the room. She moves out of sight and shoots the guards in cold blood. She then enters the building and kills all the guards she comes across as she makes her way to Volker. He's glad to see her because unlike Fuchs, he sees what she is. She's just like him. As the antique dealer returns, Lila swiftly kills him as well as Volker before the latter can properly draw his gun. Wolfgang appears and wonders if Volker was right. Lila tells Wolfgang they are the same, but he mentions not having a leash around his neck. Wolfgang recalls her telling him they needed each other, but as soon as he wants something, she walks away. Maitake urges Lila to be smart, but she ignores him and asks Wolfgang how long Whispers has been hunting them. They think his reply, a year, is a lie. She supposes the Cannibal could be getting slow. She explains he committed clustercide. No one knows his real name. Maitake deems Wolfgang's cluster dead. Lila informs Wolfgang that Maitake thinks he's lying. She's not sure about her opinion yet. She breaks off the connection.

Will and Riley

Will and Riley are having dinner. She wonders if the concert was a mistake. Will says it proved that there are lot more of them out there than they thought. He suspects there's some sort of intelligence network because they all seemed to know who she was. They just need to get them to trust them. Mr. Hoy appears and likens the safehouse to prison. She visits him in his speakeasy, which appears to be a wooden box. Hoy tells her it's soundproof. She compares it to a coffin. Hoy asks what drove her to do the concert if they are not headhunters. She answers by asking why he took the risk of coming to the show. After 30 years of surviving with blockers and boxes and coffins, he started to realize that he's slowly dying of survival. She decides she's sick of playing by the rules.

She gets up and tells Will she's giving Hoy a reason to trust them. She opens the door and walks out onto the roof, revealing to Hoy that they are in London. If he's looking to make a deal with BPO, they know where to find her. Hoy trusts her now. He's not planning to be outtrusted by her, so he opens the box and crawls out. They leave his library, walk past his laboratory, and out onto a balcony. He welcomes her to the Highlands of Scotland. It reminds her of home. Aunt Kirsty comes to tell Hoy that his dinner is ready, but she figures he's talking to yet another invisible friend. He introduces her to Riley. Kirsty tells him to invite her in for dinner. Hoy explains to Riley that Kirsty was married to someone from his cluster, who has passed away. He asked Hoy to take care of her. They are looking after each other now.

Nomi

Nomi and Amanita are wandering through the woods looking for the cabin. They are where her dads told them the cabin was. Nomi loves Amanita's dads and that they all want to take care of her. Amanita knows she's a lucky girl to have them. Nomi wonders if there's truth to what her father said. Amanita says it's human nature to think that nobody else has problems. Nomi apologizes for not having been herself and focusing too much on other things. Amanita has been beyond amazing. She wouldn't survive any of this crazy shit without Amanita. They share a kiss. Angelica appears to Nomi. They walk towards her.

Riley

Hoy tells Riley that in 1952, a very covert conference was convened at the British airbase on Cyprus. Authorities from NATO, the Warsaw Pact, China and the Arab League sat in a room debating reality. That resulted in the conception of the Biologic Preservation Organization. He was there, assisting Ruth-El Sadaawi in drafting the initial charter and guidelines for research into sensacity. Signatories guaranteed human rights to Sensates and agreed not to deploy them for military needs. He shows her a picture of himself and Ruth.

Nomi

Amanita tells Nomi that she reads about psycellium in the book written by Ruth El-Sadaawi. She described it as a morphogenic field and how it makes connections like synapses in the brain, storing them similar to memories. A flashback shows Angelica introducing Jonas to the mother of the claid of sequoias, which are polypliotic, like them. Nomi sees it happen and tells Amanita that Angelica lived here. She sees the cabin as it was back then. Angelica looked so different, so peaceful, making music with Jonas.

Riley

Riley wonders why the charter didn't just announce the existence of Homo sensorium to the world. Hoy says they all know sapiens. When sapiens feel safe, they are nice. But when their inner demons are fed, when they find reasons to divide themselves from otherness, they are capable of bombing cities and hunting millions of their own into gas chambers. And that is what they are capable of doing to their own. That's why Ruth advocated for total secrecy. Ruth wasn't a Sensate, but her twin sister was. Not long after her cluster birth, she was stoned to death for witchcraft. Ruth went from scientist to crusader and did everything in her power to prevent it from happening to someone else's sister. If she were alive today and saw what BPO has become, she would weep.

Nomi

The visions Nomi has of Angelica's past change from happy to dark. She's defending her research to her cluster, who accuse her out of "hiding out in Walden while they herd the rest of them into cattle cars." Only Jonas is supporting her. After the fight, Angelica wonders if they were right. Jonas plans to go to Iceland. Whispers is listening in through his connection to Angelica.

Riley

Riley asks Hoy about Whispers. Upon seeing his picture, Hoy tells her he either underestimated he recklessness or her courage. She asks about his real name. Hoy doesn't know and neither does he want to. When Sensates have nightmares about BPO, they are usually about him. Riley asks where she can find Whispers. He doesn't understand why she would want to know, but he can help her. However, he warns her that it comes at a price. She's willing to pay it. He tells her about a network of Sensates, strung out about the world. It's called The Archipelago. He likens it to Google. She asks how long it takes. He smiles.

He visits someone and tells her that he's looking for the Cannibal. The message is spread all across the world through the network of connected Sensates, and ends with a delivery guy witnessing Kolovi yelling at his assistant.

Hoy returns to Riley with the answer, but he's afraid she's not going to like it.

Riley and Will

Riley returns to Will in London and tells him she learned a lot about BPO and how it changed. There's someone on the inside who knows Whispers. She doesn't have a name yet. Hoy told her she has to go to Chicago by herself.

Nomi

Nomi and Amanita find what remains of the cabin. Angelica is waiting for them in the ruins.

Nomi witnesses a flashback of BPO staff, including Dr. Metzger, spreading around the cabin. Angelica tells Metzger that "he" is inside the cabin, trying to destroy her work. Inside the cabin, a post-lobotomy Raoul is spreading gasoline. Angelica visits him and helps him call his father. After saying goodbye, he pours gasoline onto himself while BPO guards approach the cabin. Meanwhile, Metzger asks Angelica if she really believes that neurografting is possible. Whispers appears next to her and insults Raoul. Inside, she helps Raoul to strike a match. She then watches the cabin explode from outside. Whispers hates that they lost all the work. She plans to start over.

Ensemble

Nomi tells Amanita she doesn't exactly know what happened, but everything started to go wrong when... Angelica went to Chicago, Will says as he appears. The rest of the cluster appears and they all stare at Riley.

Cast[]

Starring[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

  • Akira Koieyama as Maitake
  • Eduardo Semerjian as Parade Host
  • Rainer Sellien as Antique Dealer
  • Prachi Sehgal as Kala's Assistant
  • Paul Ogola as Jela
  • Margaret Akech as Older Woman
  • Teresa Navarro as Additional Cluster Member
  • Robert Maaser as Huth
  • Hakan Orbeyi as Christian
  • Bruno Fagundes as Kissing Man #1
  • Andrei Lamberg as Kissing Man #2
  • Jason Thorpe as The Secretary
  • Lenny Juma as Old Man

Sensate Connections[]

Music[]

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode runs for 67 minutes and 12 seconds, making it the longest non-special episode of the series, since it runs 2 seconds longer than Limbic Resonance, the longest episode of season one.
  • The title originates from the Old Man of Hoy's explanation of The Archipelago.
  • The following locations appear in this episode:
  • Amanita is present at the Pride. This can be seen as a mistake since she and Nomi didn't actually travel to Saō Paulo, but a possible explanation is that it's a visual representation of Nomi telling Amanita all about it and thus Amanita feeling present at the event without actually being there.
    • Freema Agyeman addressed this at a Series Finale event. She had the same question when Lana informed her she would bring her to São Paulo and Lana explained to her that it was actually the visual representation of Nomi's desire to share her experience with her love.
  • A point of critique for fans is that while Riley and Capheus connected with other sensates at the rave and public speech, respectively, Lito didn't form any connections during the Pride. J. Michael Straczynski tweeted that was because Lito only had eyes for Hernando and therefore wasn't open to forming connections.[1] Also, it's common knowledge amongst experienced sensates that blockers are necessary for public events to avoid unwanted connections, so the few sensates Lito may have had direct eye contact with were likely on blockers.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Memorable Quotes[]

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.


References[]

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