Sense8 Season Finale Review: I Can’t Leave Her (Season 1 Episode 12)

We’ve done it sensates! We’ve finished off the epic Season 1 of Sense8!

And thank all the angels in heaven that we got a Season 2 renewal earlier this month (on the cluster’s birthday no less!) or I would be in serious panic mode right about now!

The finale episode, “I Can’t Leave Her,” comes to us in three parts.

Part 1: Wolfgang’s Grudge Match

Wolfgang has spent the entire first season messing with some very dangerous criminals over a handful of very valuable diamonds. Those criminals also happen to be his family.

We saw him blow up his cousin’s car last week, so this week, he has to face the music and take out his uncle as well.

Kala: This was your plan?

Wolfgang: How was i supposed to know he’d be wearing a bulletproof vest? Who wears a bulletproof vest in real life?

Unfortunately, for all the build up and excitement and mind-blowing action, this subplot felt slightly out of place in the finale episode. With Will’s quest to save Riley featuring so prominently, and the rest of the sensates waiting in the wings for that to go down, Wolfgang’s family feud felt more like we were burning off time in order to get to the good stuff.

His last scene with Kala was incredibly intense though.

After shooting the only family he as left in the face, Wolfgang turns to Kala (who has seen the entire thing) and urges her to marry Rajan, despite their mutual feelings.

Something tells me that romance is going to get even more twisted next year!

Part 2: Riley’s Tragic Flashback

We have gotten hints throughout the season about Riley’s car accident, but tonight we got to see it play out in full.

And it was tragic.

On the night that should have been the happiest of her life, Riley’s frantic husband ends up driving their car off a cliff and into the snow covered mountains. Instead of giving birth in a hospital, Riley is forced to have her baby next to the corpse of her beloved, as she lies trapped in their car.

Eventually, she realizes that her daughter has frozen to death, and all there is left to do is lay down and die next to her.

Will: know how much it hurts. I know you want to lay down here and never get up again. I know it, because I feel it. I can feel it. And that means that somehow, somewhere… you can feel what I’m feeling, too. I love you. That’s why you can’t give up.

Talk about your tear-jerking moments, I swear, I was a total mess!

All the drugs and all the running has been Riley’s attempt at dealing with this accident and the loss of her little family. She is only able to face it head on and come out the other side healed, when she has to chose between wallowing in her grief and saving Will’s life.

Thank goodness she chooses right!

Part 3: The Rescue Mission

You’ve got to love it when our cluster comes together!

All eight members work as a team to find and rescue Riley from BPO and Whispers. Nomi forges digital identification, Lito impersonates a doctor, Sun takes down the guards, Kala cooks up a drug cocktail, Capheus is our getaway driver, and Wolfgang… well, Wolfgang has the balls to play chicken with a helicopter.

Will, of course, is the body man in this situation. Literally.

Amanita: Men cannot stand to see a beautiful car in trouble.

Nomi: It’s some kind of primal instinct. Look at you, you’re hesitating.

Will: It’s a really nice car.

The moment when Will finally reaches out and touches Riley definitely takes the cake in this rescue sequence though. Never before have we seen two sensates have actual physical contact in the real world. For the both of them, it seems to be an almost religious experience. And the ‘Best of Riley and Will’ montage wasn’t half bad either!

Sadly, no rescue ever goes off without a hitch, and so while Will saves Riley from Whispers’ mind melding, he ends up falling victim to it himself.

Yep, our resident golden retriever puppy is not mentally linked to the baddest, scariest villain in the universe.

Uh oh.

That certainly seems like a great place to leave off until Season 2! Thanks for all your support this summer, sensates, I’m looking forward to another season of Sense8 with all of you!

Other Thoughts:

• I am SO disappointed we never got the full story on Will’s childhood sensate abilities.
• Is the plan to just keep Will sedated forever? That’s going to be tough…
• Jonas really doesn’t seem like he’s on Team Whispers. I apologize for my doubts. Poor guy!
• Pregnant dude scenario? Okay then.
• That last shot with all of them on the boat? Perfection!

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Sense8 is available for streaming on Netflix.

Lindsay MacDonald

Lindsay is an associate editor for Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer, viewer, and internet addict. Her obsession with TV started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has been going strong ever since; current favorites include Scandal, The 100, The Walking Dead, and Arrow. She considers a perfect Friday night to be a joint-cuddle-session between an adorable puppy dog and her Netflix queue. Follow @lindsayjoane