Today, I want to share one of my favorite TV shows with the world. I know I’m far from the first to do so, but after recently rewatching it—five years after my first viewing—I felt compelled to write about it.

Five years ago, when I first watched Sense8 after a recommendation from a friend, I believe, I remember consuming this show like air—it was as if I was inhaling it; I wanted more, more, more; and so I binged it, and when I got to the very final, I wept for half an hour because of the emotions it evoked, but also partially because it ended—that was it; there were no more episodes.

As beautiful as I find it, I have to confess, though—this show is definitely not for everyone. As Emily St. James writes in her Vox review of the series, “Sense8 will probably always be too weird for a mass audience, but I wish it wasn’t.”

Created by the Wachowski sisters—Lana and Lilly, the creators of The Matrix—the premise of the show is, in two words, shared consciousness. It is a sci-fi drama that centers on eight characters, eight complete strangers from all over the world, who suddenly become so-called ‘sensates’: human beings who are mentally and emotionally linked, after being metaphorically birthed by a woman named Angelica, who is a sensate herself. Main themes that the series explores are politics, identity, sexuality, and perhaps the main, central standing notion of empathy across differences of any kind.

The show tries its best, at moments even falters, to explain how and when exactly the sensates connect telepathically to one another, but one thing is for sure: they do not follow each other’s every waking minute. Their connection mostly kicks in when one of the eight is in trouble or facing some tough choice or decision. That is perhaps because the constant, persistent theme of the series is exactly that of empathy: being able to put yourself in another’s shoes, feel what they are feeling, and experience exactly what they are experiencing.

Of course, there is the us-vs-them dilemma—the show underlines that sensates are, in fact, different from normal humans and even deals with their hunting down by an evil organization called BPO because of their difference, alluding to their non-normality. These scenes are actually some of the most powerful, at least for me, because I think their goal was to show how humans have not fully tapped into exactly how understanding and empathic they can be to their fellow humans, but also that this almost spiritual, deep connection can sometimes be deeply scary for individuals who possess it.

Watching the show for the first time, at the fresh age of 21, I was deeply moved by it. It was, and still is for me, a life-altering piece of art, something that I cherish deeply. Watching it five years later, at almost 26, it is still as breathtaking; the more emotional moments still grip my throat and make me shed tears out of the pure humanity of it all.

Despite plot holes and some things being left unanswered or undescribed if one dwells carefully, the series possesses an incredible fluidity of genres, and perhaps its uniqueness is mostly carried in that: the ability to seamlessly switch from action to a full-on Bollywood dance number (!) to heists to almost sitcom-ish moments, romance, and so on.

Beyond the sci-fi elements, Sense8 also stands out for its breathtaking cinematography and commitment to authenticity. The series was shot on location in multiple cities around the world—Berlin, Mumbai, Nairobi, San Francisco, and more—giving it a level of realism that few shows have achieved, in my opinion. The fact that the actors physically traveled to these places instead of relying on green screens and post-production adds an undeniable richness to the storytelling. This global scope reinforces one of the show’s core messages: despite differences in culture, language, or geography, human emotions are universal.

It is mundane but incredible, after all, isn’t it: knowing that you are not the only person in the world who is experiencing a certain emotion, who is heartbroken, who is facing a tough decision, who is losing a loved one, but also who is laughing with their friends, having great sex, and working towards their goals. Empathy transcends everything.

We do not need shared consciousness to know all that—in fact, for me personally, one of the show’s main ideas was to show us exactly that. Yes, Sense8 is very much sci-fi, but the premise is the most human, non-sci-fi thing to ever exist: pure love and empathy. We humans do need to reach out to one another in times of need, which the series portrays perfectly happening telepathically. The notion of connectivity—the collective voice rather than singular, this idea of Sense8—‘I am also a we’ is, in my opinion, one of the most sacred ones, ever.