I’m not sure if you heard the news or not, but Sense8 is getting a second season! I might be just a little bit excited.
But now we enter the horrible period of waiting for that second season to drop. The #Sense8Wait is terrible isn’t it, Sensies? We don’t have a release date yet, there’s no leaked photos from filming to flail over because filming HASN’T started, and you can only watch Episode Six so many times, right? (I’m asking for my friend, Katy (@katygracesf). I totally haven’t watched it more than is normal.)
The struggle is real people. Aside from stalking the actors on Instagram and Twitter how do we get through the wait? I mean some of us are also concurrently suffering from Droughtlander at the same time! Gah!
I’m here for you. I’m here to help. Over the next few posts I’ll give you some shows to get you through.
Velvet
When Sense8 ended I went through serious Hernando/Lito withdrawal. Jonesing for my next fix I went online looking for other shows that they had been in. Enter Velvet, a Spanish television show, to make all of my dreams come true. For real, once I was finished, I went back and started watching it again. It’s THAT good. (You can find the first two seasons on Netflix.)
Velvet takes place in 1950’s Spain inside a haute couture department store, and follows the story of Ana, played by the stunning Paula Echevarria, and Alberto, played by Miguel Angel Silvestre (Lito from Sense8). They are a pair of star-crossed lovers who are being kept apart by, well, pretty much everything—class, society, their parents/guardians, circumstances, etc.
Velvet is like your favorite romance novel come to life. In true soap fashion there is high drama, high fashion, and even higher stakes. The characters just cannot seem to get out of their own way when it comes to finding happiness and you will eat up every delectable tortured second of it.
The women are gorgeous and glamorous, but also written like real women, women you know and love. In fact this show features one of the strongest representations of true female friendship I’ve ever encountered. It is given prominence in the story line and helps drive the narrative. It’s also feminist AF. The women (by 1950’s standards) are independent and in charge of their sexuality. I LOVE it.
And if by the end of Season One you don’t want your own Rita Montesinos as your best friend IRL, then I just don’t know what to do with you.
The men are equally outlandishly handsome and suave.
Say hello to Javier Rey, your new favorite mustache.
Say hello to Maxi Iglesias, the May in Velvet’s own May/December romance.
And of course, the reason we’re all here, Miguel Angel Silvestre, himself.
Oh I’m sorry, do I have your attention now?
And what’s the best part? It’s totally educational. You can call it Spanish lessons and feel less guilty for binging the entire first season in one weekend. As my friend Mollie (@readheadreader) on Twitter said, “It’s like Dora the Explorer, but for grown-ups!”
Come chat with me on Twitter (@breathereadlove) once you’ve finished watching and we’ll sigh together over all the Season Three spoilers that they keep releasing because it just went live in Spain and we don’t live in Spain and everything is horrible. ARGH.
Have you seen Velvet?
