The first season of Sense8 is all about the characters trying to do two things: figure out how to be a sensate and try to not get lobotomized by Whispers and BPO. In Sense8, BPO's intentions are shrouded in mystery. Why is BPO hunting the sensates? They appear to want to either capture, control, or eliminate all of them. There doesn't seem to be a grand plan to take over the world or use the sensates to gain power; BPO's only interest seems to be in eliminating the "threat" of the sensates, which begs the question: are they really the bad guys?
BPO look like bad guys, walk like bad guys, and talk like bad guys — but like any good villain clearly don't think that they are the bad guys. Similar to other popular stories about mutated human beings, specifically comic books like the X-Men franchise, the sensates represent a higher form of human being who could possibly serve as a threat to those who haven't managed to catch up. The August 8 cluster are anything but evil (with the exception of Whispers, who isn't a part of the central cluster, none of the sensates seem to be) but is there a chance that BPO is actually right in trying to control them?
The BPO may not be the most reasonable or light-hearted organization in the fictional world, but they also might not be wrong in their goal to "protect" the world from the sensates. Co-creator J. Michael Straczynski told The Wall Street Journal that "[The Wachowskis and I] didn’t want to have a mustache-twirling bad-guy organization — these are people who believe they’re doing the right thing." Sense8 isn't simply a clash between good and evil — it's a clash of ideals, and any group of people having a great deal of power can be dangerous, even if those people are good.
Straczynski clarifies to The Wall Street Journal that "any group which has access to your innermost thoughts, to whom secrets are easily penetrated, represents a massive threat to any government on the planet." Objectively, having sensates around is a problem for BPO — but would their minds be changed if they actually got to know the sensates they're hunting? It seems that all of them are just trying to keep themselves together and figure out their own lives. They have no interest in toppling over any major governments. Could BPO carrying out a pre-emptive hunt on sensates before they prove to be dangerous end up making the sensates dangerous?
While Season 1 of Sense8 was no cakewalk for the sensates, Season 2 looks to be increasing the stakes in a major way, and possibly light a fire under the sensates to fight back against BPO. With seemingly endless financial resources and government support, the BPO won't be easy to take down. So perhaps the best route the sensates can take is to get them to listen and help them realize that the clusters are no threat.
If the BPO and the sensates are both trying to keep the world and themselves safe, maybe this fight ends with them ending up on the same side.
