I loved Netflix’ THE SANDMAN. The show managed to handle such a heady topic as “what it means to be human” while also giving the audience all of the things usually wanted and found in the best superhero films: a blend of tension mixed with action that ultimately leads to overcoming adversity. My only complaint was that it was TOO good at what it did. In so doing, THE SANDMAN exposed a lot of the problems with many of the current superhero shows – both MCU and otherwise – that I watch and usually consume with joyful abandon.
Look, this series had real character depth, great antagonists (something sorely missing from most superhero content these days), a challenging but faithful adaptation of the source material, an absolutely riveting performance by Tom Sturrigde as the central character “Dream of the Endless”, aka Morpheus, aka The Sandman, and most importantly, it had a thematic resonance connecting two separate arcs, establishing it firmly as a TV SHOW and not a 10 hour movie.
Also the season felt more like true TV – not truTV, the old channel, but rather like each of its episodes could even standalone (at least somewhat). The two separate arcs could definitely stand alone, because the season was actually about characters and not trying to be a 10 hour movie. Moreover, even though the episodes were serialized, they built to mini arcs within the season. And a few of them, one especially, felt absolutely like a 45 minute short film – and not part of a 10 hour movie (have I said that enough? can you see how much I hate the structure of some of those MCU shows lately?). So to appreciate both the independent structure but thematic unity of the season, I decided to rank the 10 episodes of THE SANDMAN’s first season, and in so doing, deconstruct this great season of TV.
10. “Collectors” (Episode 9)
This, the penultimate episode of the season, follows The Corinthian and Jed Walker driving toward and finally arriving at the “Cereal Convention” aka the serial killers convention being organized by Fun Land, Nimrod, and Doctor while Morpheus, Lucienne and Rose Walker discover and deal with Lyta’s pregnancy in the Dreaming.
To be clear, I still really liked this episode even though it is sitting in the basement at #10. The serial killers convention probably plays better on the page in 1989 than on the screen in 2022. There have just been A LOT of serial killer stories (even on Netflix) in the past 30 years. And of all the episodes, this is the one that felt thematically most unlike the rest. It just felt more like an episode of HANNIBAL (not necessarily a bad thing) than THE SANDMAN. The following episode, the finale aka episode 10 does a lot to course correct, however – giving thematic explanation as to WHY the serial killers are in this story beyond just being a vessel to draw The Corinthian into the dream vortex. So I think this episode ages well after watching the season finale.
There’s also a few nice reveals in this episode, specifically when Gilbert and The Corinthian recognize each other (a big “OH” moment for me), Gilbert’s reunion with Morpheus and the reveal that Gilbert is Fiddler’s Green, as well as The Sandman telling Lyta that he will one day come for her child. To me that threat was a bigger cliffhanger than the Lucifer/Azazel ending in the series finale (which frankly felt a little too much like an mcu post credit sequence).
9. “The Doll’s House” (Episode 7)
This episode begins the second and final arc of the season – the Rose Walker arc. The episode reveals that a dream vortex is vesting in Rose Walker, the 21 year old great granddaughter of Unity Kincaid. Kincaid is an over 100 year old woman who has recently awoken from “the sleeping sickness”, first mentioned way back in Episode 1. Rose is also spending a large amount of time trying to find her younger brother Jed Walker who disappeared into the foster system years ago after her parents divorced and her mother died. Meanwhile in the Dreaming, Morpheus tracks the vortex while also discovering that three of his creations have gone missing: The Corinthian as well as another nightmare Galt and a literal location in the Dreaming: Fiddler’s Green. Morpheus decides to let them all play out for the time being as they will inevitably drawn toward the Rose Walker’s vortex.
You know, I may already sound like a broken record but typing up this summary I kind of like this episode more than I remembered initially. I think my low (in comparison to other episodes) ranking comes from the simple inherent fact that a lot of this episodes feels like set up. And it is. You spend a lot of time with new characters like Rose, Jed Walker, Lyta and Unity, while Morpheus is sort of pushed to the background. Although taking a step back is technically Morpheus’ plan, so maybe it kind of works narratively.
But there is also a bit of uneasiness in this episode that may not be as purposeful. Morpheus notes early on that the missing nightmare Gault is a shapeshifter – so I found myself constantly questioning if each and every new person that Rose met was a nightmare in disguise.
By the way, I’ve only read the first volume of THE SANDMAN comic (“Preludes and Nocturnes”) prior to watching this series and writing this post. So while I kind of knew and remembered everything going on in the first half of the season, this second half of the season, the Rose Walker arc, is new to me. Anyway, I didn’t know what was going to happen. So when the episode is establishing weirder characters (especially folks like Ken and Barbie) who live at Hal’s B&B, it becomes especially easy to think that some of these people are not who they say they are, that they might be this rogue nightmare Gault in disguise. And to be fair, we later discover that one of them, Gilbert, is not.
TBH this all plays a bit better in retrospect – once you know who Gault is and what that nightmare is doing.
8. Episode 10 – “Lost Hearts”
This is the final episode of the season. Morpheus finally confronts and destroys The Corinthian at the “Cereal Convention” while coming to the conclusion that he must kill Rose Walker to prevent the quickly manifesting dream vortex from destroying our universe. Meanwhile Rose Walker is unsure if she should trust Morpheus or challenge him – as The Corinthian advised.
Overall I think the first 35 minutes of this episode are GREAT – some of the best of the show. Even the ultimate reveal that Unity Walker was actually the original vortex is nice twist. And that because of Morpheus’ capture at the hands of Roderick Burgess, again way back in episode 1, and her resultant sleeping sickness, it was her descendant Rose that ultimately became the vortex. And the further reveal that Rose is actually a child of the Endless, and that it was Desire who impregnated Unity (and that Unity is still quite smitten) is a beautifully dark moment and right in line with THE SANDMAN’s themes of darkness with light – of abuse cycling toward overcoming adversity. If the show ended after these reveals, it would be a top 5 episode EASY.
But it does not. Instead the final 10 minutes of the show kind of do a hasty wrap-up that feels like LOTR ROTK’s’ multiple endings – but on fast forward. While it is nice to know that everything between Morpheus and Lucienne is a-ok, and that Lyta’s baby arrived and is healthy and that Hedwig and the Angry Inch’s character is going to move back to New York with Lyta – it all felt unnecessary. I did not need ANY of it. You may disagree but this is why I found this otherwise great finale to be towards the bottom half of the rankings.
Also feel like there was a real missed opportunity, and I say this half-jokingly but half not, of ending the show with The Cure’s “Lullaby”, “If Tonight We Could Sleep,” “Strange Attraction,” or heck even Joy Division’s “Dead Souls”. I mean that song has just been SITTING THERE for over 30 years basically FOR THE SANDMAN’s live action adaptation. I mean all these songs are RIGHT THERE. Oh well. Season Two. Fingers Crossed.
7. Episode 1 – “Sleep of The Just”
In the season’s first episode Dream of the Endless, aka “Morpheus”, the being who is “lord of all dreams and stories – and all that is not in reality,” is captured by Englishman and practicing occultist/magus Roderick Burgess – who is actually trying to capture death to bring his dead son back to life. Morpheus is robbed of his powers via Burgess confiscating his “tools” (a ruby, a pouch of sand, and a helm) and imprisoned for 100 years. During that time a sleeping sickness (where victims seem to sleep without waking for year on end) runs rampant globally and a a rogue nightmare called The Corinthian wreaks havoc in the real world. All the while Morpheus’ abandoned kingdom, The Dreaming, falls into disrepair.
The fact that the first episode of the season, the de facto “pilot”, is all the way down at 7 should show you just how much I loved this series. Because I really liked this pilot. And this episode again works well as a self-contained story – almost consumable all on its own. But I obviously kept on watching after it was over – immediately heading to episode 2, without hesitation.
My only issue with this episode is the lack of Morpheus. He is sidelined by the nature of his state – jailed and unwilling to communicate. Roderick Burgess and his son Alex get far more lines and screen time within the narrative per se. Luckily Morpheus does provide a sparse narration in the episode – so we acclimate to Tom Sturridge’s wonderful voice and his take on Morpheus. We also get two great performances in Charles Dance as a horribly evil Roderick Burgess and Boyd Gaines as The Corinthian, a craven but calculating nightmare that is running rogue in our world of reality. The former helping to establish the hurdles that Morpheus will have to overcome in the first arc of the show, what I call “The Tools Arc”, and the plot of the second have of the show in the latter – aka the previously mentioned “Rose Walker Arc”.
The great thing about this episode is that Morpheus does spends the better part of an hour imprisoned. So when he escapes, a viewer actually feels something, since this is the first hour we have spent with the show and character. Like I got a sense that he had been away for a while. That length of time and feeling of empathy upon entry would not have been the case if this were a film. And this is just one of the many reasons why the show works so well as a TV season instead of a feature.
6. Episode 2 – “Imperfect Hosts”
I’m ok saying that the next five episodes are basically on the same excellent level. I’ve ranked them due to my personal preference, but I would have no problem if someone thought one of these was better than another. Now I will try and explain my preferences as best as I can.
Episode 2 of the season finds Morpheus returning to the decimated home land, that of Dreaming. He begins his search for his three missing tools: the ruby, the helm, and the pouch of sand. But first, he needs something that he created, something of himself, to help return his form to full power. That something, is a living gargoyle.
This episode’s biggest strength is that for the first time we get to see a Morpheus in action, basically in full stride on mission to get his tools back. And accordingly we get to see Tom Sturridge finally commanding the role at full strength – even if his character is not yet. Sturridge does such a great job with this role. His performance reminds me of, albeit in a totally different way, of Josh Brolin’s Thanos in the Infinity War films. He is a commanding presence, yet above it all. Nothing really truly ruffles him, and yet the universe hangs in the balance at many of his decisions. To be as cool as a cucumber and yet so vulnerable is that which makes Sturridge’s performance as The Sandman aka Morpheus really work. As like Gaiman has said, that is what it means to be human, to be mortal is to be vulnerable. To love and be loved you have to also be willing to be hurt. And accessing this vulnerable side while having to give up that intimidating side is the journey that we see The Sandman go through during the series and that Sturridge’s wonderful performance accordingly dictates.
Further, this episode really develops one of the core themes of the series: finding beauty in the ugliness of life, a theme that runs throughout the series. This is reflected in the fate of a gargoyle who must surrender his life so that Morpheus can re-energize himself. It is a tragic moment but Morpheus, like so many times, sees this not as good or bad – but rather necessary. Some might think it cold or calculated but it is not. Rather it is emotionless, like so many things that Morpheus does because as he convinces himself, he must – not because he wants to, or because it will make him feel happy or even satisfied. And this life outlook really begins to wear on Morpheus by the middle of season 1 (more on that later).
5. Episode 5 – “24/7”
In a largely standalone episode focusing solely on a diner full of humans manipulated by John Dee who stop lying to themselves and those around them and instead enjoy a hedonistic journey into the night filled with sexual and violent activities.
This is quite a trippy episode. It almost feels like it is meant to be a short film or a mini-movie but you don’t realize that until you are well into the episode. Until it is almost too late for you to stop. It structurally really hits in the gut as for about 10 minutes, subconsciously I kept hoping we would leave the scene at the diner and move back to whatever is going on with Morpheus. But you don’t. Instead you are stuck watching these people live with the absence of lies in their life – and giving into all desires wantonly.
Instead you as the viewer are subject to the indiscretions, both sexual and violent, of those in the diner. You are left to sit with John Dee and his manipulation of this microcosm of society that is a representation of what is going on outside as a whole. Moreover you are left to watch a world without Morpheus. His absence was quite purposeful all along (as it was in the comic).
It’s a tough (but powerful) episode to sit through. On Netflix’ own website, in a post that analyzes the episode, the subtitle of the article is “It’s (the episode) Not For Everybody” – which made me laugh a little. It’s a tough episode to watch, a little squirmy. A viewer’s predicament in this episode reminds me of the old story of the frog that won’t leap out of the pot as the burner is slowly turned up, the water getting warmer and warmer though never brought to a boil till it is too late.
Ultimately Morpheus shows up in the last 10 minutes and is able to defeat John Dee. But the damage has been done, as both Morpheus and Matthew discuss at the end of the episode. Another great quality of The Sandman is that actions have consequences and rarely are just forgotten – and this episode is a great example of that.
4. Episode 3 – “Dream A Little Dream”
In this episode, Morpheus and Johanna Constantine track down his pouch of sand from Johanna’s ex-girlfriend, who has now become a sleep addict, literally, due to the presence of the sand. Also Ethel Cripps, wife of Roderick Burgess and mother to their son John Dee, visits John in a mental institution in Buffalo where, after getting the news that Morpheus had escaped captivity, passes along her protection amulet to John, causing her to rapidly age and ultimately die.
This episodes’s great strength is Jenna Coleman’s Johanna Constantine. Although John Constantine was in the original THE SANDMAN comic, the character has been swapped out here for his granddaughter and I think it’s a good choice. We’ve had two incarnations of the character in the past 20 years and both were quite memorable. The Johanna Constantine character is an established character in the Gaiman oeuvre, and her presence here feels right at home. I think Coleman’s performance is quite good and so is the writing. You really get the idea that Constantine looks at her “powers” as a vehicle for a “job” and not as some kind of superpower or even gift. Again this goes along with the greater sense of the series – that battle between duty and fulfillment.
Also Coleman is a wonderful human character that allows Morpheus to think and talk about the state of humanity while observing her day to day life. An offhand remark from Morpheus like “why do humans put so much value in objects?” and Constantine’s retort, “well why do you?” and his response, “because they are not objects, they are me,” is telling of both Morpheus’ steadfast confidence in his world outlook and his complete misunderstanding of humanity at times. Moreover, the continued presence of Sturridge’s performance as Morpheus and my continued and accompanying want to know more about him and spend more time with him also greatly aids this episode.
I just found “Dream A Little Dream” to be one of the most watchable episodes and I’m sure if The Sandman WAS a film, this episode would likely be the blueprint. The great thing about it being a TV series is that we can take the best parts of Constantine and Morpheus’ interactions and not have to spend more time with them and have their back and forth be the sole structure for a SANDMAN story. Both can move on to other things and develop as such while their interactions will continue to resonate throughout.
3. Episode 8 – “Playing House”
Aka the Jed Walker episode. During this episode, Jed Walker, brother to Rose Walker, finds himself under the emotional torment and physical abuse of his foster father Barnaby. His only respite from this abusive life is in his dreams, manufactured by the Dreamland’s rogue and missing nightmare Gault, where Jed pretends to be the Silver Age version of “The Sandman”, fighting such villains as the Pied Piper and Johnny Sorrow. Concurrently, Morpheus uses Rose to track down Jed in the Dreaming, knowing it will also lead him to the missing Gault. After the two “Sandmen” come face to face in dreams, Morpheus abandons Jed and brings Gault back to Dreamland where she admits she only wanted to help Jed Walker. But Morpheus sentences Gault to 1000 years in “the darkness” – a shadow prison in the Dreaming, a decision which irks onlooker Lucienne and the two grow further apart. Meanwhile the OTHER missing nightmare, aka The Corinthian, tracks down Jed Walker in the waking world for his own nefarious reasons, killing his foster case worker, his foster father and foster mother.
I know this episode builds on the previous episode and others, but it can almost stand on its own, especially the Jed Walker story which feels like about 75% of the run time of the episode. I think Jed Walker’s dreams, although really only two scenes, resonate throughout the episode as surrogates on some level or another for the audience’s own dreams and rather why we gravitate to movies and TV shows like those of the MCU, even though it is an escape and not a solution. But it is not a heavy handed commentary, certainly not as heavy as my analysis. And clearly the show writers are probably trying to make a grander commentary on the nature of storytelling as escape, rather than just a narrow MCU reading – but considering recent shows like MS. MARVEL and even DC’s STARGIRL – and Jed’s version of “The Sandman” costume and how appropriate it would be on either of those series, I couldn’t help but make the connection in my brain.
Also when the two versions of “The Sandman” face off I made another possibly unintended connection, one to all of the multiversal programming we have been given in the last two to three years. And for me it was a really, honestly delightful moment. I just love the way Gaiman/Sturridge Sandman kind of takes the moment in, laughs for a second and them sharing a name and history – then he’s like “back to work” and shuttles Gault to her punishment (again in line with Morpheus’ general outlook at doing things out of necessity, out of rules).
Ultimately The Sandman’s lack of compassion here sets the stage for his potential undoing as instead of saving Jed Walker in the Dreaming, he allows him to fall into the hands of The Corinthian in the waking world.
2. Episode 4 – “A Hope In Hell”
In this episode, Morpheus heads to hell accompanied by his crow and companion throughout the “Tools Arc”: Matthew (voiced quite well by Patton Oswalt). The pair attempt to retrieve his helm from a demon. But when the demon refuses, Morpheus ends up dueling the ruler of hell, aka Lucifer Morningstar, for the helm and his potential eternal damnation. Meanwhile John Dee goes on the run after escaping the mental hospital in Buffalo, taking up with a cabbie and her dog.
I loved this episode and other than episode 6, I find it to be the most memorable of the series. Like episode 3 which precedes it, it works well as its own side quest. It is a “siloed” adventure, while still giving us more of a character portrait and what he believes in (almost counter-intuitively but brilliantly, it clarifies that one of the Sandman’s core drives is – of all things – hope). But the fact that his drive is connected to hope, yet disconnected to an understanding of humanity, is one of the biggest clues as to how Morpheus could have been so blind to his initial capture. And solving that disconnection over the next 7 episodes will become one of the season’s big character arcs.
And the duel between Morpheus and Lucifer is excellent. If THE SANDMAN was a movie and not a tv series this would have to be one of the big set pieces of the film and one could see a version where the duel between Lucifer Morningstar and Morpheus is more physical. But instead their duel is more of a mental game of Uno, where one picks a weapon (animal, vegetable, mineral, or idea) and uses it against the other only to see if the other can trump that pick – assuming they were also not wounded enough to be rendered incoherent, or dead. My own summary of the fight would not do it justices. Just go watch it again. I find it to be maybe the most brilliant set piece of the season.
Also regarding Lucifer Morningstar, Gwendoline Christie gives a thoughtful, menacing, and yet also empathetic performance for the iconic character. Again, this is a character that we have seen played by another actor recently – and well. Yet Christie gives her own reading. I’ve seen it described in the press as “spiritually more faithful to the comics”, and while that is true, it is also a performance that fits better in the world and tone of THE SANDMAN. That is not to say that the actor who portrayed Lucifer Morningstar on the show LUCIFER, could not manufacture a performance that would fit this tone and world – but it would be a DIFFERENT character. And as such potentially distracting to see the same actor playing two versions of the same character. So I can see why they cast a different actor. And Christie acquitted herself excellently. And she will be likely back for an even bigger role in Season 2.
Side note: I also love how Morpheus keeps referring to Lucifer as “Morningstar” in this episode. It really helps to psychologically differentiate the character from previous versions – just through the use of words and tone.
John Dee’s story acts as a window into the nature of humanity. David Thewlis’ performance is another great one for the series. He’s like a teenager in the body of a man in his late 60s. Pent up with angst and rage but also with the wisdom of years. John and the cabbie Rosemary debate whether humanity’s existence is one that is ultimately founded upon a person’s desire to lie instead of facing the hard truth. This is a belief that John Dee holds firmly to his heart. While Rosemary disagrees, she also lies to John when she tries to escape, thus inadvertently proving his point – even if her motivation was benign. This causes the death of the man to whom she reached out to for assistance. Ultimately John gives Rosemary the protection amulet (again something that could return in the future) after she takes him to a storage container where he retrieves the missing Ruby – altered now to fit his ultimate goal, which will play out in the aforementioned “24/7”.
1. Episode 6 – “The Sound of Her Wings”
In this episode we follow Death as she performs her duties escorting humans that have passed to some form of the afterlife. A someone rudderless Morpheus (spent after recovering all of his tools and defeating John Dee) not sure “what is the point of all this”, follows along. He is focusing on how his thoughts on vengeance left him largely unfulfilled, his kingdom was in tatters and is now beginning to repair itself – and yet he feels empty. When Death finds Morpheus, he has literally turning his back on humanity at the beginning of this episode, feeding pigeons instead of paying attention to humans. The siblings debate the value of the waking world while his sister Death shuttles its inhabitants to the afterlife. It is revealed that this debate has been going on between the siblings for hundreds of years as we eventually find the pair back at the White Horse Tavern. Death grants Robert “Hod” Gadling eternal life, Morpheus vows to meet him at the tavern every 100 years, checking in on his desire to stay alive and attached to this plane of existence.
This episode was my favorite episode of THE SANDMAN season 1 and possibly my favorite episode of TV for the past few years. It is basically totally self-contained and features another great turn from Tom Sturridge as Morpheus. I first saw Sturridge at the Public Theater in NYC way back in 2019 in a play called Sea Wall/A Life – two one man shows combined into 1. And in his play, his emotional state was somewhat similar to that of Morpheus in this episode. And he is able to convey that feeling – of loneliness while wanting connection but afraid to get hurt – so well.
But this episode also features a unique and powerful take on the character of DEATH from Kirby Baptiste. Her incarnation is a departure from the comics where Death was depicted as a quintessential 80s “Goth Girl”, also white. But Baptiste’s performance is powerfully etherial, she truly feels like a heavenly creature at times – empathetic, and yet also completely not of this world – and yet also so present and grounded. She is someone who opens herself up to the world, enjoying a fresh apple and her bare feet on the ground. This is in stark contrast to Morpheus who still has no love for the world, though he is trying to figure out why.
The second half of the episode features Morpheus and Robert “Hod” Gadling, a man gifted immortality by Death. The point of that gift, bestowed in 1389, was to show Morpheus that humanity and most humans are truly thankful to be in this world. Over the next 700 years, the two develop a friendship unlike any other, meeting every 100 years at the same tavern. Over time one of the Constantines picks up on their meeting (explaining how the Constantines really became entwined with the underworld and the endless) and we see Hod go from rich man to pauper to slaver to bar owner. It is quite the transformation, but the biggest one is not Hod’s but Morpheus’. As Morpheus, at first unwilling to admit that he looks forward to this 100 year meetings and sees Hod as a friend, ultimately caves, especially after his century of captivity. The friendship is something that Morpheus accepts definitely, admitting he owes Hod an apology. The admission paves the way for the Rose Walker arc and the changes which Morpheus’ character undergoes during those episodes.
No Scoops Club 