The final episode of Netflix’s The Sandman series, Death: The High Cost of Living, is an adaptation of the three-issue miniseries of the same name, which delineates Death’s worldview and her experience as a mortal—as she chooses to live as a human for a single day. The showrunners couldn’t have chosen a better story to wrap things up with—and did justice to the source material through their adaptation. Still, there are some major and minor differences between the adaptation and the original comics, which I will try to highlight.
Spoiler Alert
Sexton Furnival’s Background
One of the minor changes made in the episode is that instead of keeping the protagonist, Sexton Furnival, an aimless young teenager like he is in the comics, the makers decided to age him up and turn him into a journalist. In the comics, Sexton’s connection with his overburdened mother, Sylvia, is explored—whereas in the series, Sexton’s relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Sylvie, becomes a plot point. This is in conjunction with their decision to age up Death, who was a teenager in the comics as well. While a teenage Sexton’s disillusionment with life was strongly felt by the readers, the series consciously avoids that route, as it would have made the narrative much darker than the makers intended it to be. Also, journalist Sexton’s miserable life feels somewhat relatable to a maturing audience as well, which works for the better.
Mad Hettie’s Assignment
In the series, Mad Hettie tries to coerce Death/Didi into retrieving her lost soul, and at the end, as Death hands over a locket to Sexton, for him to hand over to Hettie, the soul turns out to be her memory of her deceased daughter, Cordelia. Things were quite different in the comics, where Hettie demanded Death bring her her lost heart. Before taking her leave from the mortal plane, Death hands over a Matryoshka doll, which contained a heart locket that belonged to Mad Hettie. The nature of the locket, or what personal connection Hettie had with it, is never revealed till the very end of the comics.
Mrs. Robbins’ Omission and Altering Billie
A major change made in the series is that the narrative totally omits the character of Mrs. Robbins, for no good reason. As Death’s mortal form, Didi had created her own identity, complete with a tragic background of parents’ death and whatnot. Amelia Robbins, a kind fruitseller who considered herself Didi’s guardian, played a key role in making her fabricated life seem real. Mrs. Robbins was an endearing character whose kindness offered a contrast to the ugliness of the mortal realm; unfortunately, the series drops her altogether and doesn’t even provide any replacement character in her stead.
In the series, Billie is presented as Sexton’s roommate/friend—with whom Sexton shares his burdens. In the comics, Billie was a mute, paraplegic neighborhood kid who lived with his mother. Billie’s situation offers an insight into Death’s worldview and duties, emphasizing the significance of life even further.
Connection With “The Sandman” Series
In the series, Billie; her girlfriend, Amelia; and their friend, Jackie, played key roles in Sexton’s life and allowed viewers to get to know him better. In the comics, Amelia and Jackie never appeared; instead, a connection with the original “The Sandman” comics was explored with a pregnant Hazel and her girlfriend, Foxglove. Both of them were present in “The Sandman” series, especially in the fifth volume, “A Game of You,” where they travelled into their friend, Barbie’s dreamscape. Netflix’s adaptation of “The Sandman” never had Hazel and Foxglove to begin with, which is why they remain absent in this episode as well. It should be mentioned that in the comics’ version, in the Undercut Club, Foxglove, aka Donna Cavanagh, sings a song about Judy, her old lover who met a brutal end in the “24 Hours” issue. Foxglove also remembers Wanda, the transwoman who passed away tragically as well. Viewers met Wanda in the first part of the second volume of the Netflix adaptation.
Omission of Eremite, Theo’s Fate, and Motive
In the episode, viewers come across the club promoter, Theo, who holds Death captive as he wants to use her Ankh to bring his girlfriend, Natalie, back to life. In the comics, however, Theo was working for a sadistic, vicious occult practitioner named Eremite, who made him take the Ankh from Death. Eremite, whose real identity is revealed to be an alternate future version of the blind occult vigilante known as Mister E, wanted to conquer Death herself.
In the series, Theo ends up hurting himself by injuring his head but survives nonetheless, due to it being Death’s day off. However, in the comics, Theo tried to trick Eremite by taking the Ankh for himself, resulting in the psychotic vigilante killing him with one vicious blow to his head.
Aside from these, there are other minor omissions present in the episode, like the two goldfish in Death’s apartment being indicative of Sexton mistakenly killing two of his pet goldfish in childhood. His mother wanted to shield him from the realities of death, but in time, Sexton’s disillusionment brought him closer to her than ever. Not every crucial detail makes it into the adaptation, as there is only so much that can be fit within a one-hour runtime.
