Netflix has a habit of prematurely or haphazardly bringing good things to an end for legit or wack reasons. House of Cards being shut down made sense, because of Kevin Spacey’s alleged inappropriate behavior, but that just sullied the overall product. Mindhunter never got to complete its story because, apparently, it wasn’t garnering enough views. The Umbrella Academy required a lot of time and space to properly bring things to a close, but the reduction in the number of episodes led to the creation of one of the worst seasons of TV in recent memory. And then there’s the most baffling example of them all, Arcane, which had everything going for it and yet was forced to bring down the curtains way too early. Hence, the final season looked great, but narratively, it’s a mess. So, when I heard that the highly acclaimed and hugely popular The Sandman, whose original comic book run spanned over 75 issues, was being compressed into just 2 seasons, I was worried. I understood that Neil Gaiman’s recent controversies must’ve played a major role in this decision. Still, I was worried. I braced for impact as I sat down to watch Volume 1 of Season 2, and to be honest, it didn’t take me long to realize that the makers had probably pulled off a miracle.
Disclaimer: This review of The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1 is based on the 6 episodes that have been provided to the press by Netflix.
Jamie Childs’ The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1, adapted from the graphic novel series of the same name, returns to the Dreaming to show Dream rebuilding his realm after the events of the previous season. That’s when Destiny calls for a family meeting, because he was recently visited by the Three Fates, who warned him about a war amongst the Endless that’ll lead to their demise. So, Destiny wants his siblings—Dream, Death, Despair, Desire, and Delirium—to have a chat. Intentionally or unintentionally, this congregation actually exacerbates an already fraught situation as it highlights a lot of Dream’s flaws. For starters, he is the reason why Destruction is in self-imposed exile. And it is because of Dream that his ex, Queen Nada, has been rotting away in Hell for 10,000 years. Since Destruction had told everyone to not search for him, Dream puts all his focus on rescuing Nada from Lucifer’s clutches. Lucifer obviously sees this breach of protocol as an act of aggression. However, instead of initiating a regular battle with him, she puts him in a fix that’ll potentially force him to come down off the high horse he has been on for quite a while.
Volume 1 of The Sandman Season 2 is elegantly divided into 3 sections: Dream rescuing Nada, Dream’s search for Destruction, and Dream’s reunion with his son, Orpheus. And this whole journey can be considered to be his apology tour. It’s obvious that he has done a lot of bad things in the past. But when it came to rebuilding his kingdom and self-reflection, I guess he prioritized the former a little more than the latter. I mean, during his conversation with his siblings, you can hear his narcissism spiking as he thinks all this discourse and introspection is beneath him. He is almost offended when he is forced to reckon with his true nature. However, his decision to rectify his mistakes, even though it won’t matter since the damage that has been done is irreparable, sends an important message to a species whose belief that they’ll never face the consequences of their actions is increasing exponentially. In addition to that, these 6 episodes are structured so beautifully. The shift from one narrative thread to another is smooth as butter. And while I love all the episodes, I think my favorite is the one where Dream has to make a decision about the key to Hell. It offers such a concentrated dose of drama and thrill that I couldn’t help but love it.
Without giving away too many spoilers, the exploration of every single major and minor character in The Sandman Season 2, Volume 1, is exquisite. From someone as pivotal as Delirium to a mere tour guide like Wanda, who is given the time to marinate on the screen and make a deep impact on your psyche. Since this is the final season, there’s always this need, both from the showrunners and the audience, to hurry things up so that the most amount of plot is covered in these 12 episodes. But I suppose Heinberg and his team quickly came to the realization that that’s extremely unfeasible. Hence, instead of doing a speed-run of every memorable issue of the graphic novel series, they chose to slow things down and just let everything simmer, thereby allowing audiences to spend more time with these characters and also appreciate the visuals and the sounds. Childs has done away with that skewed aspect ratio that the show was using in Season 1, which is great, and gone harder in terms of replicating the look and feel of the graphic novel. The colors, the use of light and shadow, the costumes (especially the ones in the Greek era), the shot choices—it’s somehow incredibly pulpy, soothing, and melancholic all at the same time. Also, I just love the tone of this series. I have grown weary of all these tongue-in-cheek, self-aware adaptations of mythological beings. So, yeah, this return to Excalibur and The Lord of the Rings levels of sincerity warms my heart.
The performances in The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1 are excellent across the board. It’s so sad that we won’t get to see more of Tom Sturridge’s portrayal of Dream after this. I mean, he plunges into the depths of the character to unearth his flaws, vulnerabilities, quirks, and more. Esme Creed-Miles is an instant favorite, and her scenes with Sturridge made me wish I had a sibling too. Vivienne Acheampong, Patton Oswalt, Mark Hamill, Mason Alexander Park, Nina Wadia, Souad Faress, Dinita Gohil, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Adrian Lester, and Donna Preston are fantastic as ever. Umulisa Gahiga doesn’t have a lot of screen time in the role of Nada, and yet she manages to knock it right out of the park. Freddie Fox, Douglas Booth, Ann Skelly, Clive Russell, Will Coban, Laurence O’Fuarain, Lyla Quinn, and everyone else who is in those episodes where Dream has to make a decision on the key to Hell are simply brilliant. I love Gwendoline Christie, and, as expected, she is splendid in her final appearance as Lucifer. It’s always great to see Jack Gleeson, another GoT alum, on the screen. Ruairi O’Connor made me hate Orpheus’ guts, which is actually a compliment. Indya Moore and Amber Rose Revah are absolutely breathtaking in their limited capacity as Wanda and Ishtar, respectively. If I keep listing names of all the great actors in the show, I’ll be here all day. So, just trust me when I say that the acting department is, as the kids like to say, GOAT-ed.
Yeah, The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1 was great. I can’t believe I am saying that. Yes, yes, there are more episodes and a special that are about to be released. But if the first 6 episodes are this good, the next 6 episodes would have to be colossally bad to tank this series. And by “colossally bad,” I mean they’d have to be literally unwatchable. I don’t like being an optimist, but I don’t see how that can happen. Yes, the first 2 volumes of Arcane were great, and then they tanked in the final volume. So, it’s totally possible for the makers of The Sandman to fumble the ball at this stage. However, I’m hoping that they don’t and all the artists involved in the making of this series, barring Neil Gaiman, get the appreciation and applause they deserve. Look, I don’t want to dwell too long on Gaiman because it’s just going to make me angry. I’m sad anyway that the actions of this one man have ruined such a great project. I don’t know why people act like that. It’s just frustrating as a fan of the fantasy genre to see your heroes turn out to be the villains that they had taught us to despise. Anyway, if that sounds like a recommendation, please go and check out The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1 (once you are done watching Season 1, that is).
