REASONS TO LOVE Netflix’ The Sandman series
WARNING!!! If you haven’t watched it (particularly if you haven’t read the graphic novels, although it’s not essential for enjoying it) there are potentially some serious spoilers coming up here, so be warned ...
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Neil Gaiman basically shepherded the whole thing in, so this is VERY MUCH EXACTLY what he always intended a Sandman series to be. Long may he remain on the show, because this is about as perfect as a TV series can get, especially an adaptation of SUCH A BELOVED PROPERTY as this ...
Tom Sturridge is PEAK casting genius. Not only is he spectacularly spot-on with Dream’s speech and mannerisms, but he just LOOKS like the character stepped right out of the comic pages.
But I also love how, while the series IS about the Dream King himself, he’s not necessarily the main, DOMINANT character here. Sure, in the first half of the season (essentially adapting volume one, Preludes & Nocturnes) it’s very much about his imprisonment, escape and the subsequent battle for him to regain his powers and kingdom, but EVEN HERE there are times he’s more like a supporting player in his own story, letting other characters into the spotlight, especially in the second half when the show adapts volume two (The Doll’s House), when it becomes far more about Rose Walker ...
Speaking of which, Rose is FANTASTIC. Kyo Ra is a sweetheart and her Rose is adorable and lovely and just the purest cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs.
Matthew the Raven. OMG Patton Oswalt. I knew right away he was gonna be great in this but he surapassed all my expectations as one of my very favourite characters.
The relationship between Dream and Lucienne is PERFECT. She respects her boss immensely but is not prepared to put up with his shit for a MICROSECOND, and if that means letting him dangle to prove a point she’s gonna do it.
So what if John Constantine is genderbent? Jernna Coleman’s always AWESOME and she just GOT the character.
Episode 6, The Sound of Her Wings. Sweet mercy that is a PERFECT HOUR of television right there, completely flawless. In a season that’s already pretty legendary in its faithfulness, this note-perfect transplant of Gaimain’s flawless writing is a solid gold JOY to experience.
Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death ... OH MY GOD. My girl was brought to life with flawless perfection, I’m a happy puppy after this.
The Corinthian. Boyd Holbrook’s another example of perfect casting here, and the rogue nightmare is a PERFECT Big Bad for this first season ...
Lucifer ... yeah, I love Tom Ellis in the show as much as anybody, but Gwendoline Christie is GOLD. She just GOT the role, clearly.
The duel in hell is AWESOME. Perfectly done.
Merv Pumpkinhead! Mark Hammil ladies and gentlemen! The man can do no wrong.
The Diner Experiment in Episode 5 gave me CHILLS. That was as close to the perfect nightmare that scenario could have gone, but thankfully without going QUITE as far as it did in the comic. THAT might have been a bit TOO MUCH.
While we’re there, David Thewlis’ John Burgess is a fantastically complicated and enjoyably HUMAN supervillain, and you’re never quite sure if he’s ENTIRELY WRONG, which worries me greatly. As it should ...
Also Charles Dance once again proves he’s incapable of delivering a bad performance.
Cain and Abel are a darkly comic delight.
Stephen Fry as Gilbert! YAY!! Love that man in everything, he was born to play Fiddler’s Green in human form.
I loved how they got the motley collection of misfits in the Cape Kennedy B&B absolutely right. Hal, Barbie and Ken, Chantal and Zelda, I love you all, you’re adorable.
Yay! Martin Tenbones! Looking forward to seeing him again when they do A Game of You in one of the later seasons.
The “Cereal” Convention. Haliariously funny in a jet black way guaranteed to get your skin crawling too ...
Desire and Despair. Sure, they’re only in this a little bit, but like Death I’m looking forward to seeing more of them in the future, they’re both spot-on.
The Gault and the way she protects Jed despite being a nightmare, that’s so wonderful. I love the idea that a constructed creature can try to be something other than it was intended to be, just like the rest of us. Gaiman is so spectacularly deep. And then we get that beautiful payoff at the end of the season where Dream’s learned his lesson and lets her change for the better ...
This whole season is just pitch-perfect in the visual effects and the sound and the music and the design and the wayit’s shot and cut. It’s a feast for the eyes and I’m glad Netflix were willing to spend the money to let Neil realise his vision without restraint.
Netflix, this is PERFECT. Give us a full series, let Neil do the entire story through to the end, no matter if it takes more than your holy three seasons to do it. This is TOO GOOD for you to NOT let him do it ...
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Abel: I'm going to name this cute little baby gargoyle Irving!!!
Irving the Gargoyle: (*^▽^*)
Cain: Yeah, no, you're not.
Abel: Or, or we could name him Goldie, all right; please, I literally just dug my way out of a grave-
Cain: *red hot poker in the face, fatality!!!*
Irving Goldie the Gargoyle, covered in Abel's blood splatter: w(゚Д゚)w
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