by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Although the era of the comic book movie is at a crossroads, comic book TV shows are still going strong. The Walking Dead continues to churn out spinoffs, while Marvel and DC hold strong with their lineups of shows. The Boys and Invincible remain strong for Amazon Prime Video, and The Umbrella Academy wrapped up on Netflix. Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman showed great promise, but also felt somewhat scattered, with the entire series dropping all at once and an unfocused story that could have been split into two seasons. With the recent controversy surrounding Gaiman, all of his shows need to wrap up and make the most of the time they have left.
Season Two of The Sandman features Dream (Tom Sturridge) rebuilding his realm and finding his groove after the events of Season One. When he is summoned by his brother Destiny (Adrian Lester), Dream and his siblings start a chain reaction that will ultimately change Dream forever. As Dream continues towards his fate, he learns various lessons along the way about consequences, relationships, self-discovery, and responsibility.
Season Two addresses several issues I had with Season One. The first is that it has is a much more focused story. Season One should have been split into two, with the story shifting so drastically that it feels like it has two parts. Now, however, Season Two has a story that spans the entire season, which makes it much tighter, with less divergence and more structure.
In addition to the narrative, Dream is much less brooding and emo now. There is actual development for his character, along with recognition of his faults that cause him to question his decisions. Sturridge is still giving an outstanding performance, but after a while in Season One, the whole “I’m sad” routine got old. At least in Season Two, we see more nuance and a range of emotions, such as happiness and remorse.
Season Two also has an excellent ensemble cast. New characters are introduced, including Destiny, Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles), Dream’s other sister, and Nuala (Ann Skelly), a servant from Faerie who encounters Dream during a summit in his realm. Destiny, burdened by knowing what’s to come, is a pretty one-note character whose presence feels ominous. Anytime he’s on-screen, my anxiety ratchets up. Delirium is a breath of fresh air, as she’s more family-oriented, and seems like a fun character. Once you learn a little more about her backstory, her quirkiness is endearing. Nuala is a character I wish we had gotten to spend more time with, but she makes the most of the scenes that she’s in.
This is one of the things I dislike most about this season: Several characters from last season barely have any screen time. Most of Dream’s cohort in his realm, like Matthew (Patton Oswalt) and Cain and Abel (Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry, respectively), don’t have much to do, because Dream doesn’t spend a lot of time in his realm. His siblings, like Despair (Donna Preston) and Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), get their moments to shine, but not nearly enough. The lack of Desire (Mason Alexander Park) and Lucifer (Gwendolyn Christie) is almost criminal.
The real piece of Season Two that excels a lot more than the past season is its messaging. It dives into how to handle the deeds you’ve done in the past, and how to deal with the consequences from those actions. Dream spends the majority of the series thinking he can do whatever he wants without any consequences. It becomes painfully clear that this is not the case at the beginning of Season One when he is imprisoned. Although we spend much of Season One with Dream reclaiming his rightful place as the Dream Lord, he doesn’t have a lot to say about what he learned while being imprisoned. During Season Two, Dream is forced to confront his actions that have the most dire consequences and how they shape himself and the world around him. He’s never going to be able to make some of these situations right, but he at least learns to accept these as part of who he is, which is a much healthier way to look at the problem, as opposed to making him either a total jerk or a saint.
Additionally, Season Two delves into the concept of responsibility. A large portion revolves around their long-lost brother, Destruction, who has abandoned his realm, and hasn’t been seen in quite some time. Dream sort of relates to this situation, because he was at the helm of his responsibilities for a long time. The actual difference between the two situations is choice: Destruction chose to give up his realm, whereas Dream did not. This notion of responsibility hangs over the season, because Dream comes to terms with the fact that he’s not just responsible for himself, but for everyone in his realm and the duties he needs to perform.
One last key theme this season is relationships. Several people have a relationship that helps define the course of their whole season. Joanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) does an excellent job of showing how her relationship with her descendants and Dream shapes her into the person she is in the current season. This also sets the stage for a central plot point about her past that ties her directly to Dream’s son. Dream’s relationship with his siblings is front and center, as well as their relationship to their responsibilities. This season improves on the messaging so much from Season One, because it blends all these messages, while working incredibly well with all the characters and storyline.
I’m sad that this is the end of the road for The Sandman, because it improved season over season, and I feel like there is a lot more story to tell. Although there is a finality to this season that makes another season feel cheap, I would have loved to continue this story with the strides they made in Season Two. Wasted characters are my only major complaint, but that’s not enough of a knock that would undersell its improvement with story structure, characters, and themes. Sweet Dreams, The Sandman, and cheers to two excellent seasons of television.
Rating: Loved It
The Sandman is currently streaming on Netflix
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