The Sandman season two Eps 1 - 6 reviews

 

Continuing at a glacial, lugubrious pace, The Sandman returns for a second, final season. The first season was an acquired taste for sure yet did include one of the most gripping tv episodes I’ve seen in many a year (`24/7`) while conversely meandering towards the end of the season. Three years later what’s not changed is the stately pace at which events unfurl something that may at first be off putting especially for those used to a high number of action beats per minute. Yet once you get used to this and the large cast of characters the story will pull you in even if the first episode does lag a little.

At time it seems like an expensive version of those old studio- bound dramas beloved of the BBC in the Seventies. There are smatterings of action but much of the first three episodes consist of characters talking and the opening episode does test the patience as the gods turn up individually to a meeting. / It’s the first time they’ve all met in person for a long while so it surprising that they have little to say to each other. Its very sluggish and while we’ve probably all been to gatherings of relatives where this is the case the viewer is not able to leave the room. For an opening episode its not going to persuade everyone to keep watching though they should because it does get better.

The crux of the opening three episodes has Dream searching for Nada a human Queen he fell for centuries ago but who ended up in Hell through no fault of her own when she ended their relationship. Yet when Dream goes there to ask for her return he is out manoeuvred by Lucifer who has decided to retire and hands him the keys to Hell to either to keep for himself or give to someone else. This decision leads to a several supernatural delegations coming to visit each with their own tactics to get the keys.

Taking up episode two this proves to be an absorbing interlude as each presents their case with undercurrents of their own ambitions.  Director Jamie Childs captures the social ebb and flow of such an event with his camera roaming the halls picking up these conversations. As ever the series also impresses with the sheer scale of the locales, even though they are likely digitally generated that doesn’t stop them looking like giant stone monuments or vast plains. Every shot seems to resemble a Seventies LP cover! Part three has a more playful sub plot revolving around Shakespeare and the writing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream whose plot is woven into the actual story we’re watching. Sometimes it is difficult to find a connection with the material as its largely populated by distant deities or unusual beings so this does help.

Amongst a large cast jostling for attention in this opening trio, Umulisa Gahiga as Nada, Adrian Lester as Destiny, Freddie Fox as Loki and Jack Gleeson as Puck while Tom Sturridge manages to draw surprisingly varied nuances from Dream’s apparently serene countenance. Kirby Howell Baptiste is the cheeriest interpretation of Death there has ever been bringing some light to an often dark text. There is still a feeling that a lot of the sequences are too poised and lack spontaneity of character but the scenario is interesting enough to overcome this. After all they are higher beings.

Something unexpected happens in episodes four though when the glacial atmosphere of the show thaws a little as the narrative leans further in on the theme of families. Of course, it retains its melodramatic edge and gloomy demeanour for the most part yet we see a few chinks in the armour of these eternal beings.  As Dream’s sister Delirium Esme Creed Mills gives a captivating performance and is excellent in humanising the drama, involving the viewer by being the insistent yet well-meaning younger sister eager to find her brother. Thinking he can track down Nada as well, Dream accompanies her on a quest that soon has a body count as anyone they approach to glean information is almost immediately killed in supposedly freak accidents. There’s also a lot of backstory involving Dream’s own family (did we even know he had a son?) which takes us into surreal territory – a talking head on a beach for example- but is a satisfying way of making the character more understandable. 

During their quest, the tone moves from enormous cathedral like rooms to streets, nightclubs and small apartments. Perhaps Dream’s emotional reticence is crumbling too. Just a few episodes back he told the woman he’d condemned to centuries in Hell (literally) “I think I should apologise”. By episode 5 the apologies are more readily given and frequent. There’s a bittersweet strand involving a character called Wanda, who is open, helpful but ends up dying in one of those supposed accidents. Even Death seems sorry it happened and so does the viewer as Indya Moorer adds a lighter touch that this sometimes portentous series can need.

Episode five is a rewriting of Orpheus in the Underworld though I fond the place somewhat underwhelming after some of the vivid locales we've seen.  I’m not sure depicting Hades and Persephone as such giant people really works too well. I was wondering if they just sit there on those stone thrones all the time? Yet the heart of the episode is a father and son losing touch with each being too stubborn to make the first move. The circumstances may be odd but the situation is something viewers can comprehend.

Episode six is a gem of a surprise  containing some surreal moments involving Orpheus’ severed but still talkative head, Joanna Constantine (a cheeky Jenna Coleman) and then later the most emotional scenes the series has so far offered.  Using Joanna to track down his son who can reveal the whereabouts of his brother, it’s a sort of God’s version of Mamma Mia as a sunny Mediterranean looking location is the backdrop for some home truths. Destruction explains his reasons for leaving to Dream and Delirium for disappearing and they actually sound totally reasonable except for the fact of those innocent people that had died simply because Dream went looking for him. Well presented as these scenes are I still don’t quite get what the narrative is trying to say with Destruction nor exactly why he went to such lengths to not be found.  Barry Sloane provides an earthy counterpart to his posher family.

The price Dream has to pay back to his son for the information is certainly powerful and emotional indeed. It finally brings out the heart we never knew this series had, which is fitting in an episode all about love in its different forms. Save for a coda to lead the plot forward, the last ten minutes are moving because the whole idea of them being Gods takes second place to this being a family tragedy. The series should do more of this type of thing.