“The Sandman” returns to Netflix for a split second and final season; six episodes debut July 3 and the back six drop later in the month.
This may be a bit frustrating for the bingers out there, but take it from someone who’s seen the first half dozen: they have more than enough profound themes, character developments and batshit oddities to savor and ponder for weeks to come.
Neil Gaiman’s comic book demi-god Morpheus, aka Dream of the Endless, is again played with a somnambulant soulfulness by Tom Sturridge. Having reclaimed his magic accoutrements and mystical Dreaming kingdom after a long imprisonment in Season 1, the master of all our sleeping states now spends much of his time realizing that he’s never been a very good person. In Season 2 we learn how, over millennia, he’s let down siblings, the love of his life, his son and a wife in manners ranging from negligent to appalling.
Morpheus tries but is poorly equipped to do better. Sturridge does a great job of indicating how this aloof being fails, for the most part, to make amends for his interpersonal shortcomings, perpetually seeming on the verge of tears while struggling to preserve a once-complacent spirit. It’s a minimalist, measured performance, like everything the actor has done with the character, and all the more poignant for it.
But becoming a better (sand)man is just one of Morpheus’ goals in these episodes. He has to decide who’ll rule the second most significant realm in the universe from amongst competing contingents of gods, demons, faeries and personified concepts such as Chaos. While this season operates more than last in imagined realms, Dream organizes real-world operations in Shakespearean England, Revolutionary France and a seedy Philadelphia strip club. Each such incident is tonally distinct, which adds welcome flavor to the high fantasy goings-on.
Like many a mortal, Morbius’ most enduring conflicts are with family members. Unexpectedly warm-hearted Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), androgynous and ever-obnoxious Desire (Mason Alexander Park) and gleeful misery-spreader Despair (Donna Preston) return from the first run. The other Endless siblings we meet this time around are stoic, firstborn (or hatched, or however they materialized) Destiny (Adrian Lester); kooky and perhaps crazy kid sister Delirium (“Hanna’s” Esmé Creed-Miles, registering the show’s sweetest and funniest performance); and Destruction (Barry Sloane), who’s big heart causes him to go AWOL from his kingdom and metaphysical responsibilities.
Delirium ropes Dream into helping search for their missing brother. This provides the closest thing Volume 1 has to a driving plotline, which builds to a Chapter Six summation of the narrative’s philosophical, emotional and moral lessons.
Which, as weary Hell mistress Lucifer Morningstar (Gwendoline Christy, marvelously coy) might put it, are legion. Duty, myth, what is love, is immortality a curse, whether or not God’s an asshole … If you can think about it, “The Sandman” addresses it in weird and wonderful, sometimes boldly subversive ways.
As with the protagonist, a sense of regret permeates the proceedings. But let’s not be hasty to view this season as some allegorical apology for IP creator Gaiman’s sexual misconduct situation that’s hit the news in the past year. The source comics, which the show sticks relatively close to, are three decades old. This season was deep into production when the assault accusations surfaced, and series co-creator David S. Goyer has stated that Gaiman wasn’t as creatively involved in Season 2 as he was in Season 1. In addition, the author hasn’t exactly sounded contrite in recent public statements.
It’s probably safer to say that this batch is the baby of showrunner Allan Heinberg and director Jamie Childs — who helmed all 12 episodes, a peak TV rarity. They do an awe-inspiring job of translating the books’ reference-packed fantasia to live action with all its frightful intelligence intact. The nightmarish beauty of the graphic novels is likewise approximated and informed with a richer sense of art history. There are baroque, gothic and surrealist influences, of course, with specific nods to the likes of Dutch Golden Age interiors and screaming Munch skies. From Doré to Dali, you’re likely to find your favorite uncanny artist represented here.
Perhaps Heinberg and Childs’ most striking contributions lie in casting. Expertly embodied, terrific new characters don’t just include the Endless personifications. Among my favorites are Douglas Booth’s Cluracan and Ann Skelly’s Nuala, the brother/sister faerie delegation to the Season of Mists conclave. He’s a randy rogue and she’s quite sensible, yet can barely hide the hots she has for Dream.
They’re delightful. But Dream’s son, who turns out to be the legendary Orpheus, doubles down on the tragic fatefulness the ancient Greeks assigned him. Irish actor Ruairi O’Connor masters what is undoubtedly the season’s greatest acting challenge here, and true to the classics has the loveliest singing voice in the world (if those are indeed his vocals).
Mischief makers include the Norse god Loki (Freddie Francis, slimier and more insidious than Tom Hiddleston’s Marvel version) and Will Coban’s Azazel, a ruthless demon lord who literally does contain multitudes of bad things — the FX work on this guy will haunt the sleep of many. Puck manifests in both British folkloric and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” iterations; played by “Game of Thrones” brat Jack Gleeson, the faerie jester is clearly up to no good.
If the comics are any indication, some of these characters will play significant roles in the upcoming episodes. Most of the early story and thematic arcs, however, feel gratifyingly resolved by the end of Episode 6. The closing hour’s Fates-ful epilogue reminds us that, oh yeah, there’s gonna be trouble because of that one thing Dream did. Those who know, know, but we’ll just say that there are strong reasons “Sandman” is ending with Season 2 that have nothing to do with Gaiman’s scandals.
For now, let’s revel in six hours of topflight comics-to-screen mythmaking that rivals “Watchmen” or “The Boys” for complexity, intelligence and imagination capture. It’s mesmerizing in the best way, a dark dream that satisfies so thoroughly you loathe to call it nightmarish.
“The Sandman” Season 2, Volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres July 24.
