Netflix’s The Sandman Is A Mixed Bag That Is Full Of Potential
Dream a little dream with me….
Based on the iconic comic books by Neil Gaiman comes Netflix’s The Sandman about another world that waits for us when we go to sleep where The Sandman gives shape to all of out deepest fears and fantasies. The series pulls from the first two trade paperbacks of Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House as Dream is unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for a century, with his absence setting off a series of events that will change both the dreaming and waking worlds forever. When he finally escapes, he sets off on a journey to fix the chaos that has ensued since he was gone.
Watch the stories unfold throughout season one, it is so clear why Neil Gaiman’s story of The Sandman is so iconic, as well as why there have been so many failed adapted to adapt the project. It’s quite ambitious. There’s so much material to work with that it can be difficult to balance all of the elements of the story. While there’s so much potential with the Netflix series, it can be uneven and inconsistent at times.
Tom Sturridge does a great job in bringing Dream to life onscreen, but there was a bit of a disconnect in the journey of change he goes on over the course of the season. The show tell us about how Dream was merciless in his domain and try to develop a newfound compassion for humanity over the course of the season, but they don’t really show us the cruel nature of his so the journey of “change” he goes through feels a bit artificial at times.
Boyd Holbrook, who plays the Corinthian, completely steals the show. He is a nightmare created by Dream who has gone rogue thus creating the modern day serial killer. He delivers a captivating and charismatic performance as the teeth for eyes killer with such dynamic range. I loved his storyline, especially around cereal convention, which was just so over the top and funny despite being creepy, and the changes they made from the comics around his character. However, I thought it was a mistake to wrap up his story this season because he was the most compelling, not even just antagonist, but character they had in the show.
One of the stand out episodes was “The Sound of Her Wings” where they explore the themes of death and immortality in a way that really make you think. The story of Hob Gadling (Ferdinard Kingsley) being given immorality by Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) and meeting up with Dream every 100 years to help him understand about humanity was truly fascinating. We see that through all the ups and downs Hob deals with, he still wants to live and sees hope and potential in the future. We see the passage of time through his eyes and how technology and the world has evolved every hundred years. The fact that they kept going back to the same bar over all these centuries felt really relevant in the idea that while things can drastically change, there are some things that stay the same or that can tie you together, reaffirming he and Dream’s friendship.
The biggest disconnect in The Sandman though was the way the show was narratively structured. The first half of the season is really about Dream being captured and then when he finally escapes, seeking out his tools to fix everything in the world, while the second half of the season is more of the story of The Doll’s House. They just feel like two completely different TV shows, and I found the second half to be more successful. I think it would’ve made more sense to have the whole journey that Dream’s going on either be its own season or have it spread out throughout the season while making the story of The Doll’s House more of an anthology style. That way each episode is exploring each story on a deeper level while moving everything forward in Dream’s arc as well. Because of the way the show is formatted, it felt like they brought up so many different storylines and characters and didn’t give them enough time to be developed.
For instance, while Dream is captured in the first episode, a young girl named Unity Kincaid (Sandra James-Young) falls into this dreaming sickness. They don’t really address this storyline again until we get into the second half of the season and meet Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai) and learn she is a dream vortex. Eventually we get the history that she is Unity’s great-granddaughter and it ends up being a huge important plot point. They tease that while she was asleep she was living this dream life because she was initially supposed to be the dream vortex and things went wrong because Dream wasn’t in his domain, but they don’t show us what actually happened in Unity’s dream world. It would’ve been fascinating to see more of her story from her perspective and even tie back to give us more background on Dream’s siblings. Imagine if we just got a whole episode in Unity’s dream world with Desire (Mason Alexander Park). It would’ve been a really cool way to show us more of Unity’s story while also giving a chance to show why Desire is out to get Dream.
Additionally, the story introduced the idea that there are three nightmares and dreams who can’t be accounted for from Dream’s world. The Corinthian, Fiddler’s Green (Stephen Fry), and then Gault (Ann Ogbomo), who had the most compelling story and got the short end of the stick. Gault is a shape-shifting nightmare that wants to be a dream and gives Jed (Eddie Karanja) a way to escape the reality of his abusive foster parents in his dreams. I loved that concept of how do these nightmares feel about the way they’ve been created? It goes so well with the themes of the show of how people can grow and change and there is more nuance than just good and evil or nightmares and dreams. A whole episode about her story could’ve been so impactful.
When it comes down to it, The Sandman is full of genre-bending stories of wonder, it’s visually stunning, and there were a lot of deep discussions they were having. Unfortunately, it just didn’t all come together in the long run and ends up slow, uneven, and dragged out at times. The Sandman has so much potential — you can see the glimmer of something really exciting there — but it needs to be more concise and tighter in its narrative structure and push the boundaries further in the stories they are telling.
The Sandman is streaming on Netflix.
