the sandman; season 1 review

The first season of the long-awaited screen debut of Neil Gaiman’s immortal comics series is solid and enjoyable, if not yet a classic THE SANDMAN

This is a spoiler-free review of Netflix’s The Sandman, which is now streaming on Netflix; however, we do acknowledge comic book continuity that may lead those familiar with the source material to become aware of certain plot points in the show.

 

I’ll just come out and say it: The Sandman is thrilling, and engrossing, if you haven’t read the books, that is. The new Netflix show, based on Neil Gaiman’s immortal comics series (Gaiman is also the show’s executive producer), is full of wonder, but if you’ve had a long and intimate relationship with the books, it may be something of a disappointment.

For those of you who are new to the Sandman universe, it tells the story of Morpheus, the Lord Shaper, King of Dreams. Along with his six other siblings—Death, Desire, Destiny, Despair, Destruction and Delirium—Dream is one of the Endless. They aren’t gods, but far older entities that have existed for nearly as long as the universe has. They rule their own realms, and are incredibly powerful, but, as a family, they are not without their petty squabbles.

The Sandman is a dark fantasy horror comic franchise written primarily by Neil Gaiman, who also served as an executive producer and writer on the Netflix adaptation. It tells the story of a powerful being who controls all dreams and nightmares and his interactions with the human world. We witness his journeys through history, influencing great events, as well as his travels to realms like Hell (a realm that only exists because of human fears). In this first season, Netflix adapted Gaiman’s first two The Sandman books: Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House.

But “adaptation” is almost an insult to what the creators achieved. The series is perhaps the best-screen adaptation of big concept fantasy literature since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Beat for beat, iconic frames, lines of dialogue, performers’ makeup and

In 1916 England, a power-hungry playboy, cult leader, and egotistical buffoon called the Magus (Charles Dance) yearns to control death. He conjures a spell to trap the embodiment of Death, the Sandman’s sister. However, instead of capturing Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), the Magus and his cult capture Dream, aka the Sandman — along with some of Dream’s powerful tools. With Death’s capture, millions are suddenly affected by a strange sleeping sickness: either unable to sleep or basically in a coma.

Trapped and naked in a stunningly designed glass cocoon, Dream refuses to reveal anything to the mortals around him. For more than a century, Dream never utters a word, refusing to provide any details to his captors — whose lives are extended as a result of their proximity to his powerful tools. (There is an escape attempt by Dream’s closest ally, but my heart is too sore to describe what happens.

Sandman’s sprawling story is another tool meant to add to just how endless he really feels. It spans eons and skips from human story to human story as if they’re merely blips because as far as Morpheus is concerned, they are. This was an easy sell in the graphic novels due to the format, but it may be harder to comprehend for audiences new to the material. It’s frustrating, because that endless feeling to Dream is a difficult thing to capture on screen and, if you’re already familiar with what you’re looking at, Netflix’s The Sandman does it admirably. But, an adaptation’s job is to honor the source material while introducing new fans to something they’ll hopefully love and I don’t know how welcoming the series is to those new viewers when it comes to how quickly Dream’s saga shifts from one story to the next. In that one, very specific sense, the show may not do its job, which infuriatingly keeps me from giving it a 10/10 score despite the fact that, outside of that one very minor quibble, The Sandman is a masterpiece. It’s beautiful, rich, lush, and magnificent and everything fans have been waiting for when it comes to Dream, his siblings, and their adventures.