SANDMAN REWATCH - Season 2 Episode 1 - Season of Mists
It has been a year and I am rewatching! Here are my thoughts below the cut!
SPOILER WARNINGS FOR EVERYTHING. ALL OF THE COMICS. ALL OF THE SHOW. I focus on 2.01 but I mention spoilers for the whole series/ending.
Ok. So it is so difficult to review Sandman Season 2 because it is honestly so good and so bad at the same time.
The first problem, obviously, is the pacing. We had known for a long, long time that s2 was going to be the last: they were wrapping up the entire story in 12 episodes, except episode 12 was going to be the Death special, so it was really 11 episodes. 11 episodes. 11 episodes to take us from halfway through Book 3, Dream Country, all the way through Book 10, The Wake. Obviously completely impossible. Ok, fine. We’re “making Morpheus the protagonist” and "omitting everything that isn’t Morpheus’s story.” Fine. We’re still going through all of Season of Mists, Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones, and the Wake, plus the 4 flashbacks that are needed for the story: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tales in the Sand, Orpheus, and Thermidor. All of that. In 11 episodes. Ok.
Before s2 came out I wondered for so so many months, “is this even possible???”
And now, a year after s2 has aired… we can admit the answer is… no.
lol. Sorry. It’s just no. It’s not possible.
But did they give it their all and give it their best try and kind of come close to succeeding?
I mean… kind of?
On the one hand, what they were attempting was literally impossible, and the fact that they kind of pulled it off is semi-miraculous and is evidence of the immense care, love, and effort that went into this production.
And on the other hand, some of the decisions they made were just baffling, and some of the show, I am so sorry to say, is just bad. (But then I also feel bad saying this because I fully understand the impossible circumstances they were up against, and some of s2, despite these circumstances, is honestly so so so good! But then I think about certain decisions they made and yeah, there’s just no denying that parts are just bad too.)
I would say that overall the three main problems of s2 are:
The Pacing
The Exposition / Lack of Subtlety
The “why is everyone so normal and nice and human-like” problem
I also think that at times you can see that their budget was reduced. Which is obviously not the fault of the showrunners at all, but sometimes it is noticeable.
ANYWAY. These are my thoughts on s2 as a whole. Now on to the rewatch!
Season 2 Episode 1: Season of Mists
Or: “YAY my show is finally back… and damn we are rushing rushing aren’t we holy shit we have no time to breathe here”
The season premiere! We’re back in the Dreaming! Dream is narrating at us again! He’s rebuilding, Lucienne and Matthew and Merv are watching him work, all is good! (Lucienne is happy, Merv is happy to have a reason to bitch, Matthew is happy to sit on Merv’s shoulder since Merv’s shoulder is literally a perfect bird perch. Dream is happy, or what passes as happy for him. My friends!!!! All is good!!!!! Obviously it doesn’t last, but look at them now!!!!)
Destiny’s disembodied head shows up to ruin the peaceful calm and summon Dream to the Endless Family Meeting. (In a nice touch, Dream has just ~magically~ lit some candles behind him, and when Destiny appears the candles get blown out. lol poor Dream)
And we are off, to the meat of the episode. We are adapting three comics issues with this episode: The Sandman #21: Season of Mists - A Prologue; The Sandman #9: Tales in the Sand; and The Sandman #22: Season of Mists Chapter 1.
The Sandman #21: Season of Mists - A Prologue
I am sorry to say that I think this was the weakest of the three adapted issues 🙁
I looked forward to this part SO MUCH. I’m sure we all did! It’s the Endless Family Meeting! It’s iconic, it’s amazing, it’s hilarious, it’s dark, it’s just really, really good. And parts of the adaption are good, obviously, but overall it just feels… off to me. Just kind of awkward. I don’t even fully know how to explain it, but for this part of the story I feel like I’m watching actors, on a set, delivering lines from a script. And for the rest of the episode I don’t feel like that. I don’t know.
The Good:
-Destiny’s garden looks amazing, inside and out
-We met 4 of the Endless last season - I’m so happy to see them all again now, and also so happy to meet an additional 2
-Everyone looks great, overall
-All the portraits are good
-Everyone’s entrances are good, I would say.
-Desire’s entrance is amazing. (Desire’s screentime throughout s2 is criminally low. At least they get a good entrance.)
The Bad:
-I would say all of the writing just feels… unnatural. Awkward. Kind of off. Nothing seems to flow, nothing seems to breathe. This is definitely in part due to the pacing, as we are zooming through this scene. But it’s also the exhibition. The exhibition is just… bad. There is way too much talking about things, and questioning of things, and pointing out of things. The show truly acts like it doesn’t trust you to notice things on your own.
For one example: in the comics it’s kind of funny that Death is made to change into more formal clothes, but then the youngest three show up wearing whatever they want. But we can notice that and appreciate that for ourselves without it being commented on? Whereas in the show they make Death say, “Oi! Why doesn’t your dress code apply to Desire?” when Desire shows up in their garter belt/corset/thigh-highs look, and it just seems kind of unnecessary? Like yes, many people have read the comics and made that same joke/observation - that doesn’t mean we need the script/characters to spell out the same joke/observation now?
For another example, in the comics Destiny tells Dream that the meeting will be the most interesting for him (Dream) out of them all - and yeah, I’m sure in the comics that freaked Dream out on some level, but he kept it to himself. Because that’s what he does. But in the show it was all: “Why? Why me? Change and upheaval? What kind of change and upheaval? What did they say? What did you do? What are we supposed to do?” etc etc etc. It was like they made all the characters ask a ton of questions to help the audience along, maybe, but it all seemed out-of-character for the characters to be acting that way.
Everyone just seemed way too normal also. Way too human. Not nearly odd or out-there or intangible or “we are personifications of fundamental aspects of the universe” like. The Endless all seem powerful, sure, but throughout all of season 2 they feel more like kings, or maybe gods, and not like The Endless.
Also Despair is too pretty, Delirium is too normal, Destiny is too human-seeming (and is also, for some reason, not blind).
Finally: the aspect ratio. They got rid of the wonky s1 aspect ratio that made everyone look stretched out and the entire show look vaguely unreal and dreamlike and off. I actually loved the s1 aspect ratio, but people in general did NOT, lol. So it was gone for s2, and as a result, everyone looks more beautiful, but everyone also looks more human. (And this cast is FULL of beautiful people, so for people to look more beautiful is really saying something. Dream is practically painfully beautiful for all of s2. But everyone looks more “normal” and “real” and “human” as well. And I don’t think the writing does a good job of conveying how “not-human” these characters are either. So it doesn't help that they all look more normal now, as compared to s1.)
The Sandman #9: Tales in the Sand
I did think the episode got really good here. Once we went into the flashback, I no longer was weirdly conscious of the fact that I was watching a show - I just became totally captivated by the story.
-Everyone and everything looks amazing. (Is it stupid that it’s snowing? I don’t know, kind of? This was not planned, btw, and was the result of the strike changing the shooting schedule. Umulisa Gahiga, who played Nada in s2, said that her personal headcanon was that the fireball permanently changed the weather of the continent.)
-The acting is so good
-Dream and Nada have INSANE RIDICULOUS INSANE chemistry
-Some of the changes that they made to the beginning of the story I think work really well. Actually I think almost the entire flashback was good, until the very end, when it ends very abruptly and you’re kind of left saying, “wait what, what exactly just happened there?”
How interesting, I said to myself when I first watched. I can’t wait to see how they deal with all the interesting implications of this changed story in episode 3. But: THEY DON’T. It’s like, in the comics he definitely sent her to hell, in s1 of the Sandman he definitely sent her to hell, in 2.03 he definitely sent her to hell, but then… in 2.01, FOR SOME REASON, they made the story super convoluted and confusing and didn’t even make it clear that Dream: 1. Sent Nada to hell, and 2. ACKNOWLEDGES that he sent Nada to hell? What in the world was the point of that weird “she was the Queen of the First People, I could never decide her fate for her” line from Dream? On first watch I thought the show was doing something clever, like that Dream very much was the actual bad guy but was being an unreliable narrator to himself/his sister, and was pretending that he wasn’t the bad guy, and then would have to reckon with it later? But then it wasn’t really that?
It was like the show couldn’t bear to show him as the bad guy (in NADA’S STORY. If there is EVER a time that he is unquestionably the bad guy, it’s here????), so they made him much nicer, then made the story of what actually happened much more convoluted, and then made everyone condemn Dream for his actions much more harshly. I’m pretty sure they were attempting to make the story “better” but in some ways I think they actually made it “worse”? Anyway, I will rant more about this for the 2.03 rewatch, but TL;DR Nada’s entire story is weirdly a mess due to very odd writing choices. But the acting is very good.
One more complaint. That they actually made Death say, “yes ok you have just now realized that putting a woman in hell is wrong. Good job. But no, don’t rescue her. Just reflect, and don’t do it again :) Yes, that’s right, she’s still in hell. Yes, I just reminded you how unbearable your 100+ year imprisonment was, and how Nada has been in hell, because of you, for 10,000+ years. But no no, don’t rescue her. Just reflect.” WTF was that. They could have so easily left in her comics dialogue warning him not to be rash and not to do anything stupid etc, without actually forcing her to say that he should… leave Nada in hell and just promise never to do it again, or whatever? That scene was so weird and literally did nothing except make Death look weirdly like a psychopath?
3. The Sandman #22: Season of Mists Chapter 1
This part of the episode was overall good, but too rushed. (But what can you do. The whole season is too rushed.)
-Dream telling Lucienne, Matthew, and Merv that he’s going back to hell: on first watch, I loved that they changed it from him addressing the entire Dreaming in a formal meeting, to just addressing the three of them. I thought it was an intentional choice and it made everything seem more emotionally charged. (On rewatch, I’m pretty sure they just didn’t have the budget to ever show the Dreaming “full” of inhabitants. Like in Vol2 when “the majority of Dreaming residents are sent away for their safety” - something I’m still not sure actually makes sense, lol. I think they just came up with reasons to not show large crowds in the Dreaming.)
-Matthew: Let me come with you!
Dream: No, we have no raven budget this year. You will have hardly any screentime.
Matthew: Well shit
-The Hob scene is good. The toast is great. They both played that scene very very intensely, didn’t they. Also watching this scene now, while knowing how everything ends? Dream telling Hob that he may have to miss their next meeting, and we, the audience, just have to be like… yep you will, you’ll be dead in a few weeks! (Similarly at the Family Meeting when Death tells Dream to hang out because they have “all the time in the world” … no, he indeed does not, he will be dead in a few weeks. Also looking at Lyta in Daniel’s nursery, knowing that Daniel’s nursery will be empty forever in a few weeks. Ok I just remembered I hate this story!!! I’m going to quit watching it. Goodbye.)
-Ok I’m back. Speaking of Daniel, the entire Daniel scene was very good, except I wish there was some way they could have included Daniel’s naming. In the comics, this scene takes place RIGHT after Daniel has been born, and Lyta hasn’t named him yet. Then Dream shows up and touches his forehead and says that his name is Daniel, and Lyta is like “get the hell out of my house! I hate you more than anything! leave us alone! …..although shit wow, my son’s name actually definitely is Daniel.”
My interpretation of the scene is:
-When Morpheus touches Daniel’s forehead, they are communicating. Daniel is a newborn baby but he is also a creature of the Dreaming and he is able to communicate with Morpheus from the very beginning, and he - somehow - communicates that his name is Daniel.
-When Morpheus says that the baby’s name is Daniel, it’s just so obviously right, that Lyta just accepts it. She hates Morpheus’s guts - she doesn't want to hear anything from him - but then she hears the name “Daniel” and she's like yeah… that is my son
-So I understand that they couldn't have the naming scene here, since they changed the timeline and Daniel is not a newborn and obviously already has a name. But it was a shame to miss out on the scene of Morpheus “naming” him. Also - weirdly - NO ONE says Daniel’s name until Vol2. And I remember so clearly watching Daniel being born in s1, watching Morpheus visit Daniel in S2 vol1, and no one is calling Daniel by name, and I was just thinking to myself… is this… possibly… not Daniel? Like obviously this is Daniel right? But we aren't calling him Daniel? What is that about?
(It was about nothing. I have no idea why they did that. Similarly, they completely removed Dream's line about how if he is killed in hell then a new aspect of Dream will replace him. In the show they just have him say that the Dreaming will survive without him, but nothing about a new aspect. Also, during the Brief Lives arc, they completely eliminated all the dialogue about Despair being the second aspect of herself. So I'm just sitting there at the end of Vol1, thinking… they consciously chose to remove all references to the Endless replacing themselves with new aspects. They consciously made a point to never refer to Lyta's baby as Daniel. What does this mean? What implications could all this have for the ending? ….NOTHING. All of this means absolutely nothing. Except that they definitely should have left in the dialogue about Despair being on her second aspect in Brief Lives. Because instead they just dropped it in The Wake - after not referencing it earlier - and it was completely jarring. They also should have left in Dream's dialogue before he returns to hell: “If I am destroyed, another aspect of Dream will fill my shoes. I trust you all will make my re-assumption of the role an easy one.” Leaving out this dialogue - and then making all the characters seem completely confused at the end about how much Daniel was an aspect of Dream - and making even the writing confused about how much Daniel was or wasn't an aspect of Dream - was a big mistake imho. But more on that later!!)
-Seeing Lucifer again was amazing. Also, Lucifer did not have enough screentime. This will be even more jarring in the next episode. Also, I don't know why they got rid of the scene with Lucifer and Cain's mark, especially since they released promo pics showing they had filmed it.
-Finally, the final scene is so good. Dream is going to hell! He is leaving so dramatically! There is going to be an epic battle!!! (.....or is there? 👀 And I can only imagine what it was like to read this when it first came out, to spend a month anticipating this huge legendary battle that Dream and Lucifer are about to have… only for a month to pass, and the next issue to arrive and be like, haha actually no!!) But if we didn't live in a world of bingewatching, or if you somehow watched 2.01 and then took a break before 2.02, you would have this intense anticipation too at the end of this episode here.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: so happy my show is back, so sad everything is so rushed and so exposition-heavy, don't understand at all what they're doing with Nada’s story, excited to go to hell.
There's this thing I never realized I did when I was doing it that I like to think of as "Ownership of Space"
And it's that thing where you mentally place yourself as the second, auxiliary party to someone else that you consider to be "In Charge" of whatever space or occupation or responsibility you are assigned to
And when you are IN that mindset, it *feels* like you're being responsible. It *feels* like you're being respectful, and helpful, and contributing to the load.
But what you don't SEE- because it *feels* like deference- is that the other person who you're seeing as The Authority you report to- by being assigned that role, has also been assigned the invisible load of BEING YOUR MANAGER.
This is by FAR most commonly seen in husband-and-wife relationships, where the man says, "just tell me what I can do to HELP- you don't have to do it all by yourself, but it's like you won't even tell me when you NEED help. You just do everything and then get mad at me for not doing it first. I can help clean. I can help with the kids. I can help"
But I also see it- and am guilty myself of doing it- at work, at school, in public- that mental, "this is THEIR space, and i will be respectful and helpful to THEM"- without realizing that subservience in this manner isn't actually a good thing. That it actually shifts the burden of responsibility to the other person. That aspect was totally invisible to me.
I didn't understand that when I was told, "if you see something that needs to be done, just DO it", or, "take the initiative", what they ACTUALLY meant was, "I am not above you", or "you have equal say in what kind of environment you want to live or work in", or "I do not want full control over what happens here, I do not want to order you around, I do not want to be in charge, what I WANT is to co-command WITH you"
Being in The Assigned Authority position NOW, that is all so much clearer.
I am the senior member of my team at work, and now, every time I train a newbie, every time I finish catching them up to speed and giving them a list of everything that needs to be done, my next big hurdle seems to always be, "now take pride in the space when I'm not around". "Now don't assume I'll tell you when something is due or what orders to plan things in".
Now, having been on both sides of the struggle, I can appreciate the sticking points here
TO THE PERSON "IN CHARGE": The person deferring to you doesn't understand the invisible labor you're doing. They genuinely believe you know more, you WANT more, you see things they don't, and that they are being respectful and good by staying out of your way and waiting on your orders. THAT is the bit that's not clicking.
TO THE PERSON "WANTING TO HELP": "Help" implies that you are providing assistance to a problem that belongs to somebody else. Stop thinking like that. Understand that the problem belongs to BOTH of you equally, and consider what kind of shared space you BOTH want. What is your SHARED GOAL? Not THEIR goal, but a goal that belongs to you too. Own your space.
This is not a Commander-Lieutenant problem. This is a Partnership problem.
His beauty is beyond compare
His stature tall, and long his hair
Like every other man you wrote has been
I know the more you speak his praise
The fewer his remaining days
How easily you break my heart, Tolkien
I think this song is made of lies
Your fave's your fave because he dies
Or 'cause his pain gets worse in every scene.
If what it took to make us care
Was fairness, wisdom and great hair
We'd all be on here stanning Finarfin.
watching the DND movie again and there are just SO many things to love about it but the one I keep coming back to is how Holga is ALLOWED to be a Barbarian. She has muscle. She has body hair. She has visible scars and tattoos that aren't "pretty". Her armor actually covers her body and isn't designed to be sexy. She's a messy eater. She walks with strength and doesn't sashay. She is gruff and violent and powerful, but still gets moments of genuine connection and emotion because the writers haven't conflated Strong Woman with Emotionless Mannequin. She's a mother figure and loves her child but doesn't magically soften for it. They haven't written her to be "dumpy" for being a strong woman, she is both extremely attractive and not particularly feminine.
I fucking love her and I'm so glad the writers did her right.
the fact that at the council of elrond glorfindel is like “just throw the ring into the ocean” is so funny to me after reading the silmarillion just because it feels like the subtext is him being like “yeah let’s try maglor’s patented and tested method: Just Yeet The Accursed Fucking Thing Into The Water”
#in fairness they do do literally the other fëanorion approved method of magical item disposal #glorfindel: we could do like maglor and throw it in the ocean? #elrond: no we’re doing like maedhros and jumping into a volcano via @lesbianlanval
*at the council of Elrond*
Elrond: Alright, everyone listen up. We elves have 4 methods of dealing with Accursed Fucking Objects™, as demonstrated by my four parents.
Number 1, the Elwing Method or Mom Method. This is to hide the accursed fucking thing away and keep it safe and close. This is highly not reccommended if the object can take over its user like the ring can, and Sauron will be searching for it, so this method is out of the question.
Number 2, the Earendil Method or the Dad #1 Method. This is, send the accursed fucking thing across the sea or to some higher power. According to Mithrandir, the Valar will not take it and Tom Bombadil wants nothing to do with it, so this is also out of the question.
Number 3 is the Maglor Method, or Dad #2 Method. This is to yeet the accursed fucking thing into the ocean. In this case, it is not a good idea as Ulmo will be very upset and we will still have to contend with Sauron.
The last method is the Maedhros Method or the Dad #3 Method. This method is to yeet yourself into a volcano while holding the accursed fucking thing, and also the method we will be using. You will not have to yeet yourself into the volcano, only the ring, don’t worry, Frodo.
his mama was a friend of mine / and this boy was a muse's son / on the railroad line on the road to hell / you might say the boy was touched / 'cause he was touched by the gods themselves!
give it up for Orpheus!
[Image Descriptions:
Image 1: A digital drawing of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless, cradling a very young baby, swaddled in a piece of black, starry fabric. Around them swirls the cosmos, colorful stars in the deep black void. Dream is a very pale white man (/anthropomorphic personification) with jet black, short-ish hair. He is slightly hunched over and looking down at the baby with a vulnerable, almost star-struck expression. He is shirtless, the painting cutting off above his hip. Dream has both arms securely around the baby, one hand supporting their head, the other their legs. The baby is light-skinned with short, brown hair, and is looking back up at him, one arm slightly outstretched toward him.
A golden-yellow glow hits Dream's hair, face, chest, and arms, making it seem like it is radiating from the baby he is holding. The baby themself is not glowing.
Dream (but not the baby) is stylized heavily and messily with very colorful brushstrokes, shadows in dark blue, purple, magenta and the occasional turquoise; highlights in cyan, pink, white, and the occasional yellow. The brushstrokes are placed almost violently on Dream's back, as if the artist was having a lot of monumentally intense emotions. (They were.)
A quote from Chapter 8 of Brief Lives is arranged around the two. Above Dream's head, it reads: "I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. They're always / flaring up and / caving in and / going out." Next to his head, it reads "But from here," and then wrapping around the baby's head: "I can pretend." The words continue running down Dream's back: "That things last." The following sentence, placed below Dream's arms reads: "I can pretend / that lives last longer than / moments."
The full text reads: "I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. They're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here I can pretend. That things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments."
Images 2 and 3 are two close-ups of Dream's expression, and the baby in his arms.
Image 4 is a version of the artwork without the text.
So she actually said that she does not see the appeal in Senshi at all and that the panty shots weren't intended to be horny - she just has a neighbor who looks kind of like him and does laundry in his underwear. Which she finds kind of weird and offputting, and put into his character to be funny.
But that's the thing. She doesn't exaggerate or grotesqueify or alter people's bodies to fit some standard. (Except insofar as she draws different species differently, and those are exquisitely practiced to ensure they have the same diversity of appearances that humans do.) She just presents people exactly as they are, complexities and oddities and all.
It just so happens that when you present people exactly as they are, what you present will be beautiful and alluring to many. Even the things you yourself might find weird and offputting. Honestly I think it's a touching example of how you don't have to see the beauty in everyone for the beauty to be there, simple honesty is enough to let the wonder of people's humanity shine through.
#i think we should put this post next to the interview where she said she doesn't want to eat the food in the series cuz she's a picky eater#and file them both under 'you don't know an artist from their work'#and maybe you don't need to!#maybe all you need to know is that ryoko kui is Good At What She Does#idk I don't like the implication that artists (and women especially?) can only create from personal life and feelings#some people have imagination and craft#kind of a tangent but. there you go.
Listen, I'm having fun playing with the ultra patriotic voice, but after a couple years in blue-collar landscaping jobs, you really do need to phrase things like that.
"I'm pretty sure that fella ain't here legally."
"Well, that ain't your business Chip, it's his."
They hate being preached to. If you pull out words like 'gender wage gap' they'll tell you you're brainwashed by the far left media.
Also, please understand that SO often the real issue these people have is that they just want to say something inappropriate. They don't like being told they can't say "fag", so they'd say it for a reaction, just like a teenager would.
Shut down the conversation without reacting.
"His dick, not mine" will get you much further to shutting that guy down than "well it's really inappropriate to call someone a slur while on the job site".
And that's the point. To shut them up. To make them quit saying shit like that. The first one makes him seem kinda weird for caring about what that guy does with his dick. The second one gives him something to fight against and make a big deal about.
Don't think why he was so hungry, don't think why he was so hungry, don't think why he was so hungry... And for a long time since he also ate the Devil Fruit precisely because he was hungry. Aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhh, that backstory and the character design kills me. And I read backstories of other characters. But this... And the mushroom mistake... No, no, no, nopetity no, no, not thinking about that anymore. Anyone knows any Chopper centric comfort fics? Cause I'm on the floor crying? AGAIN
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