Sandman

Well I’m one and a half episodes in and whilst this is absolutely beautiful to look at and the CGI team have obviously had a great time the actual story has barely advanced beyond the tagline from the publicity about Hell being emptied. Yes, it is now but the only additional thing we have found out is that one of the endless is missing. So far great to watch and let it flow over you but lets move on with the narrative please!

More to follow…

Favourite quote (of many, in this endlessly quotable show):

It’s astonishing what trouble one can get into if one works at it. And it’s astonishing what trouble one can get out of if one simply assumes that somehow or another everything will work out for the best.

• Destruction

But sometimes, life and death affects us in ways that have nothing to do with the choices we’ve made. That… is how stories are born. To explain that which cannot be. We blame ourselves in these stories. Or more often we blame others. We seek vengeance. But vengeance is a road that has no ending.

• Daniel, King of Dreams

I’ve finished, and in the end I did enjoy this. I kinda wished old Morpheus would lighten up some times and not sound so bloody portentous every time he opened his mouth but everyone else was great. I liked team dream back in the realm, especially the new addition Nuala and Delirium was just a delight. The call backs to earlier episodes were cleverly done and didn’t come over as gratuitous but genuinely served to move the story onward. Visually the show remained top-notch and you could tell that some of the scenes were straight reproductions of comic book panels (the funerary boat going under bridge was perhaps the clearest example - beautifully done).

The bonus episode was just lovely too, I could watch the delightful Kirby for hours and it was a poignant tale that stayed just the right side of not being too heavy handed.

I’m glad that everything was neatly tied up (especially pleased for Joanna Constantine and the second Corinthian, they deserver a bit of happiness), knowing that this was the final season actually made for a better finish than trying to leave loose ends for another series.

A great piece of television and a masterpiece of visualisation.