The Sandman 2x11 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-07-31 18:56:12 +0000 UTC
Comments
I have a feeling that your part of the eulogy would be "Good riddance to him, the freeloading bastard. I hope he fries." Desire very much brings to mind "I loved him, I suppose, and I suppose some of you did too, in whatever way he would let us, and we could manage. But I can't help but say he has wrought some of the most terrible things. He was a man who has here and there drawn in the edges of the world. Now and then darkened the skies a little. Closed men's hearts. Fed that dark flame in men, the hard mean hard-relenting flame that keeps their heart warm while another grows cold." I haven't watched the bonus episode yet, but after seeing the title, if it's anything close to that story in the comic this is going to be an emotional time.
Ryan
2025-07-31 22:02:42 +0000 UTCAs it has been said, “The future is certain. And when it comes, you will know, without question, your place in the world. Until then, we’ve said all there is to say. Any further debate would be wasting our breath. And if there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s waste.” Very appreciative of the note of stressing how the artwork is separate from the Gaiman of it all, and how it is deserving of the continued praise. Heard about the scale of the comic being even more ambitious than the funeral in Endgame. Makes sense that’d be toned down here. Would have loved the cameo from Darkseid, whom I’m curious how and if Gunn will tackle him. Like Jess said about Madoc, he was not giving off lovebug energy. Still not sure why we needed to see him again, but whatever. (Which, yes, is contrary to the usual response to Arthur.) The scope of this all is well done. Delirium did have the good moment with Mad Hettie. Delirium is always great, especially as she definitely would be the type of person who can open the wrappers of chewing gum and unlock the secrets of the universe. (Pretty sure on what film the line you used is from by the way.) Heard word about there being a story about a previous Despair. Makes sense how it would turn Delight into Delirium. (Now when was she Daffodil, I wonder?) Think that Daniel should definitely give Merv cable before he starts killing anyone. And Merv needs to stick around to fix the place up again. Complete with plenty of complaining about shit as a day without Merv complaining about shit is like, well, like the Cubs winning the pennant. It just never happened. (Love that line being much funnier now.) Remember you talked about Spirited now being in your Christmas traditions, much like how The Holdovers pretty much instantly became one of my top ten Christmas films. The line from Spirited fits well here. Love the Unredeemable song. My mind went to how Freddie Prinze Jr is wanting to not reprise the role of Kanan any more than he already has as he feels it cheapens the sacrifice. Gilbert’s decision to stay dead does balance out the others’ resurrection. A soul for a soul. Where there is death there will always be death. When we lose Stephen, that quote will be used, though people will shut the clip off early. Lot like how you noted the quote at Graham Chapman’s funeral is going to circulate when John Cleese dies, and no one’s going to know if it’s used seriously or not. And here I thought I was possibly being too mean or harsh about the Johanna/second Corinthian of it all. Ok, good, you have the significant issues with it too, so I’m not alone on that one. I was hoping to not have the ending for that that we got. As I mentioned, there is the SMALLEST benefit of the doubt that perhaps Gaiman had nothing to do with this, though even if he didn’t, the whole thing is a false note for the show, though maybe not the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard, like, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” If this is Gaiman’s doing, second the thought of this feeling like him pushing his own sickness onto us all one last time. It’s all over now, so it’s blood under the bridge. Rather like the No Country for Old Men style final line. The scene with Hob would have been great to see. Love the Lucienne shot. For good or for bad, yes, very wonderful to see Jess go through this story as she did. Not sure I’m ready for her words on the final episode, but I’ll deal with that when we come to it. I cried something fierce seeing it.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-31 21:58:53 +0000 UTCI’m reminded of how at the end of last season, you expressed some gratitude for the surgery that you had allowing you to breathe much easier. Sure is a damn good thing for this reaction, because knowing how you talked about your chronic congestion, this one would have been HELL for you, Jess. Certainly, very emotional. Whole episode of everyone dealing with stuff and thangs, grief-wise. Largely can’t improve on anything you said. Things to add, plenty to add. Going to get the romance part out of the way. Again, Jenna and Boyd have great energy, not arguing that. Whole thing’s more rushed than the last two seasons of Game of Thrones. A man just takes it all in, throws his arms up in annoyance, shakes his head, and says, “...It’s just not fair.” Your own comment being “What an odd romance.” has me note, “That’s a rather mild way of saying it.” And you are skeptically confident that it will lead to the memorable adventures, fair. We have the more proper introduction to Daniel. Fine with you still calling him Daniel, good strong name, as I said. He gets on a man’s good side when he brings Merv back, loved your reaction to that, and his attempt to bring Gilbert back. Respect for Gilbert for wanting his death to be respected. Love that the scene is one of your favorites of the season. Stephen’s dry delivery always does incite laughs, so no worries. And his insightfulness, perfectly expected when he is the voice of all wisdom in the galaxy. Wanting to flesh out certain parts of the faerie storyline, I can see how you’d want that. Not Cluracan though. I mean, who gives a RAT’S ASS about him? Just happy that Nuala has the home in the dreaming. Destruction probably has already gone through the grieving and goodbyes as you say. Good for him to impart the big brother talk to Daniel. The funeral is the great exploration of how grief is processed. My lack of real investment in Morpheus notwithstanding, they do such a good job with everyone’s grief/responses, and that gets me emotional, so it works out perfectly at the end. Bit of potent revulsion seeing Madoc again, yelling, “...WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE!?!” See you caught him too. Got reminded how that entire story is even more BEYOND COMPLETELY uncomfortable than it already was. Strange that Calliope is there and doesn’t seem to mind Madoc being there. One additional thought was, “...Yeah, they bring him back, but not David as John.” All fairness, I buy that David is in high demand and probably had scheduling conflicts that prevented him from coming back, even if the writers wanted him to, or if he was wanting to return. Gets an unexpected laugh when Rose meets the second Corinthian, understandably freaks, and Lucienne rushes over with the “SHIT! Forgot about that.” energy. We support Rose being on edge at that scene. The sibling scenes were significant highlights. Never have been pressured to say anything at funerals. I expect the day will come somewhere down the road. Liked your words on that topic. The thing about funerals is that no one speaks ill of the dead. Everyone always says the same shit at funerals. They talk about how sweet, wonderful, and oh-so-full-of-life you were, how it was your time, and you can’t question God’s plan. They never say anything bad. You could be the biggest turd in the toilet bowl, and you'd still come out smelling like a rose. Which is where it’s striking when Desire says their very honest words. Which is not always heard at funerals, like you said. We both got hit in the heart with that one. “He never had the sense to come out of the rain” being one damn good line. Should have known that you’d greatly appreciate Desire’s tear drop makeup. Likewise, Delirium’s honest words were a major highlight of the episode, especially with the relatability with the autism parallels which were STRONGLY resonant. Then there’s the laugh over your adoration of Destiny forgoing his wonderfully cryptic shit and just cut to the point. Lucienne’s turn to speak came, and the preemptive feelings of what your reaction would be to that were felt, and I just said, “Oh, this is going to HURT.” Oh, OF COURSE, I knew you would not survive that one. Your eyes said it all, Jess. Loved your assessment of Lucienne in this episode. We were supportive of Lucienne leaving and resting if she wanted to. Twas her choice. She’s staying, and it’s great to see. Love the response you had when Lyta arrived. Surprised that she did not bring with her a pin to jab Morpheus with, or a mirror to check Morpheus’s breath. Or just fake a sneezing fit to see if he reacted. Still feels like poor Lyta gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop, the cole slaw in the face, the old socks, the squeezed-out tube of toothpaste, the whole nine yards. Maybe that’s just me. You seemed to have a more positive reception to the resolution to her storyline, again, maybe I’m just the fucking asshole. Good scene with the Bard. Hob, of course, also gets us bad. Love how he and Lucienne know who the other is before any introductions. Love his talk with Death where he decides to keep playing his hand, perhaps in perpetuity. Love that she respects that. Very sweet when Daniel meets the other endless, particularly sweet to hear Desire sounding very welcoming. And how delightful it was to see you be happy over Lucienne getting the last shot of the Al Neri closing the door style ending, minus, you know, the Diane Keaton of it all. Oh, and there was the quick scene with the kindly ones. Yes, for good or for bad, this is the end. Er, well, there is, uh, one more episode, which I’m still recovering from when I saw it late last night, and so late it was almost early. I will enjoy hearing what you have to say on that one. Until then, a most beautiful reaction, Jess, thank you so very much.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-31 21:21:19 +0000 UTCAs John Dee told us, the trouble with stories is that if you keep them going long enough, they all end in death. And now we've reached Volume 10, titled The Wake, and the first thing I have to say is after the terrible artwork of the last one, this is maybe the best that any comic book has ever looked, and I highly urge everyone to check out some screenshots of it. Michael Zulli, Jon J. Muth and Charles Vess had nothing to do with any of the shit Gaiman did, and their work deserves to continue to be appreciated. It was inevitable that the presentation here would need to be massively toned down from the comic, in which space and time bend themselves around so that every being in the universe capable of dreaming can attend Dream's funeral all at once, including all of us reading or seeing the story, and will all get their own chance to speak. They even cut a cameo from Darkseid, though in his place we get Richard Madoc, who's about on the same morality level (bet you never thought simply the sight of Arthur Darvill could inspire that kind of instinctive physical revulsion). And the episode still manages a very impressive sense of scale, making us feel like we've experienced an epic story that's come to a fitting end. I also like to think Delirium got a chance to tell Hettie "Thanks for looking after my dog, bitch." (if anyone doesn't recognize that one, don't look it up, it involves a spoiler) One bit that it's hard to tell if you caught: this isn't the first time one of the Endless has died. The Despair we've seen this whole time is the second one, and in fact the first one's funeral had been seen in one of the volumes of standalone stories, laying the groundwork for this much more extensive look at one. This is also what caused Delight to change to Delirium, as hinted when we quickly cut to a closeup of her face when Despair starts talking about her predecessor. Luckily, she seems to be rather more settled by now. The most rewarding part of all this is your reactions to everyone coming back. And I'm sure Merv is eager to fix the place up again. "This is going to be my masterpiece. My Mona Lisa. My Breaking Bad Season 5." I'm most of all relieved they had the guts to keep in Fiddler's Green refusing to come back. One of my new Christmas traditions is the film Spirited, and my favorite thing about it is the final message, "Your sacrifice would have no meaning if it had no consequence." And maybe paradoxically, that one lasting death makes it feel more okay for the others to be alive again. They still lost something permanently, and the lesson still stands. This would make for a great clip to play when Stephen passes on, if only most people wouldn't shut it off immediately. But I can't put it off anymore, I have to talk about Johanna and the Corinthian. I wasn't that put off by it last time because I honestly thought it couldn't possibly be going here. But then I had to watch a scene where I immediately knew it was a storytelling choice so low it would forever taint the show even worse than it already is now, and probably be the first thing a lot of people hear about it down the line, like the murder storyline from Friday Night Lights, or The Great Vegetable Rebellion. And I was just left feeling like Ryan O'Neal reading a letter on the beach, all made so much worse by the likelihood that this is Gaiman pushing his own sickness onto us all one last time. Luckily, that's not the last thing to discuss. The comic actually has two different final lines, first "And then you woke up" at the end of the funeral, and then we get an epilogue with Hob taking his black girlfriend to a Ren Fest where he tries to admit his guilt about having once been involved in slavery, and ends up deciding to just press on living as good a life as he can. Which is followed by a caption with what the show presents as that fortune in the post-credit scene, inspired by a time Gaiman left a convention early and gave his nametag to another writer, telling him "You can be me when I'm gone." Both a lovely way to end, and having our final shot be of Lucienne makes for a very fitting third one. Even through all the difficulties, it's been wonderful to see you go through this story, and we still have a bonus episode when you get back. Enjoy your time off.
Ryan
2025-07-31 20:52:25 +0000 UTC
