The Sandman 2x05 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-07-17 19:13:59 +0000 UTC
Comments
Would have been nice to see Barbie again. Hear you on the one aspect not working in live action as you liken it to the one part of The Crying Game. Had heard something about the lipstick element in the comics, which, admirable though the sentiment it, as you say, it won’t last. So, it is very appreciated that Morpheus alters the stone itself. And if nothing else, it’s nice to hear that more than anything else it makes you glad that you ended up watching this season. Was trying to avoid the Alvin jokes, but yes, one is asking for trouble on that one. Nice to hear of the pragmatism with the changes with Delirium. That scene with her eyes was really damn good. For something to be bad enough that Gaiman decided was too much, that takes some doing. Still feel bad for Jess having the snake to contend with, though it is rather noticeable cgi, so that too could have been worse. No, yeah, I loved the portrayal of Hades and Persephone in this episode. Good note on the complaint about it not being winter. There was plenty wrong with those Percy Jackson films, and that part did stand out as being particularly bad. (Delightful though a vamping Rosario Dawson is.) There is a nice simplicity to Orpheus being a dumbass. The note on the OCD, honestly, I’d have warring OCD at play of yeah, not sure if I’d have made it, yet the other OCD at play would lock onto Hades and Persephone’s warnings, especially as they were two of the most upfront gods in the mythology. Good Mars Attacks reference. As someone who is something of a hopeless romantic, I get where Orpheus was coming from, he just loses me when he refused to listen to everyone who would know what they’re talking about. Of course, I have no experience in these matters, and the dream would be finding someone who’d be the Vanessa to my Kingpin, or something like that. The reaction Jess had to Orpheus’s plot did surely pack the punch. Shame about Brian Blessed not being Emperor Augustus, though when the ultimate result is Brian Cox, who the hell can be mad about that. I’ll take that man in anything.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-18 02:33:27 +0000 UTCThere is an answer to why she became Delirium, but the show hasn't featured a single hint to it so far, and I have a very hard time imagining it'll be in the remaining episodes with everything else they have to cover. At most, it might be in that bonus one. One of my childhood friends is trans, but by the time she transitioned she'd moved far away and I've never actually seen her in her current identity, so I'm stuck with her dead self as my only mental image of her. Wanda's story plus a character in J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars are what I credit for opening my eyes to the truth of the experience, and being supportive of anyone going through it.
Ryan
2025-07-18 02:08:21 +0000 UTCThe flipside to what I mentioned about comic Wanda not being a convincing woman is that it makes quite a contrast when Death lets Barbie say goodbye, and she appears as her true self. That can't happen here since Indya Moore is so attractive the whole way through, but there's really no way past that in live action since like I said about The Crying Game, there's no way in hell I'd ask a trans actor to do anything approaching their dead identity even if it's just playing a character. And after so many years of knowing her story's ending as just Barbie writing "Wanda" on the tombstone in lipstick that will clearly not last long, it's incredibly gratifying to see Dream actually change the engraving, and more than anything else makes me glad I ended up watching this season. And I have to say, anyone who names their kid Alvin is just asking for them to reject their birth identity. I was expecting the show to skip everything with Delirium's home, which is another of those things that can only really work in one specific medium, and they did leave some stuff out, but I'm very impressed how close they got with the rest, using editing to create a similar effect to the way the panels are arranged and bleed into each other. The really important cost saving method is that originally she's constantly shapeshifting into a ton of different things, and it's holding her entire self in human form that she says hurts. Changing it to just her eyes is a really clever workaround to make the same point. The Orpheus story is another one from Volume 6, and one curious choice is keeping the big "It's all of us" reveal, when the point of that in the comic is that it's our first ever look at Destruction. And believe it or not, the snake scene may well have been an improvement for you on the original version, which fully follows the original version of the myth where one of Orpheus' friends assaults and murders Eurydice. It really says something that Gaiman at the time this season was made, fully confident and comfortable in his darker impulses, still knew he should probably change that. I'm very impressed by the presentation of Hades and Persephone, even if I'm wondering why Persephone is there when it didn't seem to be winter. You're verging on the same territory as the Percy Jackson movies, and not even giving us a vamping Rosario Dawson to make up for it. It was quite a surprise on my first reading that there isn't any kind of twist on why Orpheus looks back, and he's still just a dumbass who can't follow the rules (though I have to admit that would be hell on my OCD, and I don't know if I would make it either). And if you know the myth, you can also see coming that he'll end up doing his impression of Pierce Brosnan in Mars Attacks. I'll admit that my aroace self was never able to get much into this part of the story, but given your whole reaction I'll just take on faith that there's some believability to it that makes the tragedy work. Here's as good as anywhere to note that another story in Volume 6 features Emperor Augustus and Livia, which I bring up because the audio adaptation from a while back brought in Sian Phillips to play Livia again. Brian Blessed didn't come with her, which disappointingly wasn't even because he was playing Destruction, but in his place we got Brian Cox, which it's very hard to complain about.
Ryan
2025-07-18 01:58:20 +0000 UTCQuite the episode to take in, like you said. If in fact we are speaking of the same episode, we agree on episode five of last season being the favorite episode of last season, in my case, it’s still reigning as favorite episode of the series, and it would go on my list of favorite episodes of television. Period. This one, though not matching that, was damn good stuff. We start with Lucienne having common sense, and you living for her as usual. Warms the heart, your reactions to Morpheus traversing through the trippy landscape to make amends with Delirium. Lovely how Death put Morpheus’s feet to the fire with making amends with Delirium, with accompaniment of you having the Ian McDiarmid “DO IT.” encouragement as well. Once or twice, I thought I saw Vincent Schiavelli on the subway train. That would have been goddamn amazing. Delirium is more forgiving than I am, but again, your reaction was sweet. You mention finding it interesting that Death and Destruction are the most well-liked. Well, Delirium is thus far the most likable, but I take it you meant within the siblings that Death and Destruction were the most beloved, which, yes, is interesting. I’d have been down for you deciphering the words of Destiny. Cool to learn that Delirium was once Delight. (And, I’d imagine, Daffodil.) Oh, I felt it when Delirium has the scene of her eyes being the same color; how she can do that if she has to. And I feel her pain of not knowing how long she can do that at any given time, as it does indeed hurt very muchly. Bringing us to the bulk of the plot of Orpheus. Now this is interesting. Although I’ve not read the comics, as I’ve said, I have a passion for Greek Mythology, hence there is the familiarity with the story of Orpheus. There still was the question of Gaiman, or other writers altering the tale for this world, but I found myself more knowing what was to come than in episodes past. The sibling love was rather nice. You sarcastically say that Destiny is really fun at parties. You likely speak true with the jest, though I’m not one to talk. Likewise, I can’t judge Morpheus for how he does not dance. I didn’t even dance at my brother’s, save for the one dance that was required of me. Alas, the snake. Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes? The snake made me say “Oh, shit.” thinking of how you’d react. Hell of a sense of timing that you had with commenting on waiting for something bad to happen RIGHT before the sudden serpent surprise. (Or was it a dumb fucking snake bitch?) I caught Death staying behind because of that, loved how you didn’t catch that right away as your realization was wonderful. She later helps her nephew out. Love the mention of Heracles being full of shit. Like father, like son. You do wish the boy would listen to reason, though you get the refusal to listen to those more learned. I mean, it’s like they say: If you’re not a rebel by the age of twenty, you got no heart. But if you haven’t turned establishment by thirty, you’ve got no brains. But before anyone does anything, they need to decide what it is they really want. And Orpheus didn’t think that one through, or at least not the consequences. Delight was had seeing Hades and Persephone. Still stands out how among the gods, Hades and Persephone are perhaps the happiest couple, abduction notwithstanding, and there have been writers who have interesting interpretations on the abduction aspect, though I wouldn’t want to ponder how Gaiman reads it. Shame that the show doesn’t even have the goddamn common courtesy to give you one scene with Cerberus, Hades and Persephone’s fluffy boy. I know that you would have appreciated that. They did astonishingly well with the song of Orpheus, as you commented, I felt the same way. Didn’t catch the iron tears from Hades, though I concede that would be hard to portray in live action. You surely did put on your negative pants this morning. This isn’t Zeus in Olympus, this is Hades and Persephone of the Underworld. They have a little something called integrity. They laid out the conditions and were prepared to keep their word. Not their fault Orpheus’s dumbass looked back. And he refused to heed his mother’s warning. And after his mother left Morpheus. Poor Calliope. She really thought that she could change Morpheus. (Boy that line is MASSIVELY uncomfortable in light of the Gaiman of it all.) You had the very striking reaction to the father and son scene. And Orpheus begs for the sweet release of death. Fella should’ve quit whilst he was ahead. Now to the parts with Wanda. Words will not do justice to your reaction to those scenes. What you had to say about that, I don’t think I can improve on that. Nor can I add much, save for the personal experience. You said how there are those in your life who are trans, and the emotional resonance of the scenes hit home as a result. That’s me as well. There’s family that’s trans. We’ve been very supportive. Sure, in some cases there was initial surprise, but once that faded, and it faded quick, acceptance has been freely given. It’s like how Ryan said about Guem-ja’s arc with Hyun-ju in Squid Game: There’s no malice in it, just no idea how to broach a subject you’ve never encountered before, and once one has a decent understanding, one’s totally fine with it. Though in the case of those like my mom, there are still the moments that make you occasionally shout “Ma!”, and even then, as noted above, there’s no malice, just the human thing of having to adjust and learn and grow. I do occasionally ponder on family that’s long since died who would have had the response of those who arranged Wanda’s funeral as they did, or worse, and there is that heartbreak over the lack of acceptance, as you spoke of. Seriously, your reactions and words about Wanda and her story were immensely beautiful and very much cherished. God bless ya, Jess. Thank you for the beautiful reaction.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-17 21:07:06 +0000 UTC
