The Sandman 2x03 Full Reaction!
Added 2025-07-10 20:39:46 +0000 UTC
Comments
I don’t know if it helps, but I did see that they have, I think at least one more special episode on the thirty-first, so maybe it’s a small favor that it won’t be the last episodes altogether on your birthday itself. Unless you say it doesn’t make it any better, in which case I’m sorry. And I have no gun, so can’t help ya with that one. In terms of Wednesday cast, if you’re referring to who I think you’re referring to, I heard about that casting a while ago. Curious to see how it plays out. Jack was the one in the flashback I did recognize as I’ve not seen the other shows. Big surprise that he’s in this as we were under the impression that he was done with acting after the fandom was most unkind. Rather love how the one mention aside, neither of us made a Game of Thrones reference and instead brought up Batman Begins. Genuinely very happy to see Jack’s still got it. Could see the concern of the effects being why we’re sans Bast in this. Small wonder why Susanoo was updated. Good question as to why Morpheus doesn’t consider him worthy of the prize. Kind of like how we all seem to have caught something fishy with Loki, yet we’re all surprised by the payoff. Heard about the change with Nuala’s true form. Good to see that the Nada scene hits harder in the show than in the comics. Would not surprise me if some if not all of it in the comics was Gaiman putting his actual thoughts on page followed by undercutting them before we can think too hard. The thought of that crossed my mind a few times whilst watching. (And fair on the consideration of what Gaiman may or may not have been trying to do. If we were to be generous, that is.) Not seen past this episode, so I’m interested to see if we are building to what you described is in the comics.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-11 01:02:49 +0000 UTCQuite fitting using a quote by a character who had to change actors because of nasty sex stuff. And the first guy was incredibly beloved until that very moment. I had to reply to the "I'm sorry if you were offended" with a line I've also been saving for Myung-gi: "You stupid idiot son of a bitch dumb bastard! Jesus Christ, I've met some dumb bastards in my time, but you outdo them all! GET OVER THERE!" There have been quite a few supportive comments on Youtube, though I haven't been watching the numbers. Certainly a preferable approach to some other reactors I've seen who don't even seem to be aware there's any issue.
Ryan
2025-07-11 00:18:25 +0000 UTC"The price of getting what you want is getting what you once wanted." Oh, like the last episodes of this show coming out on my birthday, so I'll be struggling the whole day not to think about how cool I would have found that just a year ago, since apparently it would have been too much trouble to just load a gun and shoot me? Is that the kind of thing you mean? Or for a lighter case, I just looked up the cast of Wednesday Season 2, and I won't spoil who, but there's one particular name in there I would at one time have been really excited about, but now it just made me say "Oh, goddammit!" (don't worry, it's not for any kind of criminal thing) The whole Midsummer Night's Dream sequence is transplanted from Volume 6, which is another collection of standalone stories. And this one is especially notable for winning a Nebula Award, the first comic book issue to ever get it, and probably the only one that ever will because immediately afterward the rules were changed to keep the format out; they're petty like that. I'll cop to not recognizing Jack Gleeson at all until the closing credits, so you're way ahead of me there. It's especially a surprise since he announced he was done with acting after Joffrey was killed, not getting any kind of enjoyment out of it anymore (which you have to suspect had something to do with being so viscerally hated by such a massive fanbase for years). So it's a blast to see him come back to it now in his 30s and seemingly in a much happier place, and getting to play someone you don't need to yell at Batman for saving. I'm also very impressed by how well they justified cramming this whole thing into the middle of Volume 4, with Nuala there to provide a perfectly natural reason for Dream to be talking about it, and tying it into his decision. A couple other changes I held off on commenting about before seeing how they wrapped up: One entire competitor is left out, that being the Egyptian gods as represented by Bast. I'm guessing that's because they were stretching the effects budget as it was, and having someone with a talking cat head might just be too hard to take seriously (this coming after they resorted to doing a story about cats in animation). Her role is spread among a few others, most notably she's the one who kicks Thor's ass after he hits on her. Also, the original Susanoo is a smarmy businessman like the Japanese were popularly stereotyped as at the time; one guess why that wouldn't fly today. Though making him more like the original myth does raise the question of why Dream doesn't consider him worthy of the prize, since he now has no apparent flaws. I'll also note that while reading the comic I did peg that it wasn't really Loki given how he was gagged, but I figured he'd simply switched with Thor, so that reveal still got me. Nuala's true form in the comic is a much more drastic change, being a shrunken gnome-like (but still very cute) figure. I actually prefer this approach where literally the only change is her hair and accent, which makes Titiana look even more petty for forcing it on her. You got to be voiced by Captain Janeway, what more could you want? Everything with Nada goes down just like I hoped, with her getting to slam Dream even harder than originally. Though that does come along with having to wonder if this is more of Gaiman making us all accomplices by putting his actual thoughts on page followed by undercutting them before we can think too hard (at my most generous, I'd consider that at this point he might have been hoping that by writing them down like this and having them so thoroughly refuted, he might get them out of his head, but it's not often these days I'm willing to go that far). Then comes the oddest change of all so far, as Nada simply walks out the door rather than the original scene where we see her reborn on Earth as a boy and Dream fully letting her go, and I'm wondering if that's leading somewhere in future episodes to help them wrap up everything they need to in this shorter time. Questions for later.
Ryan
2025-07-11 00:01:30 +0000 UTCYet another strong reaction to a standout episode to this show. Start with the faeries of it all. Poor Nuala being stuck hearing the nocturnal activities worse than how Alan Alda and Carol Burnett and Jack Weston and Rita Moreno had to deal with. And since she ironically can’t sleep, she converses with Morpheus of the days of the Bard. Loved that whole sequence. We both surmised correctly the specific play. Love how that all went well, even with Puck being a mischievous sort. Clearly, he’s a bit of a bad egg. Such a waste after Batman went out of his way to save him when he was kid. And here he happens to be playing the character with the name of Robin. ...An amusing coincidence. Speaking of that casting, amusing how you caught all but the one right away, contrasting to me not recognizing the two whom you recognized as I’ve not seen those shows. What wonders a sinister glance can do to help you recognize someone, yes? It feels like the talk helped Morpheus make his decision which Azazel was not happy with. We both acknowledge the love Morpheus has for a good loophole, and it was exploited well here. Loved your reaction to Morpheus using homefield advantage to get the drop on Azazel. You had the question of was it really merciful what Morpheus subjected Azazel to. That was my assessment as well. Everyone skedaddles being surprisingly ok with the outcome. And now Nuala is left behind. We both laughed at Lucienne’s reaction to that. Didn’t think of Loki doing the switcheroo with Odin like his Marvel variant did, but I did notice that Morpheus clocked shit, albeit neither of us caught the exact nature of the switcheroo. Sort of curious how that pact will play out. Enjoyed your observations of Lucifer receiving the closure of who got the key to the kingdom. I’m with her when she admits she was having a nice time before Morpheus showed up. Bringing us to the big highlight of the conversation between Morpheus and Nada. (And yes, the scene carrying a much more uncomfortable subtext following the revelations about Gaiman, that fact is not lost on me.) The reactions you had to that scene exceeded all expectations, Jess. We were both VERY supportive of Nada speaking her truth, and we both had pointed reactions to Morpheus’s EXTREMELY POOR choice of words with his non-apology apologies. You posed the question of what I would say in place of Morpheus. Well, you would at least fully acknowledge that you did in fact fuck up. You wouldn’t say that “you think” that “perhaps” you should apologize. Morpheus reaches certain levels when by comparison, Bill in Kill Bill seems to have a better grasp of how he... overreacted with his relationship with the Bride. At least he was upfront about how he was a killer, a murdering bastard. And Morpheus shows he’s learned nothing given how pissed off he got when Nada slapped the shit out of him, again, shared strong reactions to that one. You and me both on assessing that Nada was kinder than either of us. I reached my limit with Morpheus spouting such horseshit that he was spouting out, to the point where if I had the capability, I’d have reached through the screen, grabbed him, and screamed in his face, “You sent the woman to HELL!! She spent TEN THOUSAND YEARS subjected to untold pain, anguish, and suffering during that time!! And now that she’s been freed, she is making it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR!! That she DOESN’T!!! WANT!!! TO BE WITH YOU!!! NOR DOES SHE LOVE YOU!!! So, do yourself a MASSIVE favor, and TAKE THE GODDAMN HINT, YOU DUMB FUCK!!!!” One area where Nada was very kind was her response to Morpheus saying that he will live with the regret for eternity. And she observes: To dwell on the past, leads to a mind of guilt. And the mind of guilt is full of scorpions. And she wouldn’t wish their sting on anyone. And it ties into what you said afterwards: The point of regret and guilt being that when you felt the strongest of both feelings, that you won’t make the same mistake twice. Assuming one even has the capability to do so. Seriously, every single thing you said about that scene was truly tremendous, Jess. Especially loved how you made the comment of even if Morpheus did truly love Nada, she doesn’t want that love if that’s what it looks like. I like that. I like that comment that you made. And yeah, we both had the strong response to the desire line. Sort of cheered Nada on at that one. The last shot is ominous. Not seen past this episode, so don’t know what’s to come, but it gives us pause if nothing else. All in all, terrific reaction, and PERFECT commentary on the episode, Jess. Nice to hear that you are planning to continue the show. Or at least that is what you wish to do. Reiterating that yes, we are unfortunately contending with the oppressive dark cloud that is poisoning the show, and maybe that leads to poor numbers, leading to no reactions for the rest of the show. But if the numbers are favorable, and you are still wishing to react to this, I will stand behind you on that. And if you stop the reactions to this show, I will support your decision. For now, thank you for the marvelous reaction, Jess.
Thomas Corp
2025-07-10 22:38:39 +0000 UTC
