Playing House

I was happy to see that the show made a slight recovery after the disastrous episode 7.

The bad taste it left still lingers, and "Playing House" is not nearly as good as the amazing first half of the season, but I was happy to see the course correction, so it at least prevented me from giving up on the entire series.

I'll continue watching in hopes that "Doll's house" was just some freak accident that they had to insert to meet Netflix's artificial identity quotas.

With the second season out, I have great hopes for this show, it's just unfortunate that the taint of the episode 7 will ensure that it won't ever be a 10/10 for me.

Episode 8: Semi interesting of an episode with countless deep fantasy messages, gorgeous cinematography, average CGI and visual effects for the pleasure of eye candy lovers. Deep storyline and plots adaptation doing justice to the comics, a somewhat unrealistic and weak flow at the same time while the vibe is shinier, all the while telling the story in a mishmash way. The weakest link of the episodes so far is its convoluted, sort of slow burn storytelling, having all the bright ingredients, but sort of falling to coherently grab viewers interest.

A sort of new storyline plots related to like another show. It's moving too slow to catch viewers real attention and too dreamy unrealistic... Jed and his sister!

While the Rose Walker/Vortex story is indeed taken out of the comic, it undergoes further renovations from it's sharp deviation in episode 7.

Leaving aside the endless debate of whether the art of the past should be edited to fit with modern ideologies, the fact that the writers are clearly much less talented than Mr. Gaiman becomes apparent in this half of the show. The final 4 episodes containing the heavily edited Rose/Vortex arc are the lowest rated episodes of the series, and may others have commented that it feels like the series just abruptly stopped and started again as something completely different. Look at the reviews for episode 6, at least four of them are just titled "What happened?".

Rather than going point by point on the changes, it can best be said that the story was chopped up into it's componet elements, and bits that were judged unacceptable or distasteful were removed and re-written. After the chop job was done, it was re-assembled into something vaguely story shaped, but akin to a good story the way a person is akin to frankenstien's monster.

Narratives and situations are tilted to make certain characters more virtuous, and other more vile. This is done deliberately and for effect, with little concern for the integrity of the story as a whole or the characters roles within it. As a result the story is less engaging than episodes 1-6, which were almost perfect translations of the source material free of 'creative input'. We don't relate to or care about the characters that were favored because they don't have any sharp edges or flaws like real people. We don't take the villains seriously because they're cartoonishly evil and one-dimensional. There's never a feeling of danger because it is so obvious that the story favors Rose and Jeb that we never get the feeling that it would hurt them in the end.

Overall everything in these episodes just feels common, sanitized, and boring. The touch of the master storyteller is gone and we are left with something that feels more like Sandman fan fiction than an adaption.

There's something so jarring about the shift in this narrative that I can't help but be distracted by the random change in direction, mid-way through S1.

Granted, this "sequel" of sorts is still interesting & does contain genuinely creative moments throughout but since the problems that were introduced in the pilot have essentially been resolved already, I can't help but feel as though the plot is resultantly lacking any sense of perceivable threat - in comparison to the first 5 episodes; Morpheus is no longer stripped of his powers, his captors are vanquished, the dream realm has been restored & there seems to have been very little consequence to his spat with Lucifer... So the purposeful momentum which kept the pace moving forward (a frenetic search through multiverses & a fight against time - as scheming nemeses sought to claim the Sandman's talismans for themselves in a constant battle for power) has ironically... Lost its purpose. Plus, events which unfolded seem to have been fairly trivial (despite their apparent grandiosity) since hardly any ramifications seem to have been suffered in response to this supposed calamity. Therefore, as this continuation fails to directly address any of these issues (in a concise, timely manner that would theoretically justify further watching), it feels like a continuation for the sake of it, as opposed to one which is genuinely necessitated.

I say this not because I want to (alas, it genuinely pains me to be so negative) but because I can't help but feel as though that's how it is; we began this adventure, following the protagonist in his century long quest for reinstatement. Instead, he's relegated to a supporting role in his own debut series - so the story can change perspective & rather focus on a little girl... When it still feels as though there was so much left unexplored from the previous narrative - that's been brushed aside for this inferior replacement?

Granted, what we've seen of Tom Sturridge's character remains promising (I haven't read the novels so am unaware as to how he develops, but I'm sensing conflict on the horizon)... I simply don't get the impression we're seeing enough of him in his own show - in what's meant to be a debut that should hypothetically centre around his establishment.

Rather than build to the dramatic heights of a conclusion it's blisteringly apparent that this once great show peaked at episode six and now we're left with a far more inferior narrative that is more preoccupied with pushing false stereotypical identity ideologies than creating exciting conflict.

It really does feel like a different show entirely. When the focus is on agendas and not story and well crafted characters, which has obviously steered away from the source material, then the audience is denied the one thing it has a right to. Entertainment.

The only thing you can do is to walk away. Which is what I'll be doing from this point on. I would not be surprised if the number of ratings for the final 4 episodes drops off significantly as others give up, as they should.

Hollywood showing yet again just how out-of-touch they are with the actualities of society.