Playing House

At least this episode followed the same thread as its predecessor, but random scenes and slow moments. The acting was lacking but enjoyable cinematography and CGI.

The show started really good. It was dark, magical, funny then for some reason half way through the season they've wrapped up that storyline and started a new one and it's not a good one. It's a complete bore. I don't feel for any of the characters because they're all new characters and Dream isn't it in it much anymore. It's very strange.

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.

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.

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.