Sandman

As someone who has read the comics - The Absolute Sandman 1-4 and Absolute Death proudly sit on my shelf - I approached this adaptation with cautious optimism.

Season 1 blew those doubts away. From the extraordinary visuals to Tom Sturridge's hauntingly precise embodiment of Dream, it struck the delicate balance of fitting television while never betraying Neil Gaiman's original vision. Episodes like The Sound of Her Wings reminded me why the material was always considered "unfilmable", and why that was wrong.

Season 2 deepened the world. Season of Mists delivered scope, The Song of Orpheus merged Greek myth with tragic inevitability, and the introduction of Destruction and Delirium proved the Endless could thrive on screen. Even side players like Johanna Constantine and the Corinthian elevated the ensemble. For much of the season, it was intelligent, faithful, and frankly cinematic television at its best.

And then came the stumble. The closing arc in Ep 11, and then a needless Ep 12, felt indulgent and oddly slight... a missed opportunity to end with the grace and gravitas the comics achieved. Having loved Season 1 and nearly all of Season 2, this final note was jarringly flat, as if the production lost sight of its own rhythm.

Still, across two seasons, The Sandman remains one of the most ambitious and visually stunning comic adaptations ever attempted. Even with its uneven close, it captured the heart of Gaiman's mythos and gave us performances (Sturridge especially) that deserve to be remembered.

That Netflix has now cancelled it only underlines the melancholy: a dream realised, but cut short.

The best thing about the show is that many episodes feel like movies. So much happens with them that time seems to linger. Even with Sandman walking and talking slowly... deliberately, the show packs in a lot in 40-45 minutes.

I was sad to see that there will not be more to enjoy but what was here was very nice. The special effects and scenery were exquisite.

Having never read the books I wasn't really sure what to expect from The Sandman. Then after reading through the reviews and seeing how mixed they were I was even more confused about whether I should give it a try. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. I just read that it got renewed for a second season so that's good news. It looks like most of the negative reviews are from people that are mad that it's not exactly like the source material and I've never got that. As long as it's entertaining...who cares. Movies and shows have to be adapted for tv and are just based off the source material. Less than 5% of the people who watch these movies and tv shows have actually read the book or comic it's based on.

I thought the show was really great the first episodes, dark setting and interesting characters. Somewhere along the way I grew bored by the show however. I will probably watch the second season if it ever comes out since I am a fan of the novels. This was entertaining but the stark difference to how it started and how it ended made it less interesting for me. I hope the next season will focus on what made the first episodes so good. I think maybe sandmand will have a hard time to compete with all the upcoming franchises coming out this fall, I hope I am wrong though!

On another note, 600 characters requirement for a short user review is too damn long!

First of all, series II is better than series I, and that doesn't always happen.

Series II is more mature. The main character definitely evolves more and analyzes his behavior. He even apologizes (though the first time it's a non-apology, just like with politicians).

The series is dark, baroque, stylized, and features some excellent reflections, such as: "The greatest curse of getting what you want is getting what you wanted." The series also requires a certain erudition, as the characters can reference a literary work, revealing only a fragment of the plot or the character's name but not the title. Or they encounter a whole galaxy of long-forgotten gods, from Odin (the perhaps more well-known one) to Ishtar (the perhaps lesser-known one).

The series features excellent humanist themes about the tragedies of ordinary people. There's a great character of a trans woman whose family behaved very badly at a funeral, and a young woman with gloves with a troubled past. These are truly excellent storylines.

Among the show's flaws is the seamless transition from one completed case to another, and then a third. Perhaps it would have been more sensible to make several, but shorter, seasons. Especially since some storylines feel a bit drawn out.

However, despite minor flaws, I think the show deserves 8 stars after the second season.