The Sandman

The good: I haven't finished the comics yet but I appreciate that the show attempts to stay close to the source material. There have been a staggering number of adaptations where writers insert their own ambitions into the project and it ends up looking nothing like the original work.

I also appreciate the casting for Morpheus. The actor embodies the character beautifully and is a joy to watch.

The production quality of the show is great and I like the pacing and flow of the story.

The bad: The forced diversity is awful. It's neither subtle nor organic and as a person of colour, it seems like western media thinks diversity is just black and white. Strong, black women lecturing a god and showing the error of his ways is about as ham-fisted as it gets.

Overall, I do enjoy most of this show and I would recommend it. It's just a shame that politics would mar what could have been a great show. Alas, it's just alright.

I have to say I enjoyed The Sandman more than I thought I would. I have to admit I knew nothing of the comic or even heard of it so I had no expectations at all. It is definitely something different and unlike any show I've seen. The closest thing is American Gods but I stoped watching that in Season 2 as the quality of that show fell off after the first season. It has a solid 7.7 so it looks like most people seem to like it. I thought Tom Sturridge did an excellent job as the lead and Boyd Holbrook was just as good as one of the villains the of the story. The creator of the comic book (Neil Gaiman) was an executive producer so he had a big say as to where the story went and for it to stay true to the comic. I'm glad they didn't end the show on a cliffhanger and were able to give it a good solid ending.

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!

Season 1 of the show was superb - the world building was incredible; it was complex and grand, it felt rich and full of themes, and so cleverly put together. Despite the many different aspects of the world, the core plot felt focused and all the different characters introduced had relevance that somehow fed back into it. It left me excited to see how season 2 would expand on all of it.

Except then it, kind of didn't. Season 2 wanders around aimlessly for most of it. What new elements it does introduce feel superficial and trivial, and are disposed of as quickly as they are introduced. All the energy from the characters seems to have been sucked out, like they're shells of their former selves. You find yourself wondering what the point of most of what you're watching is, and I'm afraid it never gets clearer.

Season 2 also goes very heavy with LGBT themes and diversity. Season 1 had representation in an almost seamless way that never took the spotlight from the story. Season 2's (numerous) gay relationships and trans character feel shoe-horned in and contrived, attention is purposefully directed to them yet they don't organically fit into the story and so their inclusion feels clunky, forced and jarring in a way that season 1 didn't.

Overall season 2 doesn't do enough to expand on the world built in season 1. Morpheus plods along fairly pathetically and apologetically for most of the season, and the whole season feels grounded in a way that betrays the ethereal, celestial, beings and concepts that inhabit it.

8/10 for season 1, 4/10 for season 2.

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.