Reactions: Obsessed
Where to watch: Netflix

First, let me just state that the two seasons of The Sandman series are some of my favorite tv of all time. The tone, the mini-arcs, the struggle as an Endless grapples with evolving and his end, all of it. It all just works so much for me.

But now let me say how fucking pissed off I am. Not at Netflix for cancelling it after two seasons (but heck, I’d have loved many more seasons of the show). No, I’m pissed off at the monster Neil Gaiman for ruining any chance of his great work seeing screen time ever again. (This goes for Good Omens and Dead Boy Detectives too.)

While the “love the art hate the artist” debate deserves its own lengthy blog post, this is not that post. Instead, I’ll explain my position. I love art. And yet, I also hate the fucking artists who do evil, monstrous things. What Neil Gaiman has done to the women in his life deserves to land him in jail and worse. He’s disgusting.

Where I draw my line is that I try not to indulge in their art if I know it’s going to make them (more) money. Sandman was filmed and produced and he’d been paid his licensing fees when his scandal broke. So I feel comfortable watching the show knowing that my participation in this fantasy world of the Dreaming won’t further enrich Gaiman. Also note, this is how I continued to read Orson Scott Card’s books after finding out he was an anit-gay-marriage homophobe – I borrowed his books from the library instead of purchasing them to prevent my dollars from furthering filling my enemy’s coffers. And this is why I will not watch the transphobe’s reboot of Harry Potter. Because my views might contribute to the season’s success and could lead to more seasons and more dollars filling the transphobe’s pocket. I hope no one watches this new series and that it fails miserably.

This is my paradigm for dealing with “love the art hate the artist.” With that out of the way…

I love that in The Sandman Season 2 we get full participation of all the Endless, including the missing Endless sibling. Lucifer’s abdication episode is brilliant. Morpheus’s summit to bestow Hell on a new leader is remarkable. Gaimain’s ability to write old gods of all types and then bring them together seamlessly is unparalleled (nb: See American Gods).

Watching Morpheus evolve in this season made me so happy. Perhaps he’s always cared for his siblings, the entities of his realm, his son, and all humans. But he starts to accept his love for all things, even though accepting that love means acknowledging he is changing – has changed.

Perhaps the greatest line of the entire series was Fiddler Green’s final statements about death not meaning anything if it can be reversed. Leave it to Stephen Fry to deliver the biggest, most visceral line of an entire series.

As for the siblings: Delirium is adorable; Desire was a more robust character and I loved their depth; Death is a crowd favorite again!; It was nice to see Despair show more depth too; I liked how they treated Destiny when multiple fates diverge; and finally, Destruction, woof, a total hot daddy older bro type.

Overall I give this show 10/10. No notes. The showrunners did such an amazing job of translating the graphic novels to the screen. The casting is perfect. And Tom Sturridge is so hot. I hope he gets a lot of roles after this.

And finally FUCK NEIL GAIMAN. Believe women. #metoo