I watched the rest of
Sandman yesterday. About 4 hour's worth. -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1751634/reference/
It was .. difficult. The show always was, mostly because the protagonist is grim, pensive, stoic. He talk slow. He voice like gravel. He take long time just say "no".
But, i wasn't terribly fond of the story. I was actually hoping for it to diverge from where it started, and that the cycle with Orpheus would end where the season was cut in two.
I'm also not 100% sure that this is actually canon material.
Morpheus is guilted by Desire to go see his demigod son, Orpheus. Centuries ago, Orpheus was a foolish young man in love, and being around literal gods is generally a dangerous thing, and due to him being a dumbass but also due to the horrendous infighting that these divine spirits conduct around him, he winds up as a living cadaver, a disembodied head that cannot die, condemned to live in perpetual agony.
Morpheus being stoic and eternal says "sucks to be you" but then he is reminded by everyone around him playing nice that he's a good boy and he should end this suffering. He does this and unmakes Orpheus, causing him to be subject to the law of the Furies, to the gloating of all the assholes surrounding him.
The politics of Sandman are really insane.
Anyway, all 5 episodes are about this. Morpheus has committed the crime of "spilling family blood" and must die. Like every other god in this universe, the Furies have unlimited power when they are doing what they are supposed to be doing; for example, War has unlimited power when he is doing war. Delirium has unlimited power when doing delirium. You get it.
Because of this Morpheus must die at their hands. He's absolutely perplexed at this even though he knows 100% that this is an unavoidable part of the literal fucking universe they live in.
There is a sub-quest as well that, well, is actually well made, with even Jenna Coleman not being able to fuck it up.
The acting is excellent, and, i would say a bit disturbing. The guy who plays Loki is genuinely terrifying, even to me.
But .. i still didn't like the story. And there is a convoluted plot with a hole the size of teh fucking Titanic where Loki actually HELPS Morpheus despite everything the show tells you goes the opposite direction. Like, "i want to destroy Morpheus" being shouted all the time and yet then the guy doing the one thing that can save him.
The ending was also pretty damn weak. While still a visual spectacle and well built up to the end, it was not satisfying in any way, but more specifically it was not Sandman-style.
i have a final issue with these last episodes that affected me more than it should have;
As you know, the show has re-cast an important number of character from white into black. Overall i would say this has been done well, and at least in 1 instance even better than the original material - Lucien, Morpheus' "butler".
i don't have a problem with that. Not more than what my innate racism does. Seriously.
But please explain to me how Morpheus, a death-pallid white goth man, and THIS WOMAN

wind up having a black baby.
I would have found it less irritating if she birthed, idk a duck. Or a dodecahedron.
All in all, lovely TV show, high bar but not revolutionary.
7.5/10