Okay Sandman thoughts;
Liked:
- The visuals. I dunno what this cost, but it generally looks great. Some really imaginative little set pieces.
- Jenna Colman as Lady Johanna Constantine was great, looking forward to her French Revolution episode if this gets renewed.
- Foreshadowing Game Of You with Martin Tenbones (and really cool he was voiced by Lenny Henry who was critical in getting Neverwhere greenlit as a TV show way back when)
- Merv Pumpkinhead was perfect, and another string in Mark Hamills VA bow
'eh':
- Lucienne; maybe its just I read the character differently. To me, Lucien is Dreams Alfred, and they might snark a bit but they're ultimately always there for them no matter what, because they too are entirely motivated by responsibility and the weight of obligation. Maybe its just because I wanted them to cast Anthony Stewart Head to reprise Giles
- Making the Corinthian the season arc 'big bad' from the get go - I guess this is to make it more TV friendly? I can kind of understand it, but then the actual showdown is a damp squib, because it sticks to the comics and hes not a 'big bad', hes just another ripple of cause and effect of Dreams imprisonment.
- Having Matthew provide the inspiration for the winning move in the Game against Lucifer; on the one hand, its kind of inspired to have him say what he says when he does, because it shows Dream doesn't fully understand humanity, but he can recognise certain aspects of it. On the other hand, it undermines Dream doing this on his own terms.
- Not really a fan of Lucifers portrayal; just wasn't menacing enough when they were trying to be scary, and wasn't charismatic enough when they were feigning being the gracious host. It might be just because I've recently been watching Prodigal Son where Michael Sheen does exactly this juggling act as not-Hannibal Lecter, but thats the kind of performance I would have liked to see.
Hated:
- Jenna Colman as Not-John Constantine; fucking awful, its like a posh bird trying to act cool at a student party.
- Jed Walker was really shit. Kid actors are kid actors, but he was also written to go full distinguished mentally-challenged fellow. He almost deserved to get Funlanded.
- Hector / Lyta Hall, and the implications it has for the Kindly Ones (I'll explain if anyone cares, but its full comic spoilers)
Structurally, it was weird; pacing was all front loaded (maybe deliberate as the first few eps of a streaming show are what gets reviewed and what starts the buzz) and the minor nods to TV it up weren't enough.
At the same time, some real important shit was lost trying to divorce it from being comic booky - Dr Destiny just came across as a sad old man with mummy issues, he wasn't really given much in the way of being a menace, or of doing what he does outside of 'truth'. Making him the son of Burgess didn't do anything either - tbh, if they wanted to scrap him being a super villain from arkham asylum (which in a comic book says all you fucking need to know) they might as well have just merged him with Burgess other son, which would have given him some actual on screen backstory.
It also didn't help I kept thinking of the Shame Wizard from Big Mouth when he kept going on about
shame the truth.
They really pussed out on the Diner episode. It should have been an exploration of the depths humanity can sink to when pushed, but mostly ended up as self inflicted soapy melodrama. There was no real sense that the world was seriously out of whack and going to shit because of Dr Destinys hijacking of Dreams power.
I loved seeing Hob Gadling and their burgeoning friendship, but again, as good as it was, it fucked with the pacing. If they wanted to sell Desire as the 'real' big bad (as the epilogue tries to set up hoping for that Season 2) they could have compare + contrasted Dreams relationship with Death and their bet on Hob, with Dreams relationship with Desire and their bet on Emperor Norton, even though thats later in the books.
I also think they're kind of screwing themselves over for people who aren't already fans; they could have pitched it as an anthology series and slowly revealed its all connected as you watch and had multiple character viewpoints with the eponymous Sandman acting as Narrator until he pops up within the actual story. You can see how they could have done this with the existing episodes, but as the book continues and there are more and more stories where Dream is barely fucking there (if he even shows up) is gonna be weird for a TV show.