The Sandman Season 1 Recap (Episodes 1-11): Everything To Know Before Season 2

If comic books interest you, chances are that you have heard a thing or two about Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman and its impact on the literary subgenre. The series can be defined as a definitive, expansive modern lore that amalgamated world myths, which did more than just enrich DC Comics’ established world-building in the franchise’s heyday during the 80s and 90s. The Sandman saga also left a prominent mark on fiction as a whole in the way it assimilated genres, celebrated humanity through nuance, conflicts, and emotional depths, and tackled myriad themes, including freedom, identity, and trauma—through the lens of fantasy. Most of all, The Sandman is a treatise on storytelling—as dark, poetic, beautiful, tragic, and evergreen as stories can be. Is Netflix’s TV series adaptation able to capture the true essence of the comic series with all its beauty and brutality? Judging by the first season, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Still, the series was renewed for a second season, which is also going to be its last, set to release next week—so let’s take a brief look at the events that happened in the first season to get an idea of what to expect in the final installment.

Who Are the Endless?

Before discussing the episodes, a preliminary idea about the Endless is necessary. In DC cosmology, the Endless are seven primordial manifestations of nature’s elemental, abstract concepts. Progeny of Night and Time, the seven Endless siblings are Death, Destiny, Dream, Destruction (aka the Prodigal), Despair, Desire, and Delirium. More ancient than any mythical gods or beings, each of the Endless controls their domain and does not interfere with each other’s space and duties. Among them, Destruction, most often called the Prodigal, abandoned his post after going through a personal crisis due to lack of purpose, whereas Delirium used to be Delight in the past. The Sandman mostly deals with the titular lord of Dreams, the Oneiromancer, ruler of Dreaming—Morpheus, who commands the dreams and nightmares of living beings across the multiverse. Morpheus appears rather stuck-up and conceited in his behavior and is an emo, lonesome soul who doesn’t fully understand the ways of the mortals. Lucienne, the librarian of the Dreaming, assists her master time and time again to keep track of things. The first season of The Sandman adapts the first two books of the series—“Preludes and Nocturnes” and “The Doll’s House.” 

Episode 1: Sleep of the Just

The narrative is set in motion in the year 1916, as Morpheus leaves Dreaming to pursue a rogue nightmare known as the Corinthian. Magus, aka Roderick Burgess, an aristocratic English occult practitioner and rival of Aleister Crowley, uses the Magdalene Grimoire to summon Death in order to resurrect his eldest son, Randall, who died in action during the First World War. However, Roderick ends up summoning Death’s brother, Dream, instead. Roderick takes three powerful apparatuses from Morpheus—his helm, his ruby, and his pouch of sand—and keeps him trapped in the ritual circle, and as the Corinthian gets to know about the situation, he helps Roderick to create a glass dome around Morpheus to keep him captive. The immediate effect of Morpheus’ imprisonment is a worldwide sleep-sickness, an epidemic that actually happened in the real world between 1915 and 1926, and Unity Kincaid is one of the victims of this—a plot point that will have major implications later on in the series. Roderick is unable to make Dream utter a word, let alone convince him to resurrect his dead son, and to impress his cruel father, Roderick’s youngest son, Alex, shoots Morpheus’ raven, Jessamy, to death. After Roderick asks his mistress, Ethel Cripps, to abort the child she conceived with him, Ethel leaves, stealing the helm, ruby, and pouch that belong to Dream. Later, Roderick dies, never being able to see his dreams realized after Alex accidentally pushes him, causing his father to strike his head. In Morpheus’ absence, the Corinthian continues to wreak havoc in the mortal world by killing humans through the decades. In the present day, in 2021, old Alex and his lover, Paul, still keep Morpheus trapped, with the hopes of making a deal for Dream’s release without drawing his wrath. However, Dream manages to escape after Paul ends up messing up the ritual barrier, and one of the guards stationed outside the dome dozes off, allowing Morpheus to enter and control his dream. As punishment for his century-long entrapment, Morpheus subjects an old Alex to eternal sleep and returns to his realm at long last, only to find it in a dilapidated condition, with most of his subjects, except Lucienne, having abandoned Dreaming. 

Episode 2: Imperfect Hosts

Morpheus tries to rebuild his realm, only to realize that in his present condition he is too weak to do so, and needs to get his three apparatus back. Morpheus needs to ask the Fate sisters the whereabouts of these items, but to do so he needs to offer something of immense value—a pure elemental creation crafted by him. Morpheus and Vivienne travel to the House of Secrets and the House of Mysteries to meet Cain and Abel, the brothers of biblical lore who are forever stuck in the cycle of violence as Cain kills his brother every time he resurrects. An emotional moment follows as Morpheus has to take the life essence of the brother duo’s beloved gargoyle friend, Gregory, in order to offer it to the Fates. The sisters reveal that Morpheus’ helm has been traded for an Amulet of Protection; the ruby’s been passed down to a son by his mother, while his pouch of sand is in the possession of an occult detective, Johanna Constantine. Needless to say, DC Comics fans will recognize her as a gender-bent version of John Constantine. Morpheus decides to start his quest of reclaiming his totems by visiting Johanna Constantine, as he used to know Constantine centuries ago. It should be mentioned that Morpheus sends a new Gargoyle buddy, Goldie, to Cain and Abel to make up for the passing of their old friend, but the new one might well be a reincarnation of Gregory as well. On the other hand, as the Corinthian, aware of Morpheus’ escape from the mortal world, decides to pay a visit to Ethel Cripps, it is revealed that not only has she lengthened her lifespan using the Amulet of Protection, but she has also acquired riches by selling the pouch and using the ruby. The Corinthian tries to strong-arm Ethel into compliance and warns about Morpheus’ arrival, only to get himself torn apart by the amulet and get transferred to Dreaming, where he resurrects. It is revealed that Ethel’s psychotic son, John Dee, was driven to lunacy by the ruby’s influence and has used it to kill people, which is why she has placed her son in psychiatric care while keeping the ruby away from him. DC fans will recognize John Dee by another name, Doctor Destiny—a recurring dream-manipulating supervillain from Justice League stories.

Episode 3: Dream a Little, Dream of Me

Morpheus visits Johanna Constantine in London, where she is seen exorcising a demon named Agileth who possessed the princess’ lover, a soccer star named Kevin Brody. Viewers also meet Mad Hettie, a centuries-old lady who has cheated death and is a friend of sorts of both Morpheus and Constantine. Out of concern for her master, Lucienne sends a raven named Matthew. Morpheus is able to learn about Constantine’s nightmare—as she continues to see flashes of her past memories from when she failed to save a kid, Astra Logue, who was condemned to hell. Constantine faces her demons in the form of her girlfriend, Rachel, whom she abandoned, and since then Rachel has remained addicted to the dreams induced by Morpheus’ pouch of sand, becoming a husk of her former self. Morpheus takes his pouch and, following Constantine’s request, releases Rachel from her agony by showing her a last dream of her and Johanna being together. Before leaving to get his helm from hell, Morpheus mentions that he has taken care of Constantine’s nightmare. On the other hand, after confessing to her son about his parentage, Ethel decides to give him the Amulet of Protection to sway him from his obsession with the ruby and protect him from Morpheus; she passes away after losing the protection. Using the amulet, John Dee escapes the psychiatric facility by killing the guards and sets off on his own way after coming across the Corinthian for a brief while. 

Episode 4: A Hope in Hell

Morpheus and Matthew go to hell and are brought to the council of its ruler, the First Fallen, Lucifer Morningstar—who seems to have a longstanding history with the lord of Dreaming. Choronzon, the demon who traded the helm in exchange for the Amulet of Protection in the first place, is unwilling to give up his possession, and to obtain his apparatus, Morpheus challenges him to a game of wit. Choronzon chooses Lucifer to represent himself, and the clash between the two primordial beings remains one of the highlights of the season. After a series of back-and-forth attacks and defenses, Lucifer pins Morpheus down by projecting themselves as Anti-Life, yeah—the same stuff that the cosmic tyrant Darkseid obsesses over in the comics. However, Morpheus survives and defeats Lucifer by embodying Hope. After all, what power do the fallen hold over their domain if they cannot hope for or dream of heaven? Lucifer accepts the defeat and lets Morpheus go with his helm, but promises to ruin him in the future. On the other hand, John Dee gets a lift from a kindly Rosemary who drives him to the location of the ruby, and on the way, John gets candid about his past, his relationship with his late mother, and all the horrible things he’d done. A scared Rosemary tries to seek help to no avail, and at the end, John spares her life and gives her the Amulet of Protection out of a sense of gratitude. The comics version of this segment was way grimmer and darker. Anyway, before John reaches the ruby, Morpheus finds it, but realizes too late that John’s tinkering has corrupted the ruby in some way, which results in an energy blowback that temporarily incapacitates Morpheus. John obtains the ruby and goes on his way to reshape the world according to his twisted perception.

Episode 5: 24/7

The fifth episode of the first season of The Sandman could have been one of the most memorable small-screen spectacles, given it adopts the harrowing chapter “24 Hours” from the comic series, which is infamous for presenting a reflection of humanity at its absolute most depraved state. However, Netflix’s watered-down version will not impress comic-book fans; still, there were some talking points regarding the execution. John Dee enters a diner, and using the ruby, lets out the inner demons of all the patrons and staffers present at the scene—making them as honest with each other as humanly possible. The diner becomes a microcosmic hellscape of the larger crisis unleashed by John on the outside world, as the inner vitriol and barbaric tendencies of the attendees are unleashed in the most gruesome ways, ultimately resulting in all of them killing each other or taking their own lives. Morpheus arrives and counters John’s cynicism by revealing that this is humanity’s true face, but only when hope and dreams are taken away from them. Morpheus takes John into the realm of dreams, where John tries to overpower him using the ruby, only to destroy it in the process and return its power back to the Lord of Dreams. Now in his strongest form, Morpheus, showing pity on John, sends him into eternal sleep in psychiatric care. The world starts to heal, and Desire, one of Dream’s younger siblings, is revealed to be making moves against him in secret. 

Episode 6: The Sound Of Her Wings

With his strength back, Morpheus has started restoring Dreaming to its former glory, but he can’t help but feel a sense of vapidity, a lack of purpose—now that his quest is over. Death meets her brother, and going on a journey with her, Dream witnesses how she appears for all the departed as a kind friend to lead them to eternal darkness. Death reveals that she had considered abandoning her post in the past until she found her purpose in her function in being there for the mortals, whom she needs as much as they need her. This connection with the mortals has helped Death to remain grounded, and taking a page from her book, Morpheus decides to find his sense of purpose by serving his duties as the ruler of Dreaming. 

The sixth episode perfectly nails the Hob Gadling story, which chronicles Morpheus’ connection with a mortal whose wish to live for eternity never diminishes. Death and Dream met Hob Gadling back in the 14th century at a tavern, where, finding his boastful nature and zeal for life amusing, Dream asked Death to spare him. Since then, Dream has visited Hob Gadling once every century, with the sole interest of knowing whether he still wishes to continue his immortality deal. Gadling’s life takes extreme turns, ups and downs, but his will to enjoy life never diminishes. It should be mentioned that, during the 16th century, Morpheus comes across a young Shakespeare in the same tavern, and inspires him through dreams. Gadling and Dream also came across an ancestor of Johanna Constantine who wanted to capture them for selfish purposes, to no avail. During their meeting in the 19th century, Gadling suggests that, aside from satiating his curiosity, Morpheus also seek his companionship as a friend. This angers the conceited dream lord, and he storms off, implying he will not meet Gadling again. Hob still hopes that Morpheus will return, but due to him remaining captured in Burgess’ trap, in the 20th century Morpheus misses their meeting. Finally, at present, after spending a day with his sister, Death, Morpheus arrives at the relocated tavern and finds Hob Gadling waiting for him. Now that his recent experiences have humbled him a bit, Morpheus acknowledges him as a friend, and the duo start catching up. At their domain, planning to frustrate Morpheus, Desire calls Despair using their sigil.

Episode 7-10: Dream Vortex and Morpheus’ Growth

The final four episodes of the first season of The Sandman revolve around a dream vortex named Rose Walker and how her presence impacts Dreaming and Morpheus’ acceptance of change. Rose is a powerful dream vortex—a natural aberration with the ability to trespass in others’ dreams and move around Dreaming at will, and if left unchecked, she can destroy entire universes. Desire conspires with Despair to use Rose Walker against Morpheus. Lucienne fears the issue needs to be handled by Morpheus with haste, as three major entities of Dreaming—nightmare the Corinthian, nightmare Gault, and the benevolent sentient space inside Dreaming, Fiddler’s Green—have left the realm and might end up getting drawn to her due to her abilities. Morpheus rebuffs Lucienne’s concerns as he plans to use Rose to bring in the fugitive dreams and nightmares at first.

Following a divorce between their parents in 2015, Rose was separated from her brother, Jed, and at present, in 2021, after the death of their mother, Miranda, she is trying to reunite with Jed with the help of her friend, Lyta Hall. DC fans will recognize Lyta Hall as superheroine Fury, who is seen mourning her recently departed husband, Hector Hall. Again, Hector Hall is the son of Hawkman, aka Carter Hall, and has assumed the role of Doctor Fate, even though Netflix’s series doesn’t really address these DC Comics connections in detail. Anyway, Rose and Lyta meet an older Unity Kincaid and learn that while spending more than a century being affected with sleep sickness, she became pregnant with her daughter, Miranda, who was Rose’s mother. Rose is elated to find a family in Unity, who uses her affluence to send Rose and Lyta on a mission to find Jed in the States. Meanwhile, the Corinthian learns about this dream vortex and wishes to use Rose against Morpheus to finally get rid of his maker and continue his dastardly ploys. the Corinthian’s exploits and ideas have inspired serial killers all across the world, and three members of the upcoming serial killer convention—Fun Land, Nimrod, and the Good Doctor—draw his attention by mimicking his killing methods. 

Rose and Lyta reach Florida and board at drag queen Hal Carter’s house and meet other tenants—Barbie and Ken, twin sisters Chantel and Zelda, and lastly Gilbert, who is Fiddler’s Green in secret. Rose finds no help from the social worker assigned to Jed. It is revealed that Jed’s life has been ruined as he is horribly abused by his uncle Barnaby, who isn’t willing to let him go to rake in the monthly foster care payment. The only solace the poor kid finds is through Gault, who takes the appearance of his mother in his dreams and lets him play out his fantasy of becoming the superhero Sandman. Jed’s fantasy version of Sandman is a reference to DC’s second Sandman, aka Garrett Sanford, created by the legend Jack Kirby himself. Rose’s dream trespassing abilities result in her learning about the secret lives of all the tenants, and later a meeting with Morpheus, who warns her about the destructive potential of her abilities. Morpheus offers to help Rose find her brother. Lyta starts a new life in Dreaming with her late husband and even conceives a child with him—all due to Rose’s powers growing out of control. 

Through Rose’s final memories with her brother in their childhood home, Morpheus located Jed and Gault and summoned the nightmare to Dreaming. Gault tries to defend her actions, as she wanted to change her predestined course, acting as a dream that sustained the poor kid—but angered at her actions, Morpheus banishes her to eternal darkness. Lucienne doesn’t approve of Morpheus’ actions, and she too is chided by him. On the other hand, the Corinthian manages to track down Jed by visiting and killing his social worker. Rose gets angry with Morpheus after he shows Lyta’s reality to her, erasing the ghost of Carter Hall from Dreaming, and as a result she refuses to cooperate with Morpheus any longer. Morpheus mentions to Lyta that her son was conceived in Dreaming, and therefore belongs to him. The Corinthian rescues Jed by killing Barnaby and his wife, and taking the kid to the serial killer convention; he invites Rose to the place. Gilbert, who previously rescued Rose from a couple of muggers, accompanies her to the convention, but returns to Dreaming after seeing the Corinthian and realizing the true nature of the convention. As the Corinthian, Nimrod, and the Good Doctor kill an imposter serial killer in the convention, Jed sees them in action and tries to flee, only to confront a deranged Fun Land. Rose reunites with her brother, and Fun Land tries to abduct him, only to be stopped for good by the Corinthian, who kills him. Morpheus realizes that Dreaming is getting affected by Rose’s presence, and he admits to Lucienne that he was wrong. 

Warning Rose about Morpheus’ intentions of destroying her, The Corinthian goes off to attend the convention, leaving the siblings for a while. Morpheus confronts the Corinthian but feels depowered as Rose is unknowingly assuming control of Dreaming from him. Morpheus convinces Rose to see reason and relinquish control, which allows him to destroy the Corinthian, but not before expressing his disappointment with him. Before getting obliterated, the Corinthian mentions he wanted to experience what it was like to be human, which motivated him to meddle in their affairs in the first place. Morpheus imbues the serial killers present at the convention with conscience, resulting in them reflecting upon their actions and being wracked with guilt and shame. Rose and Jed leave, and that night, Rose meets Morpheus in Dreaming, with all the tenants’ dreams intermingling at the dreamscape as her powers grow unstable. She is prepared to sacrifice herself for the greater good when Lucienne arrives with Unity Kincaid. Reading her life story from the library of Dreaming, Unity has realized that she was going to be the aberration, the dream vortex, which was passed down to her granddaughter due to Unity being affected with sleep sickness. Unity decides to sacrifice her life to save Rose, taking the dream vortex within her, and Morpheus reluctantly ends her life. Before passing, Unity mentions conceiving Miranda in a dream with a golden-eyed man, whom Morpheus identifies as Desire, who orchestrated the whole affair from the beginning. Morpheus pays a visit to his younger sibling and threatens them with consequences should they try to pull off similar stunts ever again. 

Morpheus grows as a character, thanks to his recent experiences, and allows Gault a second chance by resurrecting her as a dream, like she wished to be. Morpheus entrusts Lucienne with the Corinthian’s conduit, and it is hinted that he will try to serve his dreams and nightmares in a better way from now on. Rose and Jed live happily with Lyta, who gives birth to her son, and, taking a page from Rose’s book, Hal and the rest of the tenants have decided to strive for their dreams. In hell, Lord Azazel meets Lucifer to convey that hordes of demons want her to even the score with Morpheus. The season comes to an end as Morningstar pledges revenge against the Lord of Dreams.

Episode 11: Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope

The eleventh episode of the first season of The Sandman was released as an epilogue, and the one-hour episode is divided into two segments. The first one is an animated chronicle of the one-shot comic “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” which revolves around a Siamese cat whose kittens were killed by her owners. The Siamese cat sought guidance from Morpheus in Dreaming, who narrated to her about older times when cats used humans as their playthings and humans dominated over all creatures through sheer power of dreaming a common utopia. Following Morpheus’ guidance, the Siamese cat tries to inspire a revolution among cats by motivating them to dream to end human dominance.

“Calliope” chronicles the horrid fate of Morpheus’ former wife, Muse Calliope, with whom he fathered a son, Orpheus, who is held captive in the Underworld by Hades. Muse Calliope finds herself trapped and abused by writer Erasmus Fry and later by his friend and fellow writer Richard Madoc, who finds success as a feminist writer while abusing Calliope to get inspiration for his writing. Calliope seeks the help of the Fate sisters, who inform her that Morpheus cannot help her, as he is being held captive at present. However, as Morpheus escapes captivity, he reunites with Calliope and reconciles with her. Morpheus ensures Calliope’s freedom by subjecting Madoc to torture through a senseless influx of ideas but spares him at the end at Calliope’s request. Calliope decides to return to her home to ensure a change in the ancient laws that subjugate Muse sisters and bids farewell to her husband. 

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