Sandman Episode 6 Recap — Family and Friends
Back in the days when an adaptation meant either a film or a relatively low-budget TV series, it often used to be said by fans that Sandman was unfilmable. And yet, having watched the first five episodes, it’s easy to imagine what a reasonably faithful, if somewhat uninspired, 2 hour-ish movie of the first book might have looked like.
The core plot is actually relatively straightforward: Dream is captured by a mad magician, stripped of his three magical Macguffins and imprisoned for a century. He then escapes, and goes on three mini-quests to reclaim them.
Cut out Alex Burgess’ coming of age story from episode one; John Dee’s hitchhiking adventures from episode four; and a lot of the initial scene-setting and conversation from episode five’s diner — ie. focus relentlessly on Dream and his core aims — and with a bit of ruthless editing of the rest of it, you’d have a workable film of a sensible length.
But it’s hard to imagine that film including more than maybe two token short scenes of the things shown in Episode Six, which is aggressively low on action and serves no wider plot arc. Which is why a shorter, less imaginative and daring adaptation would never have worked. Because this episode is also a good contender for best episode to date, and it encapsulates just what made Sandman such as interesting read — the subplots and diversions and short stories were always just as, if not more, important than the main storylines.
So what’s going on here? The initial arc described above is essentially over, while the next arc isn’t really up and running yet. Essentially, it’s two episodes in one. For the first half hour, Dream wanders around chatting to his sister. For the second half, he meets a friend in a pub for a drink and a catch-up.
I’m being slightly facetious, of course. The sister is Death (essentially the Grim Reaper, but as cheery as Dream is moody), and she reap souls while they’re having a familial heart to heart. The pub catch ups happen once a century, from 1389 to the present day, between Dream and a man called Hob Gadling, who’s essentially been granted immortality.
Till Death Do Us Part
As I said a few recaps back, when Dream was stubbornly refusing to get in touch with his family, the interactions between the seven Endless siblings are one of my favourite things about Sandman. And Death is both a generic fan-favourite and a character I’ve personally always liked, so I was very excited about the first half of this. And I present this picture from 2005 as evidence that, supernatural underpinnings aside, there are few things I find more relatable than bounding over-cheerly around town chatting to your emo younger brother.
Dream is sitting on a park bench, feeding pigeons and looking sad, which is sort of adorable. Death walks over, sits down beside him, makes jokes about Mary Poppins and asks him about his feelings. He thought getting his freedom, reclaiming his tools, and taking revenge would make him feel happy. But he liked having a focussed quest. He’s now more powerful than ever, but feels directionless and even worse than before.
Death needs to get on with her work (!) but suggests Dream might want to join her for the day, which he agrees to. Slightly to her surprise, I suspect. Before they get on their way, a guy playing football in the park starts flirting with Death. He asks if he’ll see her again and she tells him he will. After all, everyone does at some point.
They go first to the house of an elderly Jewish violinist, who is playing beautifully. Death explains in a calm and kindly manner that he is dead and helps him to move on. They go next to a younger man who has drowned on a picnic and begs for a chance to speak to his wife again, but Death talks him down. Perhaps most traumatically, we then watch as a mother feeds her new baby. When she leaves the room, Death steps in, sweetly picks the baby up for a cuddle, and confirms that yes, that’s all he gets. Dream’s conflicted expressions throughout these deaths and a subsequent montage of many more are a joy to behold, as is Death’s balance of compassion, professionalism, and just a touch of humour.
Dream asks his sister how she does it. She explains that there was a time, perhaps 10 000 years ago, when she thought about quitting. Ultimately though, she realised this is quite literally her purpose, and sought to embrace it. She encourages Dream to do the same.
She also suggests he should try to meet up with his “project” Hob Gadling, which then segues nicely into the second half of the episode, though not before the footballer from the beginning is hit by a car and, as promised, gets to see the lovely Death again.
Gadling About
Anyway, Dream, having said his goodbyes for now to his sister and maybe cheered up a fraction, goes to an old, medieval pub, only to find it boarded up. This is seemingly still in London, and I’m equal parts surprised that this ancient building is still standing; that it’s been sold off to developers (surely this place would be listed); and that they’re making no effort to actually redevelop it, but never mind.
We flash back to 1389, where a period appropriate Death and Dream are visiting the same pub. They’ve got a very similar dynamic as in the first half of this episode: he’s whining (and looking even more goth than usual in his medieval gear); she’s cheery and trying to get his to understand and appreciate humanity more. We hear some of the clientele’s general chitchat — complaints about the poll tax and promises of revolution, a saucy joke, that sort of thing — before zoning in on one particular conversation. A man, Hob Gadling, tells his friends that dying is a fool’s game and he doesn’t intend to die. Dream tells his sister that a human who couldn’t die would be desperate to after a while, so she offers to keep him alive to put this theory to the test. Dream speaks to Hob and though he doesn’t tell him who he is or about the deal he’s made, suggests they meet up in a hundred years’ time.
For the rest of the episode, they meet every hundred years in the same pub for a drink, a chat about what Hob’s been up to, and a check-in on whether or not he wants to keep on living. Some centuries he’s wealthy and powerful with a loving family, some he’s starving in the streets, and at one rather uncomfortable point, he’s a slave trader, but to Dream’s surprise, he always wants to keep going.
The hair, costume, and set design people have absolutely knocked it out of the park in this segment. I utterly love Dream’s different hairstyles and (invariably black) outfits. If I were forced to pick a favourite, I’d probably go with the eighteenth-century one. Beyond that though, the detail across the board is amazing. The background chatter is always fun too — some of it period specific, much of it sufficiently consistent to demonstrate that human nature doesn’t change that much over the centuries.
Throughout, we get hints of subplots that might come later. In the sixteenth-century, Dream bumps into a young and struggling William Shakespeare and cuts some sort of as yet unexplained deal with him. In the eighteenth-century, we’re introduced to Lady Johanna Constantine, an ancestor of the woman from episode three, played by the same actress. It’s all testament to just how much goes on in the original stories and to the show’s herculean efforts to do justice to it all rather than just churning through the main plots.
When they meet in 1889, after the usual update, Hob suggests that Dream is carrying on with the meetings not because he wants to see if he’s going to change his mind about living forever, but because he’s lonely and wants a friend. Dream has a total freakout at the idea he might need a human pal and storms off.
Then in 1989 — while the clientele are back to complaining about the poll tax, which was a fun detail — Dream doesn’t appear. We know this is because he’s still being held prisoner by the Burgesses, but a gloriously yuppie Hob assumes he’s ruined the relationship forever and is distraught, especially when it becomes clear that any hope of a reunion in 2089 is going to be dashed by the fact the pub is being sold off and will be demolished. I was super emotional watching this bit, but my already wavering suspension of disbelief about the pub’s status was pushed to the limit by the idea this prime bit of real estate has been left to rot for 30 plus years.
Back in the present, standing outside the abandoned pub, with seemingly no way of explaining why he didn’t show or repairing the damage he did to the friendship back in Victorian times, Dream is sad even by his standards. Until he spots a building just down the road: the New Inn.
When he goes inside, he discovers that Hob’s the landlord and they have a lovely chat. Dream apologises (which you get the impression must be a vanishingly rare occurrence for him) and then admits that Hob is indeed his friend. Awww. I hope they arrange some slightly more frequent meet-ups going forward!
And then it’s all over bar a quick mysterious scene with Desire, plotting on the phone to one of their siblings and getting the second act firmly underway.
