All 11 episodes of The Sandman, ranked worst to best

Episode 7: “A Doll’s House”

“A Doll’s House” kicks off the second story arc for The Sandman, and this one is a lot more internally coherent than Dream’s quest to get back his totems of power. There, every episode still felt like a little story onto itself, more or less. Here, we meet a new cast of characters who we’ll follow through to the end of the series.

There’s Rose Walker, the young woman looking for her missing brother Jed. There’s her friend Lyta Hall, a widow who’s traveling with her. There’s Unity Kinkaid, Rose’s surprise great-grandmother who was asleep for decades while Dream was imprisoned. And there’s a whole house of wacky housemates that Rose will be staying with during her search.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with “A Doll’s House”; it just has a lot of deck-stacking to do. Who are these people, what are they after, and where does Dream come in? As it happens, Rose is a dream vortex, a kind of once-in-a-generation phenomenon who has the power to tear down the walls between dreams, which could pose a danger to the Dreaming. The episode has to explain that too.

“A Doll’s House” is also setting up a plot with the Corinthian, a nightmare on the run from the Dreaming who has been running around for several episodes now. He’s a famous serial murderer who likes to eat the eyes of his victims. There are a bunch of other serial killers who are setting up a serial killer convention and want the Corinthian as their guest of honor. Their conversation in a diner hits the right mix of funny and creepy.