All 11 episodes of The Sandman, ranked worst to best

Episode 4: “A Hope in Hell”

One of the charms of The Sandman is how it freely jumps between tones and genres. The premiere is like supernatural Downton Abbey, the third episode becomes a detective show, and the fourth takes Dream to Hell, which is brought to life in spectacular fashion by the production designers and special effects artists.

Many artists have imagined what Hell looks like over the years, so there’s a lot to draw from. The Hell of The Sandman is all blasted landscapes and portentous red horizons, tall angry demons and twisty spiky palaces. It feels intimidating, and the script does a good job of establishing that not even a being as powerful as Dream is safe here, particularly once he meets Lucifer, played to the hilt with deadly sweetness by Game of Thrones veteran Gwendoline Christie. I’ve mentioned a few actors by name so far — Tom Sturridge, Patton Oswalt, Stephen Fry — because they deserve distinction for bringing something special and exciting to their characters. We can absolutely add Christie’s name to that list.

The whole reason Dream is going to Hell, by the way, is because a demon has taken his helm. To get it back, he must play a game of wits with Lucifer (in the comics he plays it with Choronzon, the demon in question, but I get why they wanted to highlight Lucifer instead). The fight is a visually sumptuous, wonderfully imaginative sequence, one of many in this episode.

“A Hope in Hell” is a treat, and it starts what is easily the season’s best run of episodes.