The third episode of the second season of The Sandman, “More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold,” opens up immediately where “The Ruler of Hell” left off, during the night after the party Dream and his subjects held for the pleasure of all the delegations visiting the Dreaming. A restless Dream encounters an equally restless Lady Nuala of Faerie, and the two have quite the eye-opening conversation that helps Dream make his final decision but also launches us into a new episode-within-the-episode—and probably one of the best ones of the whole show, it has to be said.
Then again, that might be because I’m nothing if not a Shakespeare lover at heart, and this new look into Dream’s past takes us back to Elizabethan England and the preparations for a very unique staging of William Shakespeare’s latest work, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which Shakespeare himself—since he also appears on the scene—dubs “the best he’s ever written.” This representation of the play is for a very special audience: the people of Faerie, who all exit from Under the Hill at Dream’s invitation.
Leading the fairies are, of course, King Auberon and Queen Titania, with whom it’s clear Dream has some past that has left some bitterness behind. The play is his way of mending the rift between the Dreaming and Faerie, and both the King and Queen seem to enjoy it greatly, laughing along and ultimately warming to the idea that, through this play, their names will be forever remembered by the humans of this age. We are also introduced to the King’s fool, Puck, played by Jack Gleeson of Game of Thrones fame in one of his very rare post-Joffrey Baratheon roles. Gleeson is nothing if not a fantastic actor and he truly embodies the spirit of Puck, who knocks out the human actor meant to play him and saunters onto the stage as himself right until Puck’s very famous final monologue.
This new story was hands down one of my favorites to ever have appeared in The Sandman. It’s definitely because of the Shakespearian-ness of it all, from the title of the episode itself—taken from Theseus’ monologue in the first scene of A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Act 5—to the remarks Dream makes about the immortality of art, again lifted directly from Shakespeare’s sonnets, including his famous Sonnet 18. I also particularly loved Dream and Puck talking about the role of the fool, which works both within the episode but also as a commentary on what fools usually do within Shakespeare’s plays.
When we return to the present, Dream has finally reached his decision about Hell’s fate. We know that Dream is many things, including some questionable ones, but he’s generally a pretty just ruler and a level-headed man (or entity, I should say) and so he makes the right call by giving the key to Hell to the people who created it and who have an interest in keeping it running smoothly, meaning the angels. Azazel and his demons do not take this choice lightly, and Azazel threatens to destroy Dream. But of course they are all within the Dreaming, where Dream rules absolute and reality bends to his will. He imprisons Azazel and even rescues Nada in the process.
With the question of Hell now solved, all delegations leave the Dreaming—excluding Lady Nuala, who learns she was sent as a present to the King of Dreams by Queen Titania and so remains as a guest in his castle, and Loki, who had traded places with Lord Susanoo to avoid being sent back to his eternal prison. Dream and Loki strike up a bargain which ends with Loki being in Dream’s debt, something that I’m sure means we will see him in action again later in the season. Considering how there were some promotional pictures floating around the Internet of Loki and Puck joining forces, I can’t wait to see what kind of devilry they unleash together.
The episode ends with one last visit to a now serene Lucifer Morningstar—who delivers a truly amazing line that is only made better by the fact that it’s Gwendoline Christie saying it—and with a final confrontation between Dream and Nada. While he seems desperate to start again what they had lost, Nada is not so inclined and it’s actually understandable, considering she did spent 10,000 years in Hell because of Dream. She decides to leave the Dreaming and walk the Earth again, asking Dream not to follow her and leaving him quite heartbroken.
Bullet Point Summary
- Dream has to decide who will rule Hell after Lucifer Morningstar, and talks about this complicated choice with the Lady Nuala of Faerie, who clearly harbors some sort of feeling towards him—it might be infatuation or it might be admiration, but there’s definitely something there.
- His conversation with Nuala gives way to a new story-within-the-story, with Dream staging a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the fairies of King Auberon and Queen Titania’s court in an effort to mend a rift between their two kingdoms.
- Among the fairies is Puck, King Auberon’s fool, who is played by Jack Gleeson of Game of Thrones fame and who is sure to become a player later in the season and bring a lot of chaos to the plot.
- Dream hands the key to Hell to the angels so that they can keep it running as the mirror of Heaven it was always meant to be. Azazel and the demons are angry at this decision and Azazel even tries to attack Dream, who imprisons him and rescues Nada in the process. Eventually, though, Nada decides to leave Dream since she can’t forgive him for sentencing her to Hell. She returns to Earth to walk among humans.
- Lady Nuala remains in the Dreaming as an offer to Dream by Queen Titania. Dream also strikes up a bargain with the god Loki, who ends up owning him a favor and so will definitely return sooner or later.
Episode Grade: B+
The Sandman season 2 reviews:
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 1: "Season of Mists"
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 2: "The Ruler of Hell"
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 3: "More Devils Than Vast Hell Can Hold"
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 4: "Brief Lives"
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 5: "The Song of Orpheus"
- The Sandman season 2, Episode 6: "Family Blood"
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