The last episode of The Sandman, its mid-season finale, had wrapped up on the Furies—or Kindly Ones, as everyone insists on calling them—talking to each other about the great crime Dream had committed. Spilling one’s family blood, after all, is no small thing. Sure, Orpheus wanted Dream to end his long life, but the truth of the matter remains—Dream has killed his own son, and there will definitely be a price to pay.
“Time and Night,” The Sandman season 2 episode 7, brings right back to the theme that is the undoubted center of the entire season—family, in all its ways, shapes, and forms. Dream himself is the first one tormented by what he has done, and he seeks refuge or consolation or some vague answers in the members of his own family. We see him go to his older brother Destiny, who tells him his future is still unclear and might still be changed.
And then he visits his own parents, who are the ones that give the episode its title. All the Endless are the children of Time and Night, conceived at the very beginning of everything—but we know the siblings to be quite the dysfunctional bunch, meaning that their parents couldn’t have been all that present. Indeed, they aren’t.
Time, played by a brilliant Rufus Seawell that I was just delighted to see on screen, is cold and distant. It’s clear he doesn’t love his children, that he sees them as weaknesses—and it’s also evident how Time’s way of being a father influenced Dream’s behavior towards his own son. Generational curses and all that. Even though Dream has clearly changed, sometimes Time seems incapable of doing.
And then there’s Night, who appears in what has to be one of the better costumes ever put to screen in The Sandman, something that makes her look like she really is dotted with stars. Night is also a distant figure, even though still different from Time—she wants her children close but for her own purposes, so that she’s not alone, not for their sakes.
The result of both those visits is that Dream finds himself without any help from either of his parents, which is something that could have been perhaps predicted, considering there’s still a whole half season to go through. But as someone who loves the lore in The Sandman in every way it’s shown to us, I really loved this detour. Besides, it really hammers home how this entire season—and this second part even more so—is all about family, what keeps it together and what pulls it apart.
Still, the real highlight of the episode probably has to be the team-up of the century between two of the most famous tricksters in myth and lore everywhere. There’s a scene in which two television presenters discuss the news that the Pope has officially opened the priesthood to women, and then the action immediately moves to the Vatican—the Conclave vibes are everywhere, for the joy of anyone who still hasn’t gotten over that. Like me.
Dream is there, in the Vatican, and it seems like the Pope and his closest advisor know him, until it’s revealed that they are none other than Loki and Puck, freshly in a relationship, happy to just wreak havoc and chaos over anyone and anything. Except that Dream has come to remind Loki of the debt he has with him—and if there’s one thing Loki doesn’t like, it's being told what to do. In a scene that unfurls in the streets of Rome, Puck tells him that there’s always the possibility of outsmarting Dream. Sure, Loki can do what Dream has asked of him—but not exactly when Dream has asked it.
Of course, it all hinges on Daniel Hall, the child conceived in the Dreaming in the first season of the show. It seems too easy for them to go down the route at the end of which Dream really dies and Daniel succeeds him as the new Dream, but it could also be a nice way to wrap up the whole thing. And I guess we’ll just have to see how things develop from here until the end of the season.
Another detail I really loved and that I hope is explored a bit more, because I’m nothing if not a romantic at heart, is the vague thread of tension between Lady Nuala and Dream. Is there anything more romantic in a fantasy story than saying to the supernatural entity you love that you’re going to build him an army with which he can defend his kingdom from the three goddesses of vengeance? I don’t think so.
Also, half a point was added to my final rating just for Merv calling the Fates “the Unkindly Ones” while whipping out a machine gun. Truly a 10/10 moment.
Episode Grade: A-
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