The Sandman season 2 episode 8, titled “Fuel for the Fire,” does one of the things that I love the most in this show—moves away from the Dreaming and from Dream, who can come off as a little verbose sometime, and spans the wide stretches of this world where every myth and piece of lore is interconnected.
We see Faerie, for example, as Lady Nuala is summoned back by Queen Titania. Dream lets her go, even though she’d like to stay, believing Faerie to be safer than the Dreaming with the coming of the Kindly Ones looming on the horizon. But Nuala has proved resilient and headstrong, and I’m sure she’ll find her way back to Dream before the end of the season. Besides, that necklace he gave her with the power to summon sure does look like a Chekhov’s pendant to me—we’re definitely going to see it in action in the upcoming episodes.
The two highlights of this episode, though, were both outside the Dreaming. On the one hand, there are Loki and Puck in what I simply have to dub their Sam and Dean Winchester era—I am a Supernatural girl through and through, after all—who show up at Lyta Hall’s residence acting as police officers sent to investigate the kidnapping of her son Daniel. Kidnapping, which they did, of course, at the end of episode 7.
Once they have the baby, though, they begin to diverge. Loki, mother of six, does not like children and has a very clear idea of what to do with Daniel. Puck is immediately more attached to the child, so much so that he thinks about returning him to his mother for a moment. But you can’t outsmart the god of tricks, and so Loki convinces him to return to their hideout, where he promptly knocks Puck out with his own fairy dust and places baby Daniel in the fire.
He gives the reason for his action himself. It’s the same thing the goddess Demeter did with Demophon, the prince of Eleusi, when she stayed with his family during her desperate search for Persephone. The fire burned away everything mortal in Demophon, and Loki hopes the same will happen to Daniel. He’s not sure, of course, but he also doesn’t really have that strong enough of a moral compass to care whether it all goes wrong.
He also returns to Lyta Hall via his police officer alias, announcing to her with all the sorrow he’s capable of that her son has been found burned to death. Lyta is, understandably, distraught—consumed by the kind of grief that only wants vengeance. And who better to offer her vengeance than the goddesses who are its patrons? Loki’s plan, up to this point, seems perfectly constructed.
Except that Dream hasn’t turned all his cards yet. He returns to another character from season 1, Johanna Constantine, supernatural expert, witch, and descendant of the same Lady Johanna who rescued Orpheus’s head from France. Dream asks her to set out after Daniel, and gives her an escort for good measure, to keep her safe. Another old acquaintance and one that really made me stand up from my couch. Because the Corinthian is back! Teethy eyes and all! Charming as ever! Let’s all celebrate!
As I said, it’s not that I don’t like Dream. I think he’s a character that needs all the gravitas that Tom Sturridge gives him—you can’t be an immortal king of dreams and be all fun and games, that’s just not how character building works. At the same time, his scenes can get a bit too much into themselves. Halt the story beyond a much-needed character moment and begin to drag. But still, I really liked the apology tour he was on this episode. It shows, once more, just how much he has grown. Just how different from his father he is.
Episode Grade: B+
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