The Sandman Season 2, Volume 1 Finale: Dream Spills Family Blood, Setting Up a ‘Spectacular’ Run of Final Episodes, EP Says

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Sandman Season 2, Volume 1. Proceed accordingly.

Heads up: The first half of The Sandman‘s second season ends with the normally stoic Dream bent in half and sobbing over the choices he’s made.

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In a minute, we’ll talk with showrunner Allan Heinberg about how the events of the Season 2, Volume 1 finale set Dream and his siblings up for some serious badness when Volume 2 arrives later this month. But first, a quick recap of Episode 6, “Family Blood.”

The hour begins with Dream contacting Lady Johanna Constantine in the late 1700s to ask for her help: He needs her to go to Paris and retrieve the disembodied head of his son, Orpheus, which has ended up confiscated by Maximilien Robespierre during his Reign of Terror. Robespierre is convinced that the head is an object of “superstition and decadence,” and he wants it destroyed. So he throws Johanna in prison until his men locate where she’s hidden her contraband: in a pile consisting of the noggins of Robespierre’s other victims.

Just when it looks like all is lost, Orpheus opens his mouth and begins singing a song so powerful it causes all the other dead heads to join in. Robespierre and his men are transfixed, frozen to the spot as Johanna grabs Orpheus and slips away. (The song, we also learn, spurred the French people to put an end to Robespierre’s reign soon after.)

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After successfully ferrying Orpheus to a temple where he will be kept safe for all eternity —because he can’t die, remember? —Johanna asks Dream for her payment, and when we return to the present, we see that he granted it: She was buried near Orpheus’ temple after she died.

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Dream asks Orpheus where Destruction has been hiding all this time, and it turns out that he’s been holed up on an island near Orpheus’ temple —because he knew his brother was trying to stay as far away from Orpheus as possible. We learn that Destructions’ scrying pool was responsible for all the carnage they’d encountered along the way (Ishtar, etc.) Destruction then says he won’t return with his siblings; destruction will continue to happen, regardless, and he doesn’t want it to be his fault. So he takes his sword, entrusts Barnabas to Delirium’s care (or maybe the other way around), and tells Dream to remember that he left out of love for humankind. “Love is the only good reason to do anything,” he adds.

Then Dream returns to Orpheus’ island, alone, and grants his son’s wish: He kills Orpheus with a powerful and bloody punch to the middle of his face. After, he comes home to the Dreaming and washes Orpheus’ blood off his hands, crying as he does so.

In the hour’s final scene, we see the three Fates, hanging out and knitting. Two of them seem inclined to give Dream a little leeway, but one makes it clear that she’s ready to hold him accountable for spilling family blood. “Got to finish sometime,” she says, grabbing a pair of scissors and cutting some yarn in decisive fashion as the episode goes to black.

When I spoke with showrunner Allan Heinberg, he said Dream’s inner journey this season is just getting underway. Read on to hear his thoughts on what’s ahead when Volume 2 starts streaming on Thursday, July 24. (And see what he had to say about series co-creator Neil Gaiman’s involvement in Season 2 here.)

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TVLINE | This is quite a reckoning for Morpheus this season, right? He is grappling with stuff that I feel like he didn’t think all that much about in the first season.ALLAN HEINBERG | Absolutely. So much of the first season was about his reaction to his captivity and his rage. He was so righteous in [the idea of] he’s a victim. He was going to fix things, even with the Corinthian. It wasn’t an inward journey. It was very much a “I’ve been away and I’m going to put my house in order” journey, and I think he came out of it with an increased appreciation for Lucienne’s contribution. And I think Death offered him some perspective. Season 1 humanized him to the degree that his journey toward empathy was just sort of starting…

It had never occurred to him that he’s the villain in the Nada story, that he acted dishonorably. And it’s his pride and his ego that dictates the trip back to Hell, more than anything else. Even when he says to Nada, “Now I rescued you from Hell, will you marry me?,” he’s still not getting it.[Laughs] He’s still not thinking about things from her point of view…

You’re right: We’re peeling away the layers. Because the Orpheus stuff cuts even deeper with him. And then once he makes the decision he makes at the end of Episode 6, the back half of the season becomes a fundamental question of “Who am I, and what is important to me?” You know? And “What am I fighting for, in the back half? Am I fighting for my ego? Am I fighting for my kingdom?” He’s definitely fighting in the back half.

I can’t wait for you to see Tom’s [Sturridge, who plays Dream] work in the back half. It’s truly spectacular.

Now it’s your turn. Grade both the episode and Season 2, Volume 1 via the polls below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!

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