The Sandman: The Doll’s House Books Included

August 15, 2022 7:08 PM - Season 1, Episode 7

Rose and Jed Walker are separated as children. Rose looks for him for years, but then finds Unity. In the meantime, three “collectors” try to recruit a guest of honor for their convention.

Adapted from issues 10 (“The Doll’s House”) and 11 (“Moving In”) from the collection The Doll’s House.

posted by Etrigan (12 comments total)

Ah yes, Cape Kennedy, Dorset. So lovely there. It was like being back on the streets of London in Lost.
posted by Molesome at 1:15 AM on August 16, 2022

They were shooting during the worst of the pandemic. They couldn't fly cast/crew across the pond even if they wanted to.

I really really REALLY want Lucienne's purple tailcoat. I just adore the way it's cut, never mind the color.

The children playing Jed (at various ages) nailed it. I give you baby Jed's heartbroken wails of "Rose!" (Daddy Walker: real piece of work.) Older Jed is smart, tough, and I wanted to get him out of there so, so bad.

I was terrified for poor Carl, but I guess they kind of had to have the Corinthian not kill a sex partner at some point, or there'd have been way too much and too obvious connection between queerness and horribleness.

If Gentility of the Endless existed, Stephen Fry would have to play him. Hal is quite the performer -- a lot of people want a Death spinoff, and I totally get why, but I want to see The Adventures of Fiddler's Green, and I want a whole episode at least on Gilbert coming to live in Hal's attic room. More Dolly, please!

And no surprise, but Mark Hamill does a great Merv. The one off note for me is Despair. Just not gonna confront the fatphobia inherent in the character, are we? As a fat woman myself, I don't love it.
posted by humbug at 5:15 AM on August 16, 2022 [12 favorites]

Gentility of the Endless existed, Stephen Fry would have to play him

Decorum, surely.
posted by Ragged Richard at 7:20 AM on August 16, 2022 [20 favorites]

Decorum, surely.

Hah! Yes, quite. My mistake.
posted by humbug at 7:30 AM on August 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

Really, who else could have played Gilbert?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:07 AM on August 16, 2022 [8 favorites]

(Although I was disappointed not to hear him say "Hoom".)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:08 AM on August 16, 2022 [14 favorites]

Really, who else could have played Gilbert?

G.K. Chesterton was, sadly, unavailable.
posted by Ishbadiddle at 4:52 PM on August 16, 2022 [14 favorites]

I continue to be impressed by the changes being made to the story. Everything is tied together and motivated much better, and in ways that make sense rather than seeming tacked on.
posted by kyrademon at 1:59 PM on August 17, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm not sure about how I feel about Desire and Despair.

Desire is, of course, fairly faithful to the comics, but maybe that's the problem: Desire is deceitful and duplicitous, and their gender-fluid appearance seems to be the embodiment/expression of that duplicity. Not a great message to send in 2022?

As for Despair, I share the reservations Countess Elena voiced in the thread for ep 1. I can understand why they wouldn't want to go with the exaggerated grotesquerie of the comics, but making her a sort of generic sad plus-sized woman doesn't seem like the best choice.

I think both characters would have been improved by making them less mundanely human. I picture Despair as having a more-or-less humanoid body shape, but with an appearance that is constantly morphing through vaguely monstrous features. Or maybe even a sort of 2-dimensional flat projection, with jagged cross outs and cut outs from magazines flashing across. Sort of like some of more disturbing Bill Plympton cartoons, with a touch of Bill Sienkiewicz's and Dave Mckean's more abstract works. And something similar, but more seductive, for Desire. In other words, both would be much more fluid in their appearance.
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:49 PM on August 17, 2022 [9 favorites]

I also felt like they were verging on Portlandia territory with the way they handled the introduction of Hal et al.
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:52 PM on August 17, 2022

I thought it was really interesting that in Netflix Sandman the superhero stuff is out, so Lyta Hall is not "The Fury," and her mother is not Wonder Woman, but they cast the closest approximation of Gal Godot I have ever seen, right down to a hard-to-place accent.
posted by Shepherd at 5:18 PM on August 18, 2022 [8 favorites]

Desire is pretty much like the books--manipulative and evil-ly. The first NB before NB was a thing.

I never liked how Despair was portrayed in anything either.

I couldn't bear to watch what was happening with the housesitter at the end.

Ugh, "collectors," just UGH. UGH UGH UGH.

Other than that, enjoying the episode. The house of friendly weird people is a delight, but Gilbert stepping in most of all. Finding out what's happening with Jed, on the other hand... :(
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:12 PM on September 12, 2022