Collectors – As the ninth episode of The Sandman begins, Rose Walker (Vanesu Samunyai) tells Lyta Hall (Razane Jammal) about her dreams and finding out who Jed’s foster parents are. When she went to their house, Jed was gone and his foster parents were dead. Lyta tells her about her dream in which she spent the night with Hector (Lloyd Everitt) and how she is pregnant now. Matthew the raven (Patton Oswalt) lands on the ledge as Rose admits she thinks she knows what is happening to them. She goes on to say she thinks it is her. Matthew takes that information to Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) who thinks Rose is weakening the walls between the realms. She isn’t going to tell Lord Morpheus since he reminded her that she is only a librarian. Lucienne insists he has always been this way. He is determined to deal with the vortex and missing Arcanada by himself.

Lucienne instructs Matthew to tell Morpheus and it is not a good idea to keep her in the loop because she worries he could banish them to the darkness. Matthew pleads with her to make up with Morpheus while he goes back to spying on Rose. The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) eats ice cream with Jed while talking about the upcoming convention. Jed admits he liked comic books before he asks the Corinthian’s name. He is told people only use your name when you’re in trouble. Corinthian promises Barnaby isn’t going to come looking for him now. He reveals he is running away right now, but they won’t have to run anymore when they get to Rose. Once Jed says he is ready to meet his sister, they get in the car and leave. Meanwhile, Rose tells Lyta about being a dream vortex and this makes everything her fault.

Rose promises to fix it and make it go away, but Lyta doesn’t want it to go away. She thinks their dreams are coming true. Rose learns that Hector has invited Lyta to live with him in her dreams. Lyta doesn’t mind giving up her life here and she thinks Rose can always visit. Corinthian calls Rose to tell her he has found her brother. Jed talks to her and tells her the name of the hotel. He says it is the Royal Empire Hotel which is hosting the Cereal Convention. Corinthian tells her to take her time and call when she gets here. He hangs up without revealing his name. They go inside and stand in front. Jed is still told to go over there and they’ll get him something to eat in a bit. The serial killers talk about mundane things. Jed smiles at Fun Land (Danny Kirrane) who smiles back. Nimrod (Kerry Shale) and Good Doctor (Jill Winternitz) approach Corinthian to give him the name tags and keys.

Once he tells them he has the brother too, he is told to advise the boy to stay away from the convention areas. Gilbert (Stephen Fry) checks on Rose to see if she has enough flyers. When he learns she is going to Georgia to find her brother, Gilbert wants to go with her. Fun Land tells Jed he got to meet the actor who voiced The Big Bad Wolf. Corinthian joins them to warn Fun that Jed and his sister are under his protection. While driving, Gilbert and Rose talk about going home. Rose doesn’t think Lyta wants to go home now that she has other plans. Lyta is in bed with Hector ready for romance when the house begins shaking. They check it out but find nothing. Hector suspects it was just an earthquake. When the camera zooms out, we see cracks in the ground approaching the house. Merv Pumpkinhead (Mark Hamill) tells Dream he was looking for Lucienne because they had some minor seismic activity.

Dream (Tom Sturridge) asks why he isn’t reporting it to him. Merv says he is busy and Lucienne started taking care of that stuff when he was away. Dream insists he’ll be the one to address it if the Dreaming is damaged in any way. Another earthquake causes the glass to crack. Dream insists it won’t keep happening because he will find and eliminate the cause of the disturbance. Dream returns the book to Lucienne and wants to assess the extent of the damage. Lucienne thought it was him that caused them when he was making further improvements to his realm. Morpheus tries to smooth things over with her. Lucienne didn’t experience any similar disturbances while he was away although she has a theory. She doesn’t think he’ll like it. Lucienne knows he is waiting for the vortex to lead him to the Corinthian, but she is putting cracks in the foundation while he waits.

Dream believes it is something new since Rose visits before and did no damage. Lucienne is convinced the vortex is to blame though. Rose thanks Unity over the phone. Unity Kincaid (Sandra James-Young) tells her that she did all the work before asking if Mr. Holdaway should send tickets. She also offers to talk to Mr. Holdaway (Peter De Jersey) about making Rose Jed’s legal guardian. Once the call ends, Unity discusses the possibility of Jed and Rose living here with Holdaway. She even contemplates adopting them. Rose tells Gilbert everything. She begins worrying that they may not like each other. Gilbert finds it funny that she only allowed herself to be happy for a few seconds. She only remembers he liked chicken fingers, but believes he will be completely different now. Jed eats chicken fingers as Corinthian asks him for a favor. He asks Jed to stay in his room until she gets here. Jed promises not to open the door unless it is him.

As soon as the Corinthian leaves, Jed decides to leave the room too. Nimrod tells a joke while speaking to a room full of serial killers. He reminds everyone that they shouldn’t use their civilian names and nobody should do any collecting until the convention is over and they’re at least 200 miles away. Then, he introduces their new guest of honor, The Corinthian. Gilbert believes many people are looking for reasons to be unhappy. He says charity usually means pardoning an unpardonable act or loving an unlovable person. While he continues rambling, Rose goes to sleep so she can visit Lyta who thinks it has been months. Rose says it has been a couple of hours. Matthew and Dream watch from a distance as Dream admits Lucienne was right about the source of the tremors. He wants Matthew to tell her that and that he is taking care of it. Rose is surprised to see Lord Morpheus when she goes inside.

Morpheus wants them to leave because a ghost cannot escape his fate by hiding in the Dreaming. A human cannot escape their grief here either. He points out the damage their presence has done to this realm already. Dream tells Hector that he belongs with the dead and should go to the place appointed for him. Lyta doesn’t want him to leave. Dream doesn’t give them a choice when he makes Hector disappear. Once he is gone, Morpheus tells Lyta that the baby is hers for now. Since the child was conceived in the Dreaming, it belongs to him and he will come for it one day. Rose argues that he won’t do that, but Morpheus ends the dream abruptly. She follows him back to his realm where he tells her that a vortex gathering strength can weaken the walls between dreams. Rose reminds him that a vortex can build universes or destroy them so she recommends leaving her universe the heck alone.

She ends the dream and wakes up in the car with Gilbert. Rose receives a call from a crying Lyta who complains about him taking Hector. She promises that he won’t take the baby or bother them ever again before Gilbert says they’ve arrived. Inside, Philip Sitz (Lewis Reeves) listens as the other killers try to find out more about the Corinthian. Jed watches from nearby as Corinthian walks over to Philip for a chat. Philip introduces himself as the Boogieman. They agree to get a drink later. Corinthian tells Doctor and Nimrod that he isn’t the Boogieman because the Boogieman drowned in Louisiana three years ago. He asks about the blog he mentioned called Chaste after they agree to deal with it. Doctor says she’ll look into it. Corinthian thinks he sees Jed so he begins looking for him, but it turns out to be another kid. Gilbert and Rose enter as she calls Corinthian to say she is here. Fun Land stops them because this area is only for convention attendees. He insists there aren’t any kids in there.

Rose manages to steal name tags so they can look around anyway. Gilbert hears The Choirboy, Hello Little Girl, and Carrion talking about their victims and dragging out hope. They claim they’re artists. Then, he hears The Grass Widow complain about how people think it is easier for women in her field. Myth America insists she doesn’t use her sexuality when she is collecting. Then, he listens to the religious killers called Adonai, The Hammer of God, and The Crooner. The latter claims God gets to decide who lives and dies so God tells him to do it. The Good Doctor tells Corinthian that the Chaste blog is written by a fanboy named Philip Sitz who looks like the pretend Boogieman. They ask Corinthian to collect on him.

He offers to work together so they can share the experience. Gilbert sees him just before they walk away. Rose tries calling again. Fun Land talks about having a great place to hunt where there are countless beautiful kids wandering off on their own and getting lost. If you can’t find any kids to play with, you can always go on the rides. Philip talks to a man who claims he started collecting due to porn and his father’s subscription to Playboy. When he finally had sex with an actual woman, it was awful so he ripped her to shreds. Gilbert tries to leave a message for Rose and learns she has a room reserved here. Philip catches up with Corinthian who is standing nearby. He agrees to go with Corinthian someplace quieter. When Rose visits the receptionist, she is given the room key and a message from Gilbert saying he had to go home. Morpheus tells Lucienne that she was right about the vortex causing the damage. Lucienne admits he wasn’t entirely wrong since Rose has found both.

The Fiddler’s Green or Gilbert enters and says he left because he was gone and he was the heart of the Dreaming. He believes the Corinthian has built up a cult of worshippers who kill for pleasure. Morpheus wants to know where they are. Meanwhile, the Corinthian is busy taking care of Philip with help from Nimrod and the Good Doctor. He panics and says he wants to learn. Jed enters just in time to see them killing Philip so he begins running. Corinthian goes after him. He runs into Fun Land who tells him he’ll be safe in his room. Lucienne and Gilbert talk about Dream spending time in the human world and experiencing the worst of humankind. He thinks Morpheus has changed since he apologized to her and never would’ve before. She wonders if he’ll be merciful to Gilbert because he came back on his own. He hopes they can save Rose, but Lucienne says there is no saving her since she is a vortex.

Gilbert realizes Morpheus is going to have to kill her. Rose checks the room and yells for Jed who hears her. Jed runs over to his sister and they hug, but Fun Land tries to kidnap him. Jed elbows him in the stomach before they begin running from him. When he corners them, the Corinthian kills him before he can harm them. He says hello to Rose and promises she’ll be safe with him.

 

The Sandman Review

The ninth episode of The Sandman was definitely farfetched and a bit silly thanks to the cereal convention. The convention was interesting although it didn’t really work out. The episode had some revelations such as Gilbert’s true identity being revealed. While that was interesting, it didn’t pack a punch. Truthfully, Fiddler’s Green didn’t seem like an integral part of the story since the name was only mentioned briefly a few times.

This episode made it seem like they’re making Dream mean for no reason. That was a stark difference from his behavior throughout the series so far. Generally, Dream has been emo or mopey and the change just seemed to come out of left field. It was good to see Dream and Lucienne actually display some emotion for a change though. The episode added several stories while eliminating a few, but it is hard to keep up at this point.

The Corinthian remains a standout in the series although I wish it was a bit harder for the character. Not every character should be willing to drop their drawers for him after a brief conversation unless he has some power that hasn’t been unveiled. While I am interested in seeing how the series concludes, my expectations are mid to low. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Sandman can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link.