The Sandman
This one is going to be a hard one to write about. I was a fan of Neil Gaiman. I saw him speak twice and got to meet him at one of those events. He seemed perfectly lovely and dedicated to his fans. As we've since learned by the allegations that first broke on Tortoise Media this was all a front. A way for the spider to lure in the flies. The fallout was deservedly harsh, projects were scrapped left and right. The Sandman was almost completely wrapped when the news about Gaiman broke. Therefore production continued. What was to be done with the show could be decided later. After all Anansi Boys was completely finished when it was permanently shelved. Amazon got a nice tax write-off and got to appear as if they're supporting the victims when it was really all about the bottom line. But the thing is, The Sandman has a life of it's own. The fanbase is all-encompassing. Netflix knew that the clamor Amazon was experiencing over Good Omens was nothing to what they would face if this season never saw the light of day. Plus the team were claiming, whether honestly or to cover their asses, that the series had always been planned as two seasons and Gaiman wasn't really involved. Though I do question that second statement after reading some interviews. So season two of the show dropped in July with no fanfare and minimal press coverage. And I honestly didn't know if I'd be able to watch it. While having previously been a fan of Gaiman I had never been a fan of The Sandman comics. And oh how I tried. But I'd get about six books in, up to Brief Lives, and just throw in the towel. I never got any further and at least now I never have to force myself to finish this series. I am done with it. As for the adaptation, I did feel the need to tune in. The show worked for me where the comics did not. The rough edges and the excessive rapes had been sanded away. And at least we now know why Gaiman included so many rapes. Which actually made parts of this season a painful experience, and not just because of the autotuning of Ruairi O'Connor as Orpheus. When Nada confronts Dream about his treatment of her you are horrified thinking about how the man who wrote this put women in this same situation over and over again. And why bring back the rapist author, Richard Madoc as played by Arthur Darvill? Did they want to hit us over the head with the fact that Gaiman basically wrote his sick fantasies into this series? That Richard Madoc was his avatar in this fictional world. I mean, if Gaiman hadn't been such a good showman we should have seen what was right in front of us all along. Oh, the irony of the second series being about reconciliation and redemption after the first one was about reclamation and revenge. Because he denies it all. There will be no reconciliation for him. No redemption. And there can be no separation of art and the artist, he made sure of that. A part of me even wondered if originally Gaiman was supposed to be there at Dream's funeral next to Madoc. Thankfully that didn't happen. And even if their creator will forever be in torment, at least his creations were given a fresh start. They were released out into the world. They were set free. Hopefully not to ever be caught in their creators net again. Forever connected by somehow liberated.
Spellcloaked by Stephanie Burgis
*The masks of The Gaim Intelligence were designed to strongly resemble the mask of Dream, the titular character in Gaiman's graphic novel The Sandman. 
