Neil Gaiman’s Sandman

Long after Netflix made it and made it available, I’ve finally gotten around to watching the first season of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Like the graphic novels, it is interesting and generally very well done (particularly compared to some of his other comic work).

Sandman has been out long enough I won’t go over the plot here, other than to note that it generally stays true to the source material while still being compelling TV. That is a hard needle to thread, and Netflix has threaded it well.

Instead, I want to point out two things that jumped out at me, especially as a Christian reviewer:

1) Stephen Fry needs to always play G.K. Chesterton. In fact, although I know full well that no one from the BBC will ever read this, I demand they start working on such a series immediately.

2) Both Fry and, more relevant here, Gaimain know Christianity very well. They reject it. But they know what they’re rejecting.

Again, I won’t give spoilers, but there is a meaningful moment when two main characters offer to lay down their lives for others (and a third main character actually does so). In each case, we see the Gospel resonating at the heart of the story. Because, as has been said on this blog many, many times, the Gospel is the true heart of all stories. We know quite well that Gaiman knows the Gospel, and we know that he rejects it in favor of the desires of his heart. Whether those desires are the ones he has been accused of or not isn’t really relevant. Everyone who rejects the Gospel is following their own heart rather than the path God has made us for. Ironically Sandman portrays that as well. Morpheus is responsible for keeping Dreams in their lane. And while the message of change is very much present (we do believer in conversion, after all), the main thing Morpheus spends this season doing is restoring the proper order of the cosmos that has been violated by human greed and lust for power.

All that to say Sandman is worth a watch and merits further reflection. Whether season 2 will hold up to the same standard, well, I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.