My Review of The Sandman: "The Kindly Ones"

 

Written by Greg Goetz

Directed by Jamie Childs

Johanna: "People around me tend to get hurt."

Corinthian II: "I'm not people. You can't hurt me."

In terms of pairings I didn't expect, step up Johanna Constantine and Corinthian II. No, seriously, I didn't expect them. This episode actually managed to make a compelling case for them too.

First of all, let's talk of Corinthian II. He might look the same as his former iteration but he's not the same, even if he does retain some of his former's self's memories. Only this time, he's actually a force for good. It would take a bit for Johanna to realise that but she did.

With Morpheus having to stay in his own realm to avoid the wrath of the Kindly Ones, he paired Johanna and Corinthian II in order to rescue.  There's a bit of a good/bad news on that. Loki didn't destroy him but he did speed up Daniel's impending Godhood with that baptism of fire. 

Another thing Loki managed to do was burn his bridges with Puck. The latter surrender Loki's whereabouts quite easily to Johanna and Corinthian II. They were successful in getting Daniel back and Loki got dragged away by Odin and Thor. Oh and Johanna and Corinthian II flirted up a storm but Johanna also refused to totally give into the reformed nightmare creature.

As for the rest of the episode, the Kindly Ones know how to play dirty. With Mad Hettie, they had no problem with manipulating Lyta into helping their mission to take out Dream. He didn't die in this one but being removed from his realm allowed the Kindly Ones and Lyta to enter the Dreaming. Alas, poor Fiddler's Green. 

Then there's Dream himself. He hated being under virtual house arrest but he managed to have some nice scenes with both Lucienne and Delirium before getting pulled into the Faerie realm by a reckless Titania. Yeah, her attempts to get one over on Nuala really did backfire by the end of this episode. 

- Delirium was looking for Barnabus. Dream didn't want to help but offered her Goldie to go with her instead.

- Corinthian II used Mrs Shore's eyes to locate Loki. Puck obviously hooked up with the previous Corinthian. He also hooked up with Cluracan this episode.

- Mad Hettie currently has Barnabus in her possession. The Kindly Ones continue to enjoy their loop holes by telling Lyta about Orpheus.

- Loki mentioned his six children in the previous episode and also talked about sleeping with Thor's wife in this one.

- Nuala's gift was taken by Titania while Johanna surrendered her protection to Corinthian II.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Kindly Ones kicked off the true beginning of the end for Lord Morpheus in style. Every plot strand flowed beautifully together but I really enjoyed the Johanna/Corinthian II scenes together the most.

Rating: 8 out of 10