Tuesday, August 16, 2022

My Review of The Sandman's 1x07: "The Doll's House"

 


Written by Heather Bellson
Directed by Andres Baiz

Rose (to Morpheus/Lucienne): "Excuse me, I am Rose Walker. What do you know of my brother, Jed?"

Having met the character for the briefest of moments in 24/7, the importance of one Rose Walker was only made apparent with the first few minutes of this episode. In flashbacks we saw Rose and her mother being separated from younger brother, Jed (Eddie Karanja) out of spite by Rose's father. In the present day, finding Jed had become Rose's number one priority.

Fortunately for Rose, while her mother might no longer be alive, she has a team of people, all of whom want to help her in her quest to reunite with her younger brother. First of all, being neighbour/surrogate mother type, Lyta Hall (Razane Jammal), a kind woman still mourning the loss of her husband Hector (Lloyd Everitt). Lyta's rapport with Rose was rather endearing to watch in this episode. 

Then there was the mysterious Unity Kinkaid (Sandra James-Young). We had met the character back in the opening episode as a victim of the sleepy sickness but here, it was revealed that she was Rose's great grandmother and she was more than keen to help Rose find Jed. This was help that Rose readily accepted too.

The last group of allies that Rose had included B&B owner/drag queen Hal (John Cameron Mitchell) and his band of guests including glamorous couple Barbie (Lily Travers) and Ken (Richard Fleeshman), goth duo Chantel (Daisy Badger) and Zelda (Cara Horgan), all of whom were likable enough. Then there was the mysterious, Gilbert (Stephen Fry), whose brief encounter with Rose definitely had more to it than it appeared to.

As for Jed, he tried and failed to escape from some abusive foster parents while Rose found herself entering the Dreaming and conversing with both Morpheus and Lucienne. The latter had been more concerned with Rose being The Vortex than the former, and let's just say they're not the only ones invested in Rose's destiny.

Yup, Desire seemed very keen on the potential damage Rose could cause the Dreaming and specifically, Morpheus, something which took delight in discussing with their twin, Despair (Donna Preston). Of course, the Corinthian also had a vested interest in seeking out Rose but found his attentions diverted by three serial killers, Nimrod (Kerry Shale), Fun Land (Danny Kirrane) and The Good Doctor (Jill Winternitz) who wanted him for their serial killer convention. Seriously, a lot happened in this one.

- The Corinthian slept with but seemingly didn't kill Rose's other friend, Carl (Ben Wiggins). Aside from the Corinthian, both Gault and Fiddler's Green had abandoned the Dreaming.
- Desire revealed their involvement with both Nada and Roderick Burgess against Morpheus. We also met properly Dreaming janitor, Mervyn the Pumpkinhead (Mark Hamill).
- We also got to see Abel and Goldie, the Fates and a picture of Judy in this one too. 
- Chronology: Both in 2015 and 2021. Various places including Florida, New Jersey, Sussex and Alabama. 

The Doll's House was certainly a very busy episode and while not as strong as the previous two, it did a great job with setting up Rose's story and introducing several interesting characters into the mix. This final arc with the Vortex should be an explosive way to round out this first season.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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