Written by Catherine Smyth-McMullen
Directed by Hisko Husling & Louise Hooper
Calliope (to Richard): "All writers are liars."
And just like that, Netflix only went and served us another helping of this wonderful series. Well, two very different and affecting stories in one new episode. Now do one better, Netflix and serve us up a second season renewal already.
The first story of the piece ventured into animation territory. Dream Of A Thousand Cats saw a young Tabby cat (Rosie Day) sneak out of the house of her owners (David Tennant and Georgia Tennant) with another cat in order to hear the tale of a Siamese cat (Sandra Oh) who shared a rather interesting secret about the former dynamic between humanity and the feline world.
Through her own flashbacks the Siamese cat talked of how her owners (Michael Sheen and Anna Lundberg) callously got rid of her kittens and how she ventured into the cat version of the Dreaming where she learned that once humanity were subservient to cats before they dreamed up the world the roles have been reversed.
The Siamese cat's hope was simple - to get enough cats to dream back the way things were but her audience seemed indifferent to her mission statement, minus the young Tabby who genuinely took her word and began to dream herself of cat paradise. Perhaps a world ran by cats might not be the worst outcome after all and I say this as someone who is more of a dog person.
The second story of the piece went back to live action and had something of a damning commentary on writers and their muses. Calliope focused on that particular Greek muse as played by the fantastic Melissanthi Mahut. In this story, Calliope found herself at the misfortune of two desperate writers, the first being Erasmus Fry (Derek Jacobi) who kept Calliope prisoner for sixty years and now hands her over to another desperate writer.
The second writer being a male feminist called Richard 'Ric' Madoc (Arthur Darvill) who at first seemed a little reluctant about keeping Calliope prisoner and even tried to placate her for inspiration until the threat of having to pay back money drove him into forcing himself on her for book material. Unfortunately his horrendous methods got him the inspiration he needed but his morality continued to plummet as the episode progressed.
With Calliope unable to appeal to Madoc's better nature and the Kindly Ones/Fates unable to intervene, Calliope's only chance for help was her ex-husband, Morpheus himself. We learned pretty fast their marriage ended badly and they lost a son, Orpheus but while Calliope was hesitant to seek out Morpheus's help, he actually did help her nonetheless.
Morpheus's punishment of Madoc by overwhelming him with enough ideas to drive him to absolute madness was a pretty inspired punishment and fitting for the story. It was hard to sympathise with Madoc but it was interesting to watch the dynamic between Calliope and Morpheus. Morpheus has proven that he's capable of positive change while Calliope was determined to make sure what happened to her would never happen ever again.
- This episode was released two weeks after Netflix dropped the first season. While I don't see Netflix going the weekly route with their shows, it's clear they're seeing the benefits of split releases as well.
- There has been a fair amount of Doctor Who actors who appeared in this show but this episode felt like the majority of the cast were. I would've loved to have seen David Tennant in a live action role.
- Arthur Darvill previously played by Rip Hunter in Legends Of Tomorrow. James McAvoy who voiced Golden-Haired Man also voiced Morpheus in the Audible version. Neil Gaiman himself voiced The Skull Crow.
- Chronology: 2018-2022 for the live action segment of the episode.
Dream Of A Thousand Cats/Calliope could've arguably been saved as the opening episode for a second season (seriously, Netflix, c'mon, you know you want to) but thematically, it does serve as a gorgeous epilogue to this first season. Two fantastic stories adapted seamlessly together into one of the best episodes we've had so far. I absolutely loved this one.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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