With the future of his realm at stake, Morpheus must appeal for help to an authority even greater than the Endless. 

And so it ends (the main narrative anyway) with the second half of the second season of The Sandman. And considering the many different story threads that it pulls together, the showrunners have done a great job.

Of the five episodes, the first four condense the 13-issue comic book run of #57-#69 which is collected as The Kindly Ones, while the final episode takes the best of issues #70-#75. It’s at this stage of the story you can see why the showrunners had to make specific editorial decisions rather than just adapting each issue in turn (the model for season 1).

Having killed his son in episode six, Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) is fated to die – it is forbidden for the Endless to spill family blood – and his concern is that those who will wreak vengeance will also condemn those in his kingdom. What follows is an adaptation of sorts that pulls in the major story beats of the epic arc, but not necessarily in the same order, and sometimes with different characters.

There are a few times when a fan of the comics might go ‘Oh, that’s a bit different’ which can be either delightfully clever or a missed opportunity. I think that generally the story is a lot easier to follow now, and 13 issues was probably a bit long. There will inevitably be favourite moments that didn’t make the final cut, but I’m just grateful that so much of the story made it to the screen. Essentially, all of Morpheus’ story has now been told, and if there had been another season then all that’s left is A Game of You, World’s End and some standalone stories, with limited or no involvement with Dream.

Oh, and there’s a Death-centred special episode airing next week, which really is the last one.

Verdict: As a TV adaption of The Sandman comic book series, this has been a great show, embracing the strengths and fixing some of the trickier aspects, with some wonderful performance and gorgeous visuals. 8/10

Nick Joy