S01.E08: Playing House

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

As Morpheus closes in on one of his missing creations, Rose ramps up efforts to locate her brother — and unwittingly makes a friend's dream come true.

[AnimeMania]

It was strange that Ken and Barbie's dream was taking place in what appears to be England, instead of America where they live.

The Sandman was really unlikable this episode only using Rose to find his missing nightmare instead of genuinely trying to help Rose find her brother. I think the Sandman will come to regret that decision of pissing off The Vortex, there was no reason he couldn't have waited a minute or two longer to give Rose more clues or let the nightmare provide some information.

Edited August 8, 2022 by AnimeMania

[Chicago Redshirt]

4 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

It was strange that Ken and Barbie's dream was taking place in what appears to be England, instead of America where they live.

Barbie's dream was taking place in a fantasy land.

Ken's dream was taking place in an indeterminate locale, but I don't think there is any particular reason to think that it wasn't where they live.

[starri]

45 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Ken's dream was taking place in an indeterminate locale, but I don't think there is any particular reason to think that it wasn't where they live.

It looked very much like London, not Florida.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but wasn't it just him trying to get into a sports car parked on the street? Although it very much may have been filmed in London, I didn't see anything that said "Yeah, this has to be London and couldn't be Florida."

[thuganomics85]

Man, you know things are dour when The Corinthian showing up to kill a few folks ends up actually being a relief on screen.  Abusive foster parents (or anyone who abuses kids) are the worst!  Of course, I don't see Jed being too safe in his hands for very long.  But I'm guessing he's going to be a bargaining chip for The Corinthian to try and acquire Rose.

Morpheus was being a major jerk this go around.  He was clearly just using Rose to capture the rogue Nightmare and didn't even bother giving her a minute or two to try and get more info.  And then when Lucienne tried to offer a different point of view, he got all huffy and told her to go back to the library in a clear "Know your place!" way.  Suspect that's all going to backfire on him.

Well, Hal's dream in particular was very disturbing!  And Lyta possibly staying in her husband's "dream world" is no doubt going to be easier said than done.

[Which Tyler]

On 8/8/2022 at 6:05 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Barbie's dream was taking place in a fantasy land.

Ken's dream was taking place in an indeterminate locale, but I don't think there is any particular reason to think that it wasn't where they live.

The Lamborghini was right hand drive, if that helps.

Which pretty much rules out N America, S America, Europe outside of UK&I, abut half of Africa and what? 2/3 of Asia?

Edited August 12, 2022 by Which Tyler

[Chicago Redshirt]

25 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

The Lamborghini was right hand drive, if that helps.

Which pretty much rules out N America, S America, Europe outside of UK&I, abut half of Africa and what? 2/3 of Asia?

Even in the real world of America, some people have sports cars and other vehicles with the drivers' side being on the right rather than the left.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/business/right-hand-drive-cars.html

There's no inherent reason AFAIK to assume that Ken was in London because of the car being RHD rather than Florida, or anywhere else in the world.

[Which Tyler]

I know. That's why I said "pretty much". However, having a RHD supercar built in a LHD country and driven in a LHD country seems... unlikely.

Either way, I've just reached E10, and assuming it's the same Lambo, then I was wrong, as this one is LHD.

Edited August 12, 2022 by Which Tyler

[Jodithgrace]

As soon as I saw Ken’s dream, I immediately thought, that’s London. There’s no reason why he couldn’t be dreaming that he and Barbie were in London. They might have gone there on vacation or on their honeymoon. 
 

I had a real problem watching the abuse stuff, though being “rescued “ by Corinthian isn’t necessarily an improvement.  
 

Rose is always just too late. And Morpheus was a real  creep in this episode, not letting her get the info in time. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

On 8/12/2022 at 10:31 PM, Jodithgrace said:

As soon as I saw Ken’s dream, I immediately thought, that’s London. There’s no reason why he couldn’t be dreaming that he and Barbie were in London. They might have gone there on vacation or on their honeymoon. 
 

I had a real problem watching the abuse stuff, though being “rescued “ by Corinthian isn’t necessarily an improvement.  
 

Rose is always just too late. And Morpheus was a real  creep in this episode, not letting her get the info in time. 

I just got a kick out of the throw-away line toward the beginning (don't even quite remember the context) where Barbie mentioned her friend, "Sindy". Sindy was (still is, for all I know) the British version of a Barbie-type doll. I had one back in England, before we moved to the USA (circa 1969). I had to think it was a purposeful name-drop, especially given the spelling, which showed up that way in the closed captioning.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Jynnan tonnix

[tennisgurl]

I really like this version of Rose, probably more than I like comic Rose, and I like her just fine. Not to get too into comic vs show, but she's a lot more proactive and invested in the people around her. Being a Vortex is kind of like being a protagonist isn't it? Everything revolves around you, all sorts of interesting people gravitate towards you, super powerful beings are invested in you, it sounds fun but mostly tiring. 

Poor Jed, you know things are bad when the Corinthian showing up is an improvement on your situation, at least for the time being. 

I really liked the sequence where Rose wandered through everyone's dreams, it fits nicely into the theme of how people always have more going on underneath the surface than you might think, like Hal clearly going through some identity issues, and Barbie seeming to be sort of Stepford-y but having a very rich, creative dream life. 

Dream talking about how its impossible to change your nature is clearly just him being annoyed with Gault the rogue nightmare and being stubborn, he himself has shown growth and change, admitting to being friends with Hob and hearing Death talk about how much she has grown over the years, but its one step forward two steps back with him.

Jed's superhero dream was full of cute DC references, we saw several actual obscure or Golden Age villains as a part of his rogues gallery, and his command center and costume were very Golden Age, when the original Sandman was created. 

[bmoore4026]

OK, I audibly gasped when I saw the Corinthian among the crowd on boardwalk as Rose was walking away.

"Have you seen this boy?"  I can't believe they went with a Terminator 2 reference, but here we are.  I'm kind of smiling about that.

Barbie's dream is so epic. Sailor Moon mixed with Narnia mixed with Cinderella.  Beautiful.

And Gault essentially and eloquently telling Dream to go screw himself was amazing.

[Wonderlad71]

On 8/18/2022 at 6:26 PM, tennisgurl said:

Jed's superhero dream was full of cute DC references, we saw several actual obscure or Golden Age villains as a part of his rogues gallery, and his command center and costume were very Golden Age, when the original Sandman was created. 

I'd say it was more Silver Age - with references to Flash Rogues Gallery (Pied Piper / Captain Cold etc.) and Jed's costume was that of the Silver Age Sandman  i.e. Garrett Sanford in the 70s rather than Wesley Dodds in the Golden Age JSA.

[Ottis]

Wow, rarely have I watched a show build into such promise (culminating in the ep with Dream and Hobs meeting every 100 years, and its examination of life and death) and then become completely uninteresting. We have to care about Rose because the show says we must, but I don't care about her, our Unity, or Jed or any of the search for Jed. It's like watching an after school special. Nor do I care about dead Hector and his wife.

I *am* very much interested in Dream, and Lucienne, and things like whether dreams and nightmares can change what they are (and therefore what they represent in our lives), and the way both impact our world.

So at this point I am fast-forwarding through any scene that doesn't include Dream or Lucienne. The show seems to be limiting itself to a pedestrian matter (finding Jed, bad guy and bad eyeball people in tow) instead of reaching for the heights its material allows.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Ottis

[JustHereForFood]

I loved the part where they showed everyone's dreams. Hal, confronting the fact that neither of his personas is the real him, Barbie dreaming about an epic quest, Zelda's surreal dream about marrying a letter, because we all have some dreams that make complete sense when we are in them but would make no sense to anyone else.

I also liked Dream's explanation about the importance of nightmares, that they help people confront their fear outside of the waking world. But he was a huge dick this episode.

On 8/8/2022 at 9:29 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but wasn't it just him trying to get into a sports car parked on the street? Although it very much may have been filmed in London, I didn't see anything that said "Yeah, this has to be London and couldn't be Florida."

I've only been in London 4 times, but as soon as they showed that place, I said "Oh, that is definitely London", I am almost certain that I was at that exact place when I was there. It looked more London-y to me than any of the other scenes when we knew they were supposed to be set there.

[quangtran]

Quote

Zelda's surreal dream about marrying a letter, because we all have some dreams that make complete sense when we are in them but would make no sense to anyone else.

This made a bit more sense in the comic, and they show sliced out an important punchline. There, Chantal (not Zelda) falls in love with a sentence and they are the perfect couple, but she cries when she realises she can no longer read. Interestingly, the book she is holding has a "z" on it.

In the book, Rose spells out how she views all of their dreams, and I'm curious as to whether newbies think the show properly visualised these meanings.
- "Chantal, dreaming intricate, self-referential loops, trying to reveal nothing of herself to herself."
- "Zelda, still fighting old battles, the little girl lost in the woman whose heart she shares."
- "Ken's churning world of money and sex and power."
- "Barbara's rich dream-life, more valid and true than anything she feels upon waking."
- "Hal's endless quest for identity and love."

[Anela]

I missed the dream that people are talking about. Loved Gault, and that she just wanted to make life a bit better for the little boy.