The Sandman season 2 opens to unfavourable reviews in the wake of Neil Gaiman scandal | Web Series

Netflix quietly premiered the first part of The Sandman season 2 on July 3, releasing the first six episodes. The adaptation of The Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman, arrives after the scandal where the author faced allegations of sexual assault from multiple women, which he denied. Arriving under the shadow of this controversy, the final season has received mostly unfavourable reviews from critics so far. (Also read: The Sandman famed author Neil Gaiman faces multiple sexual harassment allegations by 9 women: Report)

What are the critics saying about The Sandman season 2?

Writing for The Guardian, Jack Seale panned the show in his review. An excerpt from the review read, “The Sandman is not short of ideas, but it smothers them all in a fug of pretension, missing every opportunity it creates for itself. The fact that Morpheus has the ability to access humans’ dreams – to mould them and make them real – barely features.”

Nick Hilton of The Independent also gave a negative review, noting, “The problem with The Sandman, in particular, is that it is not very gripping and not very funny. Comic elements (like Steve Coogan as a talking dog, Barnabas, or Mark Hamill reprising his role as foul-mouthed scarecrow janitor Mervyn Pumpkinhead) are too infrequent. It also contains 10 seconds of Lenny Henry doing one of the worst American accents ever committed to the small screen.”

“Dream and his (very odd) sister Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) embark on what is effectively a wacky road trip to find their estranged brother Destruction (Barry Sloane). The sight of the two on a commercial airline fight in the comic is a laugh-out-loud moment. But the Netflix series drains these situations of any trace of humor or sly wit. Simply put, the show is serious at a time when works of fantasy are confident enough to not take themselves so seriously,” noted the review of Stephen Robinson for The AV Club.

Allan Heinberg is the showrunner, executive producer, and writer of this season. The show stars Tom Sturridge as Dream, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Boyd Holbrook as the Corinthian, and Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, among others. The season will conclude with Volume 2 (Episodes 7–11) on July 24. A special bonus episode will be released on July 31.