How you feel about “Dream A Little Dream Of Me” will probably depend on how you feel about what has been done to the occultist formerly known as John Constantine. No, we’re not talking about the gender change or the name change, here with Johanna, played by Jenna Coleman, but the fact that this version of the character has a cockney accent. Constantine’s kick! That is important!
To be fair, this isn’t the first time the character’s background has changed for the screen. Do you remember Constantine from 2005, starring the famous Canadian Keanu Reeves? – and Coleman does a decent job of selling the character’s laconic humor and broken heart. The Sandman episode acts as a deep dive into his world and the perils of life as an occultist for hire. At night, she is plagued by nightmares of her past, while her waking hours are filled with exorcisms, exploding torsos, and annoying business calls from the royal family.
Enter Morpheus. The Lord of Dreams is here to find his power totems following a tip from the Three. He immediately clashes with Johanna, but they finally come to an agreement: Dream will eliminate the nightmares that plague her every night if Johanna helps him find her sandbag. She was the last person to see it, since she bought it at an estate sale without really knowing what it was, but she is gone, she left it at the apartment of his ex-girlfriend Rachel (Eleanor Fanyinka), whom she she dropped out at some point. behind.
The scenes between Sturridge and Coleman crackle with energy. Something about Constantine seems to bring out both Morpheus’s dry sense of humor and a thoughtful streak. When Johanna reveals that he ran away from her relationship with Rachel because love “never ends well,” and he replies, “No, I guess not,” it’s clear he’s speaking from personal experience.
These scenes also provide some needed exposure. One of my issues with the previous episode was that the motivations for the search for Dream were too vague to be dramatically satisfying. Here we get a concrete explanation of why all of this is important: if she doesn’t get her clothes back, then the Dream “will cease to exist and if the dreams disappear, so will reality.” Cool. I understand.
Meanwhile, in Buffalo, New York, Ethel is talking to her son John (David Thewlis). She has come to pass the protection amulet to her and warn her that Dream is coming for her possessions stolen from her. Thewlis is fantastic as John Dee, radiating menace. At the same time, there is a sweetness and naivety that makes the character endearing and terrifying. Hey, it’s not his fault those guards blew up, they shot first!
The episode closes on a bittersweet note. Rachel has consumed herself, consumed by the sand in Dream’s bag. Morpheus is at least able to give her a peaceful ending, granting her a blissful dream of a happy ending with Johanna when she passes away, but Johanna is left heartbroken.
This is a huge improvement over “Imperfect Hosts”, largely thanks to its heavy focus on both Morpheus and Constantine. Finally, we get a sense of who Morpheus is as the protagonist and how his perspective is often quite different from ours. He has to be convinced to grant Rachel a peaceful ending and it’s clear that his view of his humanity, after his incarceration, is still pretty jaundiced. However, Constantine manages to change his mind, if only slightly. There is more to us mortals, he finally realises, than Roderick Burgess.
Analysis: How It Compares To The Comics
The way Rachel gets the bag is slightly different. In the comic, she is a drug addict who routinely steals from Constantine. She takes the sand and is eventually consumed by her power, but it’s clearly not Constantine’s fault. The TV show blurs those lines in interesting ways. Johanna didn’t know the power of the sand, but Rachel’s death is due, at least in part, to her simply taking it and abandoning her. That will surely torment her a bit.
Matthew (voiced by Patton Oswalt) does not appear in the comics until The Sandman #11. We can see a lot more of him in the next episode.
The scenes between Ethel and John have been greatly expanded, adding some nice character beats, like when John comes to terms with his inheritance. Both Joely Richardson and David Thewlis are acting crazy, completely selling this strange relationship between mother and son.
Finally, and for the third consecutive episode, Corinthian appears to try to manipulate events. This time, er, giving John a coat.
Fables and reflections
Dream tells Johanna, “I’ve known your family for centuries.” And in fact we will meet another Johanna Constantine, also played by Jenna Coleman, very soon…
The episode begins in the Casanova Club, originally referenced in Hellblazer #11. In the comics, this was a punk venue where John Constantine’s band Mucous Membrane once played. Now, as far as we know, Johanna Constantine doesn’t have a band, at least not anymore, but keep an eye on the posters on the walls. One advertises a concert by the similarly named Many Membrane, while other billboards read Occult Circles, Birth of a Nightmare, and Run, Now!
The Sandman is now streaming on Netflix. For more streaming options, check out our list of the best Netflix shows available right now.
