Collectors
Episode 9 of The Sandman starts with Rose approaching Lyta and telling her what’s been going on. She brings up the dream walking, and how Jed spoke to her about where he is. Rose is taken aback when Lyta believes her story… especially as she’s actually pregnant. It would seem that Rose is weakening the walls between the realms so Matthew tells Lucienne, who decides to keep this from Dream. Lucienne is still annoyed that she’s being kept out the loop, not to mention the situation involving Gault, and encourages Matthew not to tell the King of Dreams given he’s in a bad mood. Instead, Lucienne tasks Matthew with continuing to watch Rose. The Corinthian brings Jed to the Royal Empire Hotel, and rings Rose to let her know, imploring the girl to take her time. Of course, The Corinthian has actually shown up at the site for the Serial Killer Convention with Jed. The latter is unaware of exactly where he is, but Rose is 3 hours away and drives up to meet him as quickly as she can. Lyta hangs back and decides she may want to stay with her Hector in her dreams after all. Lyta is convinced she has no life and wants to live in this dream land for as long as possible. The thing is, cracks are beginning to show in that world. When Dream eventually finds out through second-hand sources, he approaches Lucienne and wants to assess the extent of the damages. Dream asks Lucienne for help and advice. Lucienne brings up that there may be something new in The Dreaming and Rose is the one responsible. Lyta’s presence with Hector is what’s causing these cracks so they have no choice but to stop their meetings. Dream eventually fades Hector from view, right in front of Lyta who watches on with horror, helplessly. Dream is quick to remind Lyta that this is a dream. However, her child is still going to live… but on a technicality. Dream matter-of-factly tells her that as the baby was conceived in the Dreaming then it belongs to him. He’ll come for it some time in the future. Although Jed is told to stay in the hotel room, he does no such thing and sneaks into the Serial Killer Convention. Corinthian is invited in and receives a rapturous applause when he steps up to greet the crowd. While everyone discusses the nature of killing, Rose shows up at the convention, unaware of exactly where she’s ended up. After checking out various rooms discussing the nature of killing, Gilbert notices The Corinthian and realizes that things are going to turn sour very fast. Gilbert hurriedly shows up to visit Dream, revealing himself to be Fiddler’s Green, hence why he recognized Corinthian. He also warns the damage this nightmare could do if he’s left unchecked. At the Convention, Corinthian teams up with several other killers to dispatch a pretender called Philip; a man pretending to be the Boogeyman. While they dispatch him in the kitchen, Jed happens to notice and rushes out in horror, However, he runs right into another killer, Fun Land, someone who has a dark history involving kids. He holds Jed’s hand and leads him up to his room. Thankfully, the pair run into Rose en-route in the hallway. As Fun Land starts to chase them, The Corinthian catches up and kills the man in cold blood. As Fun Land collapses on the ground, the Corinthian grins confidently and promises that he’ll take care of the two from now on.
The Episode Review
The Serial Killer Convention is a great inclusion to the story and it’s brought to life here with a modern spin to it, with plenty of jokes involving cereal to book. Not only that, but this episode adds a good deal of urgency with Rose and Jed’s separate subplots, which collide together beautifully toward the end of the chapter. With The Corinthian closing in on Rose and Jed, time is of the essence for Dream to get his act together and find this nightmare and dispatch him accordingly. This sets up an intriguing finale to come, with plenty of drama still to come for our characters. With Gilbert revealing himself to be Fidler’s Green and approaching Dream with the news about Corinthian, everything is set up for an exciting finale.
