Chapter 17: Family Blood is the sixth episode of the second season of the Netflix original dark fantasy series, The Sandman.
Synopsis[]
Morpheus enlists an expert in the occult to smuggle a deeply personal relic out of Paris - and help him and Delirium find the answers they seek.
Plot[]
Wych Cross, England, 1794, Lady Johanna Constantine writes a book, and amid this Dream visits her and enlists her help in finding a stolen item for him. She agrees in exchange for receiving something that is within his power to give.
In Paris, France, Lady Johanna is stopped by two robbers who demand to know the contents of her bag, and Lady Johanna opens it and shows them the decapitated head of Orpheus inside. She tells them a fictitious story behind it. Although one of the robbers tried to walk away, the other stole Orpheus' earring, which Lady Johanna later apologized to Orpheus about. He cared little about it as it had been stolen before, but his cut ear will sadly not grow back, or else his body would have. The two then introduce each other to the other, and Orpheus explains to Lady Johanna how he ended up locked up in a crypt thanks to Robespierre. Orpheus asks who sent her to come for him, but Lady Johanna refuses to state, and Orpheus guesses it was either the priests or his father.
The next day, French soldiers raid Lady Johanna's room and demand to know where the head she has is, but she plays dumb. Robespierre appears to be addressing Lady Johanna by her real name and states that he intends to destroy the head, as its supposed oracles would lead to the end of France. Lady Johanna's refusal to disclose the location of the head led to her being locked up in the Luxembourg Palace. There, Lady Johanna dreams and meets with Dream in his Realm, who she asks for his help, but he refuses to give it. It's after learning more about the interaction that Lady Johanna had with Orpheus that he states that if Orpheus sings where he's hidden, she'll be allowed to escape her current predicament.
The following day, Lady Johanna is met by Robespierre, who proclaims he's figured out where Orpheus is and leads her to a room full of decapitated heads. Passing her a lantern, Robespierre demands that Lady Johanna call out Orpheus, but Lady Johanna gives Robespierre one last chance to allow her and the head to leave, but he refuses. Hence, Lady Johanna asks Orpheus to sing, and he does, making the other heads in the room sing with him, leaving Robespierre and the soldiers there to watch in a statuesque silence. The next day, Robespierre was executed.
Lady Johanna then took Morpheus to a small, uncharted island on the coast of Greece, where there was the tower of Orpheus. After Lady Johanna entrusts Orpheus with the priests there, she eventually meets with Dream, whom she asks to spend more time with Orpheus.
In the present, Dream and Delirium arrive at Orpheus' temple. There, Delirium has second thoughts about what they're about to do as she fears that killing Orpheus would incur the wrath of The Three. Still, Dream insists they continue onward, until a few men stop them, but grant him entrance into the temple after Dream reveals he's Orpheus' father.
Inside Orpheus' temple, Dream reconciles and bonds with Orpheus. Once Dream learns of Destruction's whereabouts, he returns to Delirium, and before they leave, they leave a present at Lady Johanna's gravestone.
The two then visit Destruction's new Realm, and after exchanging pleasantries, they enjoy dinner at his place. They first discuss who decided to search for Destruction, which Delirium confesses was her, and that Dream was the only one who agreed to tag along. Next, Destruction admits that he set up a mechanism that informs him who may be looking for him and that he was the cause of the people who died trying to seek him out. Realizing that Dream has a tense animosity toward him about abandoning his family, Destruction suggests that they go outside and enjoy it.
Outside, Destruction refuses to return and goes on to explain that even though he's no longer overseeing his Realm, it's still functioning without him. He then leads the two to his shed, where it's revealed that he retained his Gallery, and after taking his Sword, Delirium asks Destruction if he'd stay in her Realm. However, Destruction declines and instead entrusts Barnabas to her. Destruction and Dream then talk about what Dream will do after seeing him, and Dream tells Destruction that he intends to see his son again after he revealed where he was. As one last piece of advice to Dream, Destruction tells him to do what he did not out of cowardice, as Dream may think, but out of love. With that, Destruction says his goodbyes to the group and disappears into the night sky by transforming himself into cosmic dust.
With that all settled, Dream returns to his son's temple and speaks with him one last time. Once their conversation was finished, Dream finished off Orpheus and took his leave from Delirium, who took Barnabas back to her Realm.
Returning to his Realm, Dream meets with Lucienne, who states that he's returned, and Dream states that he's back. Dream states that he'll be retiring for the rest of the day at his quarters and that he wishes not to be disturbed for the remainder of it. Also, he entrusts Lucienne to ensure that the priests who watched over his son, Orpheus, bury him, and after that, they can do as they will.
Reaching his room, Dream washes his hands in a bowl and begins to weep.
In their room, two of The Three, the Mother and Maiden sit on separate couches where the Mother knits a scarf. They're soon joined by the Crone, who gives out tea and a cookie of their choice. The mother chooses a fortune one and has the Maiden read it for her, which reveals that Dream had killed his son, and despite it being out of mercy, Dream had forsaken one of the rules and would be punished.
Cast[]
- Tom Sturridge as Dream
- Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne
- Jenna Coleman as Lady Johanna Constantine
- Barry Sloane as The Prodigal
- Esme Creed-Miles as Delirium
- Ruairi O'Connor as Orpheus
- Nina Wadia as Fate Mother
- Souad Faress as Fate Crone
- Dinita Gohil as Fate Maiden
- Steve Coogan as Barnabas
Co-Starring[]
- Kayode Akinyemi as Kris
- Chris Barnes as Bruno
- Paul Brennen as Captain Carnot
- Edward Franklin as Michel
- Daniel Hoffmann-Gill as Guillaume
- Stewart Scudamore as Andros
- Jonathan Slinger as Maximilien Robespierre
- Nasri Thompson as Nico
Trivia[]
To be added
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
References[]