Chapter 9: Collectors is the ninth episode of the first season of the Netflix original dark fantasy series, The Sandman.
Synopsis[]
Odd disturbances shake up The Dreaming, Rose sets out on a road trip with a new friend, and The Corinthian arrives with a guest at a creepy convention.
Plot[]
Lyta's baby bump
Rose informed Lyta of her dreams and how she dreamt of finding Jed, who told her where his foster parents lived. So she went there, but when she arrived, Jed was gone and they were dead. As strange as it sounded, Lyta believed Rose because she also had a dream where she was with Hector. And when she woke up, she was still pregnant, unsure of how this could've happened. And so, Rose explained to Lyta how she was a vortex and likely the cause of this.
Matthew reported back to Lucienne that Lyta was pregnant from a dream, meaning Rose was weakening the walls between realms. However, Lucienne had no intentions of relaying the message to Dream herself, as he reminded her that she was merely a librarian. He was determined to deal with the vortex alone, so Lucienne instructed Matthew to report any updates exclusively to Dream.
The Corinthian and Jed stopped for ice cream and discussed their plans to meet Rose at a convention he'd be attending. Jed then asked The Corinthian his name. Rather than answer, he simply replied by telling Jed that people only ever used someone's name when they were in trouble, similar to how Barnaby would call out to Jed, though Corinthian assured him that Barnaby would no longer be a problem. He also shared with Jed how much like him, he was also running away from something, but once they got to Rose, they'd never need to run again.
Rose wasn't sure how or when she was even doing it, but she assured Lyta she'd fix her mistake and make it go away, but Lyta saw this as a second chance at a life with Hector. In fact, he asked her to come live with him in her dreams, which she welcomed Rose to come visit. Rose then got a call from The Corinthian, who passed the phone to Jed, who revealed that they were at the Royal Empire Hotel in Georgia.
The Corinthian and Jed entered the hotel for the serial killer convention, which Jed mistook for a cereal convention. At the counter, he was approached by Nimrod and The Good Doctor, who advised him to keep Jed away from the convention areas.
Gilbert asking to join Rose
As Rose prepared to leave for her trip to pick up Jed, she received a visit from Gilbert, who she informed that Jed had been found and that she was on her way to get him in Georgia. Upon learning that she'd be going alone, Gilbert volunteered to join her on the trip.
While waiting for The Corinthian, Jed unknowingly met the acquaintance of Fun Land, a suspected pedophile, who the Corinthian warned to leave Jed unharmed.
On the road to Georgia, Gilbert explained to Rose that when he left home, he made it his mission to see as much of the world as possible. To him, the object of travel was to set foot in your own country as a foreign land.
Hector and lyta following the earthquake
Lyta returned to the Dreaming, where she and Hector were having sex, until suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the house. It had never happened before, but beyond the momentary quake, everything appeared as it should.
In search of Lucienne, Mervyn came across Dream, to whom he reported some minor seismic activity and damage. Dream's palace then began to shake and crack itself, though he assured Mervyn he would find the cause of the disturbance and eliminate it.
Dream returned some books to the library and took the opportunity to assess the damages from the recent disturbances. He asked if Lucienne had any idea what caused them, but she remained frustrated from their last encounter, in which he implied that her efforts beyond the library were without value, which was not his intent. Lucienne suspected that the vortex was the cause of the disturbances, though Dream argued that it could be something new.
Rose called Unity to inform her that she was on the way to pick up Jed. Thrilled that everything was coming together, she offered to have them both flown out to her and have Mr. Holdaway look into making Rose Jed's legal guardian.
Nervous because she hasn't seen him since he was five years old, Rose began to fear that Jed wouldn't like her or she wouldn't like him. She suspected that he was much different now.
After instructing Jed to stay in the room, The Corinthian made his way down to the conference room, where Nimrod took the stage to kick off the event, laying down the rules, from not using civilian names, to no killing at the hotel, then introducing The Corinthian as their special guest of honor.
What fascinated Gilbert about humanity was that so many people were looking for reasons to be unhappy, but Rose didn't appear too interesting in his take on the world, falling asleep in the car as he spoke of hope. In her dream, Rose came across Lyta, who expressed having been in the Dreaming for months despite it only being a couple of hours in the waking world. From afar, they were being watched by Dream and Matthew, who confirmed that Lucienne was right about the source of the disturbances.
Rose and Lyta returned to her home to find Dream awaiting their return along with Hector, who revealed that Morpheus wanted them to leave because a ghost could not escape his fate by hiding in the Dreaming nor could a living human being escape their grief there. Their presence had done much damage to the realm, and so Lyta and Hector had to part ways. Lyta refused to leave, exclaiming for Dream to leave, but instead, he returned Hector to his appointed place before informing Lyta that he would allow her to keep the baby for the time being, but it was conceived in the Dreaming, thus he had claiming rights, and one day, he would come for it. Morpheus then proceeded to end the dream, though he was followed back to his palace by Rose, the cause for all of this. Rose warned Dream against coming for her or her friends again. She suggested that he leave her alone before leaving the dream and awakening in the car, to a call from Lyta, who was emotionally distressed over Hector's loss.
The Corinthian was a bit of a celebrity among the other "collectors." But it was one man in particular who appeared to catch his attention, who claimed to be a collector known as "The Boogieman." However, Corinthian informed Nimrod and The Good Doctor that the man before them was not the Boogieman, who drowned three years ago in Louisiana. They were faced with an imposter. The Corinthian then caught sight of a child who he believed to be Jed and followed him into the lobby.
Rose and Gilbert arriving at the hotel
Rose and Gilbert arrived at the hotel, where they were confronted by Fun Land, who informed them that the sectioned off area of the hotel was for convention attendees only. Rather than turning away, Rose snatched a couple attendee badges before slipping into the convention hall, where Gilbert realized they were at a serial killers convention.
Nimrod and The Good Doctor reconvened with The Corinthian after discovering that their Boogieman imposter was actually a fanboy named Philip Sitz. They collectively decided to "collect" Philip as a team. It was then that Corinthian met the gaze of Gilbert; the two locked eyes as if they were familiar.
Still posing as The Boogieman, Philip began conversing with some of the other collectors. Meanwhile, Gilbert left a message at the front desk for Rose before fleeing the hotel. Rose then approached the front desk in search of Jed, but instead, she learned that there was a room already registered in her name and a message from Gilbert, who left and went home.
Dream found Lucienne in the library to admit that she was right about the vortex being the source of the disturbances. He also admitted that he was wrong to hope that she would help them locate the missing Arcana. However, Lucienne revealed that he wasn't entirely wrong, as Rose did in fact manage to find The Corinthian and Fiddler's Green, who in actuality, was Gilbert, who returned to the Dreaming and apologized to Morpheus for having left. Without Dream, he was curious. Life as a human contained substance that he never even imagined, which is why he returned, because The Corinthian was murdering them.
Philip being confronted
Rather than getting a drink at the bar as they had planned, The Corinthian led Philip into a secluded area of the hotel, where he was confronted by Nimrod and The Good Doctor. The three of them proceeded to kill Philip until being interrupted by Jed, who Corinthian pursued. Fleeing The Corinthian, Jed ran into Fun Land.
Gilbert learned from Lucienne that much like himself, Dream spent the last century in the waking realm. And while they may have had different experiences, Gilbert believed that his time there changed him, given Dream's apology to Lucienne, who was initially incapable of such a thing. If that were true, perhaps he would be merciful to Gilbert, since he came back in his own, Lucienne hoped. But Gilbert was only concerned with Dream stopping The Corinthian and saving Rose until Lucienne informed him that Rose was a vortex, meaning that Dream had to kill her.
Fun Land chasing after Rose and Jed
While searching for the room registered to her name, Rose found Jed in the hallway with Fun Land, who was attempting to get Jed in his room. He then grabbed Jed by his jacket, refusing to let him go until Jed elbowed him and escaped with Rose, though Fun Land proceeded to chase after them and cornered them at the end of the hall, where he was then stabbed in the back and killed by The Corinthian.
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Tom Sturridge as Dream
- Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian
- Patton Oswalt as Matthew The Raven
- Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne
Guest Starring[]
- Kyo Ra as Rose Walker
- Razane Jammal as Lyta Hall
- Sandra James-Young as Unity Kinkaid
- Lloyd Everitt as Hector Hall
- Lewis Reeves as Philip Sitz
- Danny Kirrane as Fun Land
- Jill Winternitz as The Good Doctor
- Kerry Shale as Nimrod
- Stephen Fry as Gilbert
- Mark Hamill as Mervyn Pumpkinhead
Co-Starring[]
- Eddie Karanja as Jed Walker
- Peter De Jersey as Mr. Holdaway
- Nicholas Anscombe as Merv Pumpkinhead (Body)
- Dickie Beau as The Shredder
- Zora Bishop as Myth America
- Desiree Burch as Grass Widow
- JP Conway as The Connoisseur
- Jimmy Essex as Carrion
- Joe Frost as The Choirboy
- David Menkin as The Hammer of God
- Laila Pyne as Albina the Reception Clerk
- Daniel Quirke as Moon River
- Kirris Riviere as Adonai
- Matthew Sim as The Crooner
- Daniel Tuite as Hello Little Girl
- Michael Walters as The Water Boy
Trivia[]
- "Collectors" is the name of the fourteenth issue of The Sandman comic series.
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
References[]