The Sandman season 1 episode 8 recap: Playing House

This article contains SPOILERS for The Sandman season 1 episode 8.

With Dream’s aid Rose discovers how to use her abilities as a dream vortex while The Corinthian closes in on her in the eighth episode of The Sandman season 1.

Catch up here on everything from the last episode!

The episode begins where episode seven left off; Rose Walker just arrived in Dream’s palace and has a lot of questions. Dream welcomes the girl but Lucienne explains that Rose somehow dreamed her way into the palace.

When Rose asks about her brother, The King of Dreams explains his belief that Jed might be with the nightmare Gault. Lord Morpheus is hopeful the two of them can find Jed since Rose is a dream vortex.

A dream vortex is a mortal born with the ability to travel through other folks’ dreams. They make a plan to go in search of Jed that night in Rose’s dreams.

The Sandman season 1 episode 8: The Corinthian is on the hunt

Audiences then witness Gault shapeshifting from her normal nightmarish self, pretending to be Rose and Jed’s mom when Jed comes down to the basement. They appear to have a Bruce Wayne and Alfred type of vigilante relationship with Jed being the adolescent hero of The Sandman.

They are tracking the Pied Piper when a bunch of rats come out of the sewer to attack him. When they surround the child, Jed wakes up from his dream of being a superhero with a rat bite on his hand.

He appears to be in a cheap and thin sleeping bag in the basement of his Aunt Clarice and Uncle Barnaby. He tries knocking on the basement door, but Barnaby forces his wife to stay quiet with him to teach Jed a lesson.

Rose wakes up from her eventful dreams and calls Unity to let her know she will be staying in Florida longer to find Jed. In Sussex, Unity is being interviewed by a “journalist” who turns out to be The Corinthian.

The nightmare is able to gather Rose’s Cape Kennedy whereabouts from the nice, naive old woman. In her B&B, Rose printed out flyers to help find Jed.

The other guests agree to help. Hal agrees to take Rose when Lyta wakes up which confuses her.

Lyta is still in bed dreaming of Hector. This dream version of Lyta’s husband actually goes to work when she wakes up.

This work turns out to be building their dream home in the Dreaming. When dream Hector shows Lyta the nursery they never got to use when he was awake, she is able to come to her senses and wake up.

Following this, Rose arrives and shows her friend the flyers. They split the work as each of them takes half of the town.

The Sandman season 1 episode 8: Rose learns more about her host

In the Dreaming’s library, Dream is looking for details about Rose when Lucienne arrives and talks about Unity Kincaid. Unity is the sole survivor of the “sleepy sickness” as well as a relative of Rose.

Lucienne is insinuating that Dream’s imprisonment caused the vortex, something the King of Dreams adamantly rejects. Rose and Hal walk through her childhood neighborhood as she fills in her gentle host about her father.

She does not know what friends her father had to use as a lead in finding her brother. Returning to the foster agency, Lyta apologizes to the social worker, Eleanor Rubio, on Rose’s behalf.

She explains that Rose was grieving and took it out on Rubio. Lyta does not ask for any information she knows is confidential.

She makes a genuine and respectful apology before departing the agency. In response to this, Eleanor decides to make a practical check-up on Jed.

She calls the home to let Jed’s guardians know they are coming. Barnaby informs Jed that this woman is coming and if he misbehaves, he will break every bone in his body.

Down on a Floridian beach, it is now Hal’s turn to share his story of not making it on Broadway before making a pivot when his grandmother passed and left the house.

Rose gets some privacy and uses it to go over the plan with Matthew. The Corinthian shows up but notices one of Dream’s ravens and decides he better wait.

The nightmare instead gets a flier from Hal and flirts with him a little bit.

The Sandman season 1 episode 8: Jed is checked up on

During Jed’s checkup, the audience sees a note that he wrote and tries to sneak into Eleanor’s purse. After her meeting went off without any issues, Rubio returns to her office, opens up her bag to find nothing.

She looks up, however, to find The Corinthian who kills the social worker and reads Jed’s file. It turns out Barnaby noticed the note and removed it without Eleanor noticing, leading to some serious repercussions for Jed.

Returning to the Bed and Breakfast, Rose throws out the idea of moving back to Cape Kennedy and having her life there. Hal warns her not to do that.

Even though he loves his guests, he would sell the house and never look back if Broadway called him about his dream career. That night, Rose goes to bed and hops into the dreams of some of her housemates before finding Dream so they can get to work.

Lord Morpheus helps Rose focus her powers, enabling her to go down her own path. Eventually, she is able to find Jed’s dream and they arrive at their childhood home.

Down in his hero lair, Gault receives an alert of Lord Morpheus’ arrival. He tells Jed that this man is the King of Nightmare and she must face this foe alone.

Jed does not listen and goes to take down the much powerful Dream by himself. On the street, Rose asks how to find Jed when sand swirls and Jed’s dream persona of The Sandman appears.

Jed tries being heroic, but Gault stops him and gives herself up willingly with the King of Dreams. Rose tries to find out where her brother is located but he is too confused by his mother turning into Gault.

With this all being a dream Rose does not find her answer, only scraps. Dream wakes Jed up causing the boy to scream “Rose!” in the basement.

Before Barnaby can discipline him for making a noise, the doorbell rings.

The Sandman season 1 episode 8: Dream’s beliefs are challenged

In Lyta’s dream, her dead husband asks her to stay once again. Since she is in his dream now, they can start a family, as anything is possible in dreams.

When Lyta begins looking pregnant, she is filled with joy. When she wakes up, Rose searches those scraps Jed gave her and discovers the address of Barnaby and Clarice.

She informs Lyta in the other room about her discovery and begins packing up her things. After Rose leaves, Lyta walks out of the room to show she actually got pregnant from her dream.

Dream returns to his palace with Gault. The nightmare explains how she wants to change and not instill fears into her dreamers.

Since Dream believes beings can’t change and she shows no signs of remorse for her actions, he sends Gault into the darkness for a few thousand years. Lucienne does not like this since she was not always a librarian until Dream changed her into one.

The episode ends with Jed coming out of the basement following the doorbell ringing and some commotion upstairs. It turns out The Corinthian killed Barnaby and Clarice and tells Jed that Rose sent him.

Jed gets in the car with The Corinthian before they hit the open road.

How do you think Jed fits in with Rose being a dream vortex? Do you think Dream will ever change when it comes to if people can change?

Let us know your answers and opinions in the comments below!

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