The Sandman (2022) s02e04 Episode Script

1
[dreary, ethereal music playing]
[rain pattering]
My lord,
I I take it Queen Nada has left us.
She's gone.
To the waking world.
I'm so sorry.
The palace staff were wondering
what you'd like done
with the suite of rooms
you created for her.
Erase them.
As you wish, sir.
And I would appreciate it
if the palace staff would refrain from
mentioning her name in my presence.
I will see to it, my lord.
Do you think I am incapable of love?
Did Queen Nada tell you that?
She said she did not know
if my kind was even capable of it.
Lucienne
[sighs]
In my personal opinion,
I think that you have a--
[Matthew] Boss? Boss!
[caws] Sorry to interrupt,
but we got a situation downstairs.
The guardians have captured
an intruder.
[ominous music playing]
[wyvern growling]
[woman] Hello, Dream!
[wyvern, muffled]
She says she is your sister.
[Dream] I'm afraid
she is my sister, wyvern.
Put her down.
[sister] Whee!
My lady
- I must apologize. Had I but--
- [sister] It's okay.
I liked it. It was fun.
Especially the swingy bits.
[wyvern grunts]
I always thought I ought to have a pet.
The wyvern is not a pet.
- What about your blackbird?
- [Dream] Raven.
Also not a pet.
Delirium.
This is Matthew.
I remember Matthew.
No, we've never met.
We have. You just don't remember me.
[chuckling] No. You, I would remember.
[caws]
Why are you here, my sister?
I came to see you.
I mean, to talk, not just see.
You have a gallery for that.
I know.
But if I called and you said no,
then that would mean
you wouldn't talk to me.
And last time I called, you said no.
And the time before that.
So I thought if I just showed up,
then maybe
[somber music playing]
Please don't make me go away.
[music fades]
I saw it was raining outside
when I came in.
Water.
Or whatever it rains in dreams.
Yes.
You must be in a very bad mood.
Must I?
I knew you'd be this way.
You're always so scary.
So I thought I'd really try to be good.
And I'm trying very hard to be good.
But you're still being horrid to me.
And laughing at me
behind your face like you always do.
And I really was trying this time.
I've been somewhat
distracted as of late.
I'm not angry with you.
I'm sorry.
You just apologized to me.
Yes.
You never apologize.
You just act like you know stuff I don't
that makes everything you do okay.
I see. Well, I have apologized.
Now, why don't you tell me
why it is you came here.
I was thinking about things.
About why everything feels so wrong.
It all keeps moving.
And it won't stop.
And I just want it to stop.
And when it doesn't,
I think, "What if it gets worse?"
And then I try to remember
a time when it didn't feel this way.
And then I remembered,
it was when he was here.
[gloomy string music rises]
Our brother.
I would go and see him
and no matter how bad things got
he would make it okay.
But now he's gone,
and everything is broken.
What do you mean?
Destruction's realm is still there.
Things are still being destructed.
But nobody's in charge of it.
It's out of control.
Look what happened
when you left your realm.
I did not leave my realm by choice.
No, I know.
He left because he wanted to.
[tense music rising]
That was so long ago.
What if he's embarrassed to come back?
Or what if he's been captured
the way you were?
Or what if he's sick or has amnesia?
He abandoned us.
He abandoned his realm.
He abandoned his responsibilities.
An act of profound selfishness which
I shall never understand nor forgive.
Did you ever tell him that?
No.
Don't you kind of want to?
Find him and yell at him
and bring him back?
I do.
Will you help me find him?
[distressing, unsettling music building]
I feel like
someplace nobody goes anymore.
Our brother chose to leave us.
We must accept that.
That's what Despair said.
You asked Despair to go with you?
She said no.
She said you'd say no too.
I take it you asked Desire as well.
I was actually in Desire's house
when I had the idea.
Oh, I'm sure you were.
It doesn't matter who I asked when,
does it?
They didn't want to come with me.
But you do.
Don't you?
Will you excuse me for a moment?
[unsettling music subsides]
Desire.
I stand in my gallery
before your sigil.
Will you answer me?
Dream. How delightful.
Delirium is in my domain.
Oh.
Yes, I had a feeling
she might come looking for you next.
- Are you coming through?
- No, I shall remain here.
Well, in that case,
I'll come to you.
She wants to find our lost brother.
[chuckles] Yes. I know.
Where might one sit in your gallery,
if one were invited to?
[whoosh]
She tells me she decided upon
this idiotic course in your company.
Well, I had nothing to do with it.
Just as you had nothing to do with
what happened between Nada and me.
Look, I hate to disappoint you, Dream,
but you managed
to fuck that one up all on your own.
You don't believe me.
[sighs] I swear it.
By my heart.
- And by the other side of the sky.
- Enough.
Neither your
10,000-year-old heartbreak,
nor Delirium's obsession
with our brother,
is of my doing.
She showed up to my realm uninvited.
She did the same to me.
She was in floods of tears,
saying if we could just
find our big brother,
that everything would be fine.
Well
she is not wrong about that.
So, you're saying we should find him?
No. I'm saying that
if she feels that things are broken
it is because they are.
Our brother broke them.
Good. You had me worried for a second.
About?
That you would go looking for him.
Or worse,
that you would use
Delirium's little quest
as an excuse to go out
and look for Nada.
The idea never occurred to me.
Then tell the little gleet
to get on with her life.
The sooner you get rid of her,
the sooner you can go back
to doing what you love
Feeling sorry for yourself.
Little sister?
You came back.
Yes.
I didn't think you would.
I have spoken with Desire.
Are they mad? What did they say?
That I should send you home
immediately.
Then I'll ask our older sister
to go with me.
And if she says no,
then I'll ask Destiny,
and if he says no,
then I'll go on my own.
It's just that I
[sighs softly] I often get distracted.
And I get lost kind of easily.
Sometimes I have very bad days
where, you know,
I just want to hide
or scream or bleed or something.
If you were to seek our brother,
where would you begin looking?
[bright music playing]
I suppose I'd start by
finding his old friends
and asking them if they know.
I'd ask them very nicely.
Do you know any of his old friends?
I made a list!
And I wrote down
all the people our brother used to know
that I'd ever met
that wouldn't be dead yet.
[Dream] A long-lived mortal,
a god, and a figure of myth.
I'm impressed.
Lucienne,
my sister and I will be making
a short journey together.
Uh, you will?
We will.
[Lucienne] Oh.
Should any matters arise
which require my attention,
please feel free to contact me.
Uh, contact you where, exactly?
The waking world.
Let Pharamond know
we will be calling on him.
I trust he still oversees
transportation?
I've heard nothing
to the contrary, but--
Good.
My lord, do you really feel
this is a wise course of action?
Lucienne, my brother had
his reasons for leaving.
He desires his privacy,
and I respect his wishes.
- Then why are you going?
- Because
my sister seems to need it.
And it has been a long time
since I walked in the waking world.
You know who else recently
left here for the waking world?
- This has nothing to do with--
- Queen Nada.
So what is the plan?
To hope you just casually
bump into her
while not really looking
for your brother?
Why not just find her in her dreams?
That would be inappropriate.
That would be inappropriate?
Perhaps fate will reunite us.
[scoffs]
It won't seem like fate to Nada.
It will seem like stalking.
- And when Delirium finds out that--
- It will be a brief diversion.
Nothing more.
[huffs]
You worry too much, Lucienne.
[Lucienne] I can't think
why that would be. Can you?
- [birds chirping outside]
- Oh, look! It's stopped raining!
- Then you must be feeling much better.
- I am.
I wish I could say the same.
Come back soon.
Please.
[bright music fading]
[male voice] Destruction!
Ah. I thought I'd find you here.
Well?
What do you think of it so far?
Honestly?
The perspective's shot to hell,
the colors could have been
better chosen,
and the olive tree on the left looks
like an overgrown stinging nettle.
How do you know?
I thought dogs were color-blind.
That's a coincidence.
Looking at that painting,
I thought you were.
[chuckles]
What's so funny?
You know, Barnabas,
there are those who claim
that for unquestioning respect
and eternal devotion,
all one needs is a dog.
Devotion, you've got.
Perjury isn't in the job description.
[Barnabas whines]
What is it?
Shut up for a second.
There's something happening
in that room round the back.
I can't hear it.
[Barnabas]
Well, you aren't a dog, are you?
Not at present, no.
[pensive music playing]
[Barnabas] What's in here, anyway?
[Destruction] I tend to think of it
as the family room.
That's the sound I heard,
that bubbling noise.
What is that thing?
It's a scrying pool.
I suppose you could call it
an early warning system.
[Barnabas] Well, I don't like it.
No.
[whines] What's it warning you against?
Trouble.
Big trouble.
- [music fades]
- [indistinct chatter]
Who's Farrell?
He used to be a god.
Lord Pharamond.
When last we met in Babylon,
his sacrifices were dwindling
and his shrines had been abandoned.
So I suggested
he find himself another occupation.
He calls himself Farrell now.
[woman] This is me. Right here.
- [door opens]
- [man] All right.
- [woman] Thank you.
- [man] You have a good night.
Wait here.
[tense, eerie music playing]
Dream!
[horn honking]
[Dream] Nada.
Do I know you?
Forgive me.
I thought you were someone else.
[chuckles] That's okay.
- Dream?
- [Dream sighs]
- Who did you think she was?
- [Dream] We're here.
Are you with Farrell Travel?
I am. My name is Wanda. Mr. Farrell
told me to expect you and your sister.
Hello.
[Wanda] About the car you requested
You requested a car?
- This is not it.
- No, it's not.
But if you'll come with me
Right down here.
What did Mr. Farrell tell you about us?
He was very discreet.
He said you were members
of a royal family.
Oh, I like that.
[Wanda] He didn't say which one.
That is for the best.
And I'll be taking you
to visit your brother's friends,
providing security,
and acting as your Stateside concierge.
Mr. Farrell mentioned a request
for something classic,
so the company we work with
sent us this.
- From England.
- [Delirium gasps]
It's beautiful!
[Wanda] It is.
It's just, some of our clients
prefer to travel in relative privacy.
And in this car, you might get
a little bit of attention.
Well, I don't mind.
But my brother might.
I do not.
This is perfect.
- It is.
- [Delirium] It is?
[Dream] It is.
Since we have not informed
anyone of our arrival,
we would do well to be seen
by those that might know us.
Like who?
Like our brother.
Oh!
Yes.
Well, I agree. It's perfect.
Can I drive?
I bet I'd be really good.
[Dream] Absolutely not.
Our first stop is the Upper East Side.
[Delirium] The lawyer,
is he a god too?
[Dream] A mortal.
One of the oldest.
There are only 60 men and women
walking the earth
with personal memories of the mammoth
and saber-toothed tiger.
Bernard Capax is one of them.
[cell phone rings]
[Bernie] Bernie Capax.
We can talk now
- [can horn blares]
- if you don't mind the noise.
Oh, her team are very clear
about what she wants.
She wants everything.
And with a sympathetic judge,
she just might get it.
[jackhammer whirring]
I'm sorry. I'm in the middle
of a construction zone. Hold on.
Can you hear me? Good.
Because I'm about to give you
some very sound legal advice.
[worker] Hey, hey! It's comin' loose!
[Bernie] No!
Turn it off!
- [crowd clamoring]
- Over there.
[man 1] Come on!
- [Bernie gasps]
- [man 2] Gimme a second.
- Wow, that was close.
- [worker 2] Come on! Let's go!
[worker 3] Come on, keep it movin'!
Let's go! Hey!
A little too close, I'm afraid. [sighs]
[gentle music playing]
No.
Please, no.
Not after all this time.
I mean, a stupid accident?
That's how it happens sometimes.
But I knew your brother.
We were good friends. I loved him.
I know.
I did too.
I did all right, though, didn't I?
I mean, I got what? 12,000 years.
That's pretty good, isn't it?
You got what anybody gets, Bernie.
No more, no less.
You got a lifetime.
- [bright music fades]
- [doorbell buzzing]
[Dream] Stop.
Yes?
We're looking for Bernard Capax.
I'm sorry. Um [sniffles]
- Was he expecting you?
- [Delir.] We're going to surprise him.
He's our brother's friend.
I met him once, but that was ages ago.
Ages and ages and ages and ages.
He'll remember me.
Um
I'm sorry.
[sniffles] They just called.
He's, um
[sniffles] My father is dead.
[Delirium] Dream, the dancing woman
is next on my list. How far away is she?
I wonder whether
we should continue this.
I knew you would do this.
Do you not find it curious
that Capax was killed
the moment we come to his door?
By a building. It was an accident.
Someone does not wish us
to speak with our brother's friends.
[Delirium] Who?
I don't know.
Because it could just be a
What's the word
when two things happen at the same time
but don't necessarily mean anything?
- A coincidence.
- Yes.
That's the problem with you, Dream.
Not everything has to mean something.
[Wanda exhales]
Welcome back.
How's the lawyer?
Dead.
Seriously?
A short time ago.
I'm so sorry.
Should we take a break?
- No!
- Yes.
[Delirium] We're going
to see the dancing woman.
I think it unwise to continue.
Well, we're going.
She's in Philadelphia,
which is about two hours away,
give or take, with traffic.
Shall I make you
dinner reservations before the show?
I'd like that.
Please, Dream!
Perhaps you can recommend
a place where we might encounter
fellow travelers?
I know just the place.
["Beat of Your Own"
by Katie Herzig playing]
Where you wanna go? ♪
Who you wanna be? ♪
Are you gonna get there soon ♪
If it don't come naturally? ♪
And if it's not now ♪
Then when is the time? ♪
There's only so long
You can pay no mind ♪
To the burn inside ♪
I love that you two
know each other well enough
that you can just be with each other.
You don't even have to speak.
You can just enjoy
each other's company.
You don't have siblings, do you?
I used to.
An older brother.
Was he grumpy and bossy
and thought that he knew
everything about everything?
He was, actually.
But he used to take it out on me.
Do you not see your family?
[Wanda] No.
Why not?
My parents are very conservative.
They didn't know
what to do with a kid like me.
So when I turned 15,
I started hormone therapy
without them knowing.
So I had to run away.
Well did you tell them
that you were going?
I left a note.
[somber music playing]
But I didn't want them
to try and stop me, so
no.
But my Aunt Dora, she still calls.
She prays for me.
She's afraid that because I'm trans,
I don't have access to God.
But she still talks to me.
Do you miss them ever?
I miss my books.
They were my companions.
I was obsessed
with the Oz books growing up.
I had this beat-up,
first edition Land of Oz
that I should have taken with me.
I love Judy Garland.
She used to spend a lot of time
in my realm.
[Wanda] Hmm.
Actually,
Judy's in The Wizard of Oz,
which is gay culture.
The Marvelous Land of Oz
is trans culture.
It's about a child named Tip
who finds out that they've been living
under an enchantment their entire life.
And that she's actually a princess.
Princess Ozma of Oz.
[Delirium] Wow.
I I don't know that one.
Wanda, if your family came here now,
uninvited,
looking for you,
would you be happy to see them?
I would.
[Delirium exhales contently]
[Wanda] I would be very happy.
And if they asked you to come home?
[chuckles softly]
I'd tell them I'm a grown woman now.
I have a whole life of my own
that I've built.
But,
I would love if we visited each other.
I'd love that very much.
[exhales knowingly]
[music fades]
Should be on this next block.
I hope when we arrive, nothing bad
happens to the dancing woman.
It's not too late to change course.
But what if Bernie Capax died
because he was a mortal?
I mean, mortals do do that.
The dancing woman is a god.
Gods are very hard to kill.
All one needs to do to kill a god
is to stop believing in them.
She was the god of?
Sex.
And war.
[groovy, suggestive music playing]
["I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
performed by Gladys Knight playing]
Ooh ♪
[announcer] Now,
please welcome to the stage, Ishtar.
[audience cheers and applauds]
With some other girl
you knew before ♪
Between the two of us girls
You know I love you more ♪
It took me by surprise, I must say ♪
When I found out yesterday ♪
Don't you know
That I heard it through the grapevine ♪
Oh, I heard it through
the grapevine ♪
- Not much longer would you be mine ♪
- Not much longer would you be mine ♪
Don't you know
That I heard it through the grapevine ♪
Oh, I heard it through
the grapevine ♪
Oh, I'm just about to
About to about to lose my mind ♪
- Oh, yes I am ♪
- Oh, yes I am ♪
Baby, won't you listen to me? ♪
Boy take a good look
At these tears of mine ♪
[chimes jingle]
Baby, baby ♪
These tears I can't hold inside ♪
Losin' you ♪
Would end my life, you see ♪
Because you mean that much to me ♪
You could've told me yourself ♪
[chimes jingle]
That you love somebody else ♪
Oh, not much longer
would you be mine ♪
Not much longer would you be mine ♪
Not much longer ♪
[Ishtar sighs]
Hello, Belili.
[train rattling on tracks]
It's Ishtar now.
As you wish.
It has been a long time.
Two thousand years.
The last time I saw you,
I was with your brother.
You acted as if I wasn't there.
Then privately,
you advised him to end our affair.
You said that I was a bad influence.
That I wasn't good enough for him.
He should not have told you that.
He told me he felt sorry for you.
He was afraid you would
never know love or be loved.
And then he did as I suggested
and ended his relationship with you.
He ended his relationship
with you too, didn't he?
I did not come here to quarrel.
Why did you come?
This is the last place
I'd ever expect to see you.
This little temple of Desire.
I came with a question.
And a warning.
My sister and I seek our brother.
Do you know where he is?
I haven't seen him in centuries.
That is not an answer to my question.
[emphatically]
I don't know where he is.
You could sacrifice
a black lamb to me if you like.
But this is all the temple I have,
and we're kind of short
on oracles these days.
- You have my sympathies.
- Do I?
What's the warning?
That you may be in danger.
I do not know what form,
and I am unsure as to why, but
the fact remains as I have stated it.
I tried to contact another
of my brother's acquaintances,
but before our approach, he was
Destroyed.
Delirium believes it was a coincidence.
But you do not.
[unsettling music playing]
What is it I did to make you hate me,
Lord Morpheus?
To wish me dead.
I do not hate you.
Nor do I wish you harm.
You have killed me by coming here.
We don't know that.
[Ishtar] No.
But I know this.
I loved your brother.
I really did.
What are you doing?
People out there
have never really seen me dance.
The last time I danced, there were
temples in my name,
50 priestesses in each.
If I am to die tonight,
then I will do so as a goddess.
And if I survive
I will do my best
to live as one from now on.
[door opens, closes]
[lilting, ethereal music playing]
- [patrons cheering]
- [dance music playing]
It's time for us to leave.
Where've you been?
What about the dancing woman?
We've spoken.
- [Delirium] When?
- Now.
Without me?
You were otherwise engaged.
- [Delir.] She say where our brother is?
- No.
- [music stops abruptly]
- [patrons murmuring]
[stunned silence falls]
[entrancing vocals rise]
[hypnotic, compelling music rising]
[rhythmic chanting building]
[metallic rattling overhead]
[gas hissing]
Run!
Now!
[chanting cuts out]
- [glass shatters]
- [car alarms blaring]
Dream?
I am here.
[Delirium gasps] Wanda.
- Oh.
- She's dead.
[Delirium] Just like Bernard Capax.
Do you know what this means?
What it means is
only one person left
on my envelope is still alive.
We need to stop looking
for our brother.
- But Dream--
- [Dream] And return to our realms.
[Desire] And you think that's gonna make
everything all right?
Did you not just
destroy my house of worship?
[Delirium]
It wasn't us. We would never.
I suspect it was our brother.
No.
No, he warned us
not to go and look for him.
And you ignored his warning.
And mine.
[tense, rhythmic music playing]
[Desire gasps]
[quietly] Make no mistake, Dream
you did this.
[Delirium] It wasn't him.
He was trying to help me.
[chuckles ruefully] No.
No, Del, he wasn't.
He had no intention
of ever finding our brother.
Did you?
No.
The only reason
that he agreed to come with you
was just so that
he could look for Nada.
Nada?
That's who you've been
looking for all this time?
Dream must think I'm very stupid.
Dream wasn't thinking of you at all.
You never liked me.
I thought you liked me
maybe near the end.
I thought we would find him
and make everything okay.
I thought you cared about me.
I thought you [whimpers]
you were my friend.
My sister, we were never friends.
We are family.
I understand now
why Destruction left us.
Told us not to follow him.
So now I'm telling you!
Stay away from me!
Don't follow me.
Don't summon me.
[music intensifies]
[Delirium] Leave me alone.
My realm is closed to both of you!
[tense music subsides]
[softly] You knew how fragile she was.
Do not presume to lecture me.
[Desire] The way that you
would have lectured me
if I murdered all of these people.
[unsettling music playing]
[imitating Dream]
"We do not manipulate them, Desire."
"If anything, they manipulate us."
Well, tell that to Bernie Capax.
And Ishtar.
And Wanda.
Because I am
done
with you.
[music peaks, fades]
[darkly intriguing music playing]