I am taking the unusual step of starting this review with a disclaimer. I both watched the show and wrote the review before the revelations about Gaiman surfaced. Let me be very, very clear. I find what he did utterly reprehensible on every level. I do not support him, or what he did, or his claims that he did it because of autism. But pretending Sandman doesn’t exist does a disservice to the showrunners, writers (besides him), cast, and crew of the adaptation. As they say, two wrongs don’t make a right. I will not buy anything of Gaiman’s again. I won’t go hear him talk if he does public appearances again. But I won’t punish the people who worked on the shows, and had nothing to do with Gaiman’s abominable actions, who did a great job of turning out a fantastic series, no matter how tainted the source.

The Netflix adaptation of The Sandman has had a lot of surprises. One of them was that the first season ends with a bonus episode, a part of Sandman lore but having nothing at all to do with the storyline in the rest of the season. “The Dream of 1,000 Cats” and “Calliope” were both stand alone issues of the original comic run of Sandman, and their two stories make up this unique “extra feature.”

The Dream of 1,000 Cats not only leaves the storyline of the season behind, but humans as well for the most part. As the title suggests, this story is about cats, and their own unique relationship with Dream. When two humans do something callously cruel, a cat realizes its place in the world, and goes on a quest for justice. After meeting a crow (voiced by series creator Neil Gaiman) and getting directions, the cat meets Dream, who as one of the Endless, possesses many different forms. The voice is the same we’ve heard in the previous episodes, performed excellently by Tom Sturridge, although Dream looks entirely different.

The Cat of Dreams tells the one seeking justice a very strange story about a time long ago, and the power of belief. Dreams, after all, shape the world, and they very literally did so in this story. Later, as the cat that started the story returns home, it has an interesting conversation with one of its fellows. Once home, the foolish humans show how little they understand about pretty much anything.

The second story, Calliope, is altogether different. I’m always a little leery of stories about a writer having trouble writing, as it seems a little self-indulgent to me. It has to be a really good story to overcome that reservation for me. This, to no surprise, was. While I’m aware of the issues that have emerged about Neil Gaiman, and am very disgusted by. it doesn’t detract from him being a talented writer. One I’m not going to buy anything new from, but still talented.

The story is about writers’ block, desperation, and moral corruption. A younger writer goes to see a mentor, looking for anything to help with his slumping career. The mentor does in fact have a special trick and he shares with his younger student. The story does a great job of taking a few elements out of myth and bringing them to the modern day. All the magic and strange things that happen, it’s mostly a character study of a very flawed man who can’t overcome his weakness to keep his word.

I’m deliberately going light on details here because there are some well done surprises and tense moments. There’s also a good measure of “be careful what you wish for” involved, and we see once again that there can be too much of a good thing. Towards the end, Dream gets involved of course. There is a slight reference to recent events in the season, but it’s small and easy to miss. On reflection, you might see some parallels between what happens to the main character of the second story and Gaiman himself after his scandals came to light.

What I Liked: The writing, concepts, visuals, and acting were all fantastic in both stories. They rounded up an impressive array of talent, and everyone did well. What makes the stories work is that, fantastical elements to one side, they’re very believable. A mother seeking answers after a great loss is a compelling tale, and they do it really well. The idea of belief changing the world is a theme many stories have explored, and they do a great job with it. And not being able to resist temptation is a flaw in many characters. Who wouldn’t at least consider doing something really questionable to both make their dreams come true and solve a problem they’re truly desperate about?

What I Didn’t: Nothing really comes to mind. These were two great stories.

I’m giving this strange compilation episode a rare 5 out of 5. It was a great and unexpected note to go out on.