24/7 – As the fifth episode of The Sandman begins, Matthew the Raven (Patton Oswalt) pleads with Dream (Tom Sturridge) to get up. John (David Thewlis) walks into a café and finds a place to sit. Bette Munroe (Emma Duncan) comes over to serve him as John admits he is doing better than he has for quite some time. He shows her the ruby that he calls his secret. She doesn’t seem to believe it makes dreams come true. John is dreaming of a new, more honest world. Bette goes for a coffee while they wait for their dream to come true although John doesn’t think they’ll have to wait for long. Lindy (Sarah Quist) turns down a coffee since she is at the end of her double and Marsh will be here soon. She agrees to watch the front door while Bette goes to the bathroom. Bette puts lipstick on in the bathroom before coming out to say hello to Marsh Janowski (Steven Brand).

Lindy leaves as Bette tries to strike up a conversation with Marsh who doesn’t reciprocate. Bette finds Judy Talbot (Daisy Head) using her phone so she asks if she wants to sit. Judy asks Bette to tell Donna she is here while she goes to the bathroom. While she waits for the bathroom to open, Judy talks to Rose (Vanesu Samunyai) on the phone to see if Donna is with her. Judy explains they had a fight last night and Donna left around midnight, but never came home. She’ll pretend to be a grown-up and call her mom’s house. Bette goes into the kitchen where she tells Marsh about Donna and Judy’s fight last night. She doesn’t know why Judy is wasting her time on Donna when she can have any man in town. Marsh doesn’t seem to care as he says they’re running low on mushrooms. Mark Brewer (Laurie Davidson) enters and sits down for coffee while he waits for his interview with Vanguard.

Bette is convinced they’re going to love him since she gets a sense about people. She seems to have something on her mind when Judy returns and sits next to Mark. Judy moves and tells Mark she is waiting for someone. When he tells her his name is Mark, Judy says she is gay. Kate (Lourdes Faberes) and Garry (James Udom) enter and sit together. We learn that Bette set them up and calls them her proudest achievement. Mark wonders if she does have a sense about people, but Judy doesn’t since she just tried to set them up. Bette is asked about her novel. She explains she’ll have more time to write now that Bernard is off at college. Kate says they’ll have salads, but Garry seems to like the idea of getting a burger. She urges him to get the double-decker burger if that is what he wants. Regardless, they end up getting spinach salads. Judy tells Mark that big pharma tries to enslave people and he’ll find out once he gets the job.

They love people like him. He is shocked to learn that Kate is the CEO of Vanguard. Mark thinks he should stay off the CEO’s radar at this point. When Bette returns to John’s table to take his order, he admits he doesn’t think she is just a waitress. She tells him she writes and her characters are based on real people, but their stories all have happy endings. He says she knows when to stop. If you keep stories going for long enough, they’ll all end in death. John knows she really doesn’t think he is handsome. She admits to it. John uses the ruby to make her tell him why she lied about it. She confesses that she wanted him to like her. He thinks it is a relief to tell the truth before saying how nice it’d be to live in a world where they can actually say what they want. He says they’re going to change the world and make a more honest one. Kate says she was being supportive and wasn’t calling Garry fat in front of Bette. He claims the shipping department keeps texting him because they want the distro list.

She sent it to Spencer last night so she offers to text him, but he says not to do that. He admits he has no authority or credibility when she does stuff like that all the time. When Bette comes out with the double-decker burger, Kate reminds her that he didn’t order that. Garry says he won’t eat the bun before asking Kate to just let him each what he wants for once. Judy doesn’t think her texts are going through. Mark says they’re going through, but she just doesn’t want to hear from her. Judy acts like she is going to leave until Bette convinces her to wait a little longer. Once she sits back down, John asks if she is okay.

Judy admits she doesn’t think she is before she begins telling him about her fight with Donna. She wishes she was in a car accident since that would explain why she hasn’t texted back. Judy gets jealous sometimes even though she knows Donna would never cheat on her. She doesn’t like people judging her and she believes everyone is judging her. Judy thinks they’d all be happier if she just slept with a guy, but John says Bette doesn’t think Donna is good enough for her. Judy says she is wrong because she isn’t good enough for Donna. Kate and Garry argue on the way out before sitting back down. Kate takes his phone when he tells her he is texting the shipping department, but he quickly takes it back. Garry yells at Marsh to say he salutes him. Bette tells them about the young man interviewing at Vanguard today. He is invited over to say hello. Kate tells him not to leave since they can do the interview right here.

Bette goes to the kitchen to tell Marsh that she believes she just got Mark a job at Vanguard. When she asks if he can look at her, he reminds her that they’re at work. She offers to make him dinner after work before confirming Bernard will likely be there. Bernard likes him because he actually talked when Marsh comes over. After dinner, he’ll go to his room and Marsh can come to Bette’s room. Marsh doesn’t think she wants him. He believes she is just bored and lonely while he is what is around right now. Marsh says it is okay because he isn’t interested in her either although he likes having dinner with her and Bernard. After she falls asleep in front of the TV, he likes going into her son’s room and having sex with him. After she gets mad and leaves, Garry enters the kitchen. Kate wants to know more about Mark and his love life. He believes he is a few years away from any girl wanting to date him.

He thinks that because he is unemployed and living in a crappy apartment with like five roommates. He can barely take care of himself let alone someone else. Kate suggests that is sexist since not every girl needs to be taken care of. Garry was selling gym memberships, but he is VP of Vanguard now. Mark says it is cool that they work together, but Kate admits he doesn’t like taking orders from women. Mark calls that sexiest because some guys like taking orders from women. Garry and Marsh talk about the diet and going to the gym. They discuss Marsh’s relationship with Bette before he apologizes for ruining Garry’s lunch. Garry says he didn’t ruin the lunch. Instead, Kate did and she is interviewing his replacement right now. Marsh offers to make him a burger that he can eat in here. When Bette comes out of the bathroom, Judy checks on her and asks if it has something to do with Marsh.

Judy says there is something wrong with Marsh if he broke up with her. Bette admits they weren’t even dating before saying screw Marsh. Kate says Garry used to be attractive until she got to know him. Now, he’ll sleep with anything except her. He isn’t very good at it. Kate asks Mark if he is. Garry tells Marsh that he has nothing before he met Kate. She gave him everything so he wouldn’t leave and people would think she is lovable even though she isn’t. She is cold and perfect, but he is not. John listens as Garry says Kate doesn’t like having sex. When he is with her, he is a good boy. He is bad when he isn’t with her. Sometimes, he just needs to get head. Bette tells Judy that Donna is lucky to have her, but Judy thinks they broke up last night. Bette says she needs someone fun who doesn’t need taken care of all the time.

Judy asks if she is talking about someone like herself. Bette says no, yes, and she doesn’t know. Bette claims she needs someone who knows how smart and beautiful she is before Judy grabs and kisses her. Mark worries that Kate’s husband will see them until they notice everyone is gone. They begin making out. John walks around as he sees everyone having sex including Marsh and Garry. He gets a snack and sits down in front of the television. Judy tells Bette that the call is not Donna because she never wants to see her again. She finally confesses to hitting Donna in the face when they were fighting last night.

Garry begins attacking and choking Mark until he is stabbed in the neck with a knife. Mark tries to explain himself before Bette turns her attention to John. A news report says there is violence in the streets, traffic pileups, gas line explosions, and power grid failures across the country. Bette admits she didn’t believe John when he said he was going to change the world. John claims he just took away the lies and they did the rest. Mark says he didn’t want to kill anyone. John suggests otherwise and believes Kate wanted to kill Garry too. He reminds them that they don’t have to pretend anymore. He offered them a world where they could be themselves without suffering for it, but it seems they enjoy their suffering. He wonders if their suffering will set them free before saying the truth is a cleansing fire. Mark drives a nail through his hand while Judy cuts herself in the bathroom.

John says there is no good or bad and there is only truth. Bette walks over the dead bodies before asking John how this is a better world. He tells her she needs to close her eye and embrace the darkness so she jabs her eyes out. She says she sees the future before telling him that he comes from dust. Bette, Judy, and Kate tell him he walks the dust and goes back to dust. John thinks that is everyone’s future so he’d like to know his future. They say he doesn’t have a future since it is bound by walls and guards. They begin turning into the Fates while telling him he has stolen some of the power of Dream’s. He will take all of it and crush the Dream lord’s life in his hands. Dream enters to confront John who claims he is saving the world from its lies. Dream insists the ruby wasn’t made for that. He wants to take the ruby back so he can fix the damage John has done. Dream tries to show him the truth of mankind, but John thinks they’re lying to themselves.

Dream says they’re not lies. They’re dreams because Kate dreams of running away where no one will find her. As for Garry, he dreams of proving his father was wrong about him. Bette dreams of making something that matters to people. If he takes away their dreams and hope, what has happened because of John will be the truth of mankind. Dream warns him that the ruby is hurting him and stole more when he tried to use it. John believes he can use it to steal more of his power. Dream tells him he should do that in the Dream lord’s world or in dreams. Johnny is transported to his home where he finds his mother wearing the helmet in bed. Before long, his mother is choking from behind while saying his father was right when he said that she should’ve never had him. He tells himself it is a dream as the ruby begins glowing. He finds himself in Dream’s palace and claims it is his now. As he begins destroying the palace, he claims he is using his own powers to burn away his lies.

Dream tells him he must stop because it isn’t too late to save himself. He says his father cursed him with the ruby, but John claims he blessed him with it. John says his reign ended when his father captured him. His kingdom is now John’s birthright. John uses the ruby to consume his power. When Dreams tells him he is hurting the dreams, John says it is time they woke up. The ruby breaks with the pieces falling to the ground before John finds himself all alone. John believes he has won. Dream thanks him while holding John in the palm of his hand. He tells John that he destroyed the ruby and released the power inside it. He wouldn’t never thought of that since he had forgotten how much of himself he had placed in the jewel. He could kill him and might, but the dream stone was not made for mortals. It came to John through no fault of his own.

As a result, he will not kill him. Instead, he puts him in bed and tells him to sleep well. Matthew asks Dream if he can undo the damage done by the ruby. Dream argues that the ruby didn’t do this. John used it to reveal wounds that were hidden and never healed. The rebuilding will begin in this realm and his own tomorrow. Humanity will sleep in peace for tonight at least. Desire appears behind them before telling big brother she is watching him.

The Sandman Review

After watching this episode twice, it seemed a lot more irritating the first time around. It was more tolerable the second time knowing what was coming, but still pretty bland. Everything happening in the café just felt like it carried on for too long since you’re introducing new characters without any buildup and there was no emotional connection there. I suppose this was an attempt to show what would happen if John got his way, but it was a bit messy.

He kept going on about eliminating their lies yet seemed to control everything such as preventing people from leaving the café multiple times. It is hard to know what the message is here. It would seem eliminating lies could be more productive than just making everyone has sex with each other. On the plus side, the special effects are pretty good most of the time.

Most of the actors performed well in the episode too so it wasn’t farfetched. There is obviously a deeper meaning and more powerful story here, but it hasn’t been conveyed well. To me personally, it just feels like a bunch of moving pictures telling a story without packing any punch. The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Sandman can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support our work at this link.