The Sandman (2022) s01e07 Episode Script

1
Don't forget these.
Thanks, buddy.
- You want to put your shoes on for me?
- How far is New Jersey from Florida?
About two days in the car, but
- Are you gonna suddenly become
- He's my son!
He doesn't want us to go.
I know.
You okay?
Yeah.
But, um
Your dad and I were talking, and, um,
we think maybe it's better
if Rose and I get settled first,
and then bring you out to New Brunswick.
What?
We can't leave him.
I'm not going with you?
Not this trip, sweetie.
Dad promised.
He changed his mind.
He said he'd miss you too much.
I'm gonna go talk to him.
Rose.
He's not in a listening mood.
He's just doing this out of spite.
What happened to shared custody?
I can't take Jed
without your dad's permission.
Say goodbye to your brother
and wait for me in the car, okay?
I love you, Jeddy.
Take me with you.
Okay, let's get you unpacked, baby.
Rose, please.
I'm sorry.
- Rose! Rose!
- Jed, it's okay. It's okay, baby.
Are you there, my sister?
Will you talk to me, Queen of Despair?
I'm always ready
to listen to you, Desire.
I have news.
Real news?
The Prodigal has returned?
What?
Oh. Him?
No, no, he's still missing.
I speak of Dream.
He's managed to free himself.
You seek to snare him
in your machinations again?
Has he not suffered enough
these last 100 years?
Well, you would think so.
But he's just as smug
and self-important as ever.
Do you think these little games of ours
will change him?
This is no game, my twin.
Dream still behaves
as if his realm is superior to ours.
It's time that he learned that dreams
are merely echoes of desire and despair.
Whatever this new scheme is,
it won't work.
It didn't last time
or the time before that.
Nada was a mistake.
And Roderick Burgess was a diversion.
But things have changed, my love, my twin.
There is a dream vortex.
The first for a long time
and it is a woman.
- So we wait?
- We won't have to wait.
The girl has no idea what she is,
but she is already doing what vortexes do.
Bringing in everything
and everyone to her.
Including Morpheus.
Who is she?
The woman who will be Dream's undoing?
Her name is Rose.
Rose Walker.
Rose?
- Lyta. I found a new photo of Jed.
- What?
- Well, not new. New to me.
- Hello?
Miss Bloom? Hi, it's Rose Walker.
Miranda's daughter?
The car's on its way.
Sorry to bother you,
but I was going through my mom's stuff
Carl, what are you doing here?
I asked if I could
house-sit while you're gone.
I found a photo of my brother Jed
that I've never seen before.
- Uh
- She'll need shoes with that.
From before the divorce,
so it's at least seven years old,
but you can see his face
really clearly in it.
Can I send it to you?
When the foster agent
wouldn't tell us where she placed Jed,
you said we could hire
a private investigator.
Well, I assumed my mom's estate
would cover the cost.
Oh.
No, I fully intend to pay your bill. Um
Just the minute I find a job.
You're not hiring by any chance, are you?
No?
Okay. Thank you for your time.
There's no money left?
She said Mom spent it all
on the apartment.
She wanted you to have a home.
She wanted Jed to have a home too.
We have to go.
- I don't think I can.
- Rosie.
How can I leave the country
when I have no money, no job
Listen to me. If people are paying you
to be somewhere, that is a job.
And this foundation
is paying you to fly to London.
They're not paying me.
Your per diem is £250 a day.
In cash. For seven days.
In exchange
for one family history interview.
- Business class?
- Yeah.
This foundation really wants to meet you.
It's not me they want to meet.
It was my mom.
She was so looking forward to this.
I'm a poor substitute, I know.
No. Thank you for coming with me.
I had no choice. Your mom insisted.
And I'm very glad she did.
It does get easier, right?
You don't still think about Hector
every second of every day, do you?
Champagne?
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Here.
Because, as my husband
and your mom would tell us,
life is too short
not to enjoy business class.
Have you heard about the vortex?
- Everyone's talking about it.
- Everyone?
Who's everyone, exactly?
Well, Cain mostly, but
Abel, if I wanted to hear silly
hedge-gossip about swirling entities,
I would've asked you for it.
But I'm here conducting a census
for Lord Morpheus now that he's back.
Now, I'll need a complete list
of all entities residing here.
Okay. Let me have a think. Um
- There's me.
- Hmm.
And the House of Secrets itself obviously.
And the Bottle Imp.
And, um something unspeakably nasty
in the basement.
Something nasty in the basement.
I try not to go down there. And
I seem to have
inadvertently omitted my friend.
It's called Goldie.
One new addition.
A baby gargoyle called Goldie.
So, does Lord Morpheus know about the
vortex?
I can assure you,
Lord Morpheus has better things to do
than listen to foolish rumors.
Maybe a trip to England
is exactly what she needs.
She's sleeping. So, that's progress.
- She hasn't been sleeping?
- No.
She's been dealing with her mom's estate,
trying to find her brother.
Doing whatever she has to do
to keep from thinking about the fact
that she's all alone now.
She's not though.
No, I know.
And friends are great, but, uh
What?
When you lose your parents,
you suddenly realize
it wasn't gravity
keeping you on the ground all this time.
It was knowing you were
someone's daughter. Or sister.
Or wife, in my case.
I'm sorry. How are you? Are you okay?
Probably not, no.
Why do you say that?
'Cause instead of being back at work,
I'm on a plane to London,
talking to my dead husband.
Ma'am? Ma'am?
Sorry to wake you.
Would you mind fastening your seat belt?
Thank you.
I have completed the census
you requested, Lord Morpheus.
Good. And?
I have accounted for 11,062 of them.
Wow. Someone's been busy.
Yes. Well
There are a handful of new entities.
That is to be expected.
But three of the Major Arcana are gone.
Name them.
The first is Gault.
A Nightmare who,
I must say, I never trusted.
She is a shape-changer.
It is not in her nature to be trustworthy.
Who else?
The Corinthian.
I assumed as much.
Still feeding on the dreamers
he was meant to serve.
- Yes.
- The last?
The last is Fiddler's Green.
- Fiddler's Green?
- Hmm.
That is passing strange.
He is, after all, vavasor of
his own dominion and always so reliable.
I know.
This is my fault.
Had I been here, fulfilling my function
- It was not your fault, my lord.
- No?
Then whose?
I'm afraid there is yet more news.
- Gossip, really, but
- Go on.
There are rumors
among the dream folk of a vortex.
Perhaps you might wish to investigate.
The rumors are quite true.
There is a vortex.
A true annulet. The first of this era.
Then you must hunt for it, sir.
It must be controlled.
The vortex is a she, Lucienne.
Not an "it."
And the Endless are forbidden
from taking action against any mortal
who is not an active threat.
Yes, but should the threat become active?
Then perhaps one of our problems
may prove a solution to the other three.
She is a vortex, after all.
Sooner or later,
she will draw the stray dreams to her.
Is that not risky, Lord?
She could destroy the Dreaming.
And the waking world in the process.
- I'm watching her.
- Yes, but only when she sleeps.
Perhaps one of us should
surveil her in the waking world.
I think it best I not leave
the Dreaming unattended for now.
I could go.
Very well. Lucienne will tell you
what to look for, Matthew.
And what you see, I too will see.
Rose?
Wake up.
We're here.
I just had the weirdest dream.
Thank you.
Miss Walker.
Hi. I'm Rose.
I'm Lyta Hall.
Are you the attorney? Mr. Holdawell?
It's Holdaway, miss.
Sorry.
And we call ourselves "solicitors"
on this side of the Atlantic.
Is this the foundation headquarters?
This is a private care home
for the elderly.
My client is a resident.
Shall we go in?
If you'll follow me.
Your client runs the foundation?
My client will explain everything
much better than I can, Miss Hall.
Do you know what an annulet is?
- A what?
- An annulet.
It's a kind of ring, I believe. Old word.
Where did such a young girl
run across such an old word?
I'm not that young. I'm actually 21.
No one ever believes me.
And they always
ask to see my ID, it's annoying.
What's annoying is when they stop asking.
Trust me.
Come in, please.
Thank you.
You must be Rose.
I am. And this is my friend, Lyta Hall.
It's a pleasure to meet you both.
My name is Unity. Unity Kincaid.
- Thank you, Mr. Holdaway.
- Not at all.
He's very serious, isn't he?
Please, come in.
Thank you. Ooh.
- Whose is this?
- Oh, that was mine when I was a girl.
It looks brand-new.
It might as well be.
I didn't get a chance to play with it.
Why not?
Well, that's why you're here actually.
The doll's house was a gift.
For my 12th birthday.
The doctors tell me
that on that night, I fell ill
with something called
encephalitis lethargica.
Rise and shine, dormouse.
I fell asleep,
and I didn't wake up.
Luvvy? Unity?
Until eight months ago.
But in my dreams,
I had the most glorious life.
I took over my father's business.
And I met a man with golden eyes.
And we had a baby.
But it wasn't until I woke up
that I found out that none of it was real.
Except for the baby.
Apparently,
while I was asleep in hospital,
I had a baby girl.
They hushed it up at the time,
but Mr. Holdaway found out
that she was adopted by a fine family.
And that she grew up
to have a daughter of her own.
Called Miranda.
Miranda Walker.
Your mother.
I'm your great-grandmother, Rose.
And I'm sorry to have
brought you here under false pretenses,
but I thought that if it were explained
to you first, you might not have
You might not have come.
And I don't think I could have borne that.
Oh.
I'll let you catch up.
- No. You don't have to
- No, please stay.
I'll come back. You two talk.
Thank you both
for coming all this way,
but as co-chairs
of the planning committee,
it falls to us to come up with
a suitable replacement for the Family Man.
So, we need a new guest of honor.
Immediately, if not sooner.
Do we have any other big names coming?
- Um, Moon River.
- Mmm, no.
Uh, the Candyman.
Uh, we need a marquee player.
People have already bought tickets.
Not as many people as last year.
All the more reason to go big.
Who's the one person we'd all pay to see?
- The Corinthian.
- Yeah.
I reach out every year. No response.
No.
Thank you.
How old do you think he is?
The Corinthian?
Oh. He's been around for forever.
No, the waiter.
Sixteen? Seventeen?
Too old for you.
He looks younger.
Though there's probably been
more than one Corinthian over the years.
Whoever the current one is,
his work is exquisite.
This was last week. In DC.
- Oh.
- Oh.
So he's on the East Coast. He's not far.
What do you think he does with the eyes?
He's a collector. Same as us.
I can invite him again
through the usual channels.
No, if we want to get his attention,
we have to think like him.
Act like him.
Are you suggesting we
Copycat the Corinthian?
Might be fun.
We do not plagiarize one another's work.
We have a code.
We also have over 100
serial killers coming to this thing.
"Collectors." Please.
And they paid good money
to see the Family Man.
No. Absolutely not.
Fine. Have it your way.
Restroom?
Do you think the Corinthian has a type?
May I help you?
Oh, you're not Rose Walker.
No, I'm Carl.
Rose's roommate?
House-sitter. She's away.
Ah.
And you are?
I guess you could say
I'm kind of a headhunter.
Here to offer Rose a job.
- Seriously?
- Do you know where I can find her?
Uh
She's traveling at the moment,
but I can give her a message.
Hmm. Yeah, how long
do you think she'll be away?
A week.
But you're welcome to wait.
The Corinthian's technique
is meticulous.
Elegant.
A convincing collection
would take months of research.
We'd need the right tools.
Plus, why would the Corinthian
even care about a copycat?
Well, I'd care.
If someone was out there
taking credit for my work,
I'd find them and I'd make sure
they never did it again.
That's another good reason not to do it.
Right. That settles it.
- We've decided
- We need to go.
We can't go. We have no guest of honor
and no plan moving forward.
I want dessert. Where's the waiter?
We have a plan.
We are sending a message
to the Corinthian.
And the waiter isn't coming back.
Whoa.
I'll just get Lyta. Be right back.
Rose.
Rosebud.
Rose Walker.
Hello, Rosie.
Come in, my butterfly.
You are at a crossroads, Rose Walker.
How do you know my name? Who are you?
Names, names, names.
Each name
is but a single aspect of the whole.
Be satisfied
with the trinity you have, love.
You wouldn't want to
meet us as the Kindly Ones.
We can only caution you, sister.
We can't protect you.
Protect me from
From life, my posy.
And the things that hover beyond life.
Thrashing theirselves against it.
- Beware dreams.
- And houses.
What do you mean?
You ask the wrong question.
Had you asked the right one,
we could have warned you
against the Corinthian.
Told you about Jed.
And about Morpheus.
What are you doing in here?
I
I think I'm really jet-lagged.
How do you two know each other?
- We're neighbors, actually.
- Same building. One floor apart.
And when my mom got sick,
Lyta and her husband basically adopted me.
We felt like Rose adopted us.
Which makes you
and your husband my family too.
Should I send him
a plane ticket so he can join us?
That's very sweet of you,
but Hector passed away about a year ago.
Oh, no.
It was an accident.
Someone ran a red light.
- I'm so sorry.
- Don't be.
Hector and I met in college.
We were architecture majors.
We opened our own firm.
We had years together.
But it's never enough years though, is it?
It seems we've all had our lives
terribly interrupted, haven't we?
Maybe that's what life is.
Just a series of interruptions.
And reconnections.
Now, we just need to locate your brother.
I was hoping, uh,
to hire a private investigator.
Or maybe go down to
Cape Kennedy myself at some point.
Well, I think you should.
I will.
Uh, I just need to find a job first.
What if I employ you?
To do what?
To locate my great-grandson.
Look, I'll pay for everything.
Travel. Expenses.
And a salary, of course.
- Unity, I
- Don't worry.
There's plenty of money.
Our family owned Kincaid Sugar.
- They did?
- Oh, my God.
You'd be doing me a favor.
I want to meet my great-grandson.
Lyta, will you go with her?
Let's all go.
No, no, no. I'd only slow you down.
But I'll be with you in spirit.
No. No, more than that.
My parents gave me this a long time ago.
It's yours now.
Thank you.
It's a gold annulet.
What? What's wrong?
I I had a dream in the car, uh,
on the way here about an annulet.
Did you? Well, then
May all our dreams come true.
This is the best house-sitting gig
I've ever had.
Rose certainly left you plenty to read.
You a big reader?
I prefer people.
Hmm. That's good news for people.
You, uh, never told me about the job.
The one you found for Rose.
Oh.
I want Rose to come and work for me.
See, I left my old job to be independent.
I think, with Rose at my side,
I can put my boss out of business.
Start something new that's just ours.
Something wrong?
Yeah. I gotta get to work.
More headhunting?
Well, it looks like it.
You sure you don't have time
for just one more round?
Maybe this time without the dark glasses.
Would you ask Rose to call me?
There she is.
"Rose Walker. 21 years of age."
"Mother, deceased. Father, deceased."
Poor kid.
There is a brother, Jed Walker.
And someone else.
Is it true?
Yes. The plans for the new celestarium
have been approved.
I'm not here to talk construction.
I'm here to talk about the vortex.
Lord Morpheus is already
monitoring her dreams.
He better be.
And sending Matthew
to watch her in the waking world.
What? Who's Matthew?
Merv. It's me.
Stop. He's sending the new kid?
Why not?
You've been here for five minutes.
Do you even know what to watch for?
No. Do you want to go?
I do not.
Then tell me what to watch for.
Oh.
Any unusual behavior.
Said the pumpkin to the talking bird.
Can you be a little more specific?
If the vortex manifests,
she would do so in her dreams,
which of course reflect her waking life.
So, look for any signs of shock or trauma.
Anything that could
trigger her into killing us all.
So, basically anything.
- Basically, yes.
- Kid's a natural.
Oh, and, birdie, you see anything,
you tell Lucienne
before you tell the boss.
- Mervyn.
- Stop.
Everyone knows
you secretly run this place.
I got no problem with that.
- Attabird.
- Thank you, Matthew.
- Now, about the new celestarium
- Later, Loosh.
- Rose.
- Hal.
Welcome home.
- Thank you.
- Oh.
How does it feel to be back?
Cape Kennedy is exactly how I remember it.
Yeah, change is not something
that happens in Florida.
Oh, you must be Lyta. I'm Hal Carter.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Hal owns the B and B.
Yeah, it was my grandmother's house
once upon a time, but it's better now.
- Oh, let me.
- Thank you.
- Were you guys friends before?
- No.
We met on the phone.
When I made the reservation.
I may have told Rose my life story.
I definitely told Hal mine.
Hey! Are you Rose and Lyta?
- Hi.
- Hi.
- I'm Ken.
- I'm Barbie.
- It's terrible.
- We know.
- We're your downstairs neighbors.
- Well, not for much longer.
We're off to look at some houses.
But we're all going out tonight, right?
If you're not too jet-lagged.
Uh, no. That sounds great.
Great.
And good luck today. With the foster lady?
Thank you.
I may have told them
your life story as well,
but it's just to
spread the word about your brother.
It's not because we were gossiping.
We were sorry
to hear about your mother's death.
- Her husband.
- Oh, and your husband's.
Chantal and Zelda live upstairs
across the hall from you.
We possess
the largest collection of stuffed spiders
in private hands on the Eastern Seaboard.
Oh.
Would you like to see them?
Perhaps later this evening?
Oh.
Zelda would like to know
if you've invited Gilbert.
Yes, I slipped a note under his door.
Oh. Until tonight, new housemates.
They're really very sweet.
Are they
Sisters? Mother? Daughter? Lovers?
Nobody knows.
But I feel
knowing would somehow ruin it.
And who's Gilbert?
Gilbert lives in the attic room.
We don't see much of him.
He just sits up there and reads.
So, is that it?
Or is there anyone else
who knows everything about us?
No secrets in this house.
We're just one big, odd, happy family.
Sorry.
Don't be. Family's why we're here.
I'm sorry, Miss Walker,
but as I told your mother's attorney
on the phone and in my emails,
I cannot, by law,
give out your brother's information.
If you'd like to leave
your information for Jed's parents
- They're not his parents.
- They are while he is in their care.
- But I'm his sister.
- I understand that.
But you have to understand that,
as such, you have no legal claim to him.
Could you just be
a fucking human being for a second?
- Please?
- Rosie.
No. We came all this way.
My parents are dead, Miss Rubio.
Jed's the only family I have left.
He's it.
I just want to see him or talk to him.
Just let him know I'm here.
Rose, if I tell you
where your brother is, then what?
I get in touch.
I tell him about our mom.
I ask him how he is. If he's okay.
What do you do when he says,
"I don't wanna live with these people.
I wanna live with you."
Is that what you want?
Are you prepared
to raise a 12-year-old boy by yourself?
At your age?
Do you have a job? Health care?
Look. If it helps,
Jed's fosters were friends of your dad's.
They were?
They took Jed in,
applied to be his fosters,
and now they're getting 800 a month,
so Jed's doing just fine.
Hey!
- You've returned.
- How'd it go?
Well, I didn't make any new friends
at the foster agency.
You stood up for yourself.
I was very proud of her.
Well, you can tell us all about it.
- Over drinks.
- We're taking you out.
- Right now?
- Absolutely.
Well, you look so nice. Should we change?
We always look this way.
- They do. Even at breakfast.
- Right.
Ooh.
Shall we, ladies?
- We'd love it.
- But shouldn't we wait for Hal?
Hal's already there.
I had a dream ♪
A dream about you, baby ♪
It's gonna come true, baby ♪
They think that we're through ♪
But, baby ♪
You'll be swell, you'll be great ♪
Gonna have the whole world on a plate ♪
Whoo.
Starting here, starting now ♪
Honey, everything's coming up roses ♪
Clear the decks, clear the tracks ♪
You've got nothing to do but relax ♪
Blow a kiss, take a bow ♪
Honey, everything's coming up roses ♪
Now's your inning ♪
Stand the world on its ear ♪
Set it spinning ♪
That'll be just the beginning ♪
Curtain up, light the lights ♪
You got nothin' to hit but the heights ♪
You'll be swell, you'll be great ♪
I can tell, just you wait ♪
That lucky star I talk about is due ♪
Honey, everything's comin' up
Roses and daffodils ♪
Everything's comin' up
Sunshine and Santa Claus ♪
Everything's gonna be
Bright nights and lollipops ♪
Everything's coming up roses ♪
For me and for you ♪
Hello? Unity?
Hello? Hello? Are you there?
Is your friend not there?
I'll be your friend.
And a girl like you
shouldn't be alone.
I'm not alone. My friends are inside,
so I should probably
- Oh. We'll take your phone.
- And your wallet.
That ring on your finger too.
Gentlemen!
Seems to me that this young lady's
desirous of retaining her jewelry
and her honor.
Uh, you'll excuse me if I intrude.
Thank you,
but that won't be necessary, sir.
Come on!
You all right, miss?
Sorry, that was
really dumb of me.
- Nonsense. It was
- No, it was. It was.
But thank you for your help.
You didn't need my help.
You were doing quite well on your own.
Shall we call the police?
I think I just need to get home.
Well, may I accompany you?
And the name's Gilbert, by the way.
Are you the Gilbert
who lives in Hal's attic?
The very same. You aren't by any chance
the new downstairs front lodger?
The very same. Rose Walker.
Delighted. I was just on my way
to see our landlord's theatrical endeavor.
You just missed it.
I was reading, lost track of time.
You are sure you're all right?
I just need to get some sleep.
Well, let's get you home then, shall we?
So, what were you reading?
Chesterton.
Do you read him?
I don't wanna be the bird who cried wolf.
Oh, dear.
But if Rose Walker's dreams tonight
are anything like her waking life
What happened?
She was attacked outside a bar in Florida.
She fought 'em off though.
What is she doing in Florida?
Looking for her missing brother.
- Jed Walker is missing?
- Well, Rose can't find him.
What?
I can't find him either.
Yeah, that's because he's missing.
No, not just from the waking world.
He's missing from the Dreaming.
I figured if one copycat crime
doesn't get the Corinthian's attention,
two will.
Uh
Make that
three.
Though I consider mine
to be more of an homage.
You both said this was a terrible idea.
- In the absence of a better one.
- We still need a guest of honor.
And it was a fascinating exercise
getting inside the mind
of a fellow collector.
I mean, why the eyes,
or why only the eyes?
They are the window to the soul.
And they're really hard
to get out without popping them.
The trick is to use your thumbs.
Oh, my!
Yeah.
I assume you were
trying to get my attention.
Now that you've got it
tell me why I shouldn't kill you.
We would, um like you to be our guest.
Our guest of honor.
At our annual gathering of collectors.
People who, uh, share our hobby.
Hmm.
We hoped that
since you are the current Corinthian,
you might deliver the keynote speech.
"The current Corinthian."
Well, you don't look 130 years old to me.
Thank you.
Well, that's quite an honor.
A gathering of like-minded souls.
All, uh sharing the same dream.
A dream
that the Corinthian inspired.
Oh. Well, in that case,
I wonder if I might bring a guest.
A fellow collector?
Oh, somebody who can take
our shared dreams to a whole new level.
Of course. Sure. Yeah.
What is the name
of the guest or preferred sobriquet?
Oh, yeah, well, where I come from,
they call her the vortex.
Jed Walker is still in the realm
of the living, but I cannot find him.
No. Nor I, my lord.
All humans are connected to the Dreaming.
They spend a third of their life here.
Breaking that connection
would require knowledge.
And power.
Then it may interest you to know that
the last nightmare Jed Walker had
before he disappeared was of Gault.
You think she severed him
from the Dreaming?
I do.
Why?
Because he's not just any child, is he?
He's Rose Walker's brother.
She is the vortex.
Excuse me.
I'm Rose Walker.
What do you know about my brother Jed?
Help me, please!
Help!
- Jed?
- Aunt Clarice?
What are you doing here?
I ran away.
What? Why? What happened?
Uncle Barnaby said
he's gonna lock me in the cellar.
Why? What did you do?
Nothing, I swear he hates me.
That's not true.
We have to get away from him.
Both of us, right now!
Where would we go?
We could go anywhere.
But we have to go now!
Okay, okay.
The hell is going on out here?
Nothing, Barn. I just I found Jed.
I was just gonna bring him home.
No.
Jed's coming home with me.
Aren't you, Jed?
Yes, sir.
Oh, no, you don't get to ride up front.
You're gonna ride in the back.
Barnaby, no!
You wanna get in there with him?
Then don't tell me no.