Anyone thinking about tuning into "The Sandman" without prior knowledge of the source material may want to pick up a comic or two first.
That's not to say Netflix's much-anticipated television adaptation of Neil Gaiman's long-running comic book series is impenetrable to outsiders. Netflix provided the Post-Gazette with all 10 episodes of the show's first season, and it took this critic about an episode and a half to truly get up to speed. To be fair, there are a lot of rules to remember and some trippy visuals that require a bit of acclimation to fully appreciate.
Once the parameters of the world and stakes become clear, though, "The Sandman" settles into a mind-bending adventure featuring breathtaking dreamscapes and the sort of inventiveness Gaiman imbues into everything he creates. Like "American Gods" and "Good Omens," "The Sandman" isn't bound by constraints as mundane as time or space. The sheer amount of imagination on display throughout the show's first season is truly a sight to behold.
