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nitestorm823 · 8 days ago

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Reactions to 2x12, Death: The High Cost of Living

Earlier reaction posts:

Reactions to 2x7, Time and Night

Reactions to 2x8, Fuel for the Fire

Reactions to 2x9, The Kindly Ones

Reactions to 2x10, Long Live the King

Reactions to 2x11, A Tale of Graceful Ends

So I've heard so many people ask what the song was that played during the end credits. And I totally get it. The end credits song was so good!

It was maybe... the best part of the episode?

Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be negative. I know I've been negative a lot in my reaction posts. And it wasn't a bad episode! At all! I didn't dislike it! At all! It just... wasn't really a great episode either. It was a bit underwhelming, imho. But I have thought for a while, and I know a lot of people have thought for a while, that the entire decision to end the season on this standalone special is not the greatest. I know people have said for a while that that could be kind of underwhelming. And people were right.

Under the cut. My reaction to this ep. Spoilers for everything. All of the comics and all of the show. And it is a bit critical. But not nearly as critical as some of my other reaction posts have been. But it's not really glowing praise either, just fyi.

So first of all. Death is difficult as a protagonist. Since she is just SO powerful and SO passive. Powerful, in that she'll get all of us in the end. And also passive, in that she'll get all of us in the end. And she doesn't need to fight for it or struggle for it, she just will. It's a done deal guarantee. She's just... there at the end of everything, no matter what, and therefore it's kind of challenging to write stories for her with her as the protagonist? (I mean, it's not impossible- Death and Venice, her story in Endless Nights is a good example of this. I mean she's not technically the protagonist, but she is a character wanting something and striving for something and it works really well.)

And I know that all of the Endless, due to how powerful they are and how conceptual they are, can be difficult as protagonists. That's why Dream isn't even the protagonist for a lot of Sandman (and why, imo, the show suffered when they had to make him the protagonist and squeeze everything in to season 2). But there's something about Death and her extreme power and also extreme passivity and also extreme... neutrality, I guess? That just makes her extra tricky, imo. And I think that's why, for her two spinoffs, Death herself isn't really the protagonist in either. In Death: The Time of Your Life, it's Hazel/Foxglove, and in Death: The High Cost of Living, it's "Didi."

But the thing about "Didi" is- she doesn't really exist and therefore she doesn't really have stakes. Because, yeah, Death can say that she's experiencing life as a human for a day, but it's really more like... a one-day game of make believe. Play acting. Human cosplaying. Because humans, as this show likes to remind us, have free will. And our actions have consequences. But Death can take on a human form for one day a century and do literally anything, and there won't really be any consequences at all (for her at least). And the so-called "life" that she's experiencing for this one day - living FULLY without risk or danger, and having the entire world love her, and tell her how much they love her, and give her things for free - well, that's not life, or at least that's not life how most of us experience it lmao. Also "Didi" herself, due to not really being a human with human experiences, is often weirdly clueless and behaves in a kind of foolish way? Which makes it all not very fun to read, at least for me? (I think this is more in the comics than in the show to be fair)

So all of these things are just why I don't really love the story in the comics. And I don't really love it in the show either. It's just kind of... eh.

And to end this entire series on an episode that's kind of eh - and to not contextualize it within the series AT ALL - is just such a huge mistake.

When does this episode take place? After the show? During the show? Is Morpheus dead? Is Daniel here as Dream? WE DON'T KNOW. The entire episode is just kind of floating free from all of canon, except for Death herself.

In the comics, Death references 3 of her siblings: Destiny, Despair, and Dream (and we know Dream is Morpheus at the time because we know exactly when the comic takes place). In the show she references only Destiny. So ok. There's just no connection to the rest of the show. It's just, imo, not a great call, to end s2 with such a heavy, sad, tragic, emotional ending, and then pop on a "special standalone episode" with no information whatsoever about where it's standing. It's weird for Death, that we don't know if she's mourning or not.

Ahem.

Critical comment incoming.

IT IS ALSO FUCKING WEIRD FOR MAD HETTIE.

Look... I criticized the decision to all of a sudden have Mad Hettie pop up with "oh yeah I work for the fates that's how i'm immortal anyway right this way Lyta let me lead you straight to the person who didn't murder your son 🙂" because it was terrible. And if you thought maybe I've had some time to think about and I've let the decision grow on me - well I'm sorry to say, it's the fucking opposite. Because that decision was just BAD. It was very much: "well at this point a character puts Lyta in the circle and we need someone to do that now and.... ummmmm ok Hettie can do it!"

It does not work. At all. It doesn't work for Mad Hettie's character. It doesn't work for the plot if you think about it for more than 4 seconds. It is just straight up bad. They so clearly thought they had something with "um... ok Hettie works for the Three and that's how she's immortal-ish, ok, like Thessaly?"

Which directly contradicts the explanation for Mad Hettie's long life in the Death: The High Cost of Living comics (which is- she has previously hidden her heart from Death).

And now in this goddamn show - they stick Hettie in the Thessaly spot to bring about Morpheus's death - as if it makes any sense at all (it does not) - and then they go back and contradict themselves again in the D:THCoL ep and go back to saying that Hettie is immortal because she hid her soul from death.

I MEAN REALLY. Hettie: "Hi Death, can you do me a favor and find my soul. I hid it from you long ago and that's how I became immortal. Also 2 episodes ago I was immortal because I had a deal with the Three but shhhhhhh, let's pretend that didn't happen. Also, maybe it hasn't happened yet! Because nobody knows when this episode takes place! So maybe I haven't killed* your brother yet! I mean, the audience saw me do it. They might feel weird about me. Or maybe not, maybe the showrunners are just assuming they're not paying attention? Anyway Death, pls do me this favor, thank you <3"

*yeah yeah I know I know, Morpheus killed Morpheus with his choices. But someone leading Lyta directly to the Three and putting Lyta's body in a circle of protection certainly contributed to Morpheus’s death very very very much. And when Thessaly does it in the comics: it makes sense. On every level. When Mad Hettie does it in the show it makes literally no sense at all.

Anyway. I mean, before this episode, I was actively speculating about how the Mad Hettie changes would be dealt with. "Wow, they changed the terms of her immortality significantly! Wow, they changed her place in the narrative significantly! I wonder how this will all shake out? Or, haha, could you imagine if they just didn't mention any of this?"

Me now:

THAT'S MY BAD Y'ALL. I thought I was watching a show that made sense and that told a coherent story from one episode to the next! I should have learned from the rest of s2 that that is not what I'm watching! My bad!!!

Mad Hettie in the comics: I hid my heart from everyone, including Death. That's how I've lived so long.

Mad Hettie in episode 10: Actually I've lived this long since I work for the Three! No, they're not just giving me Thessaly's role even though it doesn't really make sense. I work for the Three and they extend my lifespan! Lyta, I know you think Morpheus killed your baby. He didn’t, but I'll let you think he did, as I send you directly to their door. Bon voyage!

Mad Hettie in episode 12: I hid my soul from everyone, including Death. That's how I've lived so long.

Ok then.

It is my number one complaint about this show. They change things and then pretend they didn't. They change things significantly - so that certain things from the comics no longer make sense - and then they copy/paste comics scenes in and pretend that they still work, even though they do not.

Other than that - although I'm not sure the episode was that good - I did like it. It's more of Kirby as Death, so yeah, it's going to be great, just for that alone. All of the acting is good, and Kirby is a gigantic bright spot among all the strong performances.

Also the fact that the episode is so completely separate from the context of the rest of the show - honestly does make it very rewatchable. Because it could be taking place at any time. You can rewatch just this one and not worry about where it fits in anywhere. It's like all the great Sandman standalone issues that you can just reread by themselves at any time. So I guess that is nice to have.

It might have been better to drop this episode between the 2 seasons. And not at the end of everything. Yes yes, I know, Death is the "kind word and the friendly face" at the end of everything, so it works thematically, I get that. The last thing we all see is Death's face. Sure. Yes. It does work. It's just also a little underwhelming as an episode (and if anyone was expecting it to contextualize or connect to anything from The Wake, it would have been nothing but a massive disappointment).

Final notes:

1. Death's one comment that was something like "oh Sexton, do you really think there are good and bad people?"

Um.

YES he does, because, obviously YES there are. This is what I meant when I said that Death is tricky as a protagonist because she's just so all-powerful and so passive and so neutral. She gets us all in the end. She doesn't have to worry about who's good or bad. She probably sees all humans as the same, more or less. (Doesn't she have a line in her other special about how no one's creepy on the inside or something? 😬 ehhhhh)

2. The end credits song is Perfect Someone by Sofi Tukker :)

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