By: Kelly Kearney
Closing out the season with a self-contained bonus episode, “The Sandman” ends its second chapter with i. With Dream gone and his story concluded through his son Daniel, the focus shifts to his sister, Death, who finally gets a day off. Once every hundred years, she’s granted a break to walk the mortal world and experience life as a human. During this rare and much-needed vacation, she meets a suicidal journalist and takes him on an unexpected adventure—one that reminds them both why life, even in all its messiness, is still worth living.
On My Way Out
We open with depressed environmental journalist Sexton Furnival (Colin Morgan), convinced that nothing he writes can change the world—or people’s minds. They’re too far gone, and so is the Earth they live on. As he composes a letter to his ex, Sylvie, explaining why he’s decided to end his life, he fingers a bag of pills and struggles to find the right words. He begins, “Dear Sylvie, by the time you read this, I’ll be dead,” but the word dead makes him uneasy.
As he wrestles with the finality of death and the phrasing of “gone,” his roommate Amelia (Adwoa Akoto) and her girlfriend, Billie (Jade Anouka) arrive, full of love and romance, looking to spend a quiet afternoon together. Sexton takes the hint, and closes up his laptop leaving his suicide note unfinished; his plans will have to wait. He leaves them to their afternoon and heads out, still searching for the strength to end his suffering. He isn’t just heartbroken over a recent breakup, he’s mourning the world: the collapse of human decency, the warming planet, and the decay of democracy. It’s an all-consuming despair he can’t seem to escape.
While wandering the city waiting for Amelia to give him the all-clear to return, he stumbles across a pile of trash. Amid the rusted appliances and torn garbage bags, he spots classic books—as if a library had discarded them. Sexton, a book collector, is drawn to the pile when he sees The Day of the Triffids sitting at the top. His curiosity is piqued so he begins digging for more. Climbing the heap he slips and falls, crashing into the garbage and getting pinned beneath a refrigerator.
That’s when he hears a voice. A woman appears – Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) – who introduces herself as Didi. With her superhuman strength, she lifts the appliance off him and offers a hand. It’s not surprising that her touch doesn’t kill him, though he might’ve welcomed it as this is her one day off – a break she gets every one hundred years. He thanks her for the rescue and they strike up a conversation that charms Furnival enough he agrees to go back to DiDi’s place so she can tend to his wound. Once patched up, DiDi tells him exactly who she is and suggests they spend the day together. As a mortal version of Death, Didi is warm, charming and endlessly enthusiastic about life, but Sexton, who is clouded by suicidality, initially declines. His mood is forcibly changed when Mad Hettie (Clare Higgins) appears—wielding a broken bottle and forcing him back into Didi’s home. All he wanted was an end to this life and now he finds himself swept into the unpredictable world of the Endless and their balancing act between mortality and Death’s duty.
On a Soul Finding Mission
Hettie, as it turns out, hid her soul inside a locket long ago to keep it away from Death, and now she can’t find it. She wants DiDi to use her time in the mortal realm to retrieve it. This request sets Didi and Sexton off on a quest to locate Hettie’s missing soul. Along the way, they explore the city, sharing food in the park, and hopping into a cab enroute to a dance club Sexton knows is his ex’s favorite good-time spot.
Throughout their adventure, Didi shows Sexton the small wonders of life: laughing children, blooming flowers, and even his favorite book. With every passing moment, he trusts her more, as her perspective on life is rare. She only gets to live one day every century, and she makes the most of it and now Sexton is a part of it. Furnival notices right away that everyone Didi meets seems drawn to her–from the cab drivers offering free rides, to food vendors handing over meals without charge. All she has to do is smile—her joy is magnetic and people cannot resist.During their escapade Sexton takes on sort of a big brother role to DiDi assuming the Death story is delusional and the enigmatic woman is a bit naive. She is ripe for destruction if the rot of this world gets its hands on her.
Matching her charm and zest for life are Billie, Amelia, and their friend Jackie (Ellie Mejia), who are shocked to see Sexton at Sylvie’s favorite club. He isn’t known for fun, and both women assume this change is due to DiDi. They also encounter Theo (Jonno Davies), Sylvie’s friend and someone who couldn’t be more different from Sexton. He is a partier and Sexton always judged him for his irresponsible lifestyle that rubbed off on Sylvie. This was an issue in his relationship with her, as the journalist couldn’t match their love of fun and the two friends looked down upon him for that.
While Sexton anxiously scans the room, preoccupied with the idea he might run into his ex, he completely misses the attention of Jackie, who seems smitten with the cynical journalist. If he could get his mind off of Sylvie and all the doom and gloom in the world, he would find that a bit of romance is worth living for. When the two are left alone, he accidentally slips up and mentions that he’s suicidal and Jackie confesses she had a past attempt too. Now she’s thankful she wasn’t successful and is happy to be alive even if Sexton can’t seem to find that same joy.
Meanwhile, Theo manages to charm Didi enough to convince her to dance, but it’s all a set-up. Sexton tries to warn her but once her guard is down, Theo invites them both on a behind-the-scenes tour of the club. Unbeknownst to her, he has an ulterior motive and it all has to do with the Endless embrace of Death. Theo steals her ankh—the necklace that holds the power of Death and locks her and Sexton in a storage room where they find a chalk pentagram scribbled on the floor. They didn’t just end up at Sylvie’s favorite club by chance, Theo summoned her to it. Like Sexton, he is suffering, but unlike the journalist, he has no desire to die. Instead, he plans to use the ankh to bring someone back. He’s grieving a lost love and believes that the power to take a life can also reverse death.
While trapped, Didi apologizes for not trusting Sexton’s instincts about Theo and for dragging him into this mess. Sexton doesn’t blame her, and their conversation shifts to the topic of free will. Didi admits she doesn’t truly have any—except during her one day of freedom, which she now feels she’s already ruined. Trying to lift her spirits, Sexton begins brainstorming absurd escape plans, hoping to make her laugh.
Their moment is cut short when Theo storms in, furious that the ankh hasn’t worked. His girlfriend, Natalie, who died of an overdose, remains gone. Didi gently explains that the power doesn’t reside in the ankh itself, but in the Endless destined to wield it. Crushed, Theo lashes out in anguish, attempting to take his own life—but Sexton intervenes. He saves Theo and nearly gets shot in the process, but thanks to Didi shielding him and breaking the one rule she swore to follow during her once-a-century day off, both men survive. In that moment, Theo learns a harsh but necessary truth: death is final, and second chances can’t be taken by force. They can only be given, and they come in the form of life itself.
Times Up
As Didi’s day of freedom nears its end, she and Sexton watch the sunrise together. She tells him that everything they experienced the night before—every twist, danger, and joy—was worth it just to make this one day matter. While strolling by the river, they come across a small jewelry stand, and a familiar-looking ankh necklace catches Didi’s eye. She asks the merchant for the price and Sexton laughs, knowing how easily the world tends to give her things. Not this time, now that her freedom is almost up, the seller actually charges her. She decides to leave the ankh behind, instead picking up a pendant she thinks would be perfect for Mad Hettie. With only two pence left in her pocket, Didi grows quiet, saddened that the day is nearly over. Sexton realizes he may never see her again, but she assures him that he will—everyone sees her eventually. As the final minutes slip away, she reflects on how quickly time moves for mortals and how that urgency makes every second matter. She whispers for just one more moment before her heart stops, falling backward into a nearby fountain.
Sexton rushes to her, pulling her out of the water, desperate to revive her. That’s when Mad Hettie appears. and gently takes the two pence from Didi’s hand and places them over her eyes. Then, she takes the pendant—now revealed to hold not just her soul but also a small etching of her daughter’s portrait inside. Before leaving, Hettie promises Sexton that Didi will return in another hundred years–not that either of them will be around to see it.
Later, back at home, Sexton and Billie wonder aloud if Didi was really Death. Sexton supposes it would be comforting to think that Death might greet each soul with a kind face instead of the sorrow and suffering that brought on their demise. That’s when Amelia and Jackie show up—worried after their conversation at the club. Amelia doesn’t want to intrude, but Jackie admits she’s fond of him and happy to see he survived the night. Her unexpected tenderness gives Sexton the courage to delete his suicide note, and then offers her a cup of tea. Life goes on, love blooms, and the Earth in all of its tragedy and triumphs, keeps spinning.
Meanwhile, Didi awakens in the realm of Death, recounting the events of her day to the immortal version of herself. Though she’s glad to be back, she admits she understands now more than ever why mortals cling to time. Like Theo, she too wishes for more – more seconds, more life, more dancing. Death smiles gently, as she reaches for her hand, and quietly takes away her sorrow—leaving her with only the hope of one more day, even if she has to wait another one hundred years from now.