Link to the NSFW version

We're watching Season 2 of The Sandman on Netflix, based on the 75-issue Neil Gaiman comic book series featuring the Dream of the Endless negotiating crises with humans, various magical beings, and his siblings, whose names all begin with D (Death, Destruction, Desire) and end with "of the Endless."

1. In Season 1, the Sandman is an otherworldly creature, dark and mysterious, who rarely intrudes upon the human realm. He spends 50 years naked in a bottle, staring at the humans as if they are a bizarre alien species. In Season 2, he is a jaded aristocrat who hangs out in the human realm all the time, taking cabs and paying for things.

Or look at Lucifer: in Season 1, a seductive, dangerous being with motives and desires that are impossible for humans to comprehend. In Season 2, an elderly British aristocrat who wants to sit on the beach with a cup of tea.

2. In Season 1, the Endless are responsible for the working of the human realm. When Dream is captured, the world falls into chaos: millions of people fall asleep and can't wake up, and others can't fall asleep at all. In Season 2, the Endless mostly engage in partying and pranks. The only one we see doing any actual work is Death, who escorts people to the afterlife.

3. Season 1 has high stakes. A nightmare is running rampant in the human realm, plus an unstable guy has acquired Dream's ruby of infinite power, and changes the world, with disastrous results. In Season 2, there's some rumbling about a prophecy, but mostly it's episodic stories, like deciding who to give the keys to Hell to after Lucifer retires, or trying to track down Dream's ex-girlfriend from 10,000 years ago (who is not interested in getting back together).

4. In Season 1, there are many gay characters. A gay couple in the first episode. A lesbian couple in the second. In Episode 6, two gay/lesbian couples emerge among the six people stuck in a diner, when they are forced to tell the truth of their situation. Plus a heterosexual liason involving the lady in charge of the company and job applicant Mark (Laurie Brewer, right, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

More after the break.

In Season 2, the main gay character is Cluracan, an Irish fairy (Douglas Booth), whose main character trait is ho*rniness: he cruises every guy in sight, keeps everyone awake at night with his loud antics, and is generally an annoyance, keying into the old stereotype of gay men as hypers*xual, doing it constantly with everybody.

There's also a a trans woman who appears for about five minutes before being exploded (bury your trans?), and Desire pranks some stodgy middle-aged men in an art gallery by forcing them to make out with each other, har har.

5. Heterosexual romance is minimal in Season 1. When Dream is visiting Hell, he runs into his ex-girlfriend, who he sent there 10,000 years ago for an unspecified, petty reason.

In Season 2, it's heterosexual romance all the way down. In addition to searching for his Ex (newly released from hell), he reveals a romantic history with Titania (queen of the fairies), and helps Orpheus, the ancient Greek hero (Ruairi O'Connor, top photo and n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends), locate his True Love. Spoiler alert: Orpheus happens to be his son, with yet another ex-girlfriend, Calliope the Muse of Poetry.

6. As a corollary, Season 1 is beefcake heavy, and Season 2 pushes up the ladies. Dream spends most of the season hanging out with party girl Delirium. When they go on a road trip in search of missing sibling Destruction of the Endless (Barry Sloane), they look up his last known associates -- including two men, and I'm thinking, "Even if they don't take off their shirts, we'll get some masculine energy in this lady-fest." Nope, the first guy, who is 10,000 years old, is squished in ten seconds, and the second sends a female associate as his representative! Then they go to a friggin' pole-dancing show where Dream encounters another ex-girlfriend, the Goddess Ishtar, who dances n*de. It's like Game of Thrones all over again.