“He knows what is going to happen, and he knows the price that will be paid.”
“I think the difference between the last time Morpheus [sees] his son and the final time that they meet is a difference in the quality of love,” Sturridge tells Netflix. “[It’s] understanding his failures as a father and a desperate need to give his son the only thing that he desires at the cost potentially of everything for him.”
So, how does their fateful meeting end? Keep scrolling for the answer to that and more.
Why were Orpheus and Dream estranged?
As revealed in Episode 5, Orpheus was reduced to a severed head after the Sisters of the Frenzy, a ruthless cult of the Greek god Dionysus, attacked and dismembered him. Orpheus had gone against his father’s wishes and turned to the dangerous group in a desperate attempt to be killed and reunited with his deceased wife Eurydice (Ella Rumpf) in the Underworld.
In the aftermath, Orpheus begged his father to end his life, but Dream could not bring himself to do so. Not least because the Endless are forbidden to spill family blood. So, Dream left the care of his son to an order of priests on the island and told Orpheus that they would not meet again. And Dream kept his word — until now.
But now, Dream owes his son a boon in exchange for his help in locating Destruction. The boon Orpheus asks for is his death — for peace at long last. “Dream knows what is going to happen, and he knows the price that will be paid,” Sturridge says.
Much like Dream’s last encounter with Orpheus, their conversation is somber. This time, however, Dream is apologetic and even admits to his failures as a father.
“It’s a different kind of torture,” Sturridge explains. “I think the torture of the last time [Dream] saw [Orpheus] was more about regret and about the poison that’s haunted him since that meeting, because of his behavior.” Meanwhile, this meeting is about “ultimately doing something beautiful and giving his son the most important thing. But the consequences are so enormous that it is a great burden.”
O’Connor notes that Dream’s son has a “pretty complicated relationship with his father.” “That’s really on Orpheus,” O’Connor tells Netflix. “He’s made his own decision to chase after his wife, Eurydice, and to go to Hades against his father’s advice. It meant that they were estranged for 2,000 years, and it’s devastating for Orpheus.”
So, when Dream returns, he “puts a lot on the line to cement the relationship and do the right thing with his son.”
Where did Destruction go, and why?
In Episode 6, it’s revealed that Destruction has been living on his own island right next door to Orpheus’ temple.
“Seems our brother chose to live in the one place he knew I would not dare to go,” Dream says in the episode.
Dream and Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) reunite with their brother, who’s been living in a sunny and secluded villa with a talking dog named Barnabas (voiced by Steve Coogan). Destruction has no intention of returning to his realm, because he can no longer conscience being responsible for destroying lives and worlds and universes. To that end, he has decided to go to a place that his siblings cannot follow.
Before departing, Destruction leaves Dream with one final piece of powerful advice: “Remember that I left. Remember how hard it was for me to leave. But that I did it out of love … For humankind. For this world and all others … Love is the only good reason to do anything.”
Does Dream kill Orpheus?
In Episode 6’s closing moments, Dream finally grants his son Orpheus the gift of death.
“It’s huge,” O’Connor says. “It’s this thing that Orpheus has been chasing after for 2,000 years — to not exist. It’s not great living as a disembodied head and, at this point, I think it’s about knowing the relief that he’s going to get.”
The actor adds, “But also, he has to die, which is inherently very terrifying, and is unknown. It is a very dark scene and there seems to be a huge cost to Dream that he is hinting at … that this is going to change the make-up of the world.”
The act takes an emotional toll on Dream, who returns to his realm and grieves in private. It’s the first time in the series that we see him cry.
“There are some things that you don’t have to seek emotion for,” Sturridge says. “The killing of your son is a dark and haunting and horrendous thing and so, in a weird way, it wasn’t something that needed a lot of preparation.”
But now that Dream has spilled family blood — despite Orpheus’ having asked for it — he must answer to the Furies, the Greek goddesses of vengeance, otherwise known as the Kindly Ones. / netflix.com/tudum
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