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Spoilers The Sandman grade and discussion

I finished the series yesterday and I have to say it had some fun stories and characters but it *really* lacked consistency imo.

Some characters felt pitch perfect (like Death, Rose, Jed, Gault, Lucienne, Fiddlers Green) others just were not convincing at all (Lucifer, several of the serial killers, the pumpkin guy, Despair and, sad to say, Dream himself). A few more (like Corinthian and Desire) seemed to pull off what they were going for pretty well but what they were going for just felt incredibly generic and not very interesting. This is not just about actors, either. I think I would definitely have preferred a different actor for Dream and maybe a few others but a lot of them, especially Lucifer, were just let down by the writing and visuals. (In particular, the show's costuming was fantastic for all the modern dress characters and totally lame in regards to pretty much all the more fantasy/historical dress characters.)

Tonally it was super weird to have the show spend ninety percent of its time following a standard pg-13 style of violence where we're constantly pulling back or cutting away before you see too much but then in 24/7 suddenly there's a muli-minute long lovingly shot self-torture and mutilation montage. (My wife refused to watch anything else after that.) And then again in The Collectors, though thankfully not nearly as much screentime then.

Story wise it was an interesting experiment in a different form of serialized/episodic hybrid but the pacing really felt poor overall. There's a massive prologue followed by the opening story which spends more time setting up Constatine and Lucifer than it does setting up the actual villain of this story. He basically springs up fully formed in episode 3 and is never really fully explained in terms of what his theories and actions are really supposed to accomplish. And he is then *very* perfunctorily defeated literally minutes after his first confrontation with the hero in episode 5.

Then comes an episode long intermission, which was honestly probably the best single episode but feels really awkward as a transition from one four episode arc to the next, followed immediately by the second story. That one is much better written and paced but is also constantly interrupted with vague scenes about Desire's evil plan. A plan that ultimately doesn't even figure into the season except as a completely unexplained near miss. And its weighed down by a whole sub-plot about Dream suddenly being a dictator which just doesn't feel entirely in line with the way the previous episodes were written. Plus there's a tacked on coda where Lucifer declares war on Dream because... well, honestly, the show gives absolutely no logical reason why this got tacked onto the end of the season beyond the obvious. Ie, that if it had happened at the more logical point in the story (at the end of A Hope in Hell) it would've derailed the rest of the season. So they just held Lucifer in a bubble from episode 4 to episode 10 so they could use her as a season end cliffhanger instead.

And on top of that, the fact that 8 out of the 10 episodes were full on serialized arcs made it feel really weird how often they introduced a seemingly major character only for them to have no real role in the arc (Constantine, Hobb, Lucifer and her, uh, queen, I guess, Despair, all that talk about the other missing Endless sibling, etc).

I'm generally a fan of Gaiman's writing, though not always as much as others seem to be, and maybe I'd feel differently about some of this if I had read the comics already and knew where the ideas were heading. But as a general fan of genre tv, this was a little bit disappointing for me overall.
 
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Was stuff with Hob from a different issue, or made up entirely for the show? That was really good too, and tied in pretty nicely with the stuff from the Sound of Her Wings comic.
The show combined "The Sound of Her Wings" and "Men of Good Fortune" into one episode (the latter of which occurred during the middle of The Doll's House), which was a brilliant creative choice. The only added material was the scene to bridge the two stories together and everything accounting for Dream missing his centennial meeting, whereas in the original comic the meeting was a year after he regained his freedom.

Some characters felt pitch perfect (like Death, Rose, Jed, Gault, Lucienne, Fiddlers Green) others just were not convincing at all (Lucifer, several of the serial killers, the pumpkin guy, Despair and, sad to say, Dream himself). A few more (like Corinthian and Desire) seemed to pull off what they were going for pretty well but what they were going for just felt incredibly generic and not very interesting. This is not just about actors, either. I think I would definitely have preferred a different actor for Dream and maybe a few others but a lot of them, especially Lucifer, were just let down by the writing and visuals. (In particular, the show's costuming was fantastic for all the modern dress characters and totally lame in regards to pretty much all the more fantasy/historical dress characters.)
I have noticed people either love or completely dislike Tom Sturridge as Dream. i enjoyed his performance and I think he did a great job in capturing Dream's detachment from mankind and general coldness, with scattered moments of genuine empathy when necessary.

That said, I think you're the first person I've seen to criticize the performance and characterization of The Corinthian. I think Boyd Holbrook did an incredible job and I feel that the show improved on the character by making him even scarier than he was in the comic book (where he had a more passive role focused just on the convention and generally staying away from The Dreaming and Dream).

Tonally it was super weird to have the show spend ninety percent of its time following a standard pg-13 style of violence where we're constantly pulling back or cutting away before you see too much but then in 24/7 suddenly there's a muli-minute long lovingly shot self-torture and mutilation montage. (My wife refused to watch anything else after that.) And then again in The Collectors, though thankfully not nearly as much screentime then.
I agree that there were was some odd tonal contrasts there, particularly in regards to horror as you highlighted. The comic was like that, too, although mostly in the fact that the horror slowly fell to the wayside in favor of more fantastical adventures (but with the occasional graphic nature to keep people on their toes). "24/7" is the pinnacle of the horror of the entire run if that makes you and your wife feel any better.

Story wise it was an interesting experiment in a different form of serialized/episodic hybrid but the pacing really felt poor overall. There's a massive prologue followed by the opening story which spends more time setting up Constantine and Lucifer than it does setting up the actual villain of this story. He basically springs up fully formed in episode 3 and is never really fully explained in terms of what his theories and actions are really supposed to accomplish. And he is then *very* perfunctorily defeated literally minutes after his first confrontation with the hero in episode 5.
I'm surprised to read this because I thought show did a great job of threading in John Dee's introduction, a tad more than it did in the comic but it was also spread out across several issues prior to "24 Hours." I didn't really notice a strong contrast in introduction between him, Constantine, and Lucifer. I thought they were all adequately where needed.

Then comes an episode long intermission, which was honestly probably the best single episode but feels really awkward as a transition from one four episode arc to the next, followed immediately by the second story.
I find this criticism odd. That story serves, both in the comic and in the series, as a deliberate moment to pause and reflect on the events that just occurred. It allowed Dream to consider everything that has happened to him while also taking lessons from his sister about how he needs to change. The Hob storyline occurs during The Doll's House in the comics but I think it was a brilliant choice to merge it with this story as another perspective of Dream's need to change.

That one is much better written and paced but is also constantly interrupted with vague scenes about Desire's evil plan. A plan that ultimately doesn't even figure into the season except as a completely unexplained near miss. And its weighed down by a whole sub-plot about Dream suddenly being a dictator which just doesn't feel entirely in line with the way the previous episodes were written. Plus there's a tacked on coda where Lucifer declares war on Dream because... well, honestly, the show gives absolutely no logical reason why this got tacked onto the end of the season beyond the obvious. Ie, that if it had happened at the more logical point in the story (at the end of A Hope in Hell) it would've derailed the rest of the season. So they just held Lucifer in a bubble from episode 4 to episode 10 so they could use her as a season end cliffhanger instead.
Desire's machinations is part of the larger story arc that plays out over the course of the entire run. I didn't have a problem with considering I know what it's all setting up for and I thought the show did a good job of demonstrating their intentions without fully explaining the whys and hows (foreshadowing and whatnot), but I suppose I can see how it was an issue.

As for the rest, I didn't have any issues with the flow of stuff and I felt that Lucifier's stinger did the necessary work of teasing that she is holding a grudge and will be a thorn in Dream's side next season (the comic had a similar set-up but it was merely after Dream departed from Hell).

And on top of that, the fact that 8 out of the 10 episodes were full on serialized arcs made it feel really weird how often they introduced a seemingly major character only for them to have no real role in the arc (Constantine, Hobb, Lucifer and her, uh, queen, I guess, Despair, all that talk about the other missing Endless sibling, etc).

I'm generally a fan of Gaiman's writing, though not always as much as others seem to be, and maybe I'd feel differently about some of this if I had read the comics already and knew where the ideas were heading. But as a general fan of genre tv, this was a little bit disappointing for me overall.
That's fair. Again, I'm biased with my foreknowledge but I honestly felt like the show did a great job of setting things up and properly laying out the story as necessary. I agree the first half is a bit clunky, but I felt the same about Preludes and Nocturnes (which covers Dream's imprisonment up to "The Sound of Her Wings") and I consider it the weakest portion of the entire run.[/QUOTE]
 
The beginning is a bit clunky. I'll give it that but on the other hand, it works as a way to show the imprisonment and it's focused on Dreams part of it all so the passage of time for everyone else where it's still kind of a blink of an eye for him was really well done.
 
I have noticed people either love or completely dislike Tom Sturridge as Dream. i enjoyed his performance and I think he did a great job in capturing Dream's detachment from mankind and general coldness, with scattered moments of genuine empathy when necessary.

That said, I think you're the first person I've seen to criticize the performance and characterization of The Corinthian. I think Boyd Holbrook did an incredible job and I feel that the show improved on the character by making him even scarier than he was in the comic book (where he had a more passive role focused just on the convention and generally staying away from The Dreaming and Dream).

Like I said, I think the actor did what could be done with the character of the Corinthian. I just don't see how the Corinthian is an even remotely interesting character in the first place. I've seen the calm, unflappable clean cut guy in the mirrored sunglasses who doesn't stop coming after you and the charming guy whose really a monster on the inside a million times already. And this version is just evil because he's just evil. Dream made him that way, he just wasn't supposed to want to be evil in the real world. The only even remotely interesting thing about him - why he wants the eyes - didn't even show up until right before his death. So... eh.

I agree that there were was some odd tonal contrasts there, particularly in regards to horror as you highlighted. The comic was like that, too, although mostly in the fact that the horror slowly fell to the wayside in favor of more fantastical adventures (but with the occasional graphic nature to keep people on their toes). "24/7" is the pinnacle of the horror of the entire run if that makes you and your wife feel any better.

Yeah, that makes me feel a little better about future seasons. As for my wife, I watched through to the end partly because I wanted to know how the story ended but also partly because I wanted to know whether the horror did get better/worse/stay the same in case she ever brings it up again. But she was put off enough that I'm not going to bring it up unless she does first so we'll see if she ever decides to watch the rest or not.

I'm surprised to read this because I thought show did a great job of threading in John Dee's introduction, a tad more than it did in the comic but it was also spread out across several issues prior to "24 Hours." I didn't really notice a strong contrast in introduction between him, Constantine, and Lucifer. I thought they were all adequately where needed.

I mean, it's essentially a four episode arc where the villain isn't introduced until the second episode and doesn't even meet the hero until the last fifteen minutes of the final episode. And as much as I enjoyed his talk with his mom and found his car ride with the kind lady entertaining, I really didn't feel like either of them really told me much at all about what he really wanted and especially not about why or how his ideas were supposed to work. Partly because it seemed like he did a complete about-face on everything he said to his mother the second she was dead. Partly because he for the most part really only talked in vague philosophizing. Partly because his diner antics seem to have completely forgotten the entire point of his car ride conversation.

Meanwhile Constantine and Lucifer got nearlly a whole episode to interact with the hero and I feel way more confident about who Constatine is and what she's about after that single episode than I do about Dee after 3 episodes. Lucifer was a bit vaguer, and also not a character I thought was super well written, but it was pretty clear which lane they were driving her towards given the rival realms thing.

I find this criticism odd. That story serves, both in the comic and in the series, as a deliberate moment to pause and reflect on the events that just occurred. It allowed Dream to consider everything that has happened to him while also taking lessons from his sister about how he needs to change. The Hob storyline occurs during The Doll's House in the comics but I think it was a brilliant choice to merge it with this story as another perspective of Dream's need to change.

I don't think it's bad to have a moment for reflection, I just don't think the pacing of having a single episode intermission flanked by two four episode arcs on either side really works very well. It wound up coming across as almost entirely divorced from the rest of the show, despite technically bridging two stories and bringing back (a different) Constantine. But again, I do think as a single episode it was fantastic and probably the best in the show.

Desire's machinations is part of the larger story arc that plays out over the course of the entire run. I didn't have a problem with considering I know what it's all setting up for and I thought the show did a good job of demonstrating their intentions without fully explaining the whys and hows (foreshadowing and whatnot), but I suppose I can see how it was an issue.

As for the rest, I didn't have any issues with the flow of stuff and I felt that Lucifier's stinger did the necessary work of teasing that she is holding a grudge and will be a thorn in Dream's side next season (the comic had a similar set-up but it was merely after Dream departed from Hell).

Yeah, I figured it obviously is all supposed to come to fruition in season 2 (or later). It just feels like a *lot* of pure foreshadowing for what is ultimately a very small season. Especially since half of it repeatedly interrupts the story as it plays out when it could probably have been reduced to a season end stinger and then the half that does become the stinger feels so heavily tied to what happened a full six episodes earlier that it just begs the question why didn't we see this six episodes ago?
 
I'm four episodes in and it's definitely a mixed bag for me. The special effects are great, the visuals great and the writing generally solid but, to be honest, I think the cast I've seen to date (at least the major players) is more weak than not:

Dream: Sturridge started out strong but seemed to lose his way. In the first episode he expertly conveyed Morpheus simmering rage underneath a placid exterior (something that was there for most of the book’s first arc) but, by the second episode, that rage all but vanished and Dream seemed just pouty and mopey. I’m hoping he turns it around as you can see from the scenes in captify, he has what it takes.


The Corinthian: Holbrook isn’t bad. Looks great in the role but he’s almost too laconic. There’s a bit of Gary Busey’s “Mr Joshua” in the part but maybe, given who the character is, he needed to chew the scenary more.


Matthew the Raven: Oswalt may be the MVP of the show. Matthew is portrayed as loyal and level headed, with just the right amount of a “caw” in the voice, without mugging or giving into what must have been the temptation for anyone in the part (let alone a comedian) to do something cartoonish, along the lines of Gilbert Gottfried’s Afflack Duck.


Lucienne: There’s nothing “wrong” with the performance and maybe this one is a just matter of taste, but it seems as if the character shouldn’t be quite so…serene…most of the time. Lucienne saw the kingdom fall apart, had no idea why and was forced to deal with all of that uncertainty, along with a good chance she’d find herself disintergrating eventually along with the rest of the kingdom. She says she’s concerned with Dream’s excursions to recover his weapons but something’s missing from the performance.


John Dee: Thewlis is playing the kind of part he can play in his sleep and is doing it extremely, but unsurprisingly, well. Another series MVP.


Constantine: Constantine, whether John or Johanna, needs to have a hell of lot more swagger and danger. You need an actor who seems more like a villain than a hero and possibly someone with more miles on their face, mapping out what they’ve been through. Really, this probably is the part Joely Richardson should have gotten.


Lucifer: Christie didn’t work at all. If the intent was androgyny, it wasn’t achieved. Lucifer looked and sounded exactly like a middle aged woman watching her grandchildren play dungeons and dragons. Her emotions ranged from bemused to friendly with little menace, express or implied. Honestly, I wish they’d let Tom Ellis have the role back but, if they wanted someone non-binary, given what I’ve seen on Star Trek Discovery, Jesse James Keitel would have probably nailed it.​


I’ll keep going with the show but, honestly, some of the cast is making it a chore.
 
Like I said, I think the actor did what could be done with the character of the Corinthian. I just don't see how the Corinthian is an even remotely interesting character in the first place. I've seen the calm, unflappable clean cut guy in the mirrored sunglasses who doesn't stop coming after you and the charming guy whose really a monster on the inside a million times already. And this version is just evil because he's just evil. Dream made him that way, he just wasn't supposed to want to be evil in the real world. The only even remotely interesting thing about him - why he wants the eyes - didn't even show up until right before his death. So... eh.
Huh. To each their own. I guess that was a case of front-loaded knowledge and then seeing how the show was expanding his role and utilizing him beyond just The Doll's House that made me enjoy him so much here.

But again, you're the first person (although the G-man appears to agree with you) that I've seen not outright love the character.

I mean, it's essentially a four episode arc where the villain isn't introduced until the second episode and doesn't even meet the hero until the last fifteen minutes of the final episode. And as much as I enjoyed his talk with his mom and found his car ride with the kind lady entertaining, I really didn't feel like either of them really told me much at all about what he really wanted and especially not about why or how his ideas were supposed to work. Partly because it seemed like he did a complete about-face on everything he said to his mother the second she was dead. Partly because he for the most part really only talked in vague philosophizing. Partly because his diner antics seem to have completely forgotten the entire point of his car ride conversation.

Meanwhile Constantine and Lucifer got nearlly a whole episode to interact with the hero and I feel way more confident about who Constatine is and what she's about after that single episode than I do about Dee after 3 episodes. Lucifer was a bit vaguer, and also not a character I thought was super well written, but it was pretty clear which lane they were driving her towards given the rival realms thing.
Well, the thing to keep in mind is that Preludes and Nocturnes isn't about the ultimate face-off against John Dee. It's about Dream escaping his imprisonment and trying to restoring his former power. Constantine (via Rachel), Lucifer (and Choronzon), and John Dee were roadblocks on that journey. John Dee gets the endgame because he had the most powerful component (which is something Dream emphasized several times), one that he manipulated and modified to his own being over decades of use.

That said, I can see why Dee's face-off feels a bit truncated in comparison to the other two. The comics actually has a whole issue for their face-off whereas it's streamlined to the climax of "24/7." Which, honestly, I'm fine with. But I can see why you have a problem with.

I don't think it's bad to have a moment for reflection, I just don't think the pacing of having a single episode intermission flanked by two four episode arcs on either side really works very well. It wound up coming across as almost entirely divorced from the rest of the show, despite technically bridging two stories and bringing back (a different) Constantine. But again, I do think as a single episode it was fantastic and probably the best in the show.
I guess we'll have to disagree on that notion because I think it flowed just fine for me. Something Gaiman has brought multiple times regarding both the comic and the show, that story is a deliberate moment for Dream and the reader/viewer to get a necessary breather after the horrors of John Dee.

Yeah, I figured it obviously is all supposed to come to fruition in season 2 (or later). It just feels like a *lot* of pure foreshadowing for what is ultimately a very small season. Especially since half of it repeatedly interrupts the story as it plays out when it could probably have been reduced to a season end stinger and then the half that does become the stinger feels so heavily tied to what happened a full six episodes earlier that it just begs the question why didn't we see this six episodes ago?
Aside from that one time Desire popped up at the very end of one episode to sneer over Dream from afar, I didn't notice anything about "repeatedly interrupts" the story. I honestly don't know what you're talking about there. I thought most of the foreshadowing was pretty subtle (I think there are several elements mentioned or coyly out there that I think non-comic readers wouldn't have even noticed).

Regarding the stinger, it's at the end of the season because Season of Mists will presumably open season two and it's the immediate answer to Lucifier's threats.

Lucienne: There’s nothing “wrong” with the performance and maybe this one is a just matter of taste, but it seems as if the character shouldn’t be quite so…serene…most of the time. Lucienne saw the kingdom fall apart, had no idea why and was forced to deal with all of that uncertainty, along with a good chance she’d find herself disintergrating eventually along with the rest of the kingdom. She says she’s concerned with Dream’s excursions to recover his weapons but something’s missing from the performance.
Character being so serene is an odd criticism for a character that's literally a dream

As for her concerns about Dream, stay tuned. The show does more with that than even the comic did. I really love her character arc this season.

Lucifer: Christie didn’t work at all. If the intent was androgyny, it wasn’t achieved. Lucifer looked and sounded exactly like a middle aged woman watching her grandchildren play dungeons and dragons. Her emotions ranged from bemused to friendly with little menace, express or implied. Honestly, I wish they’d let Tom Ellis have the role back but, if they wanted someone non-binary, given what I’ve seen on Star Trek Discovery, Jesse James Keitel would have probably nailed it.
Huh, that's a surprising take on her performance because from all of the interviews I've seen from her, Gaiman, and showrunner Allan Heinberg, they cast her for the role because she was who they wanted pretty early on, after they decided not to bring back Tom Ellis (which was something they did consider). It doesn't have anything to do with androgyny, even if David Bowie was Gaiman's original inspiration for his depcition of Lucifer (which is very obvious from the art for "A Hope in Hell").

I’ll keep going with the show but, honestly, some of the cast is making it a chore.
Wow, hard disagree there. I've been amazed by almost all of the casting so far. The only I haven't been completely sold on yet is Despair but she's only had one scene so far, so it's hard to judge her on that little. Also, Despair is my least favorite of the Endless.
 
I have to say I would agree with G-man for the most part about Christie. I've looked around a bit online and it seems people are really love/hate on her portrayal.
 
Huh, that's a surprising take on (Christie's) performance because from all of the interviews I've seen from her, Gaiman, and showrunner Allan Heinberg, they cast her for the role because she was who they wanted pretty early on...

Not every decision a creator makes, even an incredibly talented one, is the right one, especially when it comes to adaptations of their books (see, e.g., King, Stephen).
 
Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor, Hawkman and Hawkgirl had a grandchild but David Thewlis did not reprise his roll of Ares for the christening?

####.
 
Not every decision a creator makes, even an incredibly talented one, is the right one, especially when it comes to adaptations of their books (see, e.g., King, Stephen).
Fair point.

But I still think Christie was terrific as Lucifer and I look forward to seeing more of her.
 
Some characters felt pitch perfect (like Death)

Yeah, Kirby Howell-Baptiste was wonderful. I will admit that I had some trepidation about her because: (a) I'd only seen her on "the Good Place," and her performance there didn't stand out to me; and (b) I thought the books' original designs for the Endless, all sharing that supernaturally pale skin, was an extremely effective way to show they were all siblings and thought I'd miss that in the series more than I did. But from the very first scene she was the Death, the sweet, perky, Death we all knew and loved from the original stories. I just loved her.
 
Yeah, Kirby Howell-Baptiste was wonderful. I will admit that I had some trepidation about her because: (a) I'd only seen her on "the Good Place," and her performance there didn't stand out to me; and (b) I thought the books' original designs for the Endless, all sharing that supernaturally pale skin, was an extremely effective way to show they were all siblings and thought I'd miss that in the series more than I did. But from the very first scene she was the Death, the sweet, perky, Death we all knew and loved from the original stories. I just loved her.
Four have the pale skin in the comics: Dream, Death, Desire and Despair. Delirium. Destiny and Destruction do not.
 
Four have the pale skin in the comics: Dream, Death, Desire and Despair. Delirium. Destiny and Destruction do not.
The coloring on the book was admittedly inconsistent but, other than Destruction (which can be explained by the fact he was the prodigal), the other ones had the pale skin as often (or more often) than not. See, eg.,
tumblr_nix564efsY1rhjbado1_1280.jpg
 
The coloring on the book was admittedly inconsistent but, other than Destruction (which can be explained by the fact he was the prodigal), the other ones had the pale skin as often (or more often) than not. See, eg.,
tumblr_nix564efsY1rhjbado1_1280.jpg
That's a rather unusual take on the Endless' skintones. One rarely sees "Caucasian" highlights on Death, Dream,Desire and Despair . They're usually pure white. Especially Desire with her Nagel inspired design.
 
I'm up to the finale, which I'll watch tomorrow.
I wasn't surprised Lyta and Hector's story ended the way it did, I knew from the start that wasn't going to end well. I'm assuming her baby will end up being significant at some point.
That, Galt, and the way he treated Lecienne, have made it pretty clear that empathy is not really Morpheus's strong. But I guess that probably comes from being an immortal anthropomorphic personification who has spent most of his existence in a world completely under his control.
The whole serial/cereal thing for the convention was pretty clever, and damn the convention itself was seriously disturbing.
I'm a big Stephen Fry fan, so I'm really like him as Gilberty/Fiddler's Green. Is this the last we'll see of him if the show continues?
If the show makes it all the way through the comics, when will we get to see more of the other Endless?
We still haven't met, Delirium, Destruction, or Destiny yet.
 
That, Galt, and the way he treated Lecienne, have made it pretty clear that empathy is not really Morpheus's strong. But I guess that probably comes from being an immortal anthropomorphic personification who has spent most of his existence in a world completely under his control.
His struggles with empathy is one of the biggest themes of the entire comic run. We'll see a lot more on that front.

I'm a big Stephen Fry fan, so I'm really like him as Gilberty/Fiddler's Green. Is this the last we'll see of him if the show continues?
Without saying anymore, we should see him again.

If the show makes it all the way through the comics, when will we get to see more of the other Endless?

We still haven't met, Delirium, Destruction, or Destiny yet.
Delirium and Destiny will be seen next season with Seasons of Mist. As for Destruction, that depends on when they do certain flashbacks. Otherwise, not for quite some time.

You have no idea. ;)
Understatement of the century. :D
 
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