The Sandman season 2 episode 12 recap: Did Death’s day as ‘Didi’ pull Sexton back from the brink?

The Sandman closes season 2 with a self-contained bonus chapter, Death: The High Cost of Living, streaming on Netflix from July 31, 2025. The episode adapts Neil Gaiman’s 1993 spinoff and follows Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) as she spends one day each century living as a human, crossing paths in modern-day London with Sexton Furnival (Colin Morgan), here reframed as an environmental journalist in despair.

Directed by Jamie Childs and produced under the series’ executive producers Allan Heinberg, David S. Goyer, and Neil Gaiman, The Sandman special functions as an epilogue to episode 11 and a thematic bookend to season 1’s The Sound of Her Wings.

Over the course of 24 hours, Death, going by “Didi,” samples ordinary pleasures, helps an old acquaintance, and confronts a dangerous theft tied to her ankh, while Sexton repeatedly brushes against mortality and reconsiders his future. The Sandman bonus aired globally on Netflix as Chapter 12, following Volume 1 (July 3) and Volume 2 (July 24) drops.

Inside The Sandman bonus: Death’s 24 hours with Sexton

The episode opens on Sexton, exhausted and convinced that nothing he writes can change the world. He meets Didi, a bright, curious woman who insists they spend a day together. They drift through London, grabbing food, lingering in a park, and later slipping into a goth club, small moments that steadily counter Sexton’s fatalism.

Along the way, they encounter Mad Hettie (Clare Higgins), who asks Didi to recover her missing soul, now tucked inside a locket (a change from the comic’s missing heart). Meanwhile, Theo (Fra Fee) seeks power over life and death by stealing Death’s ankh, escalating into a confrontation that nearly kills Sexton. Didi intervenes without breaking her day-off rule.

By evening, the pair have created a fragile trust: Sexton reconnects with people and possibilities, while Didi experiences time’s limits and ordinary human connection. As per the Netflix Tudum report dated July 31, 2025, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who plays Didi/Death, stated,

“And in “The High Cost of Living,” it’s Death who’s experiencing life for the day. Though I am trying to bring this man out of his misery, we’re also discovering at the same time — because I’m feeling what it feels like to be a human in this world — to not have forever. Obviously, as the Endless, we don’t have that.”

The Sandman, Episode 12 ending explained

Near midnight, Didi’s single mortal day runs out. In Shoreditch, she steps into a fountain and dies as a human, leaving two copper coins, a nod to the ferryman myth that marks the passage back to the realm of the Endless. In that moment, the mortal shell ends and Death of the Endless resumes her duty, confirming the episode’s core rule.

Her day off suspends collection, but it doesn’t rewrite fate or permit resurrection. That’s why Theo survives his concussion without being taken, and why the attempt to use the stolen ankh to revive Natalie never had power.

Before the fountain, Didi chooses mercy and closure over artifacts. She spots the ankh at a street stall yet buys a disc locket for Mad Hettie instead; Hettie’s “soul” proves to be a photo of her daughter, Cordelia, reframing “soul” as memory and love rather than magic.

After Didi’s departure, the episode resolves on Sexton’s agency. He deletes the message he meant to send to his ex, Sylvie, makes tea for Jackie, and asks about sugar, three cubes, signalling a turn toward care and participation. The ending’s point is simple and precise: Death goes back to work. The living go back to living, and small, deliberate choices keep them here.

As per Entertainment Weekly's report dated July 31, 2025, showrunner Allan Heinberg frames the special as “the goodnight kiss… before going off the air,” designed to heal after episode 11’s emotional farewell. The episode also echoes a core line associated with Death’s worldview: humans need “a kind word and a friendly face.”

The Sandman credits, cast, and release- when and where episode 12 aired

The Sandman Chapter 12 is directed by Jamie Childs with series leadership by Allan Heinberg (showrunner) and executive producers Neil Gaiman and David S. Goyer. It stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death and Colin Morgan as Sexton, with key turns from Clare Higgins (Mad Hettie) and Fra Fee (Theo).

The special dropped July 31, 2025, on Netflix, one week after the Season 2 finale, A Tale of Graceful Ends, and completes the 12-episode season. According to the Netflix Tudum guide, Season 2 was released in two volumes (July 3 and July 24), followed by this bonus.

Stay tuned for more updates on The Sandman.