What was Dream thinking in this shot?

[u/littleartist542]

I'm rewatching the Netflix series and appreciating all the wonderful acting and nuanced character development.

In S1 E4, I noticed in the shot where Dream hears the fact that Lucifer will be representing Choronzon in the duel, Dream has a peculiar series of facial expressions. It's almost like he is shocked, worried, panicked, thoughtful, and then he smiles slightly, almost cheeky confident like he's realized something that will ensure his victory even though I'm pretty sure he doesn't know he will win at all. All of this happens in the span of a few seconds and I LOVE what Tom Sturridge is doing without any words at all. It's almost as if Dream knows he will win or at the very least he is excited to finally have the opportunity to duel Lucifer. Like he's thinking "oh this might actually be fun" or "finally something exciting" or "so Lucifer and I will finally battle" or "I finally have a shot at this mofo" lol

What is Dream thinking in this shot? Does he know some thing we don't know? I didn't read the comics so I may be missing some information.

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[u/-sweet-like-cinnamon]

Yeah, I'm reading it similar to you. I think it's somewhere along the lines of:

"oh shit I may actually be in trouble here" —>

"but I do know Lucifer REALLY well, maybe I could use that to my advantage" –>

"ok and also Choronzon/Lucifer are clearly trying to get a reaction from me here, I can't give them one. I have to pretend to be super confident. Better slap on an arrogant smirk. (I am not overly confident at all. I am about to tell my new bird companion that there's a good chance this ends poorly for me. But I have to pretend to be overly confident now. Good thing I'm great at arrogant smirking.)"

[u/littleartist542 → u/-sweet-like-cinnamon]

Oh I think that makes the most sense! Pretend to be super confident and slap on an arrogant smirk. Get you game face on!

[u/Personal-Database-27]

It was interesting change they made. Instead of Dream directly saying "Hope" as in the comics, he struggled in the Netflix series to think of something and only his raven got the idea what could defeat everything, even anti-life. 

[u/seuadr]

And I ran, I ran so far away I just ran, I ran all night and day I couldn't get away

[u/RuneKnight3]

It was just the actor remembering he would get out of this terrible series probably with his career intact.