American Gods (Spoilers)

[The Glyphstone]

So I watched the first episode tonight, and I gotta say I'm impressed. The CGI was a little jarring at times, and I think Shadow's actor has a tendency to mumble, but Ian McShane is a downright fantastic Wednesday.

Who else is going to be watching this? Thoughts?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I don't have ready access to Starz, but I definitely hope I get the opportunity to check this out sometime! I've loved the look of the trailer, and Ian McShane looked like a fantastic Wednesday.

[random11]

I do hope it's an actual adaptation.
Lately I saw too many disappointing "name only" TV shows based on books and comics I loved.

So far it looks promising.
I read the book long time ago, but from what I remember it captures the brutal and mysterious mood in a good visual way.

[DemonicAngel]

Recently re read the book, and i'm excited about the show. i'll check it out soon.

[Morbis Meh]

I watched the first episode and I have to say that it is spot on so far with its faithfulness to the original source material. The casting was well done, the acting so far is great (Ian McShane is absolutely perfect as Wednesday) and the CGI is fine. My wife and I eagerly await the next episode and plan to spread this to our friends.

[thorgrim29]

The gore is a bit over the top but aside from that I liked it. Looks like Shadow is going to be a bit more pro-active in the series which I like, Wednesday is pretty spot-on, Mad Sweeney was fokken terrifying as he would say (how tall is that guy, 6"8?). And the Bilquis scene was both sexy as hell and horrifying, as it should be. Not sure I like where they're going with the technical kid though, the actor is fine but that whole scene was too in-your-face about the magic. And the prison flashbacks with Low-Key are well done though he is a bit smaller than I had imagined him. Then again I only picked up on Shadow being black the third time or so I read the book so...

Read on only if you have read the book:

I like that as far as I could see Wednesday has not said one falsehood to Shadow so far(hell, the second or third thing he says is "why are you looking at me like I ****ed your mom" which made me lol). I liked the funeral and Laura's friend, she comes off more sympathetic here than in the novel. I think they missed an opportunity to end the episode with "Hello Puppy" but I'm fine with it, a lot happened, no need to throw in a cliffhanger too.

[Lacuna Caster]

...but Ian McShane is a downright fantastic Wednesday.

Sold, to the man with both hands up.

[BWR]

Pretty good so far. Mad Sweeney was brilliantly done, even if they gave him an Irish accent.
Wednesday is a jarring combination of excellently written and played with not looking like he should.
Shadow is damn good, even if he is more chatty than in the book (a necessary change for TV, I'll grant them).
Low Key is too greasy and not slick enough.

[Iku Rex]

Apropos:

Stormbringer - Heather Alexander, originally from the 1990 Phoenyx album Keepers of the Flame. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQIncQIvoHk (first part)

Lyrics:
The greenwood sighs and shudders,
the westwind wails and mutters
Grey clouds crawl across the sky,
the moon hides her face 'til the sunlight dies
And mankind soon shall realize
the bringer of storms walks tonight

No mortal dare to meet the glare
of the Eye of the Stormbringer,
For he is the lightning slinger
the glory singer,
the gallows reaper

Upon his shoulder, ravens,
his face like stone, engraven
Astride a six-hoofed stygian beast,
he gathers the fruit of the gallows trees
Driving legions to victory,
the bringer of war walks tonight!

No mortal dare to meet the glare
of the Eye of the Stormbringer,
For he is the lightning slinger
the glory singer,
the gallows' reaper.

[Starbuck_II]

I didn't pat attention to names, but the coin dude was very funny.

Bilquis was scary at the end of her scene.

[Thrudd]

I do hope it's an actual adaptation.
Lately I saw too many disappointing "name only" TV shows based on books and comics I loved.

So far it looks promising.
I read the book long time ago, but from what I remember it captures the brutal and mysterious mood in a good visual way.

I understand Gaiman was involved heavily in adapting it to TV, and it's supposedly going to expand a lot on several areas of the book, but it is definitely close to the novel. For readers of the book, they've already presaged Wednesday's long con with the opening scene of Vikings first arriving in north America. First-time watchers will have no idea of its relevance until the end of the series, I'm guessing, but those of us who know can see how they're telling us exactly what Wednesday's up to already.

[Rynjin]

Overall pretty great. Started binging Deadwood last week and it's funny comparing how Ian McShane plays the two roles (pretty similarly, though Wednesday is significantly less foul mouthed). Acting is overall great, it seems close to the book from what I remember (it's been 6, 7 years since I read it), and it's a fun watch.

Minor gripes: The CGI is wonky, and the gore is overblown to the point of being laughable. Shadow being covered in red corn syrup at the end almost made me bust a gut. What the **** were they thinking?

[Sapphire Guard]

I never liked the book, but without even watching it I can say that Ian McShane is perfectly cast.

[Eldan]

After one episode, I don't like it. The cast is very good, but the direction, effects and timing are really weird and not in a good way, as they should be. It's just strangely put together all over.

Also, some weirdly over the top stuff. In the books, the Vikings meet with the natives, and then hang one of them on a holy day to Odin. Here... they apparently ritualistically kill half of their own crew (because that makes shipping so much easier) and do it while showering in red corn syrup.

I think I'd just like the entire thing a bit more subtle.

[Dienekes]

After one episode, I don't like it. The cast is very good, but the direction, effects and timing are really weird and not in a good way, as they should be. It's just strangely put together all over.

Also, some weirdly over the top stuff. In the books, the Vikings meet with the natives, and then hang one of them on a holy day to Odin. Here... they apparently ritualistically kill half of their own crew (because that makes shipping so much easier) and do it while showering in red corn syrup.

I think I'd just like the entire thing a bit more subtle.

Yeah, I'll say, I really enjoy the show. But somewhere down the line someone decided it would be neat to add Sam Raimi style action effects and it really doesn't work.

They all feel jarring and out of place especially when compared to some of the mystical scenes that are just better. Watching a dying old lady climbing an impossibly long staircase to be judged by a forgotten god was interesting. Watching Shadow play checkers against a singing Czernobog while the song fits the narrative also works, the otherworldly quality of the conversation with the last sister just felt off in a perfect way.

But the corn syrup fight, the the sky vagina, watching a car drive over a marshmallow. They just felt weird for weirdness sake.

[Eldan]

Well, I mean, I can appreciate that they are willing to go weird and trippy. The Internet Kid was really quite interesting. But the blood is horrendous.

Also, the series might probably profit from a few more landscape shots to establish America as a location.

[theangelJean]

This isn't a zombie thread yet, right? Not like the dead woman walking...

Tonight's episode: I can't really understand Mad Sweeney's motivation (the leprechaun), and it seems like the episode was set up for the express purpose of that explanation. Can someone help me understand? I read the book when it came out, but I can't find my copy now to re-read.

The question is why Mad Sweeney chose to revive Laura. The setup of the episode seems to be ... that she looks like Essie McGowan? (Why else would they use the same actor?) Is that it?

Or is she the one person who believes in him any more, like Essie? Or, for some unknown reason does he not want to give Odin the satisfaction of successfully getting her out of the way? It seemed pretty clear to me that Odin wanted her gone, and someone helped that along (I have ideas on who the rabbit is, but I'm not certain) - and Mad Sweeney was considering the end outcome, including telling the raven "it is done". Why would he not go through with it? It's certainly not for transport, because in the "it is done" scene Mad Sweeney actually drives back to the scene of the accident from somewhere else ...
My husband, who doesn't remember the book, speculated that there was some plan that Mad Sweeney was part of, that involves it being necessary later on. What I remember doesn't fit with that...

For plot purposes, they need the coin to get back to Shadow, via Laura, for his resurrection (if my memory is correct). And as far as I can tell neither Mad Sweeney, nor Odin, nor even Loki, planned on Shadow being resurrected - Odin and Loki needed Shadow to be their dead martyr, and Mad Sweeney died in a ditch somewhere along the way and never got his coin back (I'm hazy on this bit). So that doesn't explain Mad Sweeney's motivation at all.

And while I'm spoiling Shadow's hanging and resurrection, if there hasn't been enough foreshadowing, I loved the way they worked that into Vulcan's episode. You can tell that Vulcan knows what's coming for Shadow - so it adds an element of pity for Shadow to his motivation for betraying Odin, while the new viewer might instead take the noose imagery for racism/hostility towards Shadow. I don't remember that being in the book - although that said, I don't remember Vulcan being in the book at all, and the "sacrifice sustains a town" was one of the central mysteries of the kobold side-plot, resolved right at the end, so having it this early on makes me wonder if that bit was all new. Actually, did Odin get a sword from Heimdall instead, in the book?

Still enjoying the series, despite the gore (the fact that it's so overdone is actually what makes it tolerable for me). Now I just have to search the rest of the house for my book.

[BWR]

[SPOILER=American Gods, Episode 7 (does not contain book spoilers)]The question is why Mad Sweeney chose to revive Laura. The setup of the episode seems to be ... that she looks like Essie McGowan? (Why else would they use the same actor?) Is that it?

Guilt, since he killed her and Robbie in the first place.

[theangelJean]

Guilt, since he killed her and Robbie in the first place.

... Okay, that I didn't get.

I'll have to watch it again. Poor me. :smallbiggrin:

[DemonicAngel]

well, for one, Vulcan does not exist in the book. mad sweeney is a much smaller character as well. he didn't resurrect Laura, Shadow did when he gave away the coin.

That coin is the "sun", and it's supposed to be a very storng protective magic. later on, Shadow gets the Moon coin,
a silver dollar, from one of the sisters.

Odin never has a sword in the book. in the myth he uses a spear aswell, so swords arent really his niche.

[The Glyphstone]

I assumed that it was because Mad Sweeney had made a bargain with Laura. He can't take the coin, only if it is freely offered to him -that was clearly established earlier. He agreed that he would guide her to someone who would resurrect her completely, and she would give the coin back; her dying in the accident would prevent that bargain from being concluded. Since he has the power to revive her (by replacing the coin), and doing so would permit him to fulfill the bargain he made, he's compelled to follow through on it. That's the frustration he shows, he's so close but compelled by his nature as a leprechaun/fey creature.