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American Gods (Starz)

HuskyHawk

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The vagina was busy this week. And a man with a raging hard-on soared through outer space!!

And a game of checkered was the focus of this episodes end with Shadow losing and facing the cow-kill sledge hammer at the hands of Peter Stormare.

must.keep.watching.

This was a fairly weak episode, including several things not in the book. The Anasi scene was totally new...introducing 2017 BLM concepts to a book written many years ago. Not needed. The original scene from the book was better. The emphasis on Bilquis is odd, considering she barely appears in the book.

Unfortunately, the episode ended right as we were getting to something really interesting with the Zorya sisters. So I expect episode 3 to be a strong one.
 

intlzncster

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This was a fairly weak episode, including several things not in the book. The Anasi scene was totally new...introducing 2017 BLM concepts to a book written many years ago. Not needed. The original scene from the book was better. The emphasis on Bilquis is odd, considering she barely appears in the book.

Unfortunately, the episode ended right as we were getting to something really interesting with the Zorya sisters. So I expect episode 3 to be a strong one.

Actually, I get that one, and to a lesser extent the Anasi scene. Only because they are trying to impart the whole 'old god's are dying off due to lack of worship' and it shows their desperation to continue on. And the lengths they go to do so. People who haven't read the books need this information, and it's better this way than a character or narrator simply spelling it out.

You kind of have to expect the slow start, as this was the case with the books as well, imo. I found the Bilquis part a really interesting piece of the book actually.
 

Dove

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Having not read a book do I have this down:

Savage guys land here and try to appease their god.
Was angry slave ship black man a god?
Is McShane a god?
Is the tall leprechaun guy a god?
I am assuming Bilquist "worship me!!" is.
Is Stormare just a dude like Shadow?
 

intlzncster

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Having not read a book do I have this down:

Savage guys land here and try to appease their god.
Was angry slave ship black man a god?
Is McShane a god?
Is the tall leprechaun guy a god?
I am assuming Bilquist "worship me!!" is.
Is Stormare just a dude like Shadow?

1. Yes. They appeased him, left his totum on the sand, and so their legacy was that this god, the god of war, was brought to the new world. When they came back later in history, 'war' already there.
2. Yes. He's Anansi, the spider. African god of folklore. He's an important character, though more so in another book.
3. Yes.
He's the very same god from the Vikings scene. Odin, the God of war. Leader of the Old Gods.
4. Gray area. I guess so. He's legit a leprechaun.
5. Yes. She's the Queen of Sheba. People don't worship her much anymore, hence "she isn't what she once was". Her life force is now derived by picking up degenerates, making them worship her, and then devouring them in her vag. Used to be a fertility god or something.
6. Yes.
Czernobog a slavic 'black' god. Black as in darkness, opposite of light (twin brother now lost). When people do bad things, it's because of him. Why he looks like snow.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out, it's a battle between the new Gods and the Old ones. Gods derive their strength and power through worship. That's why 'Technical Boy' (technology and internet) and 'Media' (I love Lucy scene) are new gods...that is what we worship in today's world.
 
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HuskyHawk

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1. Yes. They appeased him, left his totum on the sand, and so their legacy was that this god, the god of war, was brought to the new world. When they came back later in history, 'war' already there.
2. Yes. He's Anansi, the spider. African god of folklore. He's an important character, though more so in another book.
3. Yes.
He's the very same god from the Vikings scene. Odin, the God of war. Leader of the Old Gods.
4. Gray area. I guess so. He's legit a leprechaun.
5. Yes. She's the Queen of Sheba. People don't worship her much anymore, hence "she isn't what she once was". Her life force is now derived by picking up degenerates, making them worship her, and then devouring them in her vag. Used to be a fertility god or something.
6. Yes.
Czernobog a slavic 'black' god. Black as in darkness, opposite of light (twin brother now lost). When people do bad things, it's because of him. Why he looks like snow.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out, it's a battle between the new Gods and the Old ones. Gods derive their strength and power through worship. That's why 'Technical Boy' (technology and internet) and 'Media' (I love Lucy scene) are new gods...that is what we worship in today's world.

This concept, while not entirely original in the context of gods generally, is what is really cool about the book as applied to the new "gods". I thought
Wednesday's run through about the various Jesus'
was a great way to illustrate the concept. These are American Gods....that's important. The gods as the exist here are separate and apart from the duplicate gods in their native lands, at least as I understand it. They are like shadows or reflections of those gods.

They are doing a really good job with this as a conversion from book to film. About as faithful as they could make it really.
 

intlzncster

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This concept, while not entirely original in the context of gods generally, is what is really cool about the book as applied to the new "gods". I thought
Wednesday's run through about the various Jesus'
was a great way to illustrate the concept. These are American Gods....that's important. The gods as the exist here are separate and apart from the duplicate gods in their native lands, at least as I understand it. They are like shadows or reflections of those gods.

They are doing a really good job with this as a conversion from book to film. About as faithful as they could make it really.


Good point. Swearengen and Whittle are really capturing the dynamic from the book. It's enjoyable.

But I'm not sure about that part. I'd have to think about it (reread in fact). The concept works for the Jesu bit. I thought that since these gods were brought to the new country, they were the same, and reinvigorated strength-wise with new worship. After all, when the Vikings came back for the second time, they found their God (of war) already there...

Maybe they are the many faces of the same gods?
 

HuskyHawk

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Good point. Swearengen and Whittle are really capturing the dynamic from the book. It's enjoyable.

But I'm not sure about that part. I'd have to think about it (reread in fact). The concept works for the Jesu bit. I thought that since these gods were brought to the new country, they were the same, and reinvigorated strength-wise with new worship. After all, when the Vikings came back for the second time, they found their God (of war) already there...

Maybe they are the many faces of the same gods?

Perhaps. But I don't think the Greek, Roman, Norse or Slavic gods would leave their homeland and come to America. However many (few) worshippers they had here, they had and have more in their native land (Native American gods excepted of course). I envision it sort of the same way you have Father-Son with Jesus. He's a localized part of the whole. Anasi still exists in Africa, and is probably much stronger there, but a version of Anasi came to exist in America as well. These are the localized versions of the Gods people brought with them, or which were native.
 

HuskyHawk

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This week we had a backstory episode with a bunch of stuff that wasn't even in the book (mostly). Confirmed for me that they are adding filler to stretch a single novel into more episodes. Last 20 minutes of the episode was pretty good, and back on story. But otherwise some dull filler.
 

intlzncster

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This week we had a backstory episode with a bunch of stuff that wasn't even in the book (mostly). Confirmed for me that they are adding filler to stretch a single novel into more episodes. Last 20 minutes of the episode was pretty good, and back on story. But otherwise some dull filler.

I f@#$king hate backstory. Small snippets are OK, but Lost ruined a lot of TV for me. Episode after episode of backstory, and now everybody thinks it's gotta be in there to extend the series.
 

Dove

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Emily Browning can fill anything for me.

I enjoyed this episode.
 

HuskyHawk

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Emily Browning can fill anything for me.

I enjoyed this episode.

I don't get the appeal, waifish, and not very pretty.
 
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I was underwhelmed by this series. They seemed to strive so hard for style that they forgot the substance.
 

Fishy

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I was underwhelmed by this series. They seemed to strive so hard for style that they forgot the substance.

I agree.

Very little of the stylized stuff actually worked and moved the story. Kinda odd.
 
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I really tried to get behind this show, but gave up on it about half way through. It had a ton of potential, and there were moments in each episode I watched that were outstanding, but the pieces were greater than the sum of all the parts and I lost interest.
 

nelsonmuntz

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This show is excellent, and I came in pretty skeptical. I don't like the supernatural, so I don't watch vampires or zombies, or basically anything where the rules of the plot can be changed by magic. I also don't like Emily Browning.

That said, the show is so well written and well acted that I can get through trouble spots. The Slavic old man was awesome. I like the leprechaun a lot. McShane is always good, Shadow is good, and Browning is tolerable.
 

jleves

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1. Yes. They appeased him, left his totum on the sand, and so their legacy was that this god, the god of war, was brought to the new world. When they came back later in history, 'war' already there.
2. Yes. He's Anansi, the spider. African god of folklore. He's an important character, though more so in another book.
3. Yes.
He's the very same god from the Vikings scene. Odin, the God of war. Leader of the Old Gods.
4. Gray area. I guess so. He's legit a leprechaun.
5. Yes. She's the Queen of Sheba. People don't worship her much anymore, hence "she isn't what she once was". Her life force is now derived by picking up degenerates, making them worship her, and then devouring them in her vag. Used to be a fertility god or something.
6. Yes.
Czernobog a slavic 'black' god. Black as in darkness, opposite of light (twin brother now lost). When people do bad things, it's because of him. Why he looks like snow.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out, it's a battle between the new Gods and the Old ones. Gods derive their strength and power through worship. That's why 'Technical Boy' (technology and internet) and 'Media' (I love Lucy scene) are new gods...that is what we worship in today's world.
I just watched the first two episodes on a whim and had to stop reading right here. When I was done with episode 2, I wasn't really interested in watching anymore. Now having read this and understanding the premise a lot better, I'll try to get through the next 6 episodes.
 

nelsonmuntz

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I am struggling with Season 2. Some of the reviews have been pretty rough, and I don't disagree. I don't hate the show, and I still find the story interesting, but the plot and motivations are difficult to follow. The writing was very clever last year but now much of the dialogue feels a little forced. Apparently the actors had some issues with it too, and Ian McShane is rumored to have improvised quite a bit.
 

Fishy

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I am struggling with Season 2. Some of the reviews have been pretty rough, and I don't disagree. I don't hate the show, and I still find the story interesting, but the plot and motivations are difficult to follow. The writing was very clever last year but now much of the dialogue feels a little forced. Apparently the actors had some issues with it too, and Ian McShane is rumored to have improvised quite a bit.

Some of the episodes were very good. Some were not.

None of them really advanced the plot much.

I still enjoyed it on the whole, but we didn't end season two very far away from where we started it.
 

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