American Gods (STARZ)

[unlurking]

[Discuss Thrower]

Thus ends Season 1.

Spoiler!

Shadow finds faith (gulp), Laura figures shit out, Bilqis is given more plot relevance, Mr. Wednesday finally threw the gauntlet down and Kristin Chenoweth gets to get testy with her religious icon of choice on screen.

A lot to like tonight, (especially the visual of a house full of Jesuses... that was great) though tonight I finally noticed what reddit posters have been vexed by for the first seven episodes in that the audio mix washes out dialogue with special effects or music. I hadn't a damn clue what Mr. World said during the confrontation with Mr. Wednesday.

[vailpass]

Ugh.

[vailpass]

Season 2 hasn’t been too bad so far.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Season 2 hasn’t been too bad so far.

Technical Boy has been surprisingly enjoyable. Dunno how they can go for four seasons..

[ThaVirus]

Did anyone else think the book was massively overrated?

[Discuss Thrower]

Well. Spoke too soon about Technical Boy.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bowser

I've got the last four episodes sitting on the DVR, and I'm having a hard time getting motivated to watch them. Worth it, or nah?

I keep saying I am done (not a sci fi fan) and ready to hit the delete, then for some reason (Ian Mcshane) I keep watching. Getting ready for season two.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

I keep saying I am done (not a sci fi fan) and ready to hit the delete, then for some reason (Ian Mcshane) I keep watching. Getting ready for season two.

Whatever Ian is in makes it worth watching just to see him ply his trade. Very underrated actor.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Whatever Ian is in makes it worth watching just to see him ply his trade. Very underrated actor.

I agree and he is older than dirt but is still one of the best.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

I agree and he is older than dirt

How ****ing dare you!

Ian McShane is an AGELESS GEM.

[vailpass]

The last episode was like an naacp meeting. Mad Sweeney and dead wife didn’t even appear. Hoping they get back on track this week. Oh, and bring back Gillian Anderson as Media.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by vailpass

The last episode was like an naacp meeting. Mad Sweeney and dead wife didn’t even appear. Hoping they get back on track this week. Oh, and bring back Gillian Anderson as Media.

Gillian ain't coming back.

And yeah. The Mr. Nancy sermon was his introduction tirade on the slaver ship with 2019's ripped-from-the-headlines topics sprinkled in.

Orlando is charismatic enough to make it sizzle but on a meta level rings hollow considering he married and knocked up a white woman.

[Discuss Thrower]

I officially haven't the slightest ****ing clue what's going on now beside the fact they are still following the overall larger New Gods vs Old Gods plotline.

Shadow being possessed (?) by the scourge that was the self-hating victim of white on black racism? Yet another version of Laura Moon existing? Ruby Goodchild's existential crisis?

At least Salim is still providing some great dialogue.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

I officially haven't the slightest ****ing clue what's going on now beside the fact they are still following the overall larger New Gods vs Old Gods plotline.

Shadow being possessed (?) by the scourge that was the self-hating victim of white on black racism? Yet another version of Laura Moon existing? Ruby Goodchild's existential crisis?

At least Salim is still providing some great dialogue.

Yeah they lost me there. All I know is that the white man is very bad and I wish I had a sweet motorcycle with sidehack that followed me wherever I wanted.
They need to get back to the interesting characters/storyline before they lose it.

[Discuss Thrower]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Yeah they lost me there. All I know is that the white man is very bad and I wish I had a sweet motorcycle with sidehack that followed me wherever I wanted.
They need to get back to the interesting characters/storyline before they lose it.

I think giving the showrunners the benefit of the doubt is the whole point of the Will James bit is demonstrating the power mortals have in giving power to the "gods".

Basically, if we accept the premise that the Old Gods required blood sacrifice in order to exist and thrive and the new gods are being sacrificed to in the form of our time and attention (Media as Lucy Ricardo's spiel) that there's a basic underlying power that the people have in the aggregate.

Belief creates reality.

With that framework, it does make sense that Will James has become some sort of demigod that thrives upon the violent ends and acts of black Americans because, recall what Ibis was saying, he leveled the blame toward them and not the white people lynching him because his people didn't try to save him.

Then consider what the Will James flaming head told Shadow: he exists to give relief to black folk since death is the way to peace. His existence symbolizes death by cop due to lawbreaking and (I think by implication) death due to short sighted gang related bullshit because it rises from self-fulfilling prophecies of defeat. Black people are always gonna be ****ed (Anansi's lecture on the slaver ship) by white people so it doesn't really matter that they wind up dead from getting drugs from traphouses in broad daylight (Ruby's brother's death).

Will James thus exists to haunt Shadow and get ritualized (in a way) by the cops that use corpses as target practice (Ruby's brother has the same wounds as Will James even though the latter died from swallowing the drugs he purchased from the traphouse) which perpetuates the cycle of violence which, in turn, satisfies Ibis and Jacquel's existence as morticians.

Anansi points this out but notice he's not really doing anything about it since he's a trickster god that lives to mock people.

How Bilquis factors into this I have no idea.

And, as I'm pained to say, this all could actually be the showrunners folding in the Hinzelmann plot from the book as has been speculated by at least one reddit commentor.