American Gods (Starz)

[Totenkindly]

Pretty exciting to have a Neil Gaiman story reach the screen in some form, considering how difficult it would be to make a Sandman movie. (In fact, I think quality production TV is the best way to go with his stuff.)

I found this tonight on Primewire and what really excited me was seeing Brian Fuller as one of the two showrunners -- I either forgot about it or did not know this. I fell in love with Fuller on Hannibal and was devastated when the series was killed after three seasons.... well, never fear, Fuller is back and American Gods has the same kind of cool edgy artistic vibe to the visuals and sound and the writing as Hannibal did, without having the restrictions of a major network.

The first episode overall has some decent stuff in it, it will just take time to get into the world setting. I have not read the source book by Gaiman, but the gist is basically a clash between the Old Gods (Greek, Norse, etc.) who have been fading in relevance and the New Gods (American Gods!) who are reflective of the day and age... technology, globalization, media, etc. If America had gods in the current time setting, what would those "gods" be, how would they be worshiped, and what would they be like? The clash between the ascending new and the ebbing old is what makes this interesting and also... well, pretty bloody. Gods don't go down without a fight.

of course, the story is told from the viewpoint of an everyman character.

Sean Harris was supposed to play the leprechaun, who is actually very tall, not short, but he had to leave for some reason so the part was recast. The leprechaun with his gold churning ability made me laugh. There's just some funny stuff here. But also macabre stuff, bloody stuff (it's Starz).... basically some gory things and sexual things woven into the plot, but that makes sense based on the gods who are part of the story.

And hey, Ian MacShane. Who can complain?

 

[ceecee]

I really like this show. I never read the book so I'm not familiar. It's cool how they cover an array of gods and the clashes with the new gods. I've been busy so a lot of stuff is getting DVR'ed for me. There will be a second season and I'm good with that. It's different and that's always a plus.

 

[Riva]

I watched the whole season. Liked it. Have to wait for another year for the second season. Too bad.

How long does the novels last? The length of the series would depend on that I presume.

 

[Totenkindly]

I've now watched half the season.

It's odd -- I like it, but I'm not necessarily always excited to devote an hour to it. It's not even because it's bad, because it's not, it's a decent show. Just... I'm not quite reeled in, I guess. I think it is because it's not really clear what the plot is (Shadow is taking Mr. Wednesday to Wisconsin -- that's the plot right now, and half the season is finished!), and because there are numerous sequences with the non-main characters. They're all interesting scenes (like the one with the Ifrit), but it's hard to get a sense of what the big picture of the story is.

EXCEPT... I just watched episode 4 dealing with Laura Moon, Shadow's dead wife. (Not much of a spoiler, you find this out in the first few minutes of the series, it's just a plot point.) The whole episode is dedicated to her backstory, since it's very relevant to the series. GREAT episode, and engrossing, and just focused on that one character. Also, hats off to Betty Gilpin, who I loved in GLOW and who is great here with just a small supporting part as Audrey... her reactions to Laura later in the episode were spot-on and totally hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing. It honestly was the Best Ever, that whole sequence, with just the right amount of terror, anxiety, outrage, you name it.

One article:
Laura Moon is AMERICAN GODS’ Cautionary Tale of American Apathy | Nerdist

 

[Totenkindly]

Just finished Episode 5 -- another decent episode. I think once everything starts to happen, the series starts to coalesce a bit. And we get the appearance of three of the new gods here, which is pretty cool. (I am so glad they cast Crispin Glover in this series.)

More interesting stuff about Laura Moon I am thinking about:

I find her character kind of fascinating and perhaps even a comment about American apathy or just apathy in general... where if you don't actually believe in SOMETHING, you end up drifting a lot and your actions become confined to choices offered you by others which necessarily limits your choices. Like when she wasn't truly committed to Shadow, when she was offered an affair with Robbie, she drifted into it without really caring much for Robbie... something that eventually gets her killed.

Now she is beholden to Shadow, after he gave her the leprechaun's magic coin, since it's deep within her and providing her life / keeping her tethered to the mortal world. Since Shadow gave her the coin, he has in essence become HER god -- when he comes on the scene, he appears to her in a glowing nimbus of light that illuminates her world, and when he leaves, things fade into darkness. The landscape is all dark to her except for the glow in the distance of where Shadow is. When he kisses her, her being fills with light and she starts to feel alive again.

She now is stuck being an adherent to her "god" Shadow. She did not believe in anything, so she became beholden to magic, and now her life revolves around Shadow because he's the only thing that makes her dead body feel alive again and gives her purpose in the world. And while she keep calling HIM "Puppy," she is his puppy now... the little dog that has to follow him around and protect him and is fully invested in his life.

Really fascinating, because I don't think her backstory was fleshed out in the book, although I'm not sure how much of the rest was described.

Episode 6 -- Vulcan and the concept is pretty breath-taking ... wow.

And then that ending. Bigger wow.

---------------

So the gist of things so far:

Odin is heading to Wisconsin... not sure why. And not sure why he picked Shadow Moon. He's picking up old gods along the way to help him regain his place in the world.

The new gods either are scared of him, wary of him, or want to subsume him. In fact, Mr. World attempts to subsume / absorb Odin into them so to speak. And to be honest, that's what would happen. It sounds like an "alliance" but packaging and globalization gods ultimately feeds power to the god of globalization and Odin would simply become a product. In a sense, that is what happened with Vulcan... sure he was getting power from placing firepower in the hands of Americans, but it's also feeding Mr. World, for whom it is just one product.

Odin isn't stupid and knows this. Hence he's dissing the merger, cursing his enemies, and gathering his forces for war in order to survive and maybe regain some footing in the world.

That's also why there are constant allusions to what happens when people migrate and try to bring their gods with them, and some fail and a few thrive. It's the same thing. Times change, faiths change, and if you cannot anchor yourself and thrive, you will be swallowed by the new.

 

[Totenkindly]

I finished this the next day. The last four episodes of the season pack a punch, once the overall plot becomes more clear and characters start showing up.

Hey, Jeremy Davies -- whassup? And of course the incomparable Kristen Chenowith. I love that Fe thing she always has going in her role, where here she can totally epitomize the social graces of a situation while immediately being able to F-bomb behind the scenes and drop the charade, so you realize some of it's just demeanor.

The finale basically ends with shots being fired across the bow.
The war between the gods is ON.

I like how Technical Boy is just a punk-ass kid. He talks smack about stuff he knows and acts all high and mighty, but he has trouble standing up to other gods if they get right up in his grill (Which, I might say, he is sporting in one of his personas).

Gillian Anderson is decent as Media, but I find Media a one trick pony -- like, it's a cool trick (presenting herself through the face of various famous entertainers ... in this season, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, David Bowie, and Judy Garland, I mean, she IS them), but it's Mister World, master of globalization and consumer knowledge, who seems a lot more frightening because it's not clear what he can do and his form/demeanor doesn't seem necessarily stable. But these three (the New Gods we've seen) definitely are powerful and dominate modern culture (esp American), yet they still feel like "new" gods... the new kids on the block who bring some good game but are also a bit overconfident, overspoken, and haven't quite been run through the ringer and developed some grit yet. They think they are hotter than they are just because they're the "new" wave and it's time for the old to either join their team or get out of dodge.

Mr. Wednesday is crusty as hell and doesn't really play his cards even when you'd expect -- only when it matters. Very understated. It's a move of significant confidence in who he is and what he can do, and I suspect some people forget some of the traits of that god, ascribing them solely to one of the other more prominent deities in that pantheon. I was kind of disappointed with Ian McShane in his GoT cameo (for 2-3 episodes), but damn he is really really GOOD in this series... it's just top-notch work.

 

[ceecee]

He is REALLY good in this. I like the show a lot but I loved the season finale. I think it is a unique idea with a unique approach.

I do have some favorites besides Mr. Wednesday.

Anansi - especially from Episode 2 on the slave ship.
Mad Sweeney - hehe dead wife.
Eostre - What do you do when you get usurped by Jesus?

I know the Black Hats (Mr World is one) - belief in conspiracy theories and The Intangibles - the invisible hand of the markets - are from the book but I don't know if they will go that route (they should). It also makes me wonder what gods should be in the show.

 

[Totenkindly]

The multiple Jesus thing was pretty amusing at least as far as Eostre's party went; she's kind of in a bind, and Wednesday made a compelling case for her to reassert herself. But it's just the little amusing things that slip into the show that make me laugh, like Davies sitting on the water, putting down his cup without thinking, and it sinks. And then he does that little Davies' groan of disappointment.

The "dead wife" thing is one of the funnier ongoing jabs in the show. I really like Mad Sweeney a lot, once I got over him being a little tall for expectations... and based on his actions at the end of episode 7, he's not as bad as he was coming across. Side Note: Is there any real connection between Essie and Laura, either biologically or allegorically?

(Oh, and there was Beth Grant as the bar owner -- normally she gets typecast as religious/political zealot, but here she had a small but different part.)

The opening "Coming to American" vignettes can be interesting, some more than others. They spent 6 months animating that one opening (where the mammoth tribe was crossing over the Bering Strait). The slave ship one you mentioned was another good one.

I have not read the actual book, although I realized I own it. I dug that and Anansi Boys out of my basement this past weekend when putting things away. I am REALLY familiar with the major comics work written by Gaiman, but not very familiar at all with his pure prose work.

So really, American Gods is just one book, in terms of the story itself?

 

[ceecee]

The multiple Jesus thing was pretty amusing at least as far as Eostre's party went; she's kind of in a bind, and Wednesday made a compelling case for her to reassert herself. But it's just the little amusing things that slip into the show that make me laugh, like Davies sitting on the water, putting down his cup without thinking, and it sinks. And then he does that little Davies' groan of disappointment.

Yes! I saw this a lot in with the Zorya - Cloris Leachman in particular, is so good with this.

The "dead wife" thing is one of the funnier ongoing jabs in the show. I really like Mad Sweeney a lot, once I got over him being a little tall for expectations... and based on his actions at the end of episode 7, he's not as bad as he was coming across. Side Note: Is there any real connection between Essie and Laura, either biologically or allegorically?

I don't know if there is, although, that episode was wonderful because it's woven through time (Coming to America), at least for Sweeney. Do people really know why there are leprechauns, generally? Probably no. And he was a king once, after all. And the Ifrit although Sweeney called him Jinn, correctly. I would like to see more of this character and the next swap. I wonder if they will touch on anything from One Thousand and One Nights, since they are also known as genies. Lots of possibility here.

The opening "Coming to American" vignettes can be interesting, some more than others. They spent 6 months animating that one opening (where the mammoth tribe was crossing over the Bering Strait). The slave ship one you mentioned was another good one.

The Beringian tribe scene was so , I don't want to say raw, but earnest. It was my other favorite.

I have not read the actual book, although I realized I own it. I dug that and Anansi Boys out of my basement this past weekend when putting things away. I am REALLY familiar with the major comics work written by Gaiman, but not very familiar at all with his pure prose work.

So really, American Gods is just one book, in terms of the story itself?

From what I gathered, it's just one book but characters span other Gaiman books. I'm not at all familiar with his work but I'm betting I will be before the next season.

 

[Totenkindly]

Gaaaa.....

American Gods Season 2 Is Reportedly in Chaos

It sounds like things are going poorly on the set of American Gods season two. After Bryan Fuller and Michael Green exited as showrunners, Jesse Alexander was hired for the role in February, and the CEO of Starz said at the winter Television Critics Association event that Neil Gaiman, who authored the source material, would take on an expanded role in the show’s operations. But according to a new article from The Hollywood Reporter, production on season two has been heavily delayed by script rewrites, efforts by Gaiman to assert greater control over of the show (i.e., to render it truer to his book version after Fuller and Green veered off in their own direction), and disagreements between the production studios (Starz and Fremantle) and Alexander about the creative direction of the show.

According to anonymous sources, this has resulted in Alexander’s being effectively sidelined as showrunner — without the word “fired” coming into play, however. According to THR, he “has been asked not to sit in on editing, be involved on set or participate in any other areas of production or postproduction.” The season is reportedly weeks behind on shooting, with the script for the finale said to be in its seventh draft. That has forced the budget to explode on an already very expensive show, because “now they’re spending to spice up what was flat on the page” and to just get it done, according to a source. Actors are also said to be rewriting script pages to keep the dialogue more in line with the original vision of the show (sources speak of “screaming matches” between Ian McShane and the showrunner), and Starz is said to be unhappy with the more “conventional” direction in which Alexander has taken the show...