American Gods

Kylara

Ghosting
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
1,621
Just watched the first episode. Excellent.

Been a while since I read it but don't think that's too much of a problem.

Anyone else watched ep 1?
 
A very graphic experience and have not read American Gods yet so can't compare it to the book, and to be fair there isn't anything else to compare against. Extremely mature content after watching Coraline and reading the Graveyard book, but definitely looking forward to the next episode.
 
It's a very twisty book. Both those you've mentioned are his more kid oriented books and AG is very much an adult book, with adult themes.

And the Coraline film toned down the story a fair bit as well.

It's a very interesting story, and I'm looking forward to seeing it play out.
 
I liked it and I appreciate they went extra mile to bring those dreamland effects on the screen. I haven't read the book either. I bought it as a present when it came out and thought to read it after my ex had finished. Only I never got to do it and over the years I never bought second copy.

American Gods intimate me with its size. But the quick look I had when I bought it showed Gaiman's rich palette and I'm glad he wrote adults before he did the children books. Or committed himself fully to the study the Nordic mythology.

This series is going to be somewhat more challenging to the audience then Westworld, but I expect it to gain as much audience because it's a gorgeous work. Amazon spent as much money with this as they did with PKD's The Man In The High Castle.

Still I have to do a second view on the pilot episode as I fell in sleep at middle of it. What I saw I liked.
 
I have not read the book but I really enjoyed episode one of the show. Starz has several really good series. I think Outlander and DaVinci's Demons are my favorites.
 
i just saw the pilot. I have no idea WTF is going on, but I really, really enjoyed it. Based on the thread about the book, I do have an inkling as to what is going on and what the main plot of the TV show is, but I went in with no expectations whatsoever and I was pleasantly surprised. I was a bit shocked at where the show started because I thought the trailer was the beginning of the show, but that scene doesn't happen until much later in the episode. The pilot was at times funny, at times very trippy, and dramatic and at times almost cinematic. There's nothing else quite like it on TV and feels more like a movie. This show is not for the faint of heart, and it's a tough pill to swallow. Almost Dexterish.
 
I am loving it. I read the novel when it came out in ca. aught 2.

4 episodes in, it's still in set-up mode. Half of the fun is guessing who is which god. And there are a lot of them....

So, the premise is that gods who have been brought to America, by immigrants, then been forgotten are trying to regain their power... people stop believing in them; they lose power and presence; yet they linger on. Mr Wednesday...Wodin, Odin, (same guy, had a weekday named after him) like that. Their American handles, or their occupations, give clues to who they were. Thus, half the fun in the story (book or film) is trying to figure out who the characters were amongst the world's pantheons.

Yes, Cli-Fi, you're not supposed to have figured out anything, yet.

I'm reasonably well versed in world mythologies; but some of them have me stymied. (Later in the book, Gaiman pulls out some obscure African gods who I've never even heard about.)

Yes, I had to read the novel again; because it's all too cool, and to figure out what's what and who's who. Finished a couple of eves ago.

The author, being also the exec producer, many scenes are near verbatim; though not necessarily in the same order. The novel, of course contains scenes, omitted from the film, which are very helpful to the reader in figuring out exactly what's happening, and who is everybody.

The filming is beautiful and spectacular, as we get sucked into alternate worlds of else mythologies.

The viewer is supposed to be mystified. You're not entitled to know what's happening until the revealers begin to appear... later...

But, if you figure anything out earlier... don't you feel clever?
 
I am loving it. I read the novel when it came out in ca. aught 2.

4 episodes in, it's still in set-up mode. Half of the fun is guessing who is which god. And there are a lot of them....

So, the premise is that gods who have been brought to America, by immigrants, then been forgotten are trying to regain their power... people stop believing in them; they lose power and presence; yet they linger on. Mr Wednesday...Wodin, Odin, (same guy, had a weekday named after him) like that. Their American handles, or their occupations, give clues to who they were. Thus, half the fun in the story (book or film) is trying to figure out who the characters were amongst the world's pantheons.

Yes, Cli-Fi, you're not supposed to have figured out anything, yet.

I'm reasonably well versed in world mythologies; but some of them have me stymied. (Later in the book, Gaiman pulls out some obscure African gods who I've never even heard about.)

Yes, I had to read the novel again; because it's all too cool, and to figure out what's what and who's who. Finished a couple of eves ago.

The author, being also the exec producer, many scenes are near verbatim; though not necessarily in the same order. The novel, of course contains scenes, omitted from the film, which are very helpful to the reader in figuring out exactly what's happening, and who is everybody.

The filming is beautiful and spectacular, as we get sucked into alternate worlds of else mythologies.

The viewer is supposed to be mystified. You're not entitled to know what's happening until the revealers begin to appear... later...

But, if you figure anything out earlier... don't you feel clever?

While the old gods are fun to conceptualize. I for one loved Orlando Jones performance as Anansi in Episode 2. That really stuck to me. I can't wait to see what other new Gods they come up with after Media and Technical boy. I worship both those "Gods" already so that side in the coming war really speaks to me. I love Ian McShane's performance as Mr. Wednesday though. What the show does is brings all these concepts together both on a cosmic scale and on a cultural scale, in a way that is most relevant to our times as well as hints at the generation gap.
 
Indeed. ^^ And Anansi is one of my favorite Trickster gods.

Now I'm off to bed to reread Anansi Boys. Not really a sequel, but similar in theme. And quite funny, as I recall.... It's been a while.
 
I wonder if we'll see Highways/Freeways iirc we don't meet in the book, but I have a feeling the tv show might.

I'm also really really looking forward to Hinselmann
 
OK my opinion so far about the ongoing battle. Mr. Wednesday (I think he is supposed to be God) is stuck in the past. The new gods offered him a rebranding now unless that rebranding = complete servitude and torture, he didn't really give a good reason as to why he didn't want to go through with that. Just I am great, no one is better than me. IMHO he needs exactly what they offered. All the Old Gods are coming across as old geezers to me, but then maybe that's the point.

Also does Crispin Glover not age? He looks better than he did in Back to the Future!!!! IDK if he had work done, but wow.

Anyway, I could care less about Shadow and his maniacal zombie wife. It's almost too creepy for me, but just almost. I really enjoy Mad Sweeney's story he has got to be the stupidest leprechaun ever.

I will review more, but I gotta go watch Episode 6 now.
 
Cli-Fi I have responded to a bit of your post here:
Mr Wednesday is Odin. Odin is the All-Father, the most important Norse god. The old gods are used to being thought of, worshipped/remembered etc and they give back - a sacrifice brings rain, or shine, or a win in battle etc. The new gods don't give back, they just take. And they are all very new compared to the old gods and as such act like teenagers, impulsive and ungrateful and without respect for the old ways, tradition, or what the old gods stand for. You have gods of death, and lust, and all sorts of specific things

There's theorising in the AG arenas that Sweeney is Buile Shuibhne...
 
Cli-Fi I have responded to a bit of your post here:
Mr Wednesday is Odin. Odin is the All-Father, the most important Norse god. The old gods are used to being thought of, worshipped/remembered etc and they give back - a sacrifice brings rain, or shine, or a win in battle etc. The new gods don't give back, they just take. And they are all very new compared to the old gods and as such act like teenagers, impulsive and ungrateful and without respect for the old ways, tradition, or what the old gods stand for. You have gods of death, and lust, and all sorts of specific things

There's theorising in the AG arenas that Sweeney is Buile Shuibhne...

I definitely get what you are saying about the Old Gods. That becomes ever clearer in the sixth episode. It was all about sacrifice. I don't know much about the new gods yet, but it also appears that your analysis has been correct so far. We shall see in the next two episodes how the war unfolds.
 
I'm at rather an advantage, being very well versed in mythology and the pantheons of "old/pagan gods" as well as having read the novel a fair few times. Though the series is messing with timelines and jumping about a bit. Not a problem though really.

Just remember that as this is a series thread, so try to put anything spoilerish into a spoiler tab (the option is on the bar to the right of the smiley face, picture, and video symbols or type SPOILER and /SPOILER with square brackets [] around each bit) so that people who haven't caught up, or started don't get spoilers! It's not quite so bad with a series that likes to keep viewers in the dark, but speculation often involves spoilerish things :)

From what you've said I think you'll be very pleased and intrigued by Hinzelmann (if and when we get to him) as he is a very interesting character.
 
I would love to watch it, but just can't stomach another streaming subscription (to Amazon Prime). In Canada, we don't get Starz, and American Gods isn't sold on iTunes.
 
Mad Sweeney background story in episode 7 was really good. I have to wonder why he
gave dead wife the coin back. It seems like he just did it to keep the story going with no reasons why.
. I also enjoyed learning about who is writing Somewhere in America all the time. Looking forward to seeing more about those guys.
 
I'm pretty sure it was because
he was the one that ran her and Robbie off the road and thus killed her. He also promised to take her to get resurrected, and in AG giving your word is very very important

The Effie vignette is one of my favourites, though they changed it up a bit.

It is very much a book full of vignettes interspersed with a meandering story about Shadow and Wednesday. I like that they've kept that tone.
 
I'm pretty sure it was because
he was the one that ran her and Robbie off the road and thus killed her. He also promised to take her to get resurrected, and in AG giving your word is very very important

The Effie vignette is one of my favourites, though they changed it up a bit.

It is very much a book full of vignettes interspersed with a meandering story about Shadow and Wednesday. I like that they've kept that tone.

I thought it might have had something to do with
Effie and their former lives. IDK if Gods remember everything in AG. I don't think they do, based on the types of people I've seen in the show. They don't have eidetic memories and are more flawed than actual humans!
But then the
crash happened and the lesser flashback lolz
 
It sucks that we have to wait a year to see 8 more episodes after this weekend, but I realize the story in scope is even larger than The Expanse so Gaiman and Fuller probably have to think long and hard about what they want to include next. The books are next in my reading list.

Hopefully Ian McShane wins an Emmy and the show wins others keeping it on people's minds. I've heard fans only subscribing to Starz for this show!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ctg
I'm left with a whole bunch of question. Maybe they're answered in the book. if so can someone elighten me?

SPOILERS INSIDE




1. Wednesday kills his friends Vulcan. But we also learn that Gods are born when people worship him and die when they stop. So does that not imply that the moment someone worships Vulcan he springs back to life. Or are they worshipping a dead God. But how can a God you worship to be dead. Seems to me that a God can't really kill another God unless they find a way for people to stop worshipping that God. But surely that is something one can only achieve over a great amount of time. Unless you're the God of Forgetting and make people forget about the other God or something. In any case I don't get how one God can kill another God given said premise of how God come into and fade from existence.

2. Is there a difference between worship and knowing a God? For instance I know of Poseidon, Zeus, .. but i don't worship them. Is it enough for a God to survive if he or she is simply remembered of does it truly require worship?

3. We are told that their are many Jesus's cause people think of Jesus in many different ways. But isn't that true for all Gods. I'm preety sure the image i have in my head of say Loki would be different from the image another have of Loki. With that said shouldn't there be a whole bunch of mr wednnesday's, odin's as well. Why is Jesus the exception and is there a need to be a bunch of them. Why isn't he centralized in one character like the other Gods.

4. Why is Jesus left outside of the battle? Is it because he is a god of forgiveness? But if so shouldn't that make him an enemy of Odin? Not because he wants to be, but simply because of what they both are and represent...

5. What about the Christian God? Unlike Jesus he isn't all forgiving. (Unless you go by the notion that Jesus and God are the same. Never fully wrapped my head around the part where the ghost, jesus and god are the same entity yet different entities.) In any case if we go by him being a different God (and Jesus his son, Jesus also a god cause belief in him and stuff) then I'm pretty sure he killed everyone but Noah and his family. Killed a bunch of Egyptians and stuff. Plus how does that work with the other Gods. By killing everyone of the none believers, does that not imply he at that time (Time of Noah and his ark) killed all the other Gods by killing all their believers. Meaning only Gods born after that event should still be alive. So where does he stand in all of this?

6. The christian god claims to have created the world, and i'm sure other gods do as well. How does this all fit? Where does Allah stand. Will Islam start playing a role as well? So far the show has shown most other major religions I know about. Though that cab driver seems to be a mixture of several religions. Or do Hindu's also sit on a mat and pray to their God(s) 7 times a day?

I'll admit I don't know enough about other Gods and religions save the Christian one. So it's hard for me to try and put things in place. Give perspective. If that's even possible at all in the show and books. But some info would be appreciated. Cause this show does put my mind in a tangle.

Hope I haven't offended too many with some of my thoughts on certainr religions. I'm a passive catholic/atheist myself. Basically I'm 99% sure God(s) and all it's subsequent religions do not exist, just man-made fiction. However since I can't disprove his/their existence i'm leaving that 1% chance open... . And since all you need to is repent and ask forgiveness to be included into the religion I was raised in... . I do find it strange how much i'm still painted by the catholic church. What i mean is, that whilst I live my life according to modern western society rules, in which thankfully certain religious views are forced to take a backseat, fact remains that when i think of God, my first thought goes to the Christian God which I was spoonfed in schools.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads


Back
Top