Neil Gaiman's American Gods - [Starz] - Book Readers **Spoilers**

It was discussed in the original thread that we should split the discussion up from those that have and haven't read the book.

The intention for this particular thread would be to have a complete and utter discussion about the show, aimed towards those that have read the book.

So if you haven't, probably a good idea not to, because we'll be discussing everything in full.

First episode out last night. What did you think?

I personally loved it. Was very dubious about this and whether they'd be willing to go the full length with a lot of the themes, but damn did they.

What I absolutely loved -

The worship scene with Bilquis. When I remembered this scene from the book, I asked myself how on Earth they'd pull it off and... they really did. Some extremely well-used camera angles to show him being devoured by her.

Technical Boy. That whole section was amazingly excellent. Though... I seem to be remembering that the God of the Internet appeared slightly later. I might be misremembering.

Mr Wednesday. Amazingly cast and portrayed by Ian McShane. I am incredibly excited about when it goes further into the story and they start pulling off the proper cons.

I loved it. I'm actually rewatching the Technical Boy scene now because of how fantastic it was.

What did others think?

RobbingBandit

Don't get the Audrey scene very stupid to go against how things went in the book, was disappointed the it might as well be Thursday line was left out of the plane scene too.

pickarooney

I thought the technical boy bit was ****e. It was good up to then but it's given me second thoughts about watching the rest of the series.

MargeS

The Audrey scene at the graveyard was way off book. And it was just weird anyway, I don't think the actress handled it well.
The scene where Shadow meets technical boy, again, was off book, but I'm guessing Gaiman is taking advantage of how technology has moved on since 2001.

It is weird watching Shadow speak his thoughts. Part of his character is that he's quiet, introverted and accepts what hes sees and goes along with it. The first time he meets Laura is supposed to be in his motel room where he does realise that she is alive/dead. He sees her muddy foot prints on the floor the next morning.
When he plays checkers with Chernobog, he speaks out his thoughts when he is presented with the wager. I know that you can't keep thoughts inside a characters head on a tv show as you can in a book, but it shows us Shadow looking confused and manipulated.

RobbingBandit

Changing a lot versus the book to make it more relatable to non book readers, Cloris Leachman was great in her role, reminded me of the mad granny she played in Malcolm in the Middle. Orlando Jones was great but again a scene to introduce him to non book readers was weird. Wednesday is a lot more open in the show too,Czernobog was spot on apart from the one missing stand out line again, I like you, you've got balls, I like balls. I am sure that was Vulcan Wednesday met with while Shadow was buying supplies.

MargeS

RobbingBandit wrote: »

Orlando Jones was great but again a scene to introduce him to non book readers was weird.

That was weird... I don't remember time jumping being part of any character. The gods just follow the same time line as humans. Yet he appears in a modern suit and tie telling the slaves about their 400 future years of oppression.
Maybe I've forgotten that from the book.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

I like the little vignettes that have been at the start of both episodes, just showing a smal history of how each "god" made their way to the new world - the Vikings brought the Norse Gods, and the Slaves brought Anansi and, presumably, Bilquis.

Czernobog is brilliantly cast, great acting.

I don't mind about the lines being left out, it's not ruining the story, and really, everyone is going to have different lines that stand out to them, so getting upset or put out about those is a bit silly.

I think there was an absolute need to update the likes of Technology and Media from the time the book was written, otherwise they would have seemed as old school as the likes of Wednesday.

RobbingBandit

MargeS wrote: »

That was weird... I don't remember time jumping being part of any character. The gods just follow the same time line as humans. Yet he appears in a modern suit and tie telling the slaves about their 400 future years of oppression.
Maybe I've forgotten that from the book.

Me neither on the time jumping, that didn't happen again as I said it was done to introduce the character to non book readers, in the book the first time shadow sees the gods in their different forms is on the carousel at the house on the rock.

Skerries

also afaik he didn't go back to his house so that was all filler

RobbingBandit

After Laura had appeared in the motel he went to Wednesday and said let her mother deal with the house and other such affairs. I was half expecting Media to be Agent Scully instead of Lucy, would have been a fun twist. I am enjoying the show so far the actors are amazing.

MargeS

RobbingBandit wrote: »

I was half expecting Media to be Agent Scully instead of Lucy, would have been a fun twist. I am enjoying the show so far the actors are amazing.

Yes, I thought Gillian Anderson was going to be Media. She was good as Lucy but the makeup was a bit off.
It's only now I realise the importance of Loki saying about not to piss off the airport bitches. He was making sure that Shadow didn't derail the plan they had set in motion. It was when the conversation was emphasised in the show that I copped it.

dadad231

I watched the 1st 2 episodes there, looks amazing on UHD - also ordered the book, it seems Stephen King is a big fan of Gaiman - good sign

Dave_The_Sheep

Really enjoyed the first two episodes. Casting is nearly perfect so far. Tone is spot on. Some things changed, left out, I can deal with that. Looking forward to the rest of it. I am interested in how they'll frame the ending though. They've touched on the con-artist side of things but not really given it enough focus yet for it to pull things together toward the end.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

The bank job was pretty true to the book, it has to be said. The Anubis intro was also, again, very good.

I skipped the Coming to America sections on my multiple times reading the book. Found them the least interesting aspects. Was there as much gay sex?

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

Deleted User wrote: »

I skipped the Coming to America sections on my multiple times reading the book. Found them the least interesting aspects. Was there as much gay sex?

There was a sex scene yes. It was less graphic than the Bilquis scenes in Eps 1 & 2.

Nathaniel Bewildered Hailstone

Nathaniel Bewildered Hailstone wrote: »

There was a sex scene yes. It was less graphic than the Bilquis scenes in Eps 1 & 2.

I was thinking. It was admittedly tastefully done, but it did kind of feel more like it was just there for the sake of pushing boundaries over actually adding anything.

RobbingBandit

No pink earmuffs.