Another week, another episode of American Gods. This time we’re going further into slightly uncharted territory, and that’s always a good thing.
This week’s episode wasn’t written by Fuller and Green though. It was written by executive producer David Graziano, not that I noticed the change because it was a solid episode.
And the director? Vincenzo Natali. Like David Slade, Natali also had a hand in several Hannibal episodes so I’m happy to see him back. And at the same time I’m sad because I remember the time when Natali was going to direct William Gibson‘s Neuromancer and how that fell through.
Anyway, that’s enough. Onto the episode then.
“The Gods are great, but people are greater for it is in their hearts where Gods are born”
We’re back to the Coming to America segments this week, but to be fair I wasn’t a fan of this one. The fact that it was done with 3D animation made it feel quite odd. Though to be fair this segment in question wasn’t my favourite in the book.
But that’s not the important thing. We finally have that Shadow and Laura meeting and it’s fair to say it doesn’t go well. I’m a fan of how Shadow’s first instinct is to just throw a pillow at her to see if she’s real, but as he points out her being back is “par the fucking course.”
I always had a feeling that Shadow in the book was quite meek, especially in his interactions with Laura. Sure, he loved her and he’s hurt but he was immediately forgiving. Shadow in the show isn’t that way, he’s still very hurt and he’s not ready to move past that quite yet. Not that he has time because shit goes down for him and Mr. Wednesday.
“Why, you pretty thing, you.”
And now I’m probably going to spend the next few paragraphs gushing about Gillian Anderson. Last week photos of her dressed up as David Bowie in the “Life on Mars?” video started to make the rounds I felt excited.
Sure, that Media was going to take different aspects was something I knew from the start, but I wasn’t expecting Bowie! Part of why this scene is so awesome falls on Brian Reitzell, who’s doing a terrific work with the music for this show. In this scene in particular there’s a musical cue that sounds a lot like 70s Bowie, and it’s part of what makes it great.
Apart from Gillian Anderson slipping as many references to David Bowie songs as she can in a conversation. And she’s calling the Technical Boy on his bullshit as well! It’s a perfect scene.
“Give me my fucking coin, dead wife.”
The misadventures of Mad. Sweeney continue. It’s funny how Pablo Schreiber towers over Emily Browning and yet she beats the living crap out of him with ease. Or how she manages to use her undead condition to just make things more complicated for him. It’s a brief respite considering how the situation with Shadow and Mr Wednesday goes down.
The funny thing about their scene is how their approaches to being grilled by the cops differ. Mr. Wednesday starts doing the senile routine he did in the pilot but Shadow closes up and only says “Lawyer.” At least until the cop interrogating him points out that they received an anonymous fax selling them out. So at that point he starts showing a bit more interest.
At least until shit goes down, and by shit goes down I mean that the New Gods take over that police station. And we get Media channeling Marylin Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. She even recreates the notorious scene with the dress! But most important of all, we finally see the main antagonist, Mister World.
When Crispin Glover was cast as Mister World I thought it was a good fit. He’s always creeped me out, ever since Charlie’s Angels and the fact that his music career is stuff like this doesn’t help. At all. His Mister World is creepy and weird, which is his type of character.
It’s interesting to see that they try to bargain with Mr. Wednesday, offering him a complete overhaul, so to speak. And Media knocking Technical Boy’s teeth out by blowing a kiss at him is also a touch of genius. Especially considering his bullshit non-apology for trying to lynch Shadow.
The episode finishes in a weird note, but it looks like Shadow might be getting some answers next week. I will see you then.
Angry Spaniard, adoptive Irishman. Writer, reader, tea drinker and video game player/designer.
