So I binged the first five of American Gods.
Thoughts...
I read the book, but time and substances have fogged the memory, so I am pretty much going in blind. It's pretty easy to follow despite everyone saying how wtf it is. I mean, Gods is in the title, Mr. Wednesday has been called Wotan(that and the ravens should give anyone with any mythology dabblings the tip), clearly the upcoming 'war' is fairly easy to guess.
So far, it's a lot of style over substance...which is fine, especially considering the style. But the episode with Laura Moon in particular suffered because either the part or the actress inhabiting it are not very sympathetic. Actually for that matter, neither is Shadow. He is easily led and kinda simple ain't he? For a guy with such a chip on his shoulder he certainly gets over things rather quickly.
So yeah, the leads are dull...but the character actors murderers row has been pretty impressive so far. It feels almost like stunt casting, but when the results are as good as McShane/Leachman/Stormare/Glover...well, I can certainly live with it.
Not sure/don't remember if the somewhere in America scenes are simple cutaways to show other deities in action or if they come to bear fruit later on. Either way, that's where the show really seems to shine. Maybe because those scenes have true arcs. As far as the SHOCKING sex scenes, sure...a woman absorbing a man through her delicates is fairly progressive, but we all know that the scene that will cause issues was the VERY graphic man on Djinn scene. For anyone who finds it that shocking...I dunno, deal with it. We live in an age where people who fit into the 'other' category are no longer interested in hiding. Brian Fuller is a gay man. So it's no surprise that, like Ryan Murphy, he is interested in promoting his point of view. They're here, they're queer, get used to it already.
Overall I like the show. Not in love with it yet simply because we are in the exposition phase. I do think, especially when it comes to the leads, they could do a better job of maintaining our interest while showing lingering beautiful rainfall.
And Mad Sweeney is the Wild Card. The show sings when he is on screen.
also, clearly Gillian Anderson is Fuller's Jessica Lange. The scenes she is in are extremely indulgent, but , once again, that's ok too when the results are what they have been so far.
