American Gods

Welcome to the Sir Terry Pratchett Forums
Register here for the Sir Terry Pratchett forum and message boards.
Sign up

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
5,126
2,450
Boston, MA USA
#6
Kinda surprise that no one has mentioned this since the series has started.

I watched the first episode. Quite possibly the most violent hour of TV I have ever watched. I find the guy playing Shadow to be not particularly compelling or interesting (he reminds me of Dwayne Johnson, which is not a good thing), but Ian McShane is great as Wednesday and Pablo Schreiber of The Wire does an amusing turn as the leprechaun god.
 
Nov 15, 2011
3,310
2,650
Aust.
#9
raisindot said:
Kinda surprise that no one has mentioned this since the series has started.

I watched the first episode. Quite possibly the most violent hour of TV I have ever watched. I find the guy playing Shadow to be not particularly compelling or interesting (he reminds me of Dwayne Johnson, which is not a good thing), but Ian McShane is great as Wednesday and Pablo Schreiber of The Wire does an amusing turn as the leprechaun god.
I don't have access to it at the moment. Thanks for the review. I'll just have to be patient.
 
Nov 15, 2011
3,310
2,650
Aust.
#10
Well, I just watched the first 3 episodes. I'm really happy with it so far. Was violent but not too bad for me. Love the cast. The actor playing Shadow is good I think. The opening titles are great. Will keep watching for sure.
 

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
5,126
2,450
Boston, MA USA
#11
Minor spoilers aread

Well, I did finish watching the entire first season. Overall, I think they do a good job with it, although they do stray very far from the books.

Good points:

The direction and visuals are excellent at times. They often go way beyond what was in the book, but that works well. Very surreal at times.

The shows add a lot of dimensions to characters that weren't that weren't (pun intended) fleshed out in the book, particularly Laura and Mad Sweeney.

Some of the acting--particularly Emily Browning, Ian McShane, Pablo Schreiber and Kristen Choneweth--is very good.

The device of starting each episode with a story of how a particular god came to America is actually a nice original touch, that, in some cases, becomes most of entire entire episode.

The many ways they update the book to focus on the battles of the gods being between the old ones of the old world and the new ones representing the gods of technology.

Crispin Glover. A welcome return to the screen for this veteran portrayer of psychos and dweebs.


Bad points:

Ricky Whittle as Shadow. Sorry, but to me he's like Dwayne Johnson without any personality. His acting is wooden, and his few scenes beyond looking around with a "WFT is happening" expression aren't convincing. He's the weakest part of the show.

Diversion from the main plot: If you're a purist, you probably won't like a lot of the embellishments the showunners have added to the story, I actually think most of them are pretty good.

The whole Bilquis subplot. Maybe I'm wrong, but I seem to recall she had maybe one scene in the book, but they keep creating more and more backstory, which really mainly seems designed to include sex scenes. Unless they're going to give her a huge role in season two, I wish they'd drop her.
 
Nov 15, 2011
3,310
2,650
Aust.
#12
I finished the series. Great review raisindot, fair comments well made. I especially like the way the effects gave it that surreal quality as well. Look forward to season two.
 

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
5,126
2,450
Boston, MA USA
#14
Minor spoilers ahead

Is anyone else watching Sesaon 2?

I'm midday with through it, and I must admit I'm less impressed than I was with the first season. While there are some interesting things (such as more development of the "old gods vs. new high-tech gods" theme), the pacing is glacial at times. And they're introduced at least a three-episode arc that seems to be focusing on the experience of black people in America. The black people and gods (Shadow, Bilquis, Death and a kind of voodoo god whose purpose I'm not sure of) spend endless amounts of time discussing all the suffering of black people then and now, but there's no real indication of where this is heading other than Shadow may somehow be part of this whole thing.

The whole Laura-becoming-alive thing is turning into a shaggy dog story. And the two Arab characters (one of whom is a djinn?) add nothing to the story. And Ian McShane's Wednesday/Wotan is turning into a truly unlikable character. The only truly captivating scenes are those with Crispin Glover as Mr. World and the lesser "modern" deities he bullies into obeyind his will. I really hopes this gets better.
 

User Menu

Newsletter