It seems to be a tendency in shows to do these episodes where they abandon the main plot to backtrack and talk about a secondary character. I don't think that's bad per se but when you've got like 8 episodes and you do it for 2 of them, and you're already doing little origin vignettes every episode, you lose any forward momentum.
Considering this is a multi-season story, I'm not sure how fixed on that momentum they are
It seems to be a tendency in shows to do these episodes where they abandon the main plot to backtrack and talk about a secondary character. I don't think that's bad per se but when you've got like 8 episodes and you do it for 2 of them, and you're already doing little origin vignettes every episode, you lose any forward momentum.
DeadWife is really learning about protagonist because of how closely linked those two are.
GingerMinge is arguably a side trek but it is one that fills in a lot of background for the weird shit in the show's setting. Which is pretty important for the story as it develops.
I enjoyed the Sweeny episode a hell of a lot more than the Vulcan one. And the Vulcan one seems, on broad strokes, like it should have been the more interesting one.
Put me in the camp of people who don't understand what the scene with the scooter was about.
My biggest problem with the show is the pacing. It moves so damn slow, and nothing really happens. Also, I don't know if Brian Fuller was the right director for this show.
For me, I've never read the books. I'm watching Brian Fuller's American Gods not Neil Gaiman's American gods so I'm all in on this. The only bad bits of the show are when it doesn't quite live up to Brian's reputation. eg. the Mexican scene. You can see a lot of the hallmarks of his style, but it just doesn't quite come together like the rest of it.
My biggest problem with the show is the pacing. It moves so damn slow, and nothing really happens. Also, I don't know if Brian Fuller was the right director for this show.
Which is, it has to be said 100% faithful to the book. It's an unusual novel in that it's atleast partially based on the Road Trip Neil Gaiman took while writing it, and it shows. (Several set pieces that we're going to see including House on the Rock are either real places he visited or based upon them with names changed for the sake of the people who actually live there).
In Gaiman's foreword he actually says that it's the first book he wrote where opinion was divisive. Usually (to paraphrase) either they liked his books, or they didn't read them. It is simultaneously his most loved and hated book (even among Gaiman readers). So I suppose it makes sense there would be mixed feelings about the pacing and "filler" episodes.
Personally speaking A Prayer for Mad Sweeny and Git Gone are highlights of the show.
Edit: Also I was bored and made a thing. Since Apparently Shadow has become Morty to Wednesday's Rick.
My biggest problem with the show is the pacing. It moves so damn slow, and nothing really happens. Also, I don't know if Brian Fuller was the right director for this show.
Which is, it has to be said 100% faithful to the book. It's an unusual novel in that it's atleast partially based on the Road Trip Neil Gaiman took while writing it, and it shows. (Several set pieces that we're going to see including House on the Rock are either real places he visited or based upon them with names changed for the sake of the people who actually live there).
In Gaiman's foreword he actually says that it's the first book he wrote where opinion was divisive. Usually (to paraphrase) either they liked his books, or they didn't read them. It is simultaneously his most loved and hated book (even among Gaiman readers). So I suppose it makes sense there would be mixed feelings about the pacing and "filler" episodes.
Personally speaking A Prayer for Mad Sweeny and Git Gone are highlights of the show.
Edit: Also I was bored and made a thing. Since Apparently Shadow has become Morty to Wednesday's Rick.
Spoilers for episode 6
I read the book a couple of weeks before the premiere and I still think the pacing is off compared to it - part of it, I think, is Fuller's tendency to create looooong lingering shots, which just grates my nerves when it's almost every scene.
Another aspect is the expanded scenes with Emily Browning (which I don't care for as an actress)
Not sure what your rebuttal is there other than you just disagree despite the evidence to the contrary.
TV as a whole is setup pretty crappy, shrug.
I suppose it might have to do with saying "They just need to get better everything" as a way for TV to be better.
Which is like...oh, so if they just got "better" versions of everything they'd get "better"? You don't say?
1 q: should I read the book before watching the show? It's on my kindle
But it is unread
The book is excellent but the show's doing a pretty good job too. I'd personally recommend reading the book first but I have no experience doing it the other way. The show however will not wrap up this season and to find out how the story ends you'll have to wait, so the book may be the option if you're curious.
I'm one of the (former) Neil Gaiman fans who didn't particularly like the book; I like the premise and love many of the characters and episodes, but for me it never held together as a story. IMO Gaiman excels at episodic storytelling where the episodic nature is part of the point, but I felt that American Gods needed to be more coherent as a story.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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MalReynoldsThe Hunter S Thompson of incredibly mild medicinesRegistered Userregular
I'm one of the (former) Neil Gaiman fans who didn't particularly like the book; I like the premise and love many of the characters and episodes, but for me it never held together as a story. IMO Gaiman excels at episodic storytelling where the episodic nature is part of the point, but I felt that American Gods needed to be more coherent as a story.
What turned the worm for you on Gaiman?
"A new take on the epic fantasy genre... Darkly comic, relatable characters... twisted storyline."
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
It's mainly that I loved the early stuff - I started with Good Omens and then read his great short story collection Smoke and Mirrors, after which I moved on to Sandman and the one-shots he did with Dave McKean. Around American Gods and after, though, I felt that the actual works never lived up to what had made me love Gaiman in the first place. Comics like 1602 and Harlequin Valentine fell flat for me, and the short story Fragile Things felt like lots of drafts for cool stories that needed more work, added to which Gaiman's intro made me think that his head had gotten a tad too big. Anansi Boys struck me as the kind of novel that thinks it's funnier and more clever than it actually is.
Having said that, I liked the children's books he wrote during that time. Coraline is great, as is The Graveyard Book. And the stuff I used to love I still very much love.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
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cptruggedI think it has something to do with free will.Registered Userregular
I enjoyed the Deadwife stuff very much in the show because she was the only thing I liked about the book. I'm one of those weird folks that just didn't really care for the book on the whole.
But I'm enjoying the show so far. I think the story comes together better in this medium. I felt the same about GoT, honestly.
I read a couple of pages of Sandman, but that's it.
American Gods is standalone, right? I mean, it's not a sequel or prequel or noquil or byquil or Nyquil?
It's a standalone, though Anansi Boys is side-quel? (set in the same world, but a different tone and can be read independently) and there are two short stories in Gaiman's bundles (The Monarch of the Glen and Black Dog) that deal with a character* from American Gods and their further story (and Gaiman has said that there would be another short story with the character and then probably a novel again).
I read a couple of pages of Sandman, but that's it.
American Gods is standalone, right? I mean, it's not a sequel or prequel or noquil or byquil or Nyquil?
It has a standalone sequel-ish-thing in the form of Anansi Boys but yes, American Gods stands alone.
Like a Companion Novel?
More like Ender's Game vs Ender's Shadow?
Or more like The Giver vs. Messenger vs. Gathering Blue?
If I wanted to read both, which came first/which would you guys recommend I read first?
I'd read American Gods first. I've only read Ender's Game and The Giver in that list but based on my knowledge of Ender's Shadow I'm guessing more like the other ones. The plot of Anansi Boys has nothing to do with American Gods, so far as I recall.
American Gods was published first and is, in my opinion, by far the better novel of the two.
Anansi Boys talks about some related characters and is technically in the same version of the world, but don't have any important overlap. If you really enjoy American Gods and want more, get Anansi Boys. Otherwise, American Gods is just fine by itself.
Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
Just want to say, overall, American Gods is a much better TV show than a novel. The novel is great, don't get me wrong, but it does not achieve the Great Circle of the idea it suggests. So much more the better for a show, then.
I am a little shocked that the first season is ending where it is. I was almost certain they were gonna
cliffhanger season one with Wednesday's death
and now it's like, wow, they didn't even get to Wisconsin this season? Holy shit. Friends of mine were taking bets that the location everybody's headed will be horribly overrun once it shows up on the show, and now, well. Not yet for a while I guess. That's fine too, but, still, the show took a little while to really fit itself together, but I was not thinking this would be the particular end of things for now.
Just want to say, overall, American Gods is a much better TV show than a novel. The novel is great, don't get me wrong, but it does not achieve the Great Circle of the idea it suggests. So much more the better for a show, then.
I am a little shocked that the first season is ending where it is. I was almost certain they were gonna
cliffhanger season one with Wednesday's death
and now it's like, wow, they didn't even get to Wisconsin this season? Holy shit. Friends of mine were taking bets that the location everybody's headed will be horribly overrun once it shows up on the show, and now, well. Not yet for a while I guess. That's fine too, but, still, the show took a little while to really fit itself together, but I was not thinking this would be the particular end of things for now.
Haven't seen the last episode since it's not up for me yet but apparently this was originally the penultimate episode before they got cut from 10 to 8 episodes with Wisconsin as the final. On the plus side Wisconsin should make for a strong open to season 2.
As to your spoiler, yeah that's probably a while away.
I'm guessing it'll be the end of season 3 to allow time for Lakeside.
This was, overall, a really great season of TV. At its best it was hugely daring, beautiful, and evocative, while managing to thoughtfully represent human issues and struggles by way of parables using a really great cast of characters. This episode, for example, personified the idea of female sexuality being exploited and destroyed by the internet, and did it without feeling forced or like the show was trying to bash big ideas over your head. It was wonderfully done and made powerful by having it represented by two characters we've known under other circumstances through the season.
At its worst, I think the opposite sort of happened. There are episodes and moments that did feel really forced and on-the-nose. I don't think it was ever a bad show, but I would say that there are times while I'm watching this show and I'm entranced by it's beauty and its mythicality, and there are times where it feels like I'm watching a really conventional supernatural drama.
In any case, I'm sad the season ended so soon, and I'm really looking forward to the future.
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Linespider5ALL HAIL KING KILLMONGERRegistered Userregular
I'm gonna be real here. The first episode was almost as bad a start as they could choose to start with. Sure, the show has a pre-built audience from the book and fans of the Dream Squeezer, etc, but, c'mon.
Until Laura showed up, this thing lacked a strong enough core. Amazing visuals, strong performances, weirdness, mystery...but Laura gave it heart, and a sense of something outside of Wednesday's endless secrecy and the New Gods' exta-extra secrecy. If all we had to go on was Wednesday's extra-green eye and Crispin Glover's pixelated face, we wouldn't have enough, no matter how amazing Gillian Anderson got to be Pop Icon of Given Decade For Five Seconds.
I didn't like her that much in the book, and, I'm not sure how much long term I'll like her here, but, Laura humanizes the show in a way that nobody else had managed to do.
Well it wasn't the House on the Rock but that was a really damn strong finish.
Also a couple of clever lines
Shadow: Now you're getting a suit made like your the goddamn Godfather.
Mr. Nancy: Who the fuck did you think he was?
Easter: Praise the Lords
I do have to wonder how they're going to resolve:
Laura knowing Wesnesday killed her and her being in a position to tell Shadow about it. I'm guessing Wednesday cuts a deal. (Maybe bring in the concept of Thunderbirds)
Are those The Tech Boy's goons? Media's? Are they just general new god goons?
Maybe they belong to Mr World? Cause they kind of look like World when they do the whole shifting duplicating thing.
The costumes they wear seem to be based on assorted sources from popular media (Clockwork Orange droogs for their first appearance, Fred Astaire-esque dance troupe in the latest).
But they first showed up with Tech Boy.
Maybe they're a new god themselves?
Are those The Tech Boy's goons? Media's? Are they just general new god goons?
Maybe they belong to Mr World? Cause they kind of look like World when they do the whole shifting duplicating thing.
The costumes they wear seem to be based on assorted sources from popular media (Clockwork Orange droogs for their first appearance, Fred Astaire-esque dance troupe in the latest).
But they first showed up with Tech Boy.
Maybe they're a new god themselves?
Are those The Tech Boy's goons? Media's? Are they just general new god goons?
Maybe they belong to Mr World? Cause they kind of look like World when they do the whole shifting duplicating thing.
The costumes they wear seem to be based on assorted sources from popular media (Clockwork Orange droogs for their first appearance, Fred Astaire-esque dance troupe in the latest).
But they first showed up with Tech Boy.
Maybe they're a new god themselves?
Probably doesn't really
I'd guess that they are Tech Boy's, he does materialize from one where as Mr World seems to just be broadcasting. But keep in mind what he is. He's a content delivery system. It makes sense the other New Gods would use him to deliver their messages.
Loved the finale, although I too was surprised that they ended the season here. I was discussing the show with a friend who's a huge fan of the book and just re-read it, and she thinks they'll need at least three seasons at this pace. I can't really second-guess that as it's been years since I read it. But I do generally like the pace they're going with. I really enjoy the way they allow the characters and stories to come to life through these long, lingering scenes. It's a brave way to run a show in this day and age.
I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait for the next season.
Posts
Considering this is a multi-season story, I'm not sure how fixed on that momentum they are
DeadWife is really learning about protagonist because of how closely linked those two are.
GingerMinge is arguably a side trek but it is one that fills in a lot of background for the weird shit in the show's setting. Which is pretty important for the story as it develops.
Get better writers. Some shows pull it off fine. And to be fair get better everyone else, too.
Put me in the camp of people who don't understand what the scene with the scooter was about.
:tell_me_more:
TV as a whole is setup pretty crappy, shrug.
Which is, it has to be said 100% faithful to the book. It's an unusual novel in that it's atleast partially based on the Road Trip Neil Gaiman took while writing it, and it shows. (Several set pieces that we're going to see including House on the Rock are either real places he visited or based upon them with names changed for the sake of the people who actually live there).
In Gaiman's foreword he actually says that it's the first book he wrote where opinion was divisive. Usually (to paraphrase) either they liked his books, or they didn't read them. It is simultaneously his most loved and hated book (even among Gaiman readers). So I suppose it makes sense there would be mixed feelings about the pacing and "filler" episodes.
Personally speaking A Prayer for Mad Sweeny and Git Gone are highlights of the show.
Edit: Also I was bored and made a thing. Since Apparently Shadow has become Morty to Wednesday's Rick.
Spoilers for episode 6
It was renewed two weeks after the premier. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Having read the book I'm more concerned with the opposite problem, them running out of material early, but they've been handling that well I thought.
I read the book a couple of weeks before the premiere and I still think the pacing is off compared to it - part of it, I think, is Fuller's tendency to create looooong lingering shots, which just grates my nerves when it's almost every scene.
Another aspect is the expanded scenes with Emily Browning (which I don't care for as an actress)
I suppose it might have to do with saying "They just need to get better everything" as a way for TV to be better.
Which is like...oh, so if they just got "better" versions of everything they'd get "better"? You don't say?
But it is unread
The book is excellent but the show's doing a pretty good job too. I'd personally recommend reading the book first but I have no experience doing it the other way. The show however will not wrap up this season and to find out how the story ends you'll have to wait, so the book may be the option if you're curious.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
What turned the worm for you on Gaiman?
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor
My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
Having said that, I liked the children's books he wrote during that time. Coraline is great, as is The Graveyard Book. And the stuff I used to love I still very much love.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
But I'm enjoying the show so far. I think the story comes together better in this medium. I felt the same about GoT, honestly.
I read a couple of pages of Sandman, but that's it.
American Gods is standalone, right? I mean, it's not a sequel or prequel or noquil or byquil or Nyquil?
It has a standalone sequel-ish-thing in the form of Anansi Boys but yes, American Gods stands alone.
There are also a handful of related short stories but not knowing either of those won't have much impact.
It's a standalone, though Anansi Boys is side-quel? (set in the same world, but a different tone and can be read independently) and there are two short stories in Gaiman's bundles (The Monarch of the Glen and Black Dog) that deal with a character* from American Gods and their further story (and Gaiman has said that there would be another short story with the character and then probably a novel again).
Like a Companion Novel?
More like Ender's Game vs Ender's Shadow?
Or more like The Giver vs. Messenger vs. Gathering Blue?
If I wanted to read both, which came first/which would you guys recommend I read first?
I'd read American Gods first. I've only read Ender's Game and The Giver in that list but based on my knowledge of Ender's Shadow I'm guessing more like the other ones. The plot of Anansi Boys has nothing to do with American Gods, so far as I recall.
American Gods was published first and is, in my opinion, by far the better novel of the two.
I am a little shocked that the first season is ending where it is. I was almost certain they were gonna
Haven't seen the last episode since it's not up for me yet but apparently this was originally the penultimate episode before they got cut from 10 to 8 episodes with Wisconsin as the final. On the plus side Wisconsin should make for a strong open to season 2.
As to your spoiler, yeah that's probably a while away.
At its worst, I think the opposite sort of happened. There are episodes and moments that did feel really forced and on-the-nose. I don't think it was ever a bad show, but I would say that there are times while I'm watching this show and I'm entranced by it's beauty and its mythicality, and there are times where it feels like I'm watching a really conventional supernatural drama.
In any case, I'm sad the season ended so soon, and I'm really looking forward to the future.
Until Laura showed up, this thing lacked a strong enough core. Amazing visuals, strong performances, weirdness, mystery...but Laura gave it heart, and a sense of something outside of Wednesday's endless secrecy and the New Gods' exta-extra secrecy. If all we had to go on was Wednesday's extra-green eye and Crispin Glover's pixelated face, we wouldn't have enough, no matter how amazing Gillian Anderson got to be Pop Icon of Given Decade For Five Seconds.
I didn't like her that much in the book, and, I'm not sure how much long term I'll like her here, but, Laura humanizes the show in a way that nobody else had managed to do.
Also a couple of clever lines
Mr. Nancy: Who the fuck did you think he was?
Easter: Praise the Lords
I do have to wonder how they're going to resolve:
Maybe they belong to Mr World? Cause they kind of look like World when they do the whole shifting duplicating thing.
The costumes they wear seem to be based on assorted sources from popular media (Clockwork Orange droogs for their first appearance, Fred Astaire-esque dance troupe in the latest).
But they first showed up with Tech Boy.
Maybe they're a new god themselves?
Probably doesn't really
Didn't tech boy call them "the children"?
I don't know how I'm going to survive the wait for the next season.