S01.E03: Head Full of Snow

[gik910]

My God (Ha!) - this show is just so beautiful.  That whole opening scene was stunning.  The rain during the chess match, the marshmallow/snow scene, the Ifrit sex scene.  Just gorgeous.

I personally love the vignettes - I like all the little asides and peaks we get into the wider world of the story.  

"Yeah- I like marshmallows."  Love, love, love how exasperated Shadow is with all of this.

This is a show that flies by for me - and I always want the next episode now, so for me Fuller & Co. are doing a fantastic job so far.

[ganesh]

23 hours ago, TheOtherOne said:

I believe it's considered groundbreaking because it's apparently the most explicit sex scene between two men in a mainstream TV series in the US.

More than Spartacus?

Ah, Al Wednesday played one of the oldest scams in the book at the bank. Nice work. It was one of the original scams Frank Abagnale pulled. 

I'm enjoying Shadow/Wednesday. I get that the show needs to do worldbuilding, but I could go for 2:1 maybe of actual show:asides just to show me there's something going on. 

[basil]

Quote

 I think I could watch Wednesday flirting with Leachman's Zorya all day.  There's something so unexpectedly lovely about seeing two older actors play that not for cheap laughs or gross out humor but something like genuinely wanting to still be wanted,

 

I second that. I loved all the flirting they did, and Leachman was downright girlish at times. I'm very impressed with her performance in this show.

[tennisgurl]

Man, they really didn't skimp at all with the Ifrit/Salim scene did they? Oh Starz, your commitment to fighting the HBO obsession with boobs with dick is always something I applaud. In the most tasteful, gender equal way possible, of course. I thought they did a great job with the scene, a great combination of mystical, sexy, and heartfelt. Like others, my favorite parts were the Infrit and his glowing eyes, and the happy look on Salim the salesmen's face. I love seeing all the Coming to American stories, they really set the tone. Neil Gaimon and Bryan Fuller really are a match made in heaven, both of their stories are mostly focused around tone and style, especially Fuller. I know the plot is slow, but I'm just loving the road trip.

I don't think Anubis was trying to trick the lady from Queens. Unless this version is super different than the traditional Anubis, he is the judge that decides if people were good or bad in life, and sends them to the appropriate afterlife. He was also generally pretty nice, and was sympathetic to people making mistakes. I think maybe they were saying the lady might have been Muslim in her day to day life, but her deepest connection was to Egypt? Is that how it works in this universe? Maybe we will find out more later, but I don't think he was trying to hustle her.

Zorya Polunochnaya is ridiculously lovely. I loved that whole scene, it was surreal but also rather beautiful. The actress really did look like what I would picture a mystical Slavic spirit would look like.

Shadow really is a super relatable protagonist. I too can be easily bought with marshmallows in my hot chocolate, and struggle horribly with Slavic names. I like his conversations with Wednesday, and Shadows rather long suffering expressions during all of Wednesdays antics. And the snow sequence was so cool. This show is so beautiful, I want to buy it a drunk. Or I`ll just buy Shadow a drink. Those pretty eyes!

I still love Mad Sweeny, even with his run of god awful (heh) luck. It still weird me out how attractive he is to me, even when he starts the episode drunk in the bathroom stall, and spent the episode looking like he just got hit by a truck. I hope to get more scenes with him and Shadow, they're a fun duo.

Edited May 16, 2017 by tennisgurl

[BuddhaBelly]

12 hours ago, DarkRaichu said:

This is the part I am not clear.  Are the old gods suposed to maintain their classical/mythological characteristics in new world / America?  I thought America changed the old gods as well, at least a little bit.

As far as Anubis, he may not trick that woman outright, but to me he "lawyered" her to accepting her fate.  The basis of his claim was she used to believe old gods a long time ago.  It was like saying you believe in Thor mythology when you were young so when you die you go to Valhalla, REGARDLESS of your current believe.  That and the cat pushing her to the door.  If she was at the right place, why the need to push her at all?

Cats traditionally guard the underworld in Ancient Egyptian myth. He was probably just trying to get the job done.

[quangtran]

16 hours ago, DarkRaichu said:

I was wondering if Anubis (the old Egypt god of death) pulled a fast one on her.  His reasoning for being there was basically "well you believe in me sort of when you were young so here I am" (ie. nevermind what you believed the rest of your live).  It sounded thin and full of technicality BS.  We knew the old gods were desperate for souls so at least to me it is not out of bound for them to pull tricks to get 1 to their cause.

I don't believed he pulled a fast one on her. She said that hers was a Muslim house, not that she was Muslim herself. The way I see it, Anubis was the god she always believed in, and not the one imposed on her in adulthood. Also, I get the impression that these gods wants either sacrifices or living people to worship them to gain power, and neither of these things apply to this woman.

[scarynikki12]

4 hours ago, gik910 said:

"Yeah- I like marshmallows."  Love, love, love how exasperated Shadow is with all of this.

Ha!  That was great.  He hated himself so much for admitting that Wednesday nailed his hot chocolate.  Ricky and Ian are a great comedic duo.

54 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

Neil Gaimon and Bryan Fuller really are a match made in heaven, both of their stories are mostly focused around tone and style, especially Fuller. I know the plot is slow, but I'm just loving the road trip.

Perfect way to describe the show.  I completely agree.

[Doyounot]

5 hours ago, starri said:

I may be wrong about this, but I think the encounter with Salim happened before we say the Djinn with Wednesday.  Wasn't the Djinn wearing Salim's blue suit?

Wow great job on noticing that i dont think i would have ever caught that even when i rewatch this(unless its brought up later on)! Good to know those separate god scenes might not be following the Wednesday/Shadow order. Also previous ones had somewhere in america and the date this week just somewhere in america. I hope thats not gonna be a huge twist i spoiled for myself by reading more observant peoples posts westworld style!

On the spoiler note I wanna keep calling him Wednesday just in case because my friend asked me today what i thought is he the god i know he is so for him it was a theory but things i think are obvious might not be for everyone and therefore reading posts are risky business with great shows!

4 hours ago, Miles said:

Maybe more something like "Sure, you don't grant wishes..." (I'm not writer, so this sounds a little dumb, but I'm sure they could have come up with something)

You are right. I just went back and checked. I would never have noticed that.

I also thought it could have been clearer and what you said would have made it 100% or just more laughing and shaking his head as he said the same lines and thank you for checking i would have just forgotten about it or been like aaah that person was right if the show brings it up later.

[Anela]

23 hours ago, basil said:

I'm having a complete opposite reaction. I was underwhelmed by the 1st episode, the 2nd picked up a bit for me, and I really enjoyed the 3rd. 

Same here. I really liked this one. 

When Shadow and Wednesday were sitting next to the windows, it threw me back to a small part of the first episode of another Bryan Fuller show (Dead Like Me - one of my TV shows that's the TV equivalent of comfort food for me). I usually like Fuller shows, so I'm glad that this episode pulled me in more. Cloris Leachman looked lovely in her scenes - it felt more magical to me, this episode, rather than grim - that sex scene (*fans self*) was really sweet, too. I also liked that Salim looked so happy. Mad Sweeney was funny, although that poor driver - that "yeah, you do that" in response to his offer to introduce him to god, made me laugh. (That was what he wanted, right?) 

Edited May 16, 2017 by Anela

[Joimiaroxeu]

16 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

Well, sticking strictly to what we have seen on-screen -- we've seen the taxi-driver djinn before.  We saw him leaving the table in the diner after having met with Wednesday.  Wednesday says something about him being difficult so it seems clear that W was trying to recruit him for the same meeting he wants Czernobog to attend but it's not clear if he was successful.  Now that the djinn no longer has a taxi gig to occupy his time, perhaps he'll show up after all.

Okay.

However, it wasn't necessary to edit my comment to make it look like I had a particular problem with the sex scene between Salim and Djinn because it was a gay sex scene. That would not be my first time at the viewing-sex-scenes-between-gay-men rodeo, so, no. Again, the problem was that I didn't understand the context, or if there was even context to be understood. I think other posters have covered the possible significance of the scene sufficiently.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[vavera4ka]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 9:24 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

That's sort of where I am as another non-book reader. I don't mind artful sex scenes or ones that are laden with symbolism. However, here they're starting to feel gratuitous to me because I don't understand the context or if there's even context to be understood. I'm increasingly feeling like I need to read the book first and I would seriously criticize the show on that point. IMO it should be able to stand on its own merits and not have prerequisites.

I don't want to drag this into the book thread, because I don't want you to have to look for it and possibly spoil yourself. And what I'm about to type isn't too spoilery, more like a description and the style of the book. I'm putting it in spoiler tag anyway :)

Spoiler

Some Old Gods are connected by the story. There are also those that have very little to do with the main plot. There are stories of coming to America or Old Gods surviving in the modern world. There are few scenes where everyone and their dog is included lol

But that's the "problem" with this book. It's not your conventional story telling driven by a plot. It's "there is a plot, but there are stories along the way, and they might or might not be of any effect on the plot". Someone compared the show to a roadtrip. That is a very accurate comparison. Large part  the book IS roadtrip. And "there is an end point but look at the views along the way" aspect applies to how the book flows

 

As for the episode - that was my favorite so far. It's so gorgeous and packed with symbolism. The sex scene was done so artfully  and sensually. It truly proves that it doesn't matter what kind of couple is on the screen, no matter your own preferences, when it's done right it's H-O-T.

Also since I crapped on the show for  how bad Slavic casting/accents were, I have to give it props when smth is done right. I had to rewind and make sure I heard it correctly. HALELUJAH! someone pronounced Russian words more or less correctly! (stress on a wrong syllable, but no extra letters, sounds, or gibberish in general lol) I went and looked it up: actress playing Zorya Polunochnaya is Polish. See, show? It's not THAT difficult. It sounded like they asked her to exaggerate her accent a bit, but it was infinitely more natural and a lot closer to what Slavs sound when they speak English.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

American Gods Delivers One Of The Hottest Gay Sex Scenes In TV History

It's sexy because it's full of feelings (and nudity).

[jeansheridan]

On Monday, May 15, 2017 at 9:12 PM, tennisgurl said:

Neil Gaimon and Bryan Fuller really are a match made in heaven, both of their stories are mostly focused around tone and style, especially Fuller. I know the plot is slow, but I'm just loving the road trip.

So right.  And it is slow but everything matters.  Really.  Like did you see that flash of a woman's eye in the bank camera?  Media spying on them?

[jeansheridan]

On Monday, May 15, 2017 at 6:50 AM, luna1122 said:

cannot tell you how many "Hannigram' shippers are weeping right now, as it's what we'd hoped for during all three seasons of Hannibal.

Yep.  We did get the 

Spoiler

Three way sex dream!

I think I liked it because it was a positive sex scene rather than dangerous sex.

 This whole ep felt a lot kinder, softer except for the rather funny death of the AA guy in the car (also a Hannibal series regular).  I loved how gentle death was with the woman (kinder than her cat).  I loved that epic fire escape into the afterlife too.  

Olds gods aren't just brutal and violent.  There must be comforting aspects or why else believe?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awwww, I love Wednesday and Zorya just walking and talking and enjoying each other's company. There is nothing wrong with instant attraction (like we saw with Salim and the Jinn), but there is something so delightful about seeing two people who obviously have a long history and genuinely like each other.

I love that despite Shadow's initial reaction ("Do I look like I'm worried about marshmallows?"), he admitted he liked them and then drank his hot chocolate. Wednesday wasn't fucking around - there was an entire layer of marshmallows on the top. At most places, you're lucky if you get more than three - with the exception of Creme and Sugar in Anaheim which piles on the whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles!

Edited May 17, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[luna1122]

6 hours ago, jeansheridan said:

 

  Hide contents

 

 

 This whole ep felt a lot kinder, softer except for the rather funny death of the AA guy in the car (also a Hannibal series regular)

I forgot to even mention Scott Thompson! I was so happy to see him, and then blam, he's dead in a pretty terrible way. love him.

I really want some hot chocolate with a tower of marshmallows right now.

[jeansheridan]

5 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Interested to see what impact Laura's resurrection will have on the storyline, but her constant "puppy" is kind of grating.

I think it is meant to be irritating.  Also Ann Richardson (or Richards?  Governor of Texas) said the one thing men fear is to be laughed at by women.  Laura doesn't have any real power but she can tease this massive man.  She isn't exactly putting him down but by teasing him she cuts into his authority just a bit.

Thus far we know Shadow is basically a moral man.  He has every reason to be furious with her and in some parts of the world he would be allowed to beat her for betraying him.  He could be a danger to her.  In theory.  I don't think he is dangerous but looking at it from the outside.  So she teases him.  Reminds him what he loved about her.  Seduces him.  And the shorthand for that is the irritating "Puppy".  

Three eps in and four women have thrown themselves at Shadow.  Audrey was probably the safest choice. 

I still continue to be delighted by Ricky.  So much depends on Shadow and he is hitting all the right notes for me.  

[Bruinsfan]

On 5/15/2017 at 9:17 PM, ganesh said:

More than Spartacus?

Spartacus provided far more than its fair share of dong, but I don't believe in the context of gay love scenes. I know the ones featuring Dan Feuerriegel were pretty tame, and I don't recall if we saw Barca have sex scenes at all in the first season.

[ganesh]

I thought there were a couple of sex scenes in the prequel and then in the final season with the two guys that were in an actual relationship. 

[yagathai]

5 hours ago, luna1122 said:

I forgot to even mention Scott Thompson! I was so happy to see him, and then blam, he's dead in a pretty terrible way. love him.

I really want some hot chocolate with a tower of marshmallows right now.

Fuller said on Twitter that this character was the twin brother of Scott Thompson's character on Hannibal.

[luna1122]

6 minutes ago, yagathai said:

Fuller said on Twitter that this character was the twin brother of Scott Thompson's character on Hannibal.

Aww. Poor Jimmy Price's twin!

[meep.meep]

8 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

Interested to see what impact Laura's resurrection will have on the storyline, but her constant "puppy" is kind of grating.

I think she's saying "Papi" - like calling him Daddy.  Puppy makes no sense.

[yagathai]

Nope,  closed captioning has it as Puppy.

[starri]

Without trying to drag this into book discussions, "Puppy" was her pet name for him because they lived in an apartment that didn't allow pets, so he volunteered to be her puppy.

[wanderingstar]

Quote

I don't recall if we saw Barca have sex scenes at all in the first season.

We did. I know this because I only watched season 1 of that show, and that was one of the things about it that stood out to me.

I've re-watched this episode twice since it first aired, and I really do love everything about it. The sequence with Anubis/Mr. Jacquel and Mrs. Fadil is incredibly poignant. And I could wax day and night about the Salim/Jinn scene.

And I'm really loving that they're spending so much time on the Coming to America/Somewhere in America interludes, as those are some of my favorite parts of the story.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Gillian Rosh

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 5/17/2017 at 8:16 AM, jeansheridan said:

Ann Richardson (or Richards?  Governor of Texas) said the one thing men fear is to be laughed at by women.  Laura doesn't have any real power but she can teas

This quote originated from Margaret Atwood. She first mentioned a version of it in an interview many years ago. The amended statement that she has since used and gets quoted all the time is: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."

[jeansheridan]

11 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

This quote originated from Margaret Atwood. S

Thank you.  Atwood is definitely having a moment too.  

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Janice Poon's blog about the food she created for this episode

[WaltersHair]

I love me some Irish, but you killed Mrs. Hurticure!

I've finally decided that the main plot isn't what's important, it's the wide range of cultural pasts and gods that's the grabber (and the Irish have been in Chicago a heck of alot longer than the Polish, but I digress) Having had a very WASPY upbringing with several generations being born here, my family has definitely lost the old ways.

This series is beautiful. I do hope there is a good pay off for Shadow though.

[LocimusPrime]

I'm liking the show, but there needs to be more action. More fights between gods, demonstrations of power, armies clashing ect...

[Kel Varnsen]

On 5/16/2017 at 11:08 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Again, the problem was that I didn't understand the context, or if there was even context to be understood. I think other posters have covered the possible significance of the scene sufficiently.

Yea I couldn't figure it out 100% either. I mean it is not like becoming a cab driver is that much better a life than your job as a crappy trinket salesman. 

[starri]

21 minutes ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I mean it is not like becoming a cab driver is that much better a life than your job as a crappy trinket salesman. 

It is when you're free of a family you hate and a homeland that keeps you from being who you are.

[ganesh]

A cab driver is more reliable income as well. 

[afterbite]

On 5/18/2017 at 2:20 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

This quote originated from Margaret Atwood. She first mentioned a version of it in an interview many years ago. The amended statement that she has since used and gets quoted all the time is: "Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."

And in the fun fact category - This quote was also voiced by Gillian Anderson's character in The Fall.

[AudienceofOne]

On 15/05/2017 at 11:33 PM, qtpye said:

The sex scene was beautiful, but is anyone else a little bored by this show.  It is all beautiful visuals, high concept, and quirky mythology.  This seems like a great mix, but it's starting to get tedious.

I've tried three times to read the book this is based on and have failed to get all the way through every time. It's for exactly this reason. It's slow. I was hoping the move to TV would force it to layer a bit more forward momentum on it but it looks like it's going to be even slower. I guess there's only one book and more than one season.

On 16/05/2017 at 0:24 AM, Joimiaroxeu said:

That's sort of where I am as another non-book reader. I don't mind artful sex scenes or ones that are laden with symbolism. However, here they're starting to feel gratuitous to me because I don't understand the context or if there's even context to be understood. I'm increasingly feeling like I need to read the book first and I would seriously criticize the show on that point. IMO it should be able to stand on its own merits and not have prerequisites.

Well, the book didn't help me. I've had to google or read recaps to find out who people are or what's happening. If there's a theme that I'm seeing, it's that Gods are entirely concerned with ensuring their own continued survival by amassing worshippers. A new country means a new culture means new Gods so the old ones need to fight back to ensure their survival. This is not an original concept so I think we just have to enjoy how damn beautiful the whole thing is and not worry so much about the thing called "plot".

On 16/05/2017 at 1:28 AM, DarkRaichu said:

This is the part I am not clear.  Are the old gods suposed to maintain their classical/mythological characteristics in new world / America?  I thought America changed the old gods as well, at least a little bit.

As far as Anubis, he may not trick that woman outright, but to me he "lawyered" her to accepting her fate.  The basis of his claim was she used to believe old gods a long time ago.  It was like saying you believe in Thor mythology when you were young so when you die you go to Valhalla, REGARDLESS of your current believe.  That and the cat pushing her to the door.  If she was at the right place, why the need to push her at all?

Yep, she didn't end up where she would have chosen to go. She was tricked by an old God into sacrificing her soul to him. Does that mean she's in a terrible place? I'm not sure. But he certainly wasn't motivated by her ongoing wellbeing.

On 16/05/2017 at 3:00 PM, quangtran said:

I don't believed he pulled a fast one on her. She said that hers was a Muslim house, not that she was Muslim herself. The way I see it, Anubis was the god she always believed in, and not the one imposed on her in adulthood. Also, I get the impression that these gods wants either sacrifices or living people to worship them to gain power, and neither of these things apply to this woman.

By choosing to go with him, she gave him her soul so she was a sacrifice. A God of death wants souls. She gave him hers. I found it more interesting that she was defined by a life of pleasing people and he was using this against her to manipulate her. There's an interesting point here about women's role in society, especially more traditional ones, and the way in which they're supposed to sacrifice. Her sacrifice continued after death and there was something quietly horrific about the whole thing.