S01.E04: Git Gone

[formerlyfreedom]

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The story of Laura's life and death is explored, including her first encounter with Shadow and how exactly she came to be sitting on the edge of his motel room bed.

 

 

[starri]

By the time Laura got to the motel room, I honestly thought that only about twenty minutes had gone by.  I can't believe an episode that was primarily about Laura being depressed had moved that quickly.

I loved the actress playing Audrey when we first met her, and I'm glad they found a way to bring her back into the story.  The black comedy of her scenes with Laura actually had me laughing out loud.

And I can't wait to see more of Mr. Jacquel and Mr. Ibis.

[gik910]

That episode flew by!  

I love Audrey. Like super love her.  The actress is killing it. The whole bathroom scene was amazing.

Mr. Jacquel and Mr. Ibis are fantastic.

Next week looks awesome.  

[AimingforYoko]

Excellent episode, and it did fly by. Audrey's reaction was great and it was good for Audrey she got to tell Laura off.

This episode did answer a lot of questions, but it left one big one for me: If Laura believed in nothing, why Anubis?

[starri]

25 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

This episode did answer a lot of questions, but it left one big one for me: If Laura believed in nothing, why Anubis?

The camera lingered on the "Anubis" on the playing cards.  That may have been the closest thing she had.

[AimingforYoko]

6 minutes ago, starri said:

The camera lingered on the "Anubis" on the playing cards.  That may have been the closest thing she had.

To quote the great philosopher Roger Murtaugh, "That's pretty fuckin' thin."

[Primetimer]

Don't even get us started on the magical hot tub!

View the full article

[bmoore4026]

It flew by for everyone but me, it seems.

Unpopular opinion - Laura Moon is an insufferable, frigid, entitled bitch and the blunt take downs of her by Osiris and Audrey were cathartic.

[yagathai]

I got to say, I find that an awfully shallow reading of the character.

[Lantern7]

My lesson: Just say "no" to road head. Or at least pull over first. I mean, that is just a tragedy waiting to happen.

Man, this has been an eventful few weeks for Laura. She dies with Dane Cook in her mouth, tells off a gatekeeper guy, gets flung to the real world, saves Shadow with superduper zombie strength, and loses an arm . . . and then more weird shit happens. And now Shadow is just this big flashlight of supernatural light that Laura can see. And I reckon this was an episode where most of the other characters took the week off. It was a good episode for a spotlight.

[WaltersHair]

Everyone knows since The World According to Garp, that road head (thank you up thread) is a very, very bad idea.

If anyone here watched Nurse Jackie back in he day, that actress was grating, but here, she is actually good as Audrey. I don't feel for Laura, not good or bad, which is what her life was.

I'm confused about why Anubis let her go back to Shadow.

[ShannaB]

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I'm confused about why Anubis let her go back to Shadow.

I don't think Anubis had a choice because the 'lucky' coin brought her back.

Edited May 22, 2017 by ShannaB
word change

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Laura was brought back to the land of the living by Mad Sweeney's gold coin, Anubis didn't allow it.

In the book, Laura really played as a foil for Shadow and I wanted her fleshed out as her own character. I feel like I'm still waiting. 

I get that she's disillusioned by life's mundanities, and clearly depressed, but I came away feeling no connection to her, no sense of who she is other than bland and kind of bitchy. 

Not really clear on what so beguiled Shadow that he gave up grifting and conning to live a life of wedded bliss with her. She really never did love him, or even seem to care about him one way or another. Her scene with Audrey was the only time she had any semblance of personality other than telling people why they're wrong. 

Count me in UO that this was the weakest episode yet. I hope she's not a focal character for the remainder of the season. 

[NorthstarATL]

I only know the actress from a Years & Years music video, but I thought she did a decent job of being bored by life, and, I guess, even by death.

1 hour ago, WaltersHair said:

Everyone knows since The World According to Garp, that road head (thank you up thread) is a very, very bad idea.

That was my first thought when I read the book, and that's part of why it didn't grab me the way it should have, as I kept looking for other instances of "sampling" throughout.  I also have a problem with empathizing in any way with someone wanting to do that with Dane Cook, whereas I can easily accept being all in for Ricky Whittle, so personal taste also enters into it.

  Also, Laura obviously knows nothing about crafting. You go first for the glue gun, and THEN consider sewing the project once the arm is in place.

 Flies are related to all sorts of deities, so I was making assumptions about connections before Zombie Laura more logically attracted them.

[bmoore4026]

52 minutes ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Laura was brought back to the land of the living by Mad Sweeney's gold coin, Anubis didn't allow it.

 

In the book, Laura really played as a foil for Shadow and I wanted her fleshed out as her own character. I feel like I'm still waiting. 

I get that she's disillusioned by life's mundanities, and clearly depressed, but I came away feeling no connection to her, no sense of who she is other than bland and kind of bitchy. 

Not really clear on what so beguiled Shadow that he gave up grifting and conning to live a life of wedded bliss with her. She really never did love him, or even seem to care about him one way or another. Her scene with Audrey was the only time she had any semblance of personality other than telling people why they're wrong. 

Count me in UO that this was the weakest episode yet. I hope she's not a focal character for the remainder of the season. 

This.  This is why I hate her or pretty close to it.  I'm getting reamed on The AV Club for not liking her, especially by a user who has a woman with white fluid coming out of her mouth as their avatar icon.

[Joimiaroxeu]

This was first episode where Ricky Whittle's American accent wasn't working for me. But Lawd have mercy he sure is gorgeous.

So of course the first episode where I pretty much understood what was going on (except for the bug spray huffing. WTF?) would also be the one so many people seem to have disliked. Is this another case where having already read the book would've made a difference? (Rhetorical question; am not looking for any book clues in this thread.)

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that is just a tragedy waiting to happen.

Clearly she had long been depressed but is it possible she was also suicidal and subconsciously hoped she'd cause a fatal accident by distracting him?

[yagathai]

2 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

If anyone here watched Nurse Jackie back in he day, that actress was grating, but here, she is actually good as Audrey. I don't feel for Laura, not good or bad, which is what her life was.

I really think Betty Gilpin has done an amazing job as Audrey. She steals every scene she's in.

 

2 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Laura was brought back to the land of the living by Mad Sweeney's gold coin, Anubis didn't allow it.

I get that she's disillusioned by life's mundanities, and clearly depressed, but I came away feeling no connection to her, no sense of who she is other than bland and kind of bitchy. 

Depression does that to you, and I think that comes across marvelously -- she's got a decent life and she wants to be happy, but she's really just going through the motions. I found that portrayal moving and powerful, personally.

[magdalene]

Within the time constraints of an hourly episode I thought this did well in showing some of what makes up a person who has been depressed for a long time.  It was realistic that "finding love" didn't make Laura any less depressed.  While I didn't come away liking Laura she did have  moments when I found her awesome - her bad ass saving of  Shadow, and the scrappy way she refused her fate when confronting Anubis at the scales.

Plus we got to see Audrey again - "Get out of my house you zombie whore!"  I love Audrey. That actor was fantastic in the first episode and she was terrific again here.

Edited May 22, 2017 by magdalene

[jeansheridan]

I loved this episode.  Laura Moon could have just been a one note character.  The bad woman/zombie who betrayed Shadow in a manner embarrassing for him.

 But I love this direction.  I loved that we get a complete non-believer who argues physics doesn't take a day off on Sunday but when she dies she finds out Death doesn't care if she believes.  I loved that love doesn't fix her.  And that her plan to break out of her small town life just trapped her for three more years. And that she is pissed her perfect plan didn't work (I sense shenanigans from the gods).  I like that she is mostly blunt and honest.  And that it takes dying to motivate her.  The act of dying transforms her and wakes her up.  It's awesome.  

This is Fuller and Greene going way off page and I loved it.  

Plus come on..how can you not love seeing her walk down the street covered in gore holding her own arm?  It's funny and horrifying,  but mostly funny.

[scarynikki12]

As I watched the episode it occurred to me that casting Dane Cook as Robbie was a stroke of genius.  There could not be a better visual representation of Laura's depression and self-destructive behavior because no way would an emotionally healthy woman go for that.  I hold this true for Audrey as well.  Not a Dane Cook fan as you can tell.

I think my favorite scene was Anubis, Mr. Ibis*, and Laura in the funeral parlor.  Watching Anubis put her back together and make her look alive while Mr. Ibis talked was great.  This casting director has nailed every part so far. 

*I don't remember if they've said his god name yet and don't want to risk even a hint of spoiler.

[jeansheridan]

I didn't know that was Dane Cook. I like the blend of name and unknown actors.  The actor playing Anubis has great presence. And I liked his menacing threat to Laura because it gives her more motivation to prove him wrong.  

Some personalities need to face adversity to become their best self.  An occasion to rise to.  Laura seems to be that sort of person.

[Haleth]

5 hours ago, jeansheridan said:

Plus come on..how can you not love seeing her walk down the street covered in gore holding her own arm?  It's funny and horrifying,  but mostly funny.

Yeah, the sight of her dragging that arm around was ghoulish but pretty darn funny.  It's possible to sympathize with Laura for being obviously depressed, but still not like her.  The show made us care about Shadow first so it's hard to embrace the woman who contributed to his going to prison then cheated on him with his best friend.  Her fate of spending eternity in the dark seems incredibly harsh though since her lack of faith is a result of her depression and not really a choice.

7 hours ago, NorthstarATL said:

Also, Laura obviously knows nothing about crafting. You go first for the glue gun, and THEN consider sewing the project once the arm is in place.

This should have been the highlighted quote on the front page.

I love Audrey and her reaction to seeing Laura.  First terror, then anger, then simmering resentment.  Too bad she probably went home after dropping Laura off with Jackal and Ibis.  The road trip would have made a great scrapbook.

[luna1122]

I loved the episode. Laura Moon is not a likeable woman, but Emily Browning is such a compelling onscreen presence that I was immediately interested in her. Her depression felt organic and real; someone loving you doesn't just fix it. Being a nihilist doesn't much help on the happiness meter, either, in general, I'd suspect. She's not merely atheist--broadly speaking, we tend to be a fairly happy lot, we don't believe in gods and afterlives but we believe in plenty of good stuff in THIS life---but Laura seems to really believe in nothing. She doesn't even love her cat, tho she grieves it enough to fall in bed with Dane Cook. (I don't hate Dane Cook, even if I should, and I think he did a pretty good job here. Robbie is pretty much of a douche, so maybe that was in his wheelhouse).

Shadow's falling for her is sort of baffling, and yet not: she's beautiful and cool, and her sort of passive interest in him is something that is catnip for some people. He wants to save her, change her, transform her with his love. That never works.

I love Audrey, and the interplay between her and Laura was hilarious. Laura nodding in agreement that Audrey trying to fuck Shadow on her grave was only fair made me laugh out loud.

Loved seeing Hannibal's Tobias again, too, as Mr. Ibis.

[wanderingstar]

"Get out of my house, you zombie whore!"

Audrey is just the best!

I liked getting some background on Laura and her relationship with Shadow. And the confrontation with Audrey was great! Good stuff from both actresses. 

It was also nice to see what Shadow was like before prison made him more subdued and jaded.

I would totally watch a spinoff featuring the adventures of Ibis and Jacquel.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I only know Emily Browning from the Series of Unfortunate Events movie (I can't believe that was over a decade ago!). I thought she did a good job portraying her depression. It's hard to convey a lot when you're just staring miserably at nothing but I thought that she made it clear that she was depressed, not just spacing out and staring blankly at the walls.

10 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

Everyone knows since The World According to Garp, that road head (thank you up thread) is a very, very bad idea.

If anyone here watched Nurse Jackie back in he day, that actress was grating, but here, she is actually good as Audrey. I don't feel for Laura, not good or bad, which is what her life was.

And the Parenthood movie! Like seriously, that is just an accident waiting to happen. If you learn nothing else from movies, remember this!

I too thought Betty Gilpin was terrible on Nurse Betty (and Masters of Sex) but she was great in this episode (I wasn't crazy about her earlier appearance at the graveyard). I wish we could see more of Audrey telling Laura things like, "Oh, fuck your feelings." I would totally watch a spinoff of Awkward Crafting and Road Trips with Audrey and Laura.

8 hours ago, NorthstarATL said:

I also have a problem with empathizing in any way with someone wanting to do that with Dane Cook, whereas I can easily accept being all in for Ricky Whittle, so personal taste also enters into it.

 

6 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

As I watched the episode it occurred to me that casting Dane Cook as Robbie was a stroke of genius.  There could not be a better visual representation of Laura's depression and self-destructive behavior because no way would an emotionally healthy woman go for that.  I hold this true for Audrey as well.  Not a Dane Cook fan as you can tell.

Dane Cook just oozes douche bro so he has never had any appeal for me. For that reason, I was going ewwwww at Laura's decision to bone him. But that is actually a great explanation. Laura choosing him is a sign of her depression!

Edited May 22, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Drogo]

As unsympathetic as Laura Moon is shown to be, the episode also shows how unrealistic Shadow's expectations were for her/their marriage- how blind he was to her struggle and how different her needs were from his own.

I did love their "I just want to go home"/"Then take me the fuck home" exchange. 'Attaboy.

[clack]

Eternal darkness seems to be a harsh punishment for someone suffering from a medical condition, which depression is. Anubis is a dick.

[starri]

12 minutes ago, clack said:

Eternal darkness seems to be a harsh punishment for someone suffering from a medical condition, which depression is. Anubis is a dick.

Not his decision.  It's all about if the scale balances.

[BuddhaBelly]

I don't think Anubis cares about your emotional state, that's not his job. He also doesn't determine where you end up, your life and actions/belief during life does. Laura believed in nothing, so she goes to nothing...what else could she expect? The Muslim woman from the earlier episode had a belief system, so she got options. I think that's a pretty fair system.

I did love how angry he got when Laura wouldn't respect the process, but admired the quiet dignity he treated her with when they met again, even when it was to explain that all things must come to their end. Watching him and Mr. Ibis was a joy. And shout out to the lighting director for this show, because Queen Sugar is the only other show that lights dark skin so well.

I really enjoyed this episode. Weirdly enough, I didn't mind being taken out of the "action."

[nodorothyparker]

I found the first half really slow but worth the effort to stick through for its portrayal of longterm depression to the point of inertia.  No, maybe it's not the most riveting television but I think it goes a long way in explaining how our characters got here.   Laura doesn't have big showy displays of anger or dramatic suicide attempts that get everyone's attention, she's just sleepwalking through her life to her shitty job and occasionally huffing bug spray in half-assed attempts to end it when she meets this guy and yeah, she probably does love him and it's nice but it doesn't fix it either.  So years pass and she's still in the same place and now she's resentful about it and Shadow is apparently oblivious to the whole thing but he's also that guy who will go along with whatever.  But then that doesn't work out either and now she's stuck for several more years just waiting waiting waiting.

It would be a hard sell to make that likable, and I like that they don't really try.  What it does is give me some context beyond oh, she was a cheating bitch and poor poor Shadow.  It's telling that the affair with doofy Robbie seemed to just happen like so much of the rest of her life seemed to just happen with very little deliberate decisiveness on her part.  It also fits with what we've seen of Shadow so far that he's a guy who goes along with whatever and doesn't question too deeply.

The Laura-Audrey scenes were fantastic and the conversation between them felt surprisingly real for interactions between an angry grieving widow and the back from the dead zombie who was fucking her husband.  It also made for a nice parallel to the Audrey-Shadow scene at Laura's grave in the first episode where they were talking about how you don't get closure to say the things you want to say.  Here, Audrey did and she was certainly making the most of it.

Eternal darkness sounds much scarier than the vague notions many nonbelievers have about going back to be "part of the universe" or even just nothing at all after death.  I wouldn't be all that keen on it either if it was presented that way to me.    

[jeansheridan]

2 hours ago, Haleth said:

It's possible to sympathize with Laura for being obviously depressed, but still not like her.  

Absolutely!  She betrayed him although he is the one who originally tempted her to commit a crime.  And since Shadow was new to town, Rob was his friend for a few years.  It was a betrayal but she didn't have sex with his brother.  Audrey is rightfully the most pissed off.  And yet awesomely sews her arm back on.  Hee.  

I just like that she has some of her own agency.  She is more gray now than a fantasy wife or the terrible woman who betrayed her sweet husband.  

And I have a fondness for super practical characters.  From the moment she meets Anubis she just systematically gets on with her day.  Very little angst.

[jeansheridan]

26 minutes ago, BuddhaBelly said:

really enjoyed this episode. Weirdly enough, I didn't mind being taken out of the "action."

Seeing Laura knee the spine out of a person isn't action enough?  Heh.  Fuller does beautiful fight scenes.  Plus her smallness made it even funnier.  And then her arm just dropping off.  Dead Laura is fuuny.

[Drogo]

I don't like Laura... but I'm glad she's on the show and I'm glad we got this episode about her. 

Though I spent the whole episode looking for flies that weren't in my house.

[clack]

51 minutes ago, BuddhaBelly said:

I don't think Anubis cares about your emotional state, that's not his job. He also doesn't determine where you end up, your life and actions/belief during life does. Laura believed in nothing, so she goes to nothing...what else could she expect? The Muslim woman from the earlier episode had a belief system, so she got options. I think that's a pretty fair system.

 

 

But Laura does have a belief system -- she's an atheist. Does everyone who believes that there is nothing after death actually go on to eternal nothingness? A harsh punishment for making a reasonable guess.

And that's not even what happens with Laura. She does experience an afterlife, that transitional space where she is to be judged by Anubis's scales.

[luna1122]

26 minutes ago, clack said:

But Laura does have a belief system -- she's an atheist. Does everyone who believes that there is nothing after death actually go on to eternal nothingness? A harsh punishment for making a reasonable guess.

And that's not even what happens with Laura. She does experience an afterlife, that transitional space where she is to be judged by Anubis's scales.

Laura appears to be more of a nihilist than an atheist; she appears to believe in pretty much nothing, including morality or goodness or love or meaning. Atheists tend to still believe in most of that. I'm not sure, tho, how much of that, for Laura, is tied up with her inherent depression (or is her depression a result of her nihilism?) At any rate, not sure eternal nothingness is a fair result anyway, tho hey, lots of afterlives seem pretty fucking harsh and unfair.

[BuddhaBelly]

I'm curious to know what people would have been considered "fair." I err on the side of you put in nothing, you get nothing.

[luna1122]

I believe you die, you're dead. Done, that's it, not floating around in eternal limbo for not believing in deities. That seems fair.

[clack]

10 minutes ago, BuddhaBelly said:

I'm curious to know what people would have been considered "fair." I err on the side of you put in nothing, you get nothing.

Laura has a medical condition. Would it be fair if a blind person gets a sightless afterlife?

And Laura did not put in "nothing". She had a job. She had friends. She had mercy on Shadow when she might have had him arrested. She added little to the world, true, but she did add something.

[starri]

She also preempted Anubis from actually weighing her heart. 

[nodorothyparker]

A lot of faiths require active beliefs in something.  Good works or being a generally good person alone won't get you there.

It honestly never occurred to me to consider whether any of it was fair since that's not a concept I typically associate with old or current gods or religious belief systems.  I was mostly taken aback by the identifying of it as eternal darkness, but maybe that's just a different way of looking at nothing.  I may need to do a bit of pondering on that.

[BuddhaBelly]

17 minutes ago, clack said:

Laura has a medical condition. Would it be fair if a blind person gets a sightless afterlife?

And Laura did not put in "nothing". She had a job. She had friends. She had mercy on Shadow when she might have had him arrested. She added little to the world, true, but she did add something.

I don't mean she put nothing into her life. I meant, she didn't believe in an afterlife so why would she get one?

[Bruinsfan]

18 hours ago, starri said:

The camera lingered on the "Anubis" on the playing cards.  That may have been the closest thing she had.

Man, they need to warn jaded dealers at the Luxor about that aspect of the retirement plan!

2 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

Eternal darkness sounds much scarier than the vague notions many nonbelievers have about going back to be "part of the universe" or even just nothing at all after death.  I wouldn't be all that keen on it either if it was presented that way to me.  

 

12 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

I was mostly taken aback by the identifying of it as eternal darkness, but maybe that's just a different way of looking at nothing.  I may need to do a bit of pondering on that.

I believe the Egyptian conception of the afterlife was pretty bleak if you weren't judged worthy and admitted into Duat. I've read differing accounts as to whether it meant actual cessation of existence or being left to wander pointlessly in darkness forever. But either way, terror of that fate motivated the culture's obsession with proper funerary rites.

[Doyounot]

I surprisingly like her more now than before... she seems like a real person and not either the perfect loving wife or the terrible "whore". Going through all her loops got boring but that was the idea then she would try and change it. I feel for shadow more now for loving her the way he did compared to how she did. The puppy nickname doesnt seem cute anymore just kinda sad that they(or at least she) knew how it was.

Audrey was amazing with the pause to process and then freaking out and calling her a zombie whore made me die of laughter. Once she saw laura go to the bathroom she calmed down and was able to tell her everything she wanted to say. Im glad she got that so she can move on with her life having got it off her chest. My favorite part was laura's yea thats fair reaction though and also when laura tried to talk about the scrapbook audrey saying fuck you was great!

I cant wait for next week i wanna finally see how shadows gonna react and also to get back to meeting more of the old gods and all the old gods vs new stuff (i really wanna know what the other new gods are or just see media and technology again).

[Unclejosh]

I thought this was the best episode of the series so far.  It actually was straightforward and told a clear story and provided answers and was not really reliant on knowing old mythology or subject to interpretation.

No sure if this was clarified or not, but regarding the World According to Garp reference, that wasn't technically road head, more driveway head in a parked car that Garp slammed into since he had to impress his kids by rolling into his driveway with all the lights off.  So pulling off to the side of the road could have resulted in Dane still getting little Dane bitten off if someone slammed into them from behind on the side of the road.  Basically don't get blowjobs in cars is the takeaway.

[LadyJaney]

I liked the episode, it was quite engaging.  I do have very mixed feeling about Laura.  On the one hand, I can feel for anyone suffering from depression and just going through the motions day after day.  And the need for something exciting to change the game and never finding it.  Its a vicious cycle.  

However, I didn't like how Shadow got pulled into it and has had to pay the price for her lack of love for him and need of excitement.  At one point I had wondered if she had set him up to be caught and be rid of him...but then she offered to take the plea bargain because she felt bad about him being caught, so...

In the first episode it felt like they had a great love and she might have just slipped with the affair out of loneliness.  This episode showed that she wanted the thrill of an affair (thought Robbie was pretty gross, IMO vs Shadow's hot self).  That last phone call took on a different interpretation, and the car fellatio...just eeew.

Audrey is a hoot and a riot, I love her in every scene she is in and wish she could be a bigger role than she clearly is meant to be.  Pretty sure this will never happen, but I'd love for her and Mad Sweeney to meet.  Can you imagine the snark?!  They would become instant soulmates!

I'm guessing that Laura is going to require a regular tune-up at the funeral home to prevent decomposition.

So this glowing light that Laura keeps seeing is what she sees around Shadow, right?  If she sees the glow, she knows where to find him.  I guess the game has changed a bit for her with him.  Ironic that he glows for her yet his name is Shadow...

[nodorothyparker]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

I believe the Egyptian conception of the afterlife was pretty bleak if you weren't judged worthy and admitted into Duat. I've read differing accounts as to whether it meant actual cessation of existence or being left to wander pointlessly in darkness forever. But either way, terror of that fate motivated the culture's obsession with proper funerary rites.

That's helpful for context.  Thank you.  

I honestly didn't get any sense that Laura was getting any thrill or much of anything of all out the affair.  It seemed more like one more thing that just sort of happened, and it was more effort for her to not let Robbie in the door than to just go along with it.  The inertia depression brings on can be a hell of a thing.

[z couch cat]

6 hours ago, clack said:

But Laura does have a belief system -- she's an atheist. Does everyone who believes that there is nothing after death actually go on to eternal nothingness? A harsh punishment for making a reasonable guess.

And that's not even what happens with Laura. She does experience an afterlife, that transitional space where she is to be judged by Anubis's scales.

That's quite interesting what you say here, but you have to understand that Anubis gives her the afterlife of her choice. And as we can clearly see in this episode, Laura doesn't believe in anything, she is a nihilist. The darkness is not a punishment, but a result of her nonbeilef, that's all. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by z couch cat
a little rephrase

[Absurda]

I don't necessarily see Laura's lack of belief to be connected to her depression such that her depression causes her not to believe in anything. I've struggled with depression for the better part of 20 years and yet still believe in things. Her nihilism and her depression may be linked for her, but they also may just be separate aspects of who she is. Believing in nothing is, ironically, a belief system in itself. I don't see her afterlife as a punishment per se, just a reflection of what she expected. It is interesting that Anubis was the one greeting her. Was it the Egyptian themed casino? Is he the default god unless replaced by some other belief? Or does her lack of belief in something specific leave her "up for grabs" by whoever gets to her first. The actress did a good job of showing the character as sleep walking through life and her general inertia. She was a completely passive character until she died, then she seemed to get some grit. Did dying wake her up, or did the coin change her? Loved her interactions with Audrey. I read the book many years ago so I remember the general premise but most of the details are lost to me. I completely forgot about Laura coming back to life so I'm looking forward to Shadow's reaction and seeing how their relationship might change now.

[z couch cat]

Even though I didn't like Laura's character from the beginning of the show, I quite enjoyed this episode. It's always interesting to see the same story from a different perspective (Shadow's and Laura's love story) to get a 360. I can understand people sympathising with her because of her depression, but you can be depressed and remain a decent human being. I'm also looking forward to the next week's episode.

[magdalene]

This show is so interesting to look at.  The scene where Laura sits on the motel room bed while we see the fly paper hanging over head was like one of those modern paintings people pay lots of money for.