S01.E05: Lemon Scented You

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Shadow's emotional reunion with his dead and unfaithful wife is interrupted when he and Mr. Wednesday are kidnapped by the New Gods.

 

 

[starri]

Well, there's Gillian Anderson's Emmy reel.

[AimingforYoko]

7 hours ago, starri said:

Well, there's Gillian Anderson's Emmy reel.

They had Media, as Bowie, uttering the line, "Putting out fire with gasoline." Bravo, Fuller, Bravo.

And it was quite satisfying to see that little punk get smacked around.

[starri]

43 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

They had Media, as Bowie, uttering the line, "Putting out fire with gasoline." Bravo, Fuller, Bravo.

There were a bunch of Bowie lyrics.  I caught stuff from "Life on Mars" and "Starman" as well.

[Slovenly Muse]

And "Under Pressure."

"There's a terror in knowing what Mr. World is about." That whole speech was amazing, especially for Bowie fans.

Heck of an episode! I loved Laura's interaction with Mad Sweeney. First, her beating the crap out of him, then, him confirming what she's always believed: When you're dead, you rot. She hasn't been "brought back to life." She's just dead and rotting and ambulatory, and I can't wait to see her journey of finding out what that means.

LOVED the interrogation room scene! I get the feeling Mr. Wednesday is absolutely right when he says their offer of a "new Valhalla" is just a move to get him out of the way. And highlighting the difference between Wednesday's "giving them something real" and Mr. World's "occupying their time." The mystery deepens, but also begins to clarify. I love this show.

[AimingforYoko]

1 hour ago, Slovenly Muse said:

First, her beating the crap out of him, then, him confirming what she's always believed: When you're dead, you rot. She hasn't been "brought back to life." She's just dead and rotting and ambulatory, and I can't wait to see her journey of finding out what that means.

That's what happens to Zombie Whores.

[Lithogirl]

Crispin Glover as Mr. World was fantastic. That whole scene was perfection.

[Primetimer]

But who DOESN'T want Crispin Glover to play a modern-day Skeletor?

View the full article

[benteen]

I loved Laura's interactions with Mad Sweeney as well.  Crispin Glover was fantastic.  Really good episode.

[Morrigan2575]

I'm really not digging Laura Moon. I don't know if it's the actress, the character or if I'm just not supposed to like her. I just don't find her interesting or sympathetic, hell she's not even annoying like Tech Boy.

I loved finally getting an overt acknowledgement of who Mr. Wednesday really is. It's been both subtle and obvious depending on your knowledge of Norse mythology.

I loved the introduction to Mr. World as well as the face to face with Mr. Wednesday, Mr. World, Media, Tech Boy and Shadow Moon. Gillian Anderson must love this role, she's gotten to play Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and David Bowie. 

I loved the meeting of minds between Wednesday and World. It was obvious that World was playing Wednesday, at least I think it was obvious with the flattery (wisdom and knowledge, etc) and yet I can't help but wonder if Mr. World does actually respect Wednesday for his role in shaking the world.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Morrigan2575

[Lantern7]

This week: Shadow properly meets Marilyn Monroe, George McFly, and Scottie Evil*. "We have him! Why do you let him-" "Zip it!" "But-" ZIP IT!!"

Laura is a bitch. I don't know the proper term to use. "Matter-of-fact"? "Yes, I cheated on you. I died with Dane Cook's dick in my mouth. But I'm back, and I still love you. I know that I'm basically Death Becomes Her 2017, but don't you love me, Puppy?"

Fun interactions, especially with Media kissing off Technical (Annoying) Boy. Reminds me on Ivankov's Hell Wink from One Piece. And lovely animation. I'm certain that a certain guy with a really bad haircut is probably pissed. I know, he's in an area where they probably don't get Starz, but I figure he'll get to see the episode.

*"Entourage Lad" would also work. I know that he's not beefy enough to be Turtle in a reboot, but he's still an obnoxious fuck, which I realize is the point.

[AimingforYoko]

I loved seeing Technical Boy getting smacked around. Not trying to be racist here, but any white boy sporting that hairstyle needs to lose a few teeth.

[NorthstarATL]

The opening scene was really well done. Laura beating the crap out of Mad Sweeney was fun. I've never been impressed much by Gillian Anderson, and this episode did nothing to sway me from that.

[WaltersHair]

The series took a very strange turn here. I don't know what it says about me that I thought it was good storytelling and then the crazy hit the fan.

Really, really don't like the Laura character. She wants to live and there are hints in this episode that she can take that life from Shadow. Didn't she do enough to the poor man before becoming a Zombie Whore? (tm Audrey)

And is Shadow a god himself and just doesn't know it? The light around him and Wednesday, the way he seems to get out of things, bringing snow, etc. seem to point to the possibility.

I initially thought Gillian Anderson looked too feminine to be David Bowie until I Googled that suit. She might actually be too masculine, lol.

[Drogo]

Mr. World is making me take a long hard look at my salsa-buying habits.

[Ms.Moon]

2 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I'm really not digging Laura Moon. I don't know if it's the actress, the character or if I'm just not supposed to like her. I just don't find her interesting or sympathetic, hell she's not even annoying like Tech Boy.

I loved finally getting an overt acknowledgement of who Mr. Wednesday really is. It's been both subtle and obvious depending on your knowledge of Norse mythology.

I loved the introduction to Mr. World as well as the face to face with Mr. Wednesday, Mr. World, Media, Tech Boy and Shadow Moon. Gillian Anderson must love this role, she's gotten to play Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and David Bowie. 

I loved the meeting of minds between Wednesday and World. It was obvious that World was playing Wednesday, at least I think it was obvious with the flattery (wisdom and knowledge, etc) and yet I can't help but wonder if Mr. World does actually respect Wednesday for his role in shaking the world.

I don't think that we are supposed to like her.  She is a link to Shadow's past and he's going in a different direction now.  How she died was unseemly and very pubically uncomfortable for him getting away especially since he had been in prison means that making a drastic change in direction for him was an easy choice to make.  I don't like Laura because she made shitty decisions, she is literally dead and Shadow has other priorities now.  Her death parted them, it's in the vows and everything.

Gillian Anderson is very good here the makeup department is doing a bang up job with her.  

I think the thing that attacked the police at the station was the forgotten god from the opening.  He "died" at that tree, Wednesday, Media, World and the other rumblings may have woke him up.  I didn't notice the hour sliding away during this episode I was so totally entranced.

[Bruinsfan]

That animated tree seems a very weird thing for modern, technology-based gods to be using to cause mayhem in a police station.

[bmoore4026]

Wow.  Laura is actually likable now that she has super powers.  But doesn't she want Shadow back because of love or because of his light?  Since this show is more or less a noir, I'm guessing the latter.

Gillian Anderson is a queen.  That is all.  Media knocking out Technology's two front teeth with a blown kiss rocked!

I'm guessing Mr. World is the god of the corporate mindset?

We got a little Anansi cameo!

The opening detailing those people who crossed the land bridge with their god and both eventually being forgotten was beautifully animated.

Lastly, Mad Sweeney's pain brought me joy.

Now who is the next god going to be in the coming episode?  The one with all the alt-right people with armbands and guns?

[DarkRaichu]

55 minutes ago, bmoore4026 said:

I'm guessing Mr. World is the god of the corporate mindset?

Methinks he is the god of Globalization

2 hours ago, Drogo said:

Mr. World is making me take a long hard look at my salsa-buying habits.

I buy local brand.  They taste better than those national brands anyway ;)

1 hour ago, Bruinsfan said:

That animated tree seems a very weird thing for modern, technology-based gods to be using to cause mayhem in a police station.

The cops were strangled by wires coming out of the ceiling.  The tree god was awaken when Shadow Moon and Wednesday tried to get out of  the police station (ie. after the cops had died)

[Doyounot]

Amazing! So much happened in one episode! The leprechaun is hilarious "oh you're an asshole" made me laugh sooo hard! The cops must have thought he was the craziest person drowning a corpse calling it an asshole! Those two together could be another great pair like shadow and Wednesday.

Hopefully media does some characters im more familiar with as i missed all the bowie references but i got the marilyn stuff so i know she uses the character to the fullest! Best sales pitch ever to Wednesday also! I loved how he snapped them back to reality when they felt there was no way he says no!

No room for bad actors/doing other stuff while watching in this one so much stuff happens with just different looks Wednesday is the king of those (all his different looks while the new gods were talking were great! And his conversation with the bird!) But shadows look changing when asked about being her puppy was amazing!

This episode made things so much clearer what with the new gods not being so mysterious anymore and Wednesday giving the cop the gods honest truth! We even learned Nancy has already been in touch about the war.

[LydiaE]

5 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

I loved seeing Technical Boy getting smacked around. Not trying to be racist here, but any white boy sporting that hairstyle needs to lose a few teeth.

Tres tolerant!

[rozen]

6 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I'm really not digging Laura Moon. I don't know if it's the actress, the character or if I'm just not supposed to like her. I just don't find her interesting or sympathetic, hell she's not even annoying like Tech Boy.

I loved finally getting an overt acknowledgement of who Mr. Wednesday really is. It's been both subtle and obvious depending on your knowledge of Norse mythology.

I loved the introduction to Mr. World as well as the face to face with Mr. Wednesday, Mr. World, Media, Tech Boy and Shadow Moon. Gillian Anderson must love this role, she's gotten to play Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and David Bowie. 

I loved the meeting of minds between Wednesday and World. It was obvious that World was playing Wednesday, at least I think it was obvious with the flattery (wisdom and knowledge, etc) and yet I can't help but wonder if Mr. World does actually respect Wednesday for his role in shaking the world.

I think Mr. World absolutely values and respects Wednesday. He is older than all of them put together, if Mr. World can seduce him into a 'merger' he can absorb all of Wednesdays' knowledge for himself to tighten his grip on his audience. Wednesday wouldn't be anything else other than an empty husk with a cool name to attract the kids afterwards. 

I don't get why Technical Boy is all aboard the all violence all the time train. Trying to go toe to toe with a (old) literal God of War seems kind of stupid, generally speaking. Shounen manga alone should inform him that Young Punks shouldn't mess with Old Grizzled Veterans Looking for a Reason to Dish Some Out.

Mad Podunk Cop had to die, because she was sharp as hell. Please revive and stick her with Misty Knight in some copy mash-up, it'd be great.

Mad Sweeney cursing out Laura as she pretended to be dead was hilarious. Though I'm a little confused because she's pretty obviously a dissected corpse, so what crime is Sweeney really committing there?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Loved the scene with Laura and Mad Sweeney. Although several people have described it as Laura beating him up, what I enjoyed about it was that she was exerting to little effort, like flicking him away with her finger.

Poor Shadow. He's been dealing with one thing after another. Tonight he found out that his dead wife was alive, got arrested, and then had a powwow with a bunch of gods. I feel like he needs a spa day.

[netlyon2]

So, I can't stand Laura Moon.

That being said, if they just had a Road-Runner-style side plot (or spinoff) of Mad Sweeney chasing her to get the coin, I would be so here for it!  Like, a "Two Assholes" version of "Spy vs. Spy"

[Haleth]

Well, shoot.  I glanced away for a moment and missed the spider.  Thankfully Wednesday mentioned him or I wouldn't have known he was there.  I'll probably rewatch the whole police station scene anyway to hear Mr World's sales pitch once more.  And I'm going to start making my own salsa.  Just in case.

Last Thursday's episode of the Amazing Race had a challenge where the racers had play a video game and beat a professional gamer.  It was painful.  Tech Boy would have loved it.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Haleth

[BooBear]

I find this show fascinating but I am lost 99% of the time.  I just know... no salsa!

[Schweedie]

4 hours ago, rozen said:

I don't get why Technical Boy is all aboard the all violence all the time train. Trying to go toe to toe with a (old) literal God of War seems kind of stupid, generally speaking. Shounen manga alone should inform him that Young Punks shouldn't mess with Old Grizzled Veterans Looking for a Reason to Dish Some Out.

I think he got pretty strong pretty quickly which caused him to come down with a case of hubris, overestimating his own importance and strength and wanting to prove it all the time. (So yes, stupid, basically.)

Pablo Schreiber isn't at all how I pictured Mad Sweeney when I read the book and I was a little thrown off by him when we first saw him, but damn, Schreiber is killing it. His face when he realised he was screwed and that brief pause before "Oh, you're an arsehole" had me cackling out loud.

Something about Laura felt off to me this week, though - I don't know what it was, direction or acting, but she just seemed different from last week. I liked her better last week.

[DarkRaichu]

2 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Loved the scene with Laura and Mad Sweeney. Although several people have described it as Laura beating him up, what I enjoyed about it was that she was exerting to little effort, like flicking him away with her finger.

So how strong is Laura Moon?  She is obviously much stronger than Shadow when he fought with Sweeney in the bar

[Joimiaroxeu]

Cat piss and oven cleaner. Now that would be quite a smell even for a corpse. And Shadow kissed it.

Gillian Anderson as David Bowie. Brilliant. And she made an absolutely gorgeous Marilyn Monroe. I think she may have been more gorgeous than the actual MM.

I'm really starting to wonder what kind of hallucenogenic drugs I need to be taking while I watch this show so I can understand it.

Quote

Though I'm a little confused because she's pretty obviously a dissected corpse, so what crime is Sweeney really committing there?

Right? What did they arrest him for?

[nodorothyparker]

Gillian Anderson has been great as Lucy and Bowie but something about her Marilyn wasn't landing for me, unless it was supposed to be a hard angular obviously counterfeit sort of Marilyn.

I get why people don't like Laura and I don't think we're necessarily supposed to like her, but her character really resonates with me in a way almost none of the rest of these fantastical beasts and Shadow are.  You could see that Mad Sweeney reminding her that she's dead meat with a definite shelf afterlife registered with her, that now she doesn't have infinite time to sleepwalk her way through whatever it is she's here this go around to do.  I could probably watch her and Mad Sweeney spar all day.  Loved him continually calling her "dead wife" instead of by her name and his utter consternation at being nabbed trying to drown a woman who was already dead.  He also gave her confirmation here that his entire meeting in the bar with Shadow and Wednesday was a setup.  Pablo Schreiber is terrific as the world's unluckiest leprechaun.

The police station meetup with the big set piece of Wednesday and Mr. World was interesting for the both the visuals and the ideas they were trying to convey but I keep feeling like I was supposed to be more dazzled than I was.  I can't quite put my finger on what it was about it.  The performances themselves are good, with McShane really nailing the sense of being almost taken in with the possibilities of it all right up to the point he wasn't and Bruce Langley's Technical Boy perfectly embodying the internet's inflated sense of self.  

Shadow really has had a hell of a couple of days.

[Drogo]

6 hours ago, rozen said:

Mad Sweeney cursing out Laura as she pretended to be dead was hilarious. Though I'm a little confused because she's pretty obviously a dissected corpse, so what crime is Sweeney really committing there?

Desecrating human remains?

[tongueincheek]

41 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

I get why people don't like Laura and I don't think we're necessarily supposed to like her, but her character really resonates with me in a way almost none of the rest of these fantastical beasts and Shadow are.  You could see that Mad Sweeney reminding her that she's dead meat with a definite shelf afterlife registered with her, that now she really doesn't feel anything and she doesn't have infinite time to sleepwalk her way through whatever it is she's here this go around to do.  I could probably watch her and Mad Sweeney spar all day.  Loved him continually calling her "dead wife" instead of by her name and his utter consternation at being nabbed trying to drown a woman who was already dead.  He also gave her confirmation here that his entire meeting in the bar with Shadow and Wednesday was a setup.  Pablo Schreiber is terrific as the world's unluckiest leprechaun.

 

She's not supposed to be likable and Emily Browning isn't trying to portray her as such -- and that is what I LOVE about Laura Moon. She is allowed to be unapologetically unlikable (I hate that word, but whatever) and vile. She feels real and honest, and to watch a woman be this person on screen is always welcome to me. MORE OF IT. I mentioned in last week's episode thread, I don't have to like Laura - to like every single character isn't real - I just need to understand what motivates her and where the roots of her actions lie. Emily Browning and the writers are doing a beautiful job at creating a nuanced character, that on paper, would be merely thankless (in a way she still is, but I appreciate that). I appreciate Emily's portrayal of Laura's obvious depression, and her general malaise at life. That feels authentic. Hey! You can be an asshole AND suffer from depression - what a concept! She's essentially always been dead inside, now her outsides match her insides. This episode, she definitely felt more alive, and as cliched as that may be, I welcome the irony. One of my favorite things about her is her audacity - it is stunningly impressive, and hilariously maddening. 

[luckyroll3]

I'm still chuckling at Shadow slowly picking up the cushion and then chucking it at Laura, with it smacking her in her face, to prove that she was real and not a hallucination.  LMAO!  And nah bitch, he ain't "your papi" anymore.  

[minamurray78]

2 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Right? What did they arrest him for?

At the very least, they would assume he stole that body. It may not be a crime punished with life behind bars, but police will get involved. Although he didn't even make it to the station. I do appreciate the constant vexation the character lives through.

I though Laura was calling Shadow "puppy" rather than "papi"?

I guess Bryan Fuller was determined to have David Bowie in one of his shows one way or another, I liked it. Gillian Anderson looks like she's having fun.

There was also Tracy Thoms playing the cop, who's also worked with Fuller before. I hope her character's not dead-dead, cause I really like the actress and I like actor-director combos.

Edited May 29, 2017 by minamurray78

[tongueincheek]

It is 'puppy' - not sure if it's an acting choice on Emily's part, or if that's just her American accent pronouncing it with that affectation. Either way - I like how annoying she sounds saying it because it's so fucking condescending to Shadow, fits perfectly with how their dynamic is/was. In the book, she calls him 'puppy' because they couldn't have one; here she calls him that because she said he looks at her like one. Even Audrey made note of her treating Shadow like her "pet." 

[tennisgurl]

I just cant get over how much I love this show. Its literally everything I wanted out of this adaptation and more. Its batshit crazy, but there is actually method to its madness. There are changes from the book, but they're changes that actually work for adapting a book to television, and adapting these ideas and characters from 2001 to 2017. I especially love the changes to the technology boy. He really is just the perfect personification of the worst aspects of the internet and its sense of entitlement and false badassary. There are really only a few minor changes I haven't liked.

I don't really "like" Laura, but I do think she's an interesting character, and I like her expanded role here. Her and Mad Sweeny are a bizarrely hilarious combination, with her beating the shit out of the poor leprechaun with absolutely minimal effort. "You an asshole Dead Wife!" I think my favorite thing about Laura is her subversion of the Tragic Dead Wife cliché, where the hero is motivated by his loss of a Perfect Sainted Dead Wife, who has no character beyond being sweet and in love with the hero and, most importantly, dead. Laura wasn't even remotely perfect or sainted, and she might be dead, and she sure as hell isn't just a motivation for her husband. I do think she loves Shadow, as much as she is capable of love, but she was a terrible wife.

Shadow, you could do better. I think Zorya Polunochnya was interested, and I'm pretty sure Mad Sweeny has a bit of a crush (he did comment on his dreamy eyes this week), and now that some time has passed, making hooking up with Audrey would be less sketchy? I'm not saying they're perfect options, but you do have options, Shadow.

The scene with Media was David Bowie was amazing, especially how they managed to cram in about a million David Bowie song references in about five minutes of screen times. I think I'm starting to worship Gillian Anderson a tad bit. I also laughed at Media telling Tech Boy that having his techno goons lynch o POC is "bad PR" and he apologized to Shadow about it, mainly because people basically said the same thing when the episode aired. Like I said than, this show is very aware of the implications of what he shows and says. At least, I think it does. And the pitch meeting was pretty amazing, in performance and in visuals. It was just super fascinating looking at the two sides of god hood in this universe. And, yes, we get further confirmation of Mr. Wednesday identity without having it fully spelled out to us. Granted, I think most people have to have figured it out by now, but I like that they're being subtle.

Mr. Nancy gets a cameo! Again, I appreciate that this show knows when to go subtle, and when to go big.

I'm so glad they kept the story of the Wooly Mammoth god from the book, even if it was very much abridged, it still hit the most important points, and the general mood. It was one of my favorite passages in the book, and I think they did really well.

[Dev F]

2 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

Gillian Anderson has been great as Lucy and Bowie but something about her Marilyn wasn't landing for me, unless it was supposed to be a hard angular obviously counterfeit sort of Marilyn.

That was my read on it -- that Media was embodying not Marilyn the onetime celebrity icon but Marilyn the faded, reimagined memory, all catchphrases and quirks and conspiratorial rumblings. The conspiracy element could explain why she's harder and more angular -- and why Media assumed this particular avatar to introduce Mr. World, who's all about the inescapable, all-seeing reach of the military-industrial complex.

You could even see it as a subtle power play on Media's part. If gods only exist because people believe in them, and she's taking credit for spreading the sort of "the government can secretly kill anyone to protect its secrets" conspiracies that Mr. World represents, then in a way Media is claiming responsibility for creating Mr. World.

[tennisgurl]

I'm curious to know if aliens somehow did actually manage to invade in the 30s after the War of the Worlds broadcast, because people believed in it so much.

[ganesh]

21 hours ago, starri said:

There were a bunch of Bowie lyrics.  I caught stuff from "Life on Mars" and "Starman" as well.

When I heard "beating up the wrong guy" I figured much of the monologue was Bowie lyrics. GA isn't known for roles (at least what I've seen) where she hams it up. She looks like she's having a blast.

I think the show is much much stronger with injecting humor like they did here. Throwing the pillow at Laura's face. Wednesday talking to the raven and actually bickering. 

It's been too scarce in the prior episodes. The gods actually acting arrogant and crazy is a good narrative choice too. 

Shadow finally realizing that nothing makes any sense at all and kind of rolling with it is also a good choice, but I get that pov needed to be developed over time. 

15 hours ago, WaltersHair said:

And is Shadow a god himself and just doesn't know it?

He's certainly special enough to warrant Wednesday's initial interest in him before anyone else. I suppose it depends on how gods are "made". I gathered from the god summit in the police station that the others are still a little wary of Wednesday's powers although it seems they are waning. He's still strong enough to warrant the others needing to deal with him, but not strong enough to take them all on. Clearly, Wednesday seeds Shadow as critical to his rise back to power. I'm surprised Mr. Nancy is allied with Wednesday. I guess they're both older than World and Media. 

4 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Right? What did they arrest him for?

I figured the cops thought he might have stolen the corpse. Also, it was crazy, so maybe they just arrested him and just get him in a room to figure out what was actually going on. 

I'm glad the narrative is a little more stepped now. I think it was time to actually advance some plot.

I know Tech and Media are two separate entities because that's what's in the book (I assume), but it seems like they should be the same person in 2017. I mean, you can watch tv on twitter. I suppose it's something I have to just roll with, and it's not that big a deal. 

[benteen]

Quote

Mad Sweeney cursing out Laura as she pretended to be dead was hilarious.

THIS.  Very funny moment.

[Haleth]

She wasn't pretending!  

[Arynm]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

And, yes, we get further confirmation of Mr. Wednesday identity without having it fully spelled out to us. Granted, I think most people have to have figured it out by now, but I like that they're being subtle.

I don't know if plastering ODIN on the side of a rocket going to nuke North Korea was subtle but I still liked it. I also adored that they had a unicorn representing North Korea, one of my favorite news stories is the one where the leadership of North Korea told its people that they found a unicorn alive. The poor people of North Korea have been feed a pack of lies for many years, but the fact that the government pulled this one out of their asses is nutso. I can't believe the show used that and I love it!

[Bruinsfan]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I'm curious to know if aliens somehow did actually manage to invade in the 30s after the War of the Worlds broadcast, because people believed in it so much.

I've had an idea based on that rolling around in my head for years, with people's earnest belief in the Martian invasion during Wells' broadcast giving some Lovecraftean monsters a stable form they could assume to manifest in the real world.

6 hours ago, ganesh said:

I'm surprised Mr. Nancy is allied with Wednesday. I guess they're both older than World and Media.

I don't recall Vikings being all that big on enslaving Africans, so Mr. Nancy probably has less of a beef with Wednesday than newer gods complicit in American culture and racial unrest.

[ganesh]

I just meant we never saw them talking or anything. However, I'm fine with the show actually showing us that at this point. I would like to learn how that came about. 

[jeansheridan]

22 hours ago, Ms.Moon said:

think the thing that attacked the police at the station was the forgotten god from the opening.

Interesting idea but I thought the mammoth was the god in the opening.  And then the people ate him/it.  The animated opening didn't do much for me.  It looked good but I couldn't follow the plot.  If anyone cares to unpack it here, please help.

[WatchrTina]

The tree god attacking at the police station made me think of the "old gods" in Game of Thrones (vs. the newer "seven" gods of the south).  I think whatever that was that awakened in the police station, it pre-dates even "old" gods like Odin and Mr. Nancy.  I'd say that awakened wood god in the police station is a really old god and it looks upon Wednesday/Odin as a mere upstart.  By the way Wednesday hot-footed it out of there, I'd say even he knows to not fuck around with Mother Nature.

In other news, Mad Sweeny is the unluckiest leprechaun ever.  

Quote

The animated opening didn't do much for me.  It looked good but I couldn't follow the plot.  If anyone cares to unpack it here, please help.

My take was that the people who came across the land bridge from Russia to North America brought their god with them -- embodied within the bones of a woolly mammoth.  But when they arrived in the new world, they were forced to abandon their god.  The priestess was impaled on the horns of a new god (a buffalo god) as was the older male.  The young people then accepted the new god -- an American god as represented by the buffalo.  I presume the people who accepted the new god are the embodiment of the "first peoples" in north America.  In a way it's the same story as Odin is facing, but really condensed -- people bring their gods to America only to have them forgotten and replaced by American gods.  That puppet-show prolog is like a condensed, earlier version of what Odin and Mr. Nancy, and all the other old gods are experiencing in present day.

Edited May 30, 2017 by WatchrTina

[jeansheridan]

8 hours ago, ganesh said:

I gathered from the god summit in the police station that the others are still a little wary of Wednesday's powers although it seems they are waning.

I think Wednesday describing himself as the irritating grit in a pearl was such a wonderful image.  Wednesday likes back roads and motels and old cars (but he will use modern technology when it's useful to him).  And he talks about different Jesuses for different places.  

Mr. World wants it all to be the same.  He wants to franchise belief.  I am not quite sure what he is a metaphor yet.  Globalization.  World dominance.  Is he Google?  No, that would be Tech Boy.  

And who knew Crispen Glover could look like Jaime Lannister with the right haircut?  Other than his nose in profile it is a bit uncanny.

16 minutes ago, WatchrTina said:

a way it's the same story as Odin is facing, but really condensed -- people bring their gods to America only to have them forgotten and replaced by American gods.  T

Wow, thank you.  I did not get that from the opening at all.  

[txvoodoo]

17 hours ago, Schweedie said:

I think he got pretty strong pretty quickly which caused him to come down with a case of hubris, overestimating his own importance and strength and wanting to prove it all the time. (So yes, stupid, basically.)

He reminds me of some young guns I knew during the first dot com bubble, who thought they owned the world, and would never fall. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

One thing I like about Dead Laura is that she is no longer trying to hide things from Shadow, unlike Alive Laura. When he asked about Robbie, she asked exactly how much he wanted to know and then told him the truth. I don't know if it's being dead or chasing his glow or what, but she's definitely had a shift in her personality. She also clearly enjoyed denying Mad Sweeney his lucky coin, which also made me like her. Dead Laura seems a lot more alive than Alive Laura ever was. She still isn't likable as a person, but she's more amusing to me. The way she smiled underwater as the cops dragged Mad Sweeney away was hilarious!

[luna1122]

How does Crispin Glover not age? In fact, he's actually become attractive, albeit in a creepy way, as he does age. It's weird. His cheekbones are epic.

Good to see Wonderfalls alum Tracie Thoms here, even if it was short lived.

Gillian must be having the time of her life. I preferred her Bowie to her Marilyn.

Laura isn't likable, but I find her so interesting to watch. I love the actress, who I wasn't really familiar with prior to this. And she smells like cat piss and oven cleaner? Ack. Her allure for Shadow is surely not going to last very long, if there's anything still there.