S01.E05: Lemon Scented You

[sacrebleu]

Quote

How she died was unseemly and very pubically uncomfortable 

especially for Dane Cook! (not sure if @Ms.Moon meant this typo-- but it made me LOL.)

[jeansheridan]

22 hours ago, tongueincheek said:

She is allowed to be unapologetically unlikable (I hate that word, but whatever) and vile. S

This is true but you make me wonder if now Shadow is being put up on a pedestal in comparison to her.  He seems to be a good man but he was a petty thief for reasons we don't know.  He pushed his way into Laura's life, her town, her home.  He was borrowing her life in a way.  Sharing it too but what did he bring besides himself?  No family, little ambition, etc.  A pet.  At least before prison.  There is a danger in making him too good.  Maybe.  Or maybe we just need one straight up hero.  

I wonder if John Henry will show up.  That would be neat.  He is more of a folk hero/myth than a god story per se.

[ganesh]

11 hours ago, jeansheridan said:

 

11 hours 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.  

I thought part of the reason was that they were starving and couldn't find food, and the old god couldn't provide for them. So the new one shows up, killed a few of them, and they got food, so they forgot the old god. 

[Drogo]

23 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I thought part of the reason was that they were starving and couldn't find food, and the old god couldn't provide for them. So the new one shows up, killed a few of them, and they got food, so they forgot the old god. 

I think it killed the shaman, and the two elders once it was clear they weren't interested in abandoning their old god.  The four kids/teens(?) were spared- the old god hadn't done much for them so he was easily forgotten and the new one adopted once the new one provided food.  A parallel for how the current youth could easily forget some old gods for technology and television?

[ganesh]

It was hard to tell they were kids, but that makes sense too. I know the narration talked about finding food. 

[starri]

35 minutes ago, Drogo said:

A parallel for how the current youth could easily forget some old gods for technology and television?

And also the American tradition of "Assimilate or else!"

[Drogo]

On 5/30/2017 at 11:54 AM, ganesh said:

It was hard to tell they were kids, but that makes sense too. I know the narration talked about finding food. 

I only noticed they were smaller during those wide shots carrying the gurney-- their faces looked like everyone else's.

[Tara Ariano]

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

 

American Gods Is More Like He-Man Than You'd Think

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

[rollacoaster]

I guess I would like to see Laura be more contrite about everything.  She just seems to feel so damned entitled.  I was so glad when Shadow said he wasn't her Puppy. 

And wouldn't her airbrush skin color come off in the bath water? 

[DarkRaichu]

I wonder if that frozen bison god that killed the mammoth god priestess was the same fire breathing bison in Shadow's dreams.

It was frozen in ice age but fire breathing now due to global warming

[Absurda]

I found myself wondering about her airbrushing as well. She's not likeable, I really disliked her attitude of "yeah, I cheated" *shrug* "but that was sooo yesterday, it's time to get back together". I loved Shadow telling her he wasn't her puppy any more. I liked her with Mad Sweeny, if I recall correctly, she was clothed when he was "drowning" her, so the cops may not have realized she was a dissected corpse. Got a chuckle out of Mad Sweeney cursing her out as she played dead.

[rollacoaster]

3 minutes ago, DarkRaichu said:

I wonder if that frozen bison god that killed the mammoth god priestess was the same fire breathing bison in Shadow's dreams.

 

I thought that! It makes sense that the Bison would be one of the original American Gods.  

[ganesh]

I thought they were same because it's just too coincidental otherwise. I was actually thinking that the bison god was 'real' in the flashback, but has since faded from the world like the mammoth god, yet still exists tenuously - so maybe Shadow is being primed to be his new vessel to come back into the real world. Wednesday must know this (if true), and wants to form an alliance with the bison god because he (bison) is so old. Wednesday seemed to know that the tree attacking the police station was bad news, so it's fair to me if he's got knowledge of a lot of old gods. Gillian Anderson, the kid, and Crispin Glover are clearly constructs of modernization and might not be privy to more ancient gods. Wednesday seems to be the only one straddling that line. 

[Haleth]

Wooden desk = Druid god?

Edited May 30, 2017 by Haleth

[Athena]

In the moment where Laura asked if Shadow was still her puppy, his face goes from smiling "This is my beautiful love," to slow jadedness and experience to say "No." The shift was subtle and gentle. I felt for him because he did love her but her actions and the past few days have really changed him.

I liked the intro too. The other tribe offered them food and they refused, but after the elders were killed, the youth (who were much shorter and carrying their mammoth totem) took the food. It does remind you that assimilation, cultural and otherwise, happen to young people first especially when they have their needs met. 

[rollacoaster]

I really, really, really liked the cop lady, and I'm sorry that her time on this show was so brief.  I'd watch a cop show with her and Nicole Beharie all day long.  

[Anela]

My favourite part was Mad Sweeney's realization that she wasn't going to get out of the water, and show that she's "alive". That he hadn't killed her. "You're an asshole!" followed by her small smile. LMAO. 

[wayne67]

On 5/30/2017 at 5:21 AM, ganesh said:

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. 

There's a subtle but important difference between a message and the medium. Technology is the platform that makes the stars more visible and more well known but the stars still need their own hook and charisma to sell themselves to the masses. 

Though one day Media and Technology may have their own merger... Which will probably be someone's filthy fan fic. lol. 

[WatchrTina]

6 hours ago, ganesh said:

I was actually thinking that the bison god was 'real' in the flashback, but has since faded from the world like the mammoth god

I'm not Native American nor do I know anything about their traditions or spirituality but I'm willing to bet that the bison/buffalo is still a revered totem for some tribes of the great plains.

[ganesh]

Yes, I'm not disputing that. The full sentence is below. Clearly, the native american population is severely weakened (not their fault), hence my reasoning about 'existing tenuously'. So to speak, it needs another avenue of worship, also which is what the modern gods were trying to pitch to Wednesday. Maybe Shadow is somehow important to all that. 

8 hours ago, ganesh said:

I was actually thinking that the bison god was 'real' in the flashback, but has since faded from the world like the mammoth god, yet still exists tenuously - so maybe Shadow is being primed to be his new vessel to come back into the real world.

Edited May 31, 2017 by ganesh

[DarkRaichu]

Upon re-watch, during their commune the mammoth god actually told its shaman she would need to die by the horn of the bison god for her people to survive the cold (as shown by red smoke).  So when she met the bison god she actually greeted her death with open arms.  This old god actually cared about the survival of its people.

[Spaceman Spiff]

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 9:12 PM, 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 agree, I had to fast forward through her scenes again. I don't care for the storyline concerning her either. She didn't love when she was alive but now that she is dead she does...bleh, and the constant puppy grates. The opening animation was weird also. Some obviously like all the different visual direction, but I think some of it is lost on me.

I enjoyed the meet up in the police station of all the power houses. Mr. World was fascinating, but again, they don't truly explain what he is the god of, or the chair/tree god. I mean 5 episodes in and they finally verified that Wednesday is Odin. The show definitely seems more geared toward book readers.

[loki567]

I really like the turn they're taking with Laura's character. So much more interesting and entertaining to make her an unrepentant asshole. Television is full of female characters who did something bad but they're actually good girls so they'll spend whole seasons feeling contrite and trying to make up for what they did while a vocal section of the audience hates them and heaps insults upon insults about horrible they are. 

You can go ahead and hate Laura. She doesn't give a fuck. 

[ganesh]

4 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

I enjoyed the meet up in the police station of all the power houses. Mr. World was fascinating, but again, they don't truly explain what he is the god of, or the chair/tree god. I mean 5 episodes in and they finally verified that Wednesday is Odin.

I think Mr. World was god of commercialization. Some here said globalization, or corporatism. His monologue pointed to all of these concepts. He's dressed like a 50s guy. The show just isn't going to lay everything out. Odin was essentially revealed in the first scene with Shadow. When Shadow said it's Wednesday, he said, "hey it's my day." They've also showed ravens like all over the place, so when the showed the rocket with Odin on it, it's more a confirmation of what we knew by that point. There's still some criticisms to make, but I think these points were fairly addressed by the show. If you're actually fast forwarding through scenes you're going to miss some information.

This isn't a show one is going to leave on while folding clothes. I pay careful attention and I even missed this:

11 hours ago, DarkRaichu said:

Upon re-watch, during their commune the mammoth god actually told its shaman she would need to die by the horn of the bison god for her people to survive the cold (as shown by red smoke).  So when she met the bison god she actually greeted her death with open arms.  This old god actually cared about the survival of its people.

I'm just not going to rewatch, but I think the concept of old gods fading away was largely the point of the opening, and the same thing was essentially the subject of the meeting later on. The show can overdo the being weird for the sake of weirdness part, and things like this can be missed imo. 

They didn't explain the tree god, but they did establish that there's old gods, and it looked like Wednesday knew who that was. Since it looks like he is trying to ally with them, it could be his presence woke this one up. It's not like the show isn't going to address it, but it might take longer than we'd like. 

I'm not a book reader and I found the first 3 episodes to be rambling and (mostly) fan service with some bits of exposition. I think they did enough here to kind of lay the groundwork for what the show is about though. 

Starz likes these slowly developing shows. I feel like it will kick up a little from here. 

[Drogo]

4 minutes ago, ganesh said:

They've also showed ravens like all over the place, so when the showed the rocket with Odin on it, it's more a confirmation of what we knew by that point.

I don't think the average viewer is going to see a few ravens and say "Odin!" 

For example- my Norse mythology knowledge is limited to Loki, and I don't know that I'd recognize any symbollism pointed at him unless he was played by Tom Hiddleston.

[DarkRaichu]

13 minutes ago, Drogo said:

I don't think the average viewer is going to see a few ravens and say "Odin!" 

For example- my Norse mythology knowledge is limited to Loki, and I don't know that I'd recognize any symbollism pointed at him unless he was played by Tom Hiddleston.

They should have casted Sir Anthony Hopkins as Mr Wednesday and pulled a double surprise!!! :D

[ganesh]

I don't know. Here's a guy with ravens and calling himself Wednesday on a show with gods in the title. Just an astute tv watcher would know something is up. Typing in "wednesday and ravens god" into google gives Odin as the first entry. There's also a picture of Ian McShane. 

The fundamental premise of my original point though was that the show was playing fair with the audience by the time they showed the Odin rocket. I wouldn't say they were being coy here. I think their intent was to be clear right in the first scene with Shadow to lay out: Why is a god like Odin so interested in employing Shadow? They proceeded to go to great lengths to show how much Wednesday wanted his employ. 

I don't think the show is perfect and I've complained plenty, I think we should have more insight into *why* Shadow is so important by now, but fair is fair on this one. I'm just glad there's something to actually talk about on the show now.

Edited May 31, 2017 by ganesh

[Drogo]

Just now, ganesh said:

I don't know. Here's a guy with ravens and calling himself Wednesday on a show with gods in the title. Just an astute tv watcher would know something is up. Typing in "wednesday and ravens god" into google gives Odin as the first entry. 

The fundamental premise of my original point though was that the show was playing fair with the audience by the time they showed the Odin rocket. I wouldn't say they were being coy here. 

See, and I believe that if you need to Google it, the show is being coy in their exposition.

[nodorothyparker]

1 hour ago, loki567 said:

I really like the turn they're taking with Laura's character. So much more interesting and entertaining to make her an unrepentant asshole. Television is full of female characters who did something bad but they're actually good girls so they'll spend whole seasons feeling contrite and trying to make up for what they did while a vocal section of the audience hates them and heaps insults upon insults about horrible they are. 

I think I'm enjoying her so much precisely because as someone already pointed out upthread, she's not the sainted Dead Wife or Woman He Loved who usually only exists in these stories to give the male character a tragic backstory for him to be all sad and emo over.  She's pretty much the same person she was before, only Shadow's finally seeing her as she really is instead of through the Woman I Love filter.  You asked so I'm going to tell you.  I'm already dead so being weepy and contrite over something we both already know I did doesn't change anything and won't give us a happy ending..

[ganesh]

6 minutes ago, Drogo said:

See, and I believe that if you need to Google it, the show is being coy in their exposition.

That misses much of the point. I wasn't saying you needed to google it. I was saying that in the combination of calling oneself "Wednesday" and showing ravens all over the place associated with the character, that the show was being clear in their intent that the character was Odin from the first appearance. Everything needed to know about the character was shown on the screen. I don't think it's too much of an expectation on TPTBs part to expect viewers to have reasonable knowledge of 'common gods'. And if not, an astute viewer should be able to glean that Wednesday was probably some type of god, so his interest in Shadow from the start is a major plot point on the show. 

The fact that it's the first entry on google underscores my point that Odin is a very commonly known Norse god. This was discussed in the first episode thread here. 

[MrSmith]

I'm struggling to maintain my interest in this show because there are too damned many characters. They keep introducing us to new characters and not really advancing the plot or revealing anything. In short, I'm getting bored. Let's get the characters we already know about to actually do something.

[shockermolar]

Quote

 the combination of calling oneself "Wednesday" and showing ravens all over the place

I have to agree. I haven't read the book, I am spoiler-free and I knew that he was Odin from the first episode. I honestly didn't specifically notice that Wednesday has 2 different colored eyes until about halfway into the 2nd episode. I suppose that's the contrivance for having both eyes instead of just one.  But yes Odin and his 2 ravens and the whole Wednesday thing - there was nothing coy about what they were doing. It was all laid out in the first episode if you have a passing familiarity with our remnants of Norse mythology.

[Eneya]

On 5/29/2017 at 9:05 PM, 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.

Tbh, THAT never happened, it was just PR, people were not panicking, there was no mass hysteria. :) It was a joke, that has turned into an actual urban legend and now people take it seriously. In uni our media professor was so bored by it, that he literally did an eyeroll and said something in the vein of "leave if to the yankees to convince themselves everyone is that bloody stupid" or something. :) Yes, British uni, yes, he was making fun of it but... damn. :)

Laura is fun and she acts the most closely a real person would act like in such a situation. Shadow just can not sit down and think more closely about it, so he is still fish out of water but with her it is a lot more straightforward. Don't mess with the superstrong zombie. Also, she is not saintly, she is realistic. Is she a tad assholish? Yes. Question is, why should she not be?

Edited May 31, 2017 by Eneya

[Spaceman Spiff]

7 hours ago, ganesh said:

I think Mr. World was god of commercialization. Some here said globalization, or corporatism. His monologue pointed to all of these concepts.

And do people worship those things more than technology or media that he is the Boss of them, for lack of a better term. I think the other 2 would have more followers and therefor be more powerful.

6 hours ago, ganesh said:

That misses much of the point. I wasn't saying you needed to google it. I was saying that in the combination of calling oneself "Wednesday" and showing ravens all over the place associated with the character, that the show was being clear in their intent that the character was Odin from the first appearance. Everything needed to know about the character was shown on the screen. I don't think it's too much of an expectation on TPTBs part to expect viewers to have reasonable knowledge of 'common gods'. And if not, an astute viewer should be able to glean that Wednesday was probably some type of god, so his interest in Shadow from the start is a major plot point on the show. 

I don't think either I nor @Drogo (can't really speak for them), was indicating that we didn't know who Odin was. I surmised that from the first episode and then questioned my own assumption when he wanted to get his hammer (did that mean he was Thor, who would also be able to summon lightning with a dandelion), but when they meet the hammer man and he is a Slavic god, I went back to thinking Odin, then the Slavic God called him Votan and I questioned my assumption again (until someone here said that Votan was Slavic for Odin). I was not aware that Odin was ever known as Wednesday, nor that ravens were his spies. I know him as the father of Thor and Loki and the leader of Asgard and that is it (to @Drogo point). I just made a point that it was finally acknowledged in the show exactly who he is by episode 5.

And what or who exactly is a common god that viewer should have knowledge of,  aside from Odin and Anubis (who I know from movies like the Mummy). I still have no clue who the god is who hoovers her worshipers up with her vagina, nor the African God who told the slaves to burn the ship. I do know he freed Odin by releasing his hand cuffs, but even here in the forums someone was glad that Mr., Nancy made an appearance, and I wondered Who TF is that? and had to look it up (only to realize it was the spider god). but he was never called that in the show as far as I remember since we only saw him once.

4 hours ago, MrSmith said:

I'm struggling to maintain my interest in this show because there are too damned many characters. They keep introducing us to new characters and not really advancing the plot or revealing anything. In short, I'm getting bored. Let's get the characters we already know about to actually do something.

And I think this is more to the point as @MRSMITH says, there are too many characters being introduced that we never visit again. At least after Anubis was introduced we got to see him with Laura again, or the spider god showing up to help free Odin. But we saw Hoover vagina twice, doing her thing, and only that and no more. Today it was the Mammoth god (dead already) the Bison god (seen twice) and some tree god coming out of the furniture.

 

7 hours ago, ganesh said:

If you're actually fast forwarding through scenes you're going to miss some information.

Sorry, but if the actress doesn't interest me, the character doesn't interest me, and the characters story arc doesn't interest me, it's fast forward time. If one of those things interested me, I'd pay closer attention.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Spaceman Spiff

[wilnil]

20 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

I was not aware that Odin was ever known as Wednesday

He wasn't, but Wednesday is a corruption of "Woden's Day" -- the German variation of "Odin." When Shadow asked his name, Odin replied "What's today?" and when told it was Wednesday, he said that was "my day." A lot of English and other Germanic weekday names come from the names of Norse gods.

[MrSmith]

26 minutes ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

Today it was the Mammoth god (dead already)

Thanks for reminding me! Ugh. I hated that whole segment of that episode. They could have summed up all of that information and wasted a lot less time on characters who aren't relevant to the story, we don't care about, and we'll never see again.

2 minutes ago, wilnil said:

He wasn't, but Wednesday is a corruption of "Woden's Day" -- the German variation of "Odin." When Shadow asked his name, Odin replied "What's today?" and when told it was Wednesday, he said that was "my day." A lot of English and other Germanic weekday names come from the names of Norse gods.

Many people do not know this. I did, but then I had no friends growing up and so books were my friends. Hell, I read the Encyclopedia Britannica for fun! (Yes, that's actually true.) Unless you're friendless or particularly interested in the etymology of words, most people don't care why a day is named what it is.

[ganesh]

1 hour ago, MrSmith said:

Many people do not know this.

I tend to give people a little more credit though. I'm not a huge myth person, but I know a good enough handful. That actually wasn't the initial point of this discussion though. The point was, the show was playing fair with establishing who Wednesday was from the start. 

To say "they finally got around to explaining Odin" in episode 5 is just inaccurate. They showed who is was in his first scene with Shadow. The character explained who he was and then they showed supporting materials for the next 4 episodes. It's not like they picked an esoteric god to start out. TPTBs expecting viewers to have a bare sketch knowledge of some gods on a show that's about gods isn't that much of a stretch. 

There's enough to complain about over the first 5 episodes, and I've done plenty. I don't really think obscure (to me) slavic gods was a good idea to bring into the show so early, but I take the point over the collective 5 episodes. What's fair is fair though. 

Edited May 31, 2017 by ganesh

[Drogo]

There's nothing in Wednesday's first scene with Shadow that makes it clear he's Odin (to anyone who doesn't know that Wednesday is named for Odin.)  A strange-talking man saying "What day is it?" "Today's my day!" ten minutes after speaking gibberish to a gate employee is not clear exposition.

As with @Spaceman Spiff, I have heard of Odin... but I don't know him as Votan or Grimmir or that Wednesday is named for him or that ravens report to him.  

If TPTB didn't intend to play coy with Wednesday's identity until Lemon Scented You's unicorn missile scene, they didn't do a good job. 

[theatremouse]

I think the whole "it's my day" thing combined with his eyes was what is often called a 10 percenter: they know not everyone will get it, but some will, and for those who do it's satisfying. Since then, they've layered on other things that could be a tip off:  the ravens, etc. I think it was intentional that a certain portion of people would immediately get oh he must be Odin and others would probably be thinking he's a god of some sort, wonder which and then depending on what exactly they're familiar with, one of those things eventually makes it clear. I don't know if it's so much intentionally coy as they put it out there, with varying degrees of specificity without spelling it out completely (until the rockets). And it's not necessarily meant to be cheeky, but it's also not really a secret either. So whenever it clicks, it clicks and that happens for different people with different levels of familiarity at different times. That's how it struck me anyway.

[WaltersHair]

I have to agree with the viewers saying they're playing fast and loose with naming the gods. The only one I recall coming right out with it was Mad Sweeney. The first two episodes I thought Media was Medea and then realized that didn't make sense for her character.

As always,  YMMV

[DarkRaichu]

4 hours ago, MrSmith said:

Thanks for reminding me! Ugh. I hated that whole segment of that episode. They could have summed up all of that information and wasted a lot less time on characters who aren't relevant to the story, we don't care about, and we'll never see again.

I thought it was a fun way to learn about how different gods immigrated to the Americas with varying degree of success over time

As for Odin.  I did not know about Woden's Day.  In episode 1 I honestly thought he was a god of Wednesday (the day) and was expecting to meet god of Tuesday, Monday etc over time.  Lol.  This is a story about gods after all.  Back in the day people worshiped god of specific river and mountain, why not god of a day?? I was open minded :P
Beside, the 2 ravens did not communicate with him until this episode 

Edited June 1, 2017 by DarkRaichu

[formerlyfreedom]

18 minutes ago, DarkRaichu said:

Beside, the 2 ravens did not communicate with him until this episode 

That we have seen. There were ravens flying around in the last episode, before Laura and Robbie's car accident.

[DarkRaichu]

13 minutes ago, saoirse said:

That we have seen. There were ravens flying around in the last episode, before Laura and Robbie's car accident.

Yes. I meant he was not shown communicating with the ravens on screen until this episode.  Yes the ravens were shown in previous episodes but we did not know they belonged to Wednesday.  The ravens were spies for Odin, but to me Odin could have been a different god / character who was not Wednesday

Edited June 1, 2017 by DarkRaichu

[ganesh]

4 hours ago, Drogo said:

There's nothing in Wednesday's first scene with Shadow that makes it clear he's Odin (to anyone who doesn't know that Wednesday is named for Odin.)

Yes, this wasn't disputed that some people wouldn't catch on to that it was Odin in the first scene. Again, not the point. 

3 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Since then, they've layered on other things that could be a tip off:  the ravens, etc.

This is an example of good storytelling because when they confirmed that Wednesday was Odin, one could look back and see the groundwork for that. 

3 hours ago, theatremouse said:

I think it was intentional that a certain portion of people would immediately get oh he must be Odin and others would probably be thinking he's a god of some sort, wonder which and then depending on what exactly they're familiar with, one of those things eventually makes it clear.

That's the point. It's a show about gods. "Hey, this god on the plane is really interested in the main character of the show. I guess that's important." That's it. TPTBs were tipping off the viewer. Again, to say "they didn't explain Odin until episode 5" is not technically correct. The whole groundwork for revealing Odin was logically progressed from episode 1 through 5. That's the only point I was making. 

1 hour ago, saoirse said:

That we have seen. There were ravens flying around in the last episode, before Laura and Robbie's car accident.

There have been ravens associated with Wednesday since episode 1 iirc. They were being consistent with this characterization.

55 minutes ago, DarkRaichu said:

 Yes the ravens were shown in previous episodes but we did not know they belonged to Wednesday.  

They showed them right before/after scenes with Wednesday. After Shadow cleaned his house iirc. There's been a consistent clear visual connection with ravens and Wednesday since the start. Granted, I was looking for them because I knew it was Odin, but they like zoomed in on them a bunch of times. 

Edited June 1, 2017 by ganesh

[DarkRaichu]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

They showed them right before/after scenes with Wednesday. After Shadow cleaned his house iirc. There's been a consistent clear visual connection with ravens and Wednesday since the start. Granted, I was looking for them because I knew it was Odin, but they like zoomed in on them a bunch of times. 

The ravens have been watching over Shadow and Laura throughout the series. It did not mean much to people who was not aware of the connection between Odin, Woden's Day, and Wednesday.  For that matter, it meant even less to people who were not aware that Odin used ravens to extend his visions.

For some people the fact that Wednesday = Odin was clear since episode 1 due to the hints / clues.  Which is fine.  However, for the rest of us the connections were made very specifically in episode 5.  
 

[Spaceman Spiff]

6 hours ago, ganesh said:

That's the point. It's a show about gods. "Hey, this god on the plane is really interested in the main character of the show. I guess that's important." That's it. TPTBs were tipping off the viewer. Again, to say "they didn't explain Odin until episode 5" is not technically correct. The whole groundwork for revealing Odin was logically progressed from episode 1 through 5. That's the only point I was making. 

I think it was my original post that started all this, but to clarify, I never said they didn't explain Odin, I said "I mean 5 episodes in and they finally verified that Wednesday is Odin." I get they were explaining his identity all along if you understood the clues.

[Morrigan2575]

17 hours ago, shockermolar said:

I have to agree. I haven't read the book, I am spoiler-free and I knew that he was Odin from the first episode. I honestly didn't specifically notice that Wednesday has 2 different colored eyes until about halfway into the 2nd episode. I suppose that's the contrivance for having both eyes instead of just one.  But yes Odin and his 2 ravens and the whole Wednesday thing - there was nothing coy about what they were doing. It was all laid out in the first episode if you have a passing familiarity with our remnants of Norse mythology.

Oh wow, i totally missed that Wednesday has 2 different colored eyes. That's a cool addition.  I know in the first meeting Wednesday made a comment about being able to see people with his good eye or something.  

I knew from episode 1 that Mr. Wednesday was Odin. It was the combination of "it's my day", the ravens flying over the prison (I actually wondered if Shadow's prison buddy was Wednesday in disguise, since the ravens were there observing) and the one eye comment that sealed it for me.

[Morrigan2575]

12 hours ago, wilnil said:

He wasn't, but Wednesday is a corruption of "Woden's Day" -- the German variation of "Odin." When Shadow asked his name, Odin replied "What's today?" and when told it was Wednesday, he said that was "my day." A lot of English and other Germanic weekday names come from the names of Norse gods.

Yep

Wednesday = Odin's (Woden's) Day, Thursday = Thor's Day, Friday is named for Frigg (Odin's wife) and I think Tuesday is a Norse god as well.

Saturday is Roman god Saturn, Monday is Moon's day, Sunday is obviously Sun's Day.

I always found it funny, to see what history picked for each. Days are mostly Norse gods, months are pretty much Greek/Roman gods and Roman leaders (July/August) and just Latin words. Planets are mostly Roman gods (Murcury, Venus, Mars, Sol, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptun, Pluto, etc)

And of course, Roman Gods are just Greek Gods with different names. 

[Eneya]

2 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Oh wow, i totally missed that Wednesday has 2 different colored eyes. That's a cool addition.  I know in the first meeting Wednesday made a comment about being able to see people with his good eye or something.  

I knew from episode 1 that Mr. Wednesday was Odin. It was the combination of "it's my day", the ravens flying over the prison (I actually wondered if Shadow's prison buddy was Wednesday in disguise, since the ravens were there observing) and the one eye comment that sealed it for me.

He doesn't have two different coloured eyes but Odin is the one-eyed god, he gives the other in order to gain wisdom. And this is why the ravens are his, they are his eyes in some literal sense. One of the eyes is fake. The question is... which one? :)

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, Eneya said:

He doesn't have two different coloured eyes but Odin is the one-eyed god, he gives the other in order to gain wisdom. And this is why the ravens are his, they are his eyes in some literal sense. One of the eyes is fake. The question is... which one? :)

I understand that Odin only has one eye. The post I quoted said Wednesday had 2 different colored eyes. Which, as I mentioned, was a good addition/way to show/hint at Wednesday being Odin without having him wear a patch. At least IMO, it certainly is a cool twist on Odin.