S01.E08: Come to Jesus

[Which Tyler]

There were some comments by people who hadn't worked it out even after Mr world offer Wednesday missiles with Odin's name on them.

Not everyone picks these things up, hell, far from everyone even watches telly with more than a third of their attention span these days.

[AuntieMame]

Is anyone else upset that Bilquis, our resident sex goddess devours her worshippers with her vagina? Yes, I understand the neo-Freudianness of it all with men bravely entering the abyss and vagina dentata every time they satisfy their desire but did we really have to do it this way? I know nature has more than one face she can show us (as evidenced by Ostara taking back the spring and yes, Kristen Chenowith seems like an actual goddess) but did we really have to do this? 

Especially since I was loving Me. Nancy’s gotdamn story about Bilquis and the problems faced by a woman of power. That entire line of thinking is undermined and destroyed by the whole “she eats people with her vagina” thing. Control of that and by extension control of women especially around sex is justified by Bilquis’s arc. 

And renders any discussion of cultural misogyny and problems responding to strong women absolutely moot as the depth psychology of devouring vaginas and withholding mommies are presented as an innate problem that justifies control of vaginas and those who possess them.  Somehow the way this is being presented keeps the status quo firmly in place. YMMV but Bilquis brought up a lot of thought for me. But it felt like the intention of the writers was to justify all of the deep fears about women. 

This was supported by Ostara taking back the spring but she isn’t as scary. Anyone have a reading about this in terms of race? Black goddess incredibly scary, white goddess not as much? But both hold the power of life and death. And I just realized that this is part of the power we hold over men (in their subconscious) we give birth to them and they can never completely decide whether to live or hate us for it. 

Oh, and I adore Mr. Nancy from his first appearance during the Middle Passage. Another actor that I’m absolutely willing to buy as a God. Mr. Nancy can tell me a story anytime. Maybe he’ll make me a Marlene Dietrich cross-dressing tuxedo too. Generally I’d want a beautiful gown but for Mr. Nancy I’d try the natty tux. 

[supposebly]

On 12/30/2018 at 10:32 AM, AuntieMame said:

And renders any discussion of cultural misogyny and problems responding to strong women absolutely moot as the depth psychology of devouring vaginas and withholding mommies are presented as an innate problem that justifies control of vaginas and those who possess them.

Hm. I didn't have the impression that it was presented as a problem. I might not quite understand what you're getting at but I thought that her problem was that her power was diminished not because she was devouring her worshipers via vagina but because worshiping powerful women on a large scale went out of style and she could only persist in having that on an individual small scale. So, one reinforcing the other. Not sure if it would make a difference if she ate them with her mouth. I do think Freud was mostly a quack. 

As to the show, it's mesmerizing while I watch (I got introduced to Fuller's style via Hannibal) and I'm actually fine with it not developing much. Still, I was glad it went somewhere with Easter. My main problem is Shadow. I couldn't finish the book because of him and I find him rather boring here too. A bit more lively but not much. I also don't think the actor brings much to the table other than being pretty. Maybe it's that he's just sort of dragging along on Wednesday's coattails and that it takes Shadow this long to acknowledge to believe that he isn't in some dream even after he kissed his dead wife. So, his "I believe" fell flat for me because it came so late. And, I don't think the actor sold it.

Love the road trip with Mad Sweeney and Laura and while I do think people should have an expiry date and walking corpses are just inherently wrong, I feel sorry for Sweeney for falling for Laura and I really want her to get back at Wednesday. She is a wonderful character here and I don't remember her being in the story so much in the book. But I like it. Rotting or not, she seems to have an effect on other characters, leprechauns, and on me.

So, other than Shadow, I like all the characters. And in my view Gillian Anderson can do no wrong. And Crispin Glover has a great voice. I never realized.