S02.E02: The Beguiling Man

[Kel Varnsen]

On 3/21/2019 at 7:17 PM, Bruinsfan said:

I'm no expert on Islam myself, but I don't think jinn are something people worship. More like a type of supernatural creature acknowledged by the culture, kind of the way leprechuans were by the Irish.

Fair enough. That said most of my knowledge of Islam comes from my my University buddy's Iranian roomate who was Muslim the same way I'm Catholic  (not really at all). Even still though if Salim's faith says there is only one god, how ishe handling meeting Odin.

[WatchrTina]

2 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

if Salim's faith says there is only one god, how ishe handling meeting Odin.

Well . . . Salim doesn't actually KNOW he's met Odin.  He wasn't invited "backstage" at the carousel to see all the gods with their game-faces on and he wasn't at Easter's party when Wednesday had his "I AM ODIN" moment.  So I'm guessing he's assuming all the other "gods" (small g) are just manifestations of the supernatural like the Jinn.  

[Lemur]

On 3/25/2019 at 11:31 AM, Drogo said:

On the flip side, Mr. Nancy lost a worshipper when he threw a bucket of perfectly good chicken out the window.  Some sins are unforgivable.

It was a reference to The Green Book. 

[Drogo]

9 minutes ago, Lemur said:

It was a reference to The Green Book. 

Bones flying out the window are forgivable, uneaten thighs and drumsticks are not. 

[Lemur]

9 minutes ago, Drogo said:

Bones flying out the window are forgivable, uneaten thighs and drumsticks are not. 

Orlando Jones apparently really hated the movie. 

[Nashville]

21 hours ago, Lemur said:

It was a reference to The Green Book. 

I assumed it was a reference to racial stereotyping.

I’ve never seen the Green Book.

[Lemur]

2 hours ago, Nashville said:

I assumed it was a reference to racial stereotyping.

I’ve never seen the Green Book.

I haven't seen it either, but they apparently used fried chicken as a way for the working class white dude to "introduce" the educated black dude to "his" culture, at least according to the ads for the movie.

[Bruinsfan]

Within the context of the show it had to be a joke or jibe on Wednesday's part, didn't it? Who would pick a bucket of greasy fried chicken as road trip food to be eaten in their beloved car?

[Nashville]

27 minutes ago, Bruinsfan said:

Within the context of the show it had to be a joke or jibe on Wednesday's part, didn't it? Who would pick a bucket of greasy fried chicken as road trip food to be eaten in their beloved car?

Most anyone from more than two generations deep in the Southern USA, for starters....  😄

[Mr. Sparkle]

Now I want greasy fried chicken. 

[Bruinsfan]

I'm not knocking fried chicken (four generations deep in the South myself), but I think of it as food for eating on a table, not in a moving car.

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

I'm not knocking fried chicken (four generations deep in the South myself), but I think of it as food for eating on a table, not in a moving car.

I have no problem with either.  Or both.  Hell, given the option I’ll eat fried chicken in a space shuttle.

[ombre]

Just rewatched this.  For my money, it's between this and the next ep for worst of the season.  (Elsewhere I mistakenly spouted derision of ep 4, and feel like I owe ep 4 an apology!  I actually like quite a bit of it!)  The dialogue is so leaden that even this lovely cast can't do much with it. 

Anyway, I've been trying to figure out how the episode moved anything forward.  What's the point of having Shadow be captured?  At a surface level, it's to get the New Gods to try to swing Shadow.  At a larger level, it's to get Shadow to remember that moment when he decided to fight back as a kid.  (Seems like a lot of trouble to go to to work a flashback in.)

I think there are a lot of ways this could have been done better.  First and foremost would be having a different actor for young Shadow.  Gabriel Darku, at 23, is waaaaaaaaay to old to be playing 15/16 year-old Shadow.  And the try to get at awkward, lonely teen he's having to just kinda play dumb.  He'd be lovely as young 20-something Shadow, but this was just bad casting and served everybody poorly.

Spoilers for Ep 4:

Spoiler

That said, watching it again now, I rather love the way that the flashback has a very similar feel to Tech Boy's Coming to America story, which was one of my favorite parts of this season.

I've been rewatching things to get a sense of what the point of this season is.  My take on this ep is that it's setting the baseline that each character will work from.  Wednesday is kinda decent.  Shadow continues to be a new believer.  Laura is still quite certain she's all in for Shadow.  (Although I was struck by the atrocities of her rescue, and that moment of both of them seeing her in his eyes - rotting and covered in the gore of the men she's murdered.  That... really feels like a point of no return.)  Sweeney just keeps going.  Continues.  Still.  Just keeps going.  A whole ep of re-asserting that all the characters are... exactly where they were at the end of Season 1?  And through S2,E1?  Man, that feels like... wasted time.  And I say that from the standpoint of someone who truly digs character development and is fine with slow plots.

Liked the scenes between Laura and Sweeney.  The scenes between Wednesday and Mr. Nancy fell horribly flat.