#get you a man that looks at you like czernobog looks at his hammer

[sweeetestcurse]

Peter Stormare as Czernobog

[truthbeetoldmedia]

American Gods 2x04 “The Greatest Story Ever Told” Review

So much happens in every single hour of American Gods and this week’s episode is no different! We saw how Technical Boy came to be, Mr. Nancy trying to get Bilquis and Mr. Ibis to actually play their part in the war, and some weird Girl Scouts who were far scarier than an angry Mr. World or Mr. Wednesday.  

The story of how Technical Boy came to be started with a young boy who expressed minimal interest in classical music but showed great enthusiasm for all things technical. All the boy’s father wanted to do was share his love of classical music (his self-proclaimed way of praying) with his son. While the boy was talented on the piano, like any young child during the rise of computers, his interests were held elsewhere. By college, the son found a way for his computer program to write music. The boy was so proud, he showed his father. When his father found out that it was the computer, and not his son, that wrote the beautiful music, you could tell he was disappointed. This new technology encroached on the one thing he loved most. Well, the two things he loved most.  

The father ends up dying. At the funeral, Technical Boy comes into the picture. As mentioned before, music was how the father prayed. Incorporating music into tech is how the boy prays, thus Technical Boy appears above the man’s casket. For some reason, that’s not how I envisioned Technical Boy to come into being.  

Seeing Technical Boy come to be and seeing him lose usefulness to Mr. World in the same episode is kind of fascinating. As New Media said in the last episode, the two of them existing at the same time is kind of redundant. With Technical Boy letting Laura kill Argos in the last episode, Mr. World is beyond pissed. Technical Boy not getting the job Mr. World sent him out to do isn’t exactly doing him any favors. New Media is coming across as the favorite child with the big boss, while Technical Boy is sent into a time-out. (I’m taking it as a time-out. Whatever that ball that ate him is, I don’t think it destroyed him, so I’m calling it a time-out.) Technical Boy went to the young boy-turned-CEO for help in this war. This ended up being his downfall. For the longest time, Technical Boy was this man’s only friend. However, this man’s attention is fickle. New Media is easy to distract him with her technology and Mr. World essentially shows Technical Boy that he’s no longer essential and that he’s replaceable, which isn’t an easy thing for a god to hear.  

The first scene with Shadow picks up right where the last episode left off. He had the stuffing kicked out of him and he was FEELING it. Mr. Wednesday made him a deal that if Shadow wasn’t feeling better in the morning, then he could ride off with Better (his car) and leave Mr. Wednesday behind. You see, Shadow’s been feeling beyond frustrated with Mr. Wednesday lately and I can’t blame him. The man is keeping him in the dark about why he even chose Shadow to begin with. He wants to leave. He wants to find Laura and do what? Well, I’m not sure. You can’t very well go back to a life before you found out gods were real with a walking, talking corpse of a wife.  

Anyways, it’s nighttime and Shadow is in bed. A naked woman is sitting right on top of him. Her name is Bast and she’s an old warrior goddess, who also happened to be the goddess of cats. They start having sex, because apparently now Shadow has sex with random women who just find him in the middle of the night. (I’m not slut-shaming Shadow. I’m just saying that that’s not exactly practicing safe sex there, pal.) While they’re doing the dirty, she starts clawing at his skin...like a cat. She licks his open wounds from when he was beat up and then she starts leaving actual cuts on his chest and back. In the morning, Shadow wakes up and the woman has vanished. There is, however, a cat in Shadow’s room.  

Shadow goes down and speaks with Mr. Ibis and Mr. Wednesday. Wednesday wants to head out to St. Louis, where they find themselves at a diner. Mama-ji is there because she works at every Motel America, apparently. (Hope the paycheck is worth it, Mama-ji!) Tensions continue to run high between Mr. Wednesday and Shadow because Mr. Wednesday, as I previously mentioned, refuses to key Shadow into the reason he was chosen for this job. Mr. Wednesday tells him it’s because he’s essentially a nobody to everyone and, let me tell YOU, Shadow is EVERYTHING to ME.  

They end up meeting with these creepy girl scouts, who ask them if they want to buy candy and if they’d like to use debit or credit. It’s code for a meeting between Mr. World and a bookkeeper, but it’s the weirdest thing to actually witness. Whatever exactly this meeting was, because I’m still a tad confused to be honest, it ends in a draw because the bookkeeper isn’t making any decisions. I take it to mean that it’s really anybody’s war.  

While Shadow and Mr. Wednesday are in St. Louis, Mr. Ibis is attending to a dead woman’s body at his funeral parlor. Bilquis happens upon the deceased woman’s granddaughter in the chapel. One can only assume that Bilquis was searching out the old gods because maybe she’s finally chosen a side after Mr. World confronted her in last week’s episode. Anyways, Bilquis is all about human connections, so she starts speaking with the granddaughter, whose name we find out is Ruby. The topic of discussion is all about faith, of course. Ruby speaks of how her grandmother believed in Jesus and the sense of community that faith brought her. Ruby seems to appreciate the community, as well.  

Mr. Nancy shows up at the funeral parlor as well to deliver some much needed truth. Mr. Ibis and Bilquis have made it clear so far that they aren’t on any side. Well, Mr. Nancy wants them to decide. All three of them are some of the oldest gods out there. They are three powerful African gods. While it’s nice that Mr. Ibis and Bilquis don’t want to choose a side because they just want peace, they’re going to have to actually participate in order to reach that peace. The death of Zorya Vechernyaya brought Czernobog into the fight. To paraphrase Mr. Nancy, it took the death of an old white lady for Czernobog to swing his hammer. If it had been an old black lady, who’s to say Czernobog would’ve taken a stance? Like last season when we were introduced to Mr. Nancy, what he says speaks truths about America’s politics today. I believe that may have been enough for these three to show a united front, especially between Mr. Nancy and Bilquis with their steamy lip-locking.  

While this episode left me questioning some things, I was overall very pleased with it. I’m hoping Shadow gets more answers soon. I hate seeing him so confused and torn on his place by Mr. Wednesday’s side. I also want to see more Nancy/Bilquis/Ibis. I’m looking forward to their next interaction with Wednesday. One thing I’m hoping is explored more is New Media’s power and her new personality. We caught glimpses with Technical Boy, but there’s still so much more they could be showing us.

Some thoughts on the episode:

I’m actually really mad with how that father reacted to his son’s way of writing music. The boy was so proud of his creation, but his father didn’t see that. He just saw technology “ruining” something he loved so much. There’s definitely a generational divide with something like that. I can see both sides to the issue at hand, but I can’t help but be on the boy’s side with this one. Technology is AMAZING. It can do SO MUCH with just pressing a few keys on a keyboard. It was a real shame the boy’s father couldn’t take pride in something his son made because while the computer technically wrote the music, the son made it all possible to begin with.  

Can’t anyone have any normal sex on this show? First, the human-eating vagina. Then, the technical tentacle sex. Now, Shadow has sex with the cat-lady. I am DISTURBED.  

I’m shipping Mr. Nancy and Bilquis! They’re stunning! Mr. Ibis is their supportive mom friend.  

I actually felt really bad for Technical Boy by the end of the episode, which is something I never thought I’d do, considering I find Technical Boy to be awfully bratty.  

I like Mr. Wednesday more than Mr. World just for the record!

American Gods airs on Sundays at 8/7c on Starz.

Sarah’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

[tibbygetsrekt]

        Had another one of those crack fic moments! All the f/o’s under one roof would be absolute madness but for a single fic? It’s... survivable. Bon Apetit!

“We’re going to Area 51 boys!’

    Their announcement was met with absolute silence, daylight streaming through the door they’d just burst through. It was as if they’d thrown a grenade into the room and no one was sure if it was live or not.

“Wait… where?’ Frank asked, when no one else wanted to ask the obvious.

“Area. Fifty. One.’ They enunciated each word, still standing in the door as if expecting all of them to get up and get going immediately.

    Silence again. Hannibal staring at them with a politely curious expression but internally he was doing quick math. This level of manic commitment had to be at least three pots of coffee. Czernobog, who had no such reservations, took a long slow drag of his cigarette before swiping his hand across the checkerboard with a sigh and grabbed his hammer.

“What?! No!’ Hannibal snapped at him, refusing to move, fingers tightening on his book before turning his attention back to the figure in the doorway. “Tiberius Rex, sit down.’

“No! Hannibal listen-’

“I will not.’

    Their jaw set, attempting to stare him down before realizing the futility of that and instead looked towards Heavy.

“Bring Sasha, and call the boys!’

“I do not think Ms. Pauling would approve-’

“Too hell with that uptight cunt!’ Sweeney barked, laughing as he darted out of the room.

“That’s the spirit!’ Sending an air five his way, that he swiped at as his long legs took the stairs three at a time, they turned to Dutch. “You coming? I got a plan.’

    They did not have a plan. They were just going to wing it, and hope for the best.

“Tiberius…’ Hannibal slowly stood from the couch, the book placed in his seat. “Why don’t you sit, and we can hear this plan of yours. Frank is a military man, as is Heavy, after a fashion-’

“We can talk on the way, it’s a… twelve-hour drive?’ Waving off the request, they turned their head to the kitchen. “Eddie! EDDIE! Come upstairs, we’re going to go rescue aliens!’

“I thought this wasn’t happening until September or something…’ Frank muttered as he went back to cleaning his guns.

“That’s the beauty of it, that’s months away. They’re only just trying to fortify the base, it’ll be like the Spanish Inquisition!’

“What’s that?’ Sweeney asked, hopping down the last four steps to land with a bang on the floorboards. His shirt was gone, blue streaks curving down from his shoulders, and four slashed across his face. “Where’s my spear?’

“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!’

    They laughed, as he looked briefly confused before shrugging it off and going to hunt down his preferred weapon when not using his fists. Laughter was still bubbling out of them when Eddie finally came out of the basement looking disgruntled.

“They’re not wrong, Cannibal.’ Frank shrugged when the rich red-hued eyes landed on him. “Everyone on social media is screaming September, they’re expecting something probably in November. Just think of it as an early birthday present for them.’

“.... I love you.’ Tiberius whispered, even as Eddie tried to figure out what was going on by the conversation currently circling the room.

“Wait, where are we going, darling?’

“Area 51. It’s where they keep all the alien tech,’ when he looked less than enthusiastic, Tiberius sucked air through their teeth before putting on a serious expression. “It’s also where they… did experiments.’

    That was all Eddie needed, his hand lifting to skim over the right side of his face. Hannibal looked like a mix of proud and aghast, stepping around everyone else to take hold of their arm.

“You need to stop this, it was funny but you’re going to get people killed.’ He paused, realizing his stance and his teeth grit together before pushing the frustration away. “A lot of people, very publicly.’

    Hand motioning towards Eddie’s back as he left for the kitchen, and one of Hannibal’s knives.

“It’s the publicly thing that’s bothering you, isn’t it?’ They asked, not bothering trying to pull loose. “We can’t wear masks, Hannibal. That would obscure our vision.’

“Your vision is obviously already obscured.’

“That’s rude, you know I can see just fine without my glasses.’

    When he let go of their arm, they didn’t rub the area despite how tight his grip had been. Instead, they trailed the direction Sweeney had gone, surprised to find Dutch at their heels.

“So… there are aliens at this military facility?’

“Yes. Supposedly. Probably.’ They finally admitted, peeking in a room and finding it empty.  “But isn’t the idea thrilling?’

“I guess it is.’ He was thinking of the money that could be made selling what they found, or even alliances made off world that could be very lucrative. “But we’re driving?’

“Well… I mean I was going to, but I don’t think that we’d all fit in my Ford Focus.’ Frowning as they finally admitted the problem out loud. “Just getting Heavy and Sweeney into Odysseus is a struggle. And I don’t think you guys would be comfortable sitting on each other’s laps…’

    Cut off by running smack into Sweeney’s chest, they caught their balance, beaming up at him.

“So wait, aliens? Alright.’

    Almost as if he were still trying to convince himself. To be honest, it sounded like a laugh, and that’s all he needed for a reason. Sweeney was more self-destructive than Tiberius who was grinning up at him.

“If you’re going, then you will be bringing bottles of water.’

    Tiberius’ eyes rolled. That meant Hannibal wasn’t going, not that they were all that upset at the idea. It was his choice whether or not he was going to, and they were going to respect that. To be fair if any alien in the place was telepathic it might be better if Hannibal didn’t go or they might be more terrified of the rescue party.

“And you, drink now.’

    A glass of water entered their vision, and they took it out of habit. Hannibal said drink, eat, they usually did. He was more aware of the last time Tiberius had then they were. But even as the rim of the glass met their lips, they paused, pulling it away to stare at the water suspiciously. Actually, given his current stance on-

“Ow!’

    Glass falling to the floor, they grabbed their arm, turning a betrayed expression to Hannibal who didn’t look the least bit chagrined. But they had a high tolerance, it was their saving grace, Tiberius thought to themself even as they felt their head going fuzzy.

“Rude! Go eat yourself.’ They muttered, unable to swipe at him as they felt their body listing to the side.

    Sweeney caught them, scowling at Hannibal as he bent to lift them. Arms hanging loosely, head lolled back, he ground his teeth as Hannibal gave the unconscious burden a quick look over before going back into the living room. The Irishman was hot on his heels, frustration making his voice rough.

“Why in the name of Bran did you do that?!’

“When was the last time you saw them sleep?’ Hannibal countered cooly.

    He didn’t have an answer for that. That wasn’t really his category. He knew anger, and he knew drinking, and… Hannibal was staring at him as he slowly lowered himself back onto the couch, patting the cushion next to him. Czernobog let out a sigh through his nose as he let the hammer arc down to rest on the floor, plopping back into his chair and setting up the game again.

“So we’re not going?!” Eddie sounded outraged, and Hannibal leveled a cautious look at him.

“To Area 51, where the aliens are?’

“… Yes?’

“Edward, there is no Area 51 for us to go to. They were having… a hysteric episode.’

“Ah… those can be nasty.’

    The tension was slow to leave the broad shoulders, but it did, even as his fingers rolled the knife hilt against his palm. Moving towards Sweeney, he ignored the way the taller man’s arms shifted, trying to subtly move Tiberius out of reach.

“What did you give them?’

“A mild sedative is all.’ Hannibal picked up his book, leaning back on the couch. “They’ll wake in a few hours and most likely apologize for their overly energetic outburst earlier.’

“They do that a lot.” Eddie hummed, a small smile playing across his lips before turning back the way he’d come into the event. “Tell them that they need to come down later on, I’ve a new outfit I want to size on them.’

    Still looking disgruntled about the whole thing, Sweeney kicked at the coffee table to move it before half falling onto the couch. The only reaction from Tiberius was a sleepy little grunt, which Sweeney felt a flash of guilt over. Heels slamming down on the coffee table, taking a smidge of pleasure at the scowl that flashed across Hannibal’s face.

“So how long has it been since they slept then?’

“I don’t know for sure, but I’ve been around far longer than the rest of you.’ He was smug about that, considering Tiberius’ subconscious aversion to commitments.

“So you just magically know when she’s been up too long?’

    Hannibal leveled a look at the irate Irishman, and then cast an only slightly softer look down at the unconscious form in his arms.

“Not magically no, but you get to know a person. They need rest.’ Attention turning back to his book, dismissing the rest of the room, he lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “If you can manage to stop howling.’

“Wait, so now we’re not going?’ Dutch complained, falling into a chair with a huff of irritation.

“No. Tiberius would not hunt aliens.’ Czernobog answered, already lighting another cigarette even though Hannibal glared at him as he did so. A low grating chuckle rumbled out of his chest. “They would hunt monsters, do hunt monsters.’

    A pointed look at Dutch had the man flushing, mouth opening to retort only to have his mouth snap shut when Hannibal gave a sharp hiss. Of course he wasn’t the only one that Czernobog looked at, and he didn’t exclude himself. But he was comfortable with being dark, a nicotine stained finger moving a black checker piece, as Heavy sat down across from him to study the board before moving one of the white ones.

“She’s got a type.’ Frank said mockingly when it was clear Dutch was fuming. “But at least she doesn’t try to change us, or try to make us feel bad about the things we do. So, I’m alright with it.’

“I don’t require changing.” Dutch snapped, arms crossing over his chest as he slumped in the chair, ankles stacking.

    No one argued with him, mostly because it was clear he was spoiling for a fight, secondarily because too much fighting meant waking the unconscious mess that was cuddling closer to Sweeney’s chest, smearing blue paint on their face. Slowly the room quieted again, as if Tiberius hadn’t kicked the door in not twenty minutes ago and set the lot of them on edge one way or another.

“Maybe we should offer a trip? They might like going woods walking?’ Sweeney muttered, chin resting on their curls. “How long until the heat drops off?’

“Not til after their birthday, so maybe as a gift for Mabon. It may be cooler in September.’

“Yeah, that sounds about right.’ He paused when Tiberius made a noise, not a word by any means, but it was something. When they settled again, Sweeney smirked. “How much did you give them?’

“Enough to drop a small horse, they metabolize too quickly otherwise.’

“…. A houseful of monsters indeed.’

[douxreviews]

American Gods - ‘The Secret of Spoons’ Review

“The world is either crazy, or you are. They’re both solid options.”

American Gods' second episode presents us with a game of two halves. On every possible level that you can interpret that phrase.

The first time I saw this episode, I had two thoughts about it. The first was that I loved every single thing about the opening sequence introducing Anansi. The second was that it was kind of a dull filler episode that just existed to set up things that needed to be set up for the rest of the season.

Taking these in order; Yes. Every single thing about Anansi, both in this scene and going forward, is amazing. It's impossible to take your eyes off of Orlando Jones as he moves through the hold of the slave ship, and he has the sort of charisma that genuinely gets religious movements started in the real world. The moment when he mentions slavery existing for the purpose of harvesting cotton and indigo and then crisply pulls down on the seam of his own purple shirt as if to angrily straighten it is a great character beat, and I'd very much like to know if it was the product of the script, the direction, or the actor. It also helps that every single thing Anansi says is undeniably true.

This is one of the growing number of instances where the casting decision to have Shadow as a person of color instead of as a white man is benefiting the show. Last week we had the lynching, and all of the historically uncomfortable imagery associated with it. This week we have the opening scene on the slave ship unexpectedly echoed later in the episode when Czernobog speaks about race in a way that American's tend to find uncomfortably direct. Technically, Anansi's opening sequence doesn't have anything to do with the episode other than introducing another-God-who-will-be-important-later, but the fact that the beginning of the episode speaks about race so directly gives the discussion about race later in the episode an additional depth that it wouldn't have otherwise had.

It also sets up the concept of duality, of things being separated into black and white, which leads me to my second point.

"Shit. You all don’t know you black yet. You think you just people."

That line, outside from underlining the unfathomable inhumanity of the slave trade, also sets up what I missed about this episode the first time around. You have what you think is one thing, and suddenly it's two things that are artificially divided and set up in opposition to one another. 'Just people' suddenly split into black and white. Czernobog and his brother, divided into being 'the good one' and 'the bad one' by the people around them. The normal, mundane world that Shadow has known, and the world of Gods and beliefs that he's gradually learning exists. This whole episode is about bringing Shadow to the realization that there is a second world, the 'world under the world' to quote Shadow himself, and that those two worlds are simultaneously both separate from one another and both the same thing. As the episode is structured, that's the point of the checkers match. It's a nice symbol for the concept, because it's ostensibly two sides fighting in opposition, and yet the checkers are all equal, as Shadow points out when they're talking at dinner about checkers versus chess.

So, my first take on the episode as regards it existing just to set up things for the rest of the season was both correct and incorrect. Yes, it sets up Anansi, reminds us that Bilquis is still out there, introduces us to Media and tells us Technical Boy's name. But what's important is what it's doing underneath that.

The episode itself is roughly split into halves.  The first half is Shadow tying up loose threads so that he's free to go with Mr. Wednesday, and the second half is setting up the quest for the rest of the season by revealing to us that Wednesday is reaching out to other Gods for some reason.  Shadow's job is going to be to take him from one God to the next so that Wednesday can talk to them. Put like that, it sounds like it's a fairly utilitarian episode, but what I missed was Wednesday's line toward the end. "I'm easing him into it." he tells Zorya Vechernyaya, and that's the point of the episode. This isn't a plot structural cleanup exercise, as I first thought it was. It's the story of how Wednesday gradually breaks Shadow away from his old life and slowly introduces new concepts to him so that he's ready for what's to come. First he lets Shadow see that he's meeting with the mysterious man in the sunglasses but doesn't let him attend, then, once Shadow has understood that, Wednesday lets him attend the meeting with Czernobog. It's a gradual indoctrination, and I think it's nicely handled.

With this in mind, I now firmly believe that he sent Shadow on his own to the store specifically so that Media would reach out to him there, thus introducing Shadow to 'The Opposition,' as it were. They make a lot in this series about how manipulative Wednesday is, but if you watch Ian McShane in the background you can see it happening in real time And by the way, how great was Gillian Anderson as Media? She doesn't exactly sound like Lucy, but she has the look and mannerisms down, and she owns it in a way that you can't help but feel like she just did the world's best Lucy impression. Note also, Media makes a clear distinction between being Lucille Ball and being Lucy Ricardo. Again, this underscores the real world/world of fantasy duality.

So, an episode that appears on the surface to be just doing a job, but which, if you scratch the surface, is doing a hell of a lot with one hand while it distracts you with the other. That's kind of Wednesday in a nutshell, isn't it.

Quotes:

Anansi: "Once upon a time, a man got f**ked." Truthfully, Anansi's whole opening speech could be copied here, but this was a great lead in.

Anansi: "Take swimming lessons. This is how we get stereotypes.”

Shadow: "What the f**k did you do?" Wednesday: "Well, that depends on who you ask."

Wednesday: "You sir, or only obligated to feel bad about that for so long."

Media: "Time and Attention. Better than lamb's blood."

Zorya Vechernyaya: "Family is who you survive with when you need to survive. Even when you do not like them."

Czernobog: "You’re black, right?"

Czernobog: "A shame. You’re my only black friend."

Bits and Pieces:

-- This show specifically, and Fuller generally, use the language of television really well. The transitional shot from Bilquis on her bed to the statue in the museum was worth three pages of explanation about her in a book. Ditto the transition where her body appeared beneath the jewelry in the display case. Everything we really need to know about her is expressed in those two shots.

-- Speaking of Bilquis, I consistently wonder what exactly the casting call notice for this part said. Were the words 'Sex to death' part of it, or did they save that discussion for the second callback?

-- The beautiful and psychedelic transitional montage from Dylan's 'Hard Rain Gonna Fall', up through the universe, into the celestial realms, light splintering in iridescent casc... whoops, check out this erection!! That's kind of the show's aesthetic in a nutshell, isn't it.

-- The shot of Laura, lying in lingerie on the bed like she was selling perfume cutting to the actual unmade bed was also a nice dream v. reality moment. Also, showing a lead character in dreams and illusions is a standard way of keeping an actor as a regular on the show while you're waiting for a big reveal about that character. This is how they kept David Boreanez in the credits for the first three episodes of Buffy season three. I'm just saying.

-- I could have lived without the unrequested dick pic showing up in Shadow's wedding photo. And now I know how every woman on Tinder feels.

-- We don't get any answer as to who saved Shadow from the lynching.

-- Also, this week we have no Mad Sweeney, Audrey, or Technical Boy. I missed the first two.

-- The cinematography on the sequence where Shadow filled the bathtub was very pretty. Naked Ricky Whittle was... also pretty.

-- The shots of Czernobog killing the cows were very upsetting. I know no actual cows were hurt, but still.

-- If you pause on the shopping list, it's all legitimately stuff we see them use over the next couple of episodes.

-- You can tell they're dealing in fantasy – the packing tape dispenser never jammed once.

On closer evaluation, this episode has a lot more going for it than it appeared. The question this begs is, should an episode require closer inspection in order to be good television? There's legitimate room for differences of opinion on this issue.

Three and a half cows which are totally still alive and were not brained with a hammer.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water. You can find more of his work at the 42nd Vizsla.

[hebelieves-a-blog]

☠

* 𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴 : OPEN

       it would be hard not to have seen him coming from a mile away. shadow thought of himself as a rather LARGE LOOKING MAN ( one of the few reasons why he had gone mostly unharmed during his time in prison ) but mad sweeney was an absolute menace. it wasn’t just his height, shadow thought as he watched the man stomp towards him from across the parking lot, it was his posture. the veins on his neck practically pulsated with destructive energy and the way he clenched his fists made his hands look more like czernobog’s sledge hammer than actual parts of the human body.      ❝     sweeney, wait  ━━   ❞     shadow tried as he gave a small step back, readying himself for IMPACT . the leprechaun’s teeth were bared, but it was hard for him to tell whether that was a snarl or a smile he was wearing. 

      he was thankful to find that neither of those fists connected with his face . instead, they buried their fingers in shadow’s shirt, gripping it tight before slamming his back against the nearest concrete wall. it had been such a sudden movement, shadow could have sworn his feet stopped touching the ground for a brief moment. the moment his spine connected with the wall caused a flash of sharp white pain to spread across his whole torso, causing shadow moon to cry out in pain. both of his hands grabbed onto the redhead’s wrists only with half the ferocity the leprechaun had attacked him with. he couldn’t tell what was the deal with mad sweeney ; most times he felt as if he was nothing but a source of STRESS AND PAIN , a madman addicted to violence who found amusement in winding shadow up . but other times , fewer in number but therefore more precious , shadow felt as if he was the only person WHO CARED ABOUT HIS SAFETY .

there had been a honesty in his voice shadow hadn’t heard in a very long time. warning him about wednesday, about what he was getting himself into ... those felt like moments of lucidity amidst all the blood and loose teeth . moments in which shadow thought he might have a friend in the irishman. the ex-con coughed loudly , sucking air back into his lungs before tilting his head to glare at the other man.   ❝    you ever heard of using your fucking words? ❞    he pursed his lips, trying to keep himself from wincing or tearing up while being face to face with sweeney.     ❝     fuck !  ❞     shadow would stick with swearing instead.

[spryfilm]

“American Gods” (2017)

Fantasy/Horror

8 Episodes

Produced by: Bryan Fuller and Michael Green

Featuring: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Pablo Schreiber and Ian McShane

The series focuses on Shadow Moon, a man serving three years in prison. With only days remaining in his sentence, Shadow is given an unexpected early release after his beloved wife Laura is killed. Shadow finds himself next to a man named Wednesday, who offers Shadow a job. Wednesday appears to be nothing but a con artist who needs Shadow as a bodyguard. The rest of the story will become clear as this series unfolds but it is knee deep in mythology old and new with many faces as well as names that will be familiar to many.

Episode Two: “The Secret of the Spoons”

Cinematographer: Jo Willems

Directed by: David Slade

“There’s none so blind as those who do not listen.”

This episode picks up after Shadow’s run in with Technical Kid where Mr. Wednesday orders them to Chicago to collect “his hammer” – which actually turns out to be the bloodthirsty god of darkness Czernobog (Peter Stomare).

Shadow once again hallucinates, this time about his late wife Laura (Emily Browning), who tells him that she’s not really dead. Knowing that she is, Shadow soon comes to the understanding that he is losing his mind – particularly with an encounter with another God – Media.

We also see Bilquist have another encounter and another sex scene where she encounters another forced devotee.

Interestingly as a prologue to the show as we have a seemingly random ”Coming to America” tale; this time depicting several black men chained together below the deck of a ship.

Comparing this prologue to the previous episodes, it seems like each one will show just how big of a part several Old Gods played in US history. So, despite them appearing to have no real semblance with the show at first glance, they’re worth paying attention too if you want to get to grips with each of the deities.

As with the previous episode this one may seem random as well as quite existential, particularly to people who have not read the book. But with Gaiman’s assistance as well as Bryan Fullers talent I think we will all have a grip on things as we move through this first season. Look I will be honest and say that this may seem random to some but the story within the book was so expertly plotted (coming from Gaiman’s comic book days) that I am willing to go with this series until it seems the producers may have lost the plot.

As I said in my episode one review this episode looks and sounds amazing with a visual signature that follows on quite nicely. We see with these new type of shows that it helps if the director and cinematographer work in unison and understand what they are trying to put up on the screen – as with Fullers “Hannibal” this show looks fantastic – I cannot wait for more.

Episode two is now available on Amazon Streaming.

Streaming Review: “American Gods” (2017 – ) Episode Two: “The Secret of the Spoons” “American Gods” (2017) Fantasy/Horror 8 Episodes Produced by: Bryan Fuller and Michael Green Featuring: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Pablo Schreiber and Ian McShane…

[fathersonholygore]

Starz’ American Gods Season 1, Episode 2: “The Secret of Spoon” Directed by David Slade Written by Michael Green & Bryan Fuller

* For a recap & review of the premiere, “The Bone Orchard” – click here * For a recap & review of the next episode, “Head Full of Snow” – click here We start on 1697 – Coming to America – when slaves were being transported by ship. One of them calls to Anansi who is a character from African folklore, usually in the form of a spider. The slave regrets he cannot do anything to honour him in those chains. But that if the god is merciful, he will repay him for the rest of his life. Then they’re shocked by a man in a fine suit, something they’ve never seen: Mr. Nancy (Orlando Jones). He tells them of a story where “once upon a time a man got fucked,” which is, essentially, the story of African Americans. He tells them of what awaits at the end of their journey. He gives them a quick lesson in how fucked they all are, and how bad American will be for their people. So either kill the Dutch motherfuckers, or go to the land of opportunity where they’ll be fucked for hundreds of years. He sets one man free then they’re all raging for justice. The ship starts going up in flames and everyone burns while Anansi crawls ashore. Mr. Nancy: “Angry is good. Angry gets shit done.” Who saved Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), at the mercy of Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) and his Children? He’s in a hospital getting stitched and taken care of, then goes straight for Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). They chat about what’s happened, and Wednesday knows all about the toad smoking kid. Meanwhile, Shadow isn’t pleased, seeing as how he was “strange fucking fruit” for a brief moment in time. However he doesn’t realise that Wednesday is already plotting. That night Shadow dreams of his wife Laura (Emily Browning) coming through the door. She says she isn’t dead. Yeah, that’s comforting. Of course it’s a dream, but the guy’s already been through the ringer. Nightmare land in his head won’t help a thing. The next day he goes back to the house he shared with his wife, before he went away to jail. Everything’s laid out for a Welcome Home party, only it’s now depressing and sombre. Everywhere are the memories of Laura, in each room. So he packs everything away in boxes. Finally, after staring at it all day, he opens the box from the coroner’s office. Inside is her wedding ring, her phone. He looks through her phone to find a dick pic from Robbie, confirming the worst. That’s some ugly shit. What’s next after Shadow leaves Eagle Point? He and Wednesday go on the road with CCR blaring from the speakers. Only deal: no highways. They need to go to Chicago so Wednesday can pick up his hammer. We’re treated to an excellent visual here that I won’t spoil by even trying to describe it, other than it makes the sky look WILD! The two make a pit stop. Shadow goes to pick up things on a list he’s given, everything from maps to vodka and all kinds of stuff. Suddenly, Media (Gillian Anderson) speaks to Shadow from a television screen. More of those great visuals, too. Media comes through on I Love Lucy as Mrs. Ricardo herself. She talks a good game, offering to employ him. Another one of the New Gods. Oh, this strange new world! Media: “Don‘t fight gravity, Shadow.” Shadow believes it’s all in his head. He tells Wednesday about his run in with Lucy, thinking his time in jail ripened his brain to mush. His older gentleman friend explains that mad isn’t the biggest sacrifice that might need to be made. Later he goes on a nice spiel about messages, tossing the cellphones out the window and lamenting those days of opening letters; such great delivery from the master, Mr. McShane. A journey through the universe takes us to Bilquis (Yetide Badaki), who we last saw take a man home and devour him.. sort of, yeah. She’s got a new guy. Then a new woman. And the endlessly sexual cycle perpetuates, on and on. Note: perfect cut is edited when we see the frame jump from Bilquis naked in bed to a statue of stone standing tall, breasts in hand; clever work. She is most certainly one of the Old Gods, of whom I can’t wait to see more. Wednesday goes to see several people, including Zorya Vechernyaya (Cloris Leachman), an old Russian woman. That’s why they picked up that vodka, particularly. She loves it. Then there’s the other sisters, Zorya Ultrennyaya (Martha Kelly) and Zorya Polunochnyaya (Erika Kaar). Vechernyaya tells fortunes, offering to show Shadow his own. There’s also Czernobog (Peter Stormare), covered in cow blood and not happy to see Wednesday. Zorya Vechernyaya: “Family is who you survive with when you need to survive”

Constantly smoking, Czernobog refuses to go along with Wednesday. He doesn’t want to do any of what they used to do anymore. Whatever that was; he also has a brother (for those who don’t know he’s a Slavic deity, the Black God, considered as a counterpart to Belobog, the White God). What we’re treated to is seeing how this Old God, he’s a dangerous one, has a sketchy reputation. He doesn’t like killing the new way, either. He likes the old fashion way. Czernobog: “To give a good death is art” After dinner Shadow sits to play checkers with Czernobog. Then we discover his hammer. A massive sledgehammer he keeps on the mantle. He is a bad motherfucker, that’s for sure. He’s sad his tool doesn’t get fed the blood it needs anymore; Shadow has visions of it soaked in gore. Oh, this place is creepy. Now, if Czernobog loses chess he’ll agree to go with Wednesday. If he wins, Shadow takes the hammer to feed it some of that good “sunrise blood” in the morning. And the game is on. They play down to the last pieces on the board and poor Shadow’s not doing so well. He loses at the bitter end. So what’s going to happen next time? Czernobog is owed blood he’s promised. Next episode is titled “ American Gods – Season 1, Episode 2: “The Secret of Spoon” Starz' American Gods Season 1, Episode 2: "The Secret of Spoon" Directed by David Slade…

[douxreviews]

American Gods - ‘Head Full of Snow’ Review

"You believe in nothing, so you have nothing."

American Gods goes on a bank heist, in an episode that neatly balances touching sidebar stories with Shadow finally getting some empowerment, both figuratively and literally. Maybe.

The more you dig into an episode of American Gods, the more impressive it becomes just how densely layered the whole thing is. How exactly would one quickly describe this episode? Is it 'The One Where Mr. Wednesday and Shadow Rob a Bank?' Is it 'The One That Separately Introduces Salim and Anubis?' Or maybe 'The One Where Shadow (Possibly) Gets Superpowers'? The answer of course is, 'yes'. It's all of those, deftly interwoven with a number of thoughtful pauses where we contemplate the cultural meaning of Jesus(es), get a glimpse of the afterlife, and discover that Mad Sweeney should keep a better eye on his things.

That's a lot going on, and yet somehow the episode doesn't feel overcrowded, which is as neat a trick as Mr. Wednesday has ever pulled.

So, let's pull it a part a little bit and see how the pieces work. To begin with, we start where we ended last week, with Shadow having lost his head, literally, in a checkers match. Since the beginning of the series Shadow has been a victim of the various forces around him that are influencing his life, and has only been able to roll with the punches as they come at him. But that all changes in the opening sequences here through his dream encounter on the roof with Zorya Polunochnaya, the Midnight Star. Neil Gaiman has always written dream dialogue well, no pun intended, and most of the conversation they have here is lifted directly from the book to great effect. One of the most necessary skills for anyone adapting a written text into visual media is knowing what they need to change to make it work and what they should leave unchanged. Fuller, Green and company made the right call in this case.

The midnight star, a virgin as she herself points out, is about rebirth and renewal, and in that spirit she absolutely gives Shadow the fresh re-start he needs. After this he's able to outwit Czernobog by playing on his vanity and his fear of growing weak into playing a second game of checkers and beats him. Czernobog still gets to bash in his brain with his hammer, but not until after Czernobog comes along with them on Mr. Wednesday's journey. So, there's that hanging over our heads until later on in the story, then.

This metaphorical empowerment then gets a little more literal when Mr. Wednesday repeatedly urges Shadow to make it snow by thinking about snow, and then it snows. Metaphorically, structurally, and possibly literally, Shadow is learning how to affect the world around him, and there's something more than a little insidious about how Wednesday seems to be manipulating things around them to make it happen. It was nice though that both the show and Wednesday chose to leave it an open question as to whether Shadow had really made the snow or whether is was a coincidence. It's about your personal choice as to what you believe, both of them seem to be saying, and as Wednesday explicitly points out, 'First you don't believe and then you do believe, and the world changes because you do.' It's admittedly a little precious as ruminations on belief go, but the show is really drilling down into the way belief affects the shape of the world, so it works in this case. Let's just all agree not to push things by cross stitching it on a pillow.

As for the bank robbery itself, well, robbery is probably a bit of an overstatement. Although I'm sure that would technically by the charge were they arrested for it. Realistically, it's more a case of conning people out of their overnight deposits when they come to put them in the ATM. The sequence works for what it's setting out to do for a couple of reasons. First, it demonstrates that Mr. Wednesday really is a devious and manipulative con artist who's good at playing people. Second, and more surprisingly, it shows us just how smoothly and easily Shadow can roll with a situation and con people himself. What it doesn't do however is show us a way of feasibly robbing a bank, as the plan we see wouldn't have worked, even at the time of the book being published, for three major reasons. 1: Night deposits in bags like that don't go in ATMs, they go in night deposit drop slots. Or they did at the time, I confess to having been out of retail for a long time, but I think that's still the same situation. 2: Even when closed, banks have security guards, particularly a bank in Chicago on a busy street like that. At the very least they would have video monitoring that would have investigated the guy sitting in front of their ATM. 3: Most importantly, in that situation the police would call the bank, not the number on a business card they were handed by the man they were suspicious of. I'm just saying; good scene for the purposes of plot and drama, bad scene if you're trying to teach yourself how to rob banks.

We hadn't seen Mad Sweeney since the first episode, and it turns out the reason why is that he's been passed out in a public toilet all this time. We've all been there. What's more interesting is that we gradually learn that his luck appears to have left him with the gold coin he gave Shadow back in that episode. His escalating bad luck while he works that out is pretty amusing, but it's hard not to feel a little bad for guest star Scott Thompson, who takes a pipe first through his windshield and then his face solely for having tried to help out someone staggering down the road. And for a guy with that much bad luck, Sweeney certainly puts on some miles here. He starts at the Crocodile bar somewhere in Missouri-ish, gets to Chicago to find Shadow, and then has to get all the way back to Indiana. That's a lot of travel for a guy who seems to be doing most of it on foot. Did he leave behind a trail of Scott Thompson's, all ghoulishly killed in one manner of bad luck traffic accident or another?

Then we have the Somewhere in America sequences, both of which are beautiful in their own way. Mrs. Fadil, dying alone only to have Anubis stop by and kindly taste her dinner before escorting her to a gorgeously filmed afterlife was just lovely. But the longer sequence of Salim, the lonely salesman and an equally lonely Jinn who unexpectedly find a loving connection to one another was one of the most profoundly moving love stories I've ever seen in film or television. Also, wow that was a lot of graphic sex. I appreciated that the way it was filmed was neither exploitative nor apologetic about it being a same sex couple. The beauty of the interactions between Sadim and the Jinn, two beings so lonely that they've given up on even the concept of finding a connection or love, can be summed up in one exchange:

Sadim: "I wish you could see what I see." Jinn: "I do not grant wishes." Sadim: "But you do."

Just beautiful.

Quotes:

Anubis: "Your Assaf will marry in a year and name his daughter for you." Mrs. Fadil: "A Bullshit middle name?" Anubis: "A bullshit middle name."

Zorya Polunochnaya: "Kissing is disgusting, but it a nice way. Like Blue Cheese, or Brandy."

Czernobog: "All right, I’ll go with Wotan to his Wisconsin. Then I’m gonna kill you. Is good?" Shadow: "Is good."

Shadow: "Storm died." Wednesday: "No it hasn’t. We’re gonna rob a bank. Want some coffee?"

Jinn: "You try and sell shit?" Salesman: "I sell Shit yes." Jinn: "And they will not buy it?" Salesman: "No." Jinn: "Strange. Cause when you look in the stores here, that’s all they sell."

Jinn: "They know nothing about my people here. They think all we do is grant wishes. If I could grant a wish, do you think I’d be driving a cab?"

Wednesday: "Come on, learn. It’ll be fun."

Bits and Pieces:

-- If you are reading this later on, or are not from the Midwest, we just spent a week at thirty below zero. Before the windchill. This was not a great week to think 'snow'.

-- I'm not very clear whether Mrs. Fadil's skinless cat was actually Bast, or if Bast is just part of all cats and so that's why the cat got to go with to the afterlife's foyer.

-- Lots of climbing up balconies this week.

-- Zorya Polunochnaya is entirely a creation of Neil Gaiman's. I'm fairly certain she's the only instance of that in the entire book, but I might be wrong. Feel free to correct me in the comments if so, it's the only way I'll learn.

-- When Zorya P. referred to the constellation as 'Odin's Wain', I misheard it as 'Odin's Wang.' That's a very different constellation.

-- I could watch Ian McShane seduce Cloris Leachman all day. Now there's a sentence I didn't expect to be typing today.

-- I have a great anecdote about Scott Thompson, but it's not relevant to the show, so I'll throw it in the comments if anyone's interested.

-- Despite the fact that Mr. Wednesday uses them interchangeably, hot chocolate and hot cocoa are categorically not the exact same thing. This is important.

-- What was the deal with the wolf they almost hit?

-- So apparently the inference is that Mad Sweeney's lucky coin brought Laura back to life, and that's how she ended up in Shadow's motel room at the end. The bigger question to me is how did she get out of her grave without disturbing the ground? And is that the most poorly monitored cemetery in the world, or what?

-- No sign this week of Media, Technical Boy, or Bilquis. Also, three episodes in and still no sign of Crispin Glover's Mr. World

-- This week's amusing behind the scenes story; Both the actor who plays Salim and the actor who plays the Jinn are heterosexual.  As, apparently, was all of the film crew in the unit that recorded their love scene.  This, the legend goes, led to Bryan Fuller receiving the rushes for their love scene and having to tell everyone involved, 'Yeah... That's not how that works...'  After which they had to stage a remount.  That last part was not intended to be a joke, but I can't bring myself to erase it.  Let's all just be adults and move on.

A solid episode with a lot of good stuff in it, but it still suffers a bit from feeling like it's all setup for more important stuff later on.

Three out of four ATM deposits

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.