Well, the first episode is out in the wild, how are people finding it?

I thought it was very, very pretty (Bryan Fuller clearly taking up where he left off with Hannibal) but I'm a little worried that it was a little tough to follow for the layperson. I reread the book around Christmas last, so I was pretty up to speed, but would be interested how accessible it was to someone who'd never read, or not for a long time, the book?

I enjoyed greatly and the figure of mr Wendsday made me grinn with joy. Also enjoyed the overall mood and feel of the series, very much on par with the book.

Agreed, with the book relatively fresh in my mind, I really appreciated how faithful it was, but with little touches here and there just to make it more current.

Ian McShane is the only person I could ever see as Wednesday from the moment I found out he was playing him.

Much like Preacher some of the tweaks made sense (although the opening had Fuller's bloody finger prints all over it), trying to separate the book from the show is kind of tricky but I think the show did enough to set the story and characters up, and the 'Coming to America' bits will do enough to explain things (and fingers crossed for a story or two from Mr Nancy)

Also if they explain who/what they go to see in Vegas I'll be happy but I think that's part of the Lakeside section so likely not Season 1

Agreed on the opening, but the dismembered arm spiraling through the air (and breaking out of the letterbox format) before impaling that geezer was amusing.

As someone who hasn't read any of the books or comics, I quite enjoyed the premiere. As said, very good visuals. I found their particular way of doing blood effects different and artsy than what I usually see. Story wise of course I don't exactly know what's going on, but there's enough there that I'm getting an idea of what we're going for. Definitely one to keep watching so far.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Agreed, with the book relatively fresh in my mind, I really appreciated how faithful it was, but with little touches here and there just to make it more current.

Ian McShane is the only person I could ever see as Wednesday from the moment I found out he was playing him.

Oh totaly, that particular figure needs someone whom can carry the sheer importance of the role and as well come across as the mixture of con man, mentor and gruff old man as Ian can. That and the physical similarites between the two since Mr Wedsday is a rather solid figure.

 AduroT wrote:
As someone who hasn't read any of the books or comics, I quite enjoyed the premiere. As said, very good visuals. I found their particular way of doing blood effects different and artsy than what I usually see. Story wise of course I don't exactly know what's going on, but there's enough there that I'm getting an idea of what we're going for. Definitely one to keep watching so far.

Same here, the wife and I didnt know it was a book. We both feel like we arnt exactly sure whats going on but we are very interested. If it keeps going like the start we are going to really enjoy it

I never read the books either, but I enjoyed the first episode and will keep watching. I'll watch almost anything with Ian McShane.

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Also if they explain who/what they go to see in Vegas I'll be happy but I think that's part of the Lakeside section so likely not Season 1

According to Neil Gamain (in an interview on the Empire Film podcast), they've still not decided, as that bit's in season 2.

 AduroT wrote:
As someone who hasn't read any of the books or comics, I quite enjoyed the premiere. As said, very good visuals. I found their particular way of doing blood effects different and artsy than what I usually see. Story wise of course I don't exactly know what's going on, but there's enough there that I'm getting an idea of what we're going for. Definitely one to keep watching so far.

That's decidedly Bryan Fuller's influence, that sort of effect was all over Hannibal. I'd imagine it's a nice compromise as not only does it make for some visually interesting stuff, but it's abstract enough that it may fall under "fantasy violence" and allow them to get away with things depicted more easily than if they were to go down a more realistic route with the effects.

So is Mr Wednesday supposed to be Odin? Just thought that because of the viking scene in the beginning, and he's a main god, and Wednesday seems to be a main american god, but he seems to still have both eyes though...

And Wednesday is a corruption of "Odins Day" and that day is his day, and he has an eye for things, "but just the one" and..

Suffice to say there is good evidence to support this theory.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Also if they explain who/what they go to see in Vegas I'll be happy but I think that's part of the Lakeside section so likely not Season 1

According to Neil Gamain (in an interview on the Empire Film podcast), they've still not decided, as that bit's in season 2.

The Mercury theory kind of fits and the overlap with some of Wednesday traits explains why they are connected, but doesn't quite cover the memory muddling, then again that could make for a very trippy episode

I'm guessing S1 will take us up to around Lakeside (which hopefully will get trimmed as it could easily become Walking Dead S2 all over again)

 Necros wrote:
I never read the books either, but I enjoyed the first episode and will keep watching. I'll watch almost anything with Ian McShane.

You ever watch Pillars of the Earth series? I LOVE that series and he was awesome in that. He played his character so well I just wanted to bash his head in with a rock. Im with you, that guy is a really good actor

Probably better you colonials that are fans of McShane don't look out for a show called Lovejoy, it may somewhat undermine your opinion.

He was in one of the Babylon 5 TV movies too. Again, not his finest hour ...

I liked him ever since Deadwood, but I haven't seen him in a lot of stuff. But he seems to do a good job in everything I've seen him do at least

 Necros wrote:
I never read the books either, but I enjoyed the first episode and will keep watching. I'll watch almost anything with Ian McShane.

It's only one book, and a couple of short stories. It's really good though. Easily one of the best I've ever read.

He was great in that one Game of Thrones episode, even though he really had to stretch for the role...

Too soon...

Okay just watched it again, still not quite sure why the Tech Boys drones went pop, maybe related to the Gallows tipping off Wednesday ? Or somebody else ? I have a theory (not bunnies)

I doubt we'll have long to wait, that struck me as a definite hook to encourage further viewing, and that Ep2 will explain.

If it doesn't, it will require further ponderance.

 Azreal13 wrote:
I doubt we'll have long to wait, that struck me as a definite hook to encourage further viewing, and that Ep2 will explain.

If it doesn't, it will require further ponderance.

I'm sort of discounting Wednesday as he doesn't like to directly get his hands dirty, and whilst my theory has the strength I never thought they had the speed, although the slow-mo could be more Fuller-jitsu and/or Shadows muddled state

I am in the process of listening to a full cast audiobook. (Not the show cast, though Mr. Wednesday in the audiobook sounds exactly like Ian McShane)

I started it about two months before they announced the show was picked up by starz for a show. I was pretty happy.

I liked the visuals and how they set up the story in the first episode. I absolutely hated the music almost 90% of the first episode. I am not sure why, it just seemed off. Like it never fit right. I need to rewatch it honestly.

I am very excited about:

It's not impossible that the music not fitting was deliberate. It wasn't something I picked up, but given Shadow's just got out of prison, lost his wife and met Wednesday, trying to create a little discord between the audio and the visual would be fitting.

So Episode 2, odd opening but reinforces the whole blood and belief vibe although paints Mr Nancy as slightly more of a bastard than I had him pegged from the book

No resolution to last weeks exploding henchmen, but Wednesday denied it was him so sticking with my prior theory

Bilquis' segment providing the mandatory skin quota, winkys 'n' all, not sure where that story is going

The update of the Media encounter was nicely done

The sisters were excellent, and Czernobog was outstandingly grim, liked the whole speech about his 'brother', and how it sets up the checkers game and Shadow's solution

And as ever Mr Wednesday was awesome

Yeah, not as visually distinct this time, but starts to open up more of the story I thought. Also, Vikings the first episode, slaves the second, I wonder if we'll get a ten minute scene about a group's interaction with one of their gods to start every episode.

Most likely, there are a fair few 'Coming to America' stories in the book, hopefully they'll add one in for Mad Sweeney as the book alludes to him more than a Leprechaun

Oh, huh, didn't even think about both stories so far being coming to America ones, which makes sense given the show title.

So I guess Wednesday is Odin then? That Russian Guy Who's In Everything called him Wotan a few times, that's another Odin name, right? And I'm assuming That Russian Guy is Thor, with the hammer and all. Cloris Leachman was great as usual, dunno who she was supposed to be? An old goddess or just a gypsy fortune teller type lady?

Not Thor, he's Czernobog, as one would expect there's nothing subtle like an alias about him.

A Slavic god, considered the evil "black" god and a counter point to his "white" brother. Hopefully the imagery of the chequers and the speech about them both turning grey makes more sense now!

(PS I had to Google it when reading the book!)

The sisters are kind of made up, but influenced by various female trinitys of mythology (norns / fates / witches etc), Gaiman uses the concept it a fair bit (Sandman, Stardust, American Gods, Ocean at the End of the Lane all have them), but they are more or less Gods

Actually, they're legit, but in the original myth/folklore, there are only two, guardians of the morning and the evening. Gaiman added the third (the youngest who guards the night.)

Again, Google was my friend!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorya

I stand corrected then Ted

Is this something you need Starz to watch? Is it on Netflix or Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime in the UK, and I'm pretty sure the same in the US, but you guys get a new Ep on Sunday and we get it on Mondays.

I has the A-Primes. Thanks!

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Most likely, there are a fair few 'Coming to America' stories in the book, hopefully they'll add one in for Mad Sweeney as the book alludes to him more than a Leprechaun

Episode 2 added a hint to one of those stories - the guy with the flaming eyes that bumps into Shadow at one point is almost certainly one of the characters from the one about the djinn driving a taxi in New York.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Most likely, there are a fair few 'Coming to America' stories in the book, hopefully they'll add one in for Mad Sweeney as the book alludes to him more than a Leprechaun

Episode 2 added a hint to one of those stories - the guy with the flaming eyes that bumps into Shadow at one point is almost certainly one of the characters from the one about the djinn driving a taxi in New York.

 Dreadwinter wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Most likely, there are a fair few 'Coming to America' stories in the book, hopefully they'll add one in for Mad Sweeney as the book alludes to him more than a Leprechaun

Episode 2 added a hint to one of those stories - the guy with the flaming eyes that bumps into Shadow at one point is almost certainly one of the characters from the one about the djinn driving a taxi in New York.

Spoiler:

I thought that the Djinn went back home in the end of that story.

 Azreal13 wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
Most likely, there are a fair few 'Coming to America' stories in the book, hopefully they'll add one in for Mad Sweeney as the book alludes to him more than a Leprechaun

Episode 2 added a hint to one of those stories - the guy with the flaming eyes that bumps into Shadow at one point is almost certainly one of the characters from the one about the djinn driving a taxi in New York.

Spoiler:

I thought that the Djinn went back home in the end of that story.

Spoiler:

Only because he tricked someone else into taking over. There was still a djinn in NY.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

Spoiler:

I never thought Salim was tricked. Or at least, if he was, he still ended up better off than he was before - he's now got a better job than trying to sell nick-nacks for his brother-in-law.

As for the djinn wanting to get back home, I'm not sure it was to avoid Wednesday's war. A major theme of the book is that all the American gods are just splinters or offshoots of the "real" gods (Shadow meets the real Odin in Iceland in the epilogue) and America is just a really awful place to be a god. They all end up as sad, desperate hustlers one way or another.

Maybe, but it's a still a little bit risky for mainstream or even cable networks, even shows like Constantine, Lucifer and Preacher danced very carefully around that, although the cast listing shows multiple Jesus' so who knows

So a bit of a middling episode this week, mostly filling and expanding the worlds

The opening was interesting, showing the old gods can 'get by' on even smidges of second hand faith, even over more mainstream faiths

Salim's story was well done with the Ifrit seeming just as lonely and lost in America as Salim, which as my previous comments show I didn't feel in the book version

Mad Sweeney was excellent as ever and the car accident was full on Fuller-fu

The bank job was cool and kind of long term foreshadowing

Still a bit unsold on the end reveal, did it 'work' for people who haven't read the book ?

I was a little confused with the whole djinn scene. Where did the beardy guy go?

The bank part was fun.. but why does the apocalypse have to be in Wisconsin?

I liked the opening scene with the reaper guy, looks like the next episode will be interesting with shadow moon's wife coming back.

From the scene in the show, it kind of appeared that the djinn possessed the guy or stole his body or something.

In the book, the djinn is desperate to return home, so my take was always he took the clothes and passport and ran for the airport (that might be explicitly stated in the book, don't recall.)

I'm conflicted as to whether the implication was that somehow the djinn did something when they had sex to create Salim as another djinn (there's definitely some sort of fire transfer thing happening, but I'm not sure that's just a metaphor for what's going on between them physically, or meant to mean something more.) Certainly the "I don't grant wishes" comment could be interpreted a number of ways. I always took it as a con trick for the djinn to get home, now I'm not so sure.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and Necros, the reasons for things happening where they do has already been touched on, but should get more fully explained later on, Wednesday has a conversation with Shadow about it when they get there.

Yea the Djinn part made little to no sense to me as well but if it gets explained later than cool with me. I thought the Djinn looked cool as hell otherwise.

 KingCracker wrote:
Yea the Djinn part made little to no sense to me as well but if it gets explained later than cool with me. I thought the Djinn looked cool as hell otherwise.

If it follows the book, there's no more djinn stuff, you'll just have to decide what you think is the right interpretation, what gets explained later is the reason that events need to take place at the locations they do, at least it should, but that has already been touched on, so may play out differently from the book.

Episode 4 "Git Gone"

Somewhat of a major departure from the book, but solid none the less, and well carried by Ms Browning

I liked showing Shadow as naturally morally fluid

I would have liked to have seen Wednesday at the Casino, maybe nudging Laura into the affair, but I'll settle for the Ravens at the house

Laura's argument with Anubis reminded me of Sandman when a couple of dead boys refuse to go with a frazzled and over-worked Death

Confirmation that she was the one to Zombie-Doll Tech Boys drones, and how she 'see's' Shadow has implications

The whole Laura / Audrey scene was fried tragi-comedy gold

And we end in Cairo dealing with the impracticality of being living impaired, oh and Bast

I really think this episode has sold me on widening out the world with non-book materials, did miss my dose of Wednesday though

Agreed on all points, but making the show not totally reliant on its main, or at least most charismatic, character, and showing that it can be entertaining independently is a strong positive.

Especially as I suspect we'll get a good number of episodes up in the snow with little or no Wednesday, unless they decide to expand on what he was up to in that period in a separate narrative thread, eventually.

True, still a bit worried that Lakeside is going to be a drag, so anything that provides otherness to that will be welcome (plus the place had that whole Twin Peaks vibe going, which might jar now Agent Coop et al are back on the tellybox)

The wife and I enjoyed this one far more than last week. I agree with the above posts this episode was pretty enjoyable

It was ok, but kind of hitting a pet peeve where the ended in the same place as the previous episode so it just feels like nothing happened/progressed.

Back story happened. The show progressed.

Yeah I know, but the repetition was a little annoying.

Perhaps if episode 3 had ended with the look on Shadow's face, and then this episode ended on "hello Puppy", it would have been less irritating, but then the repetition helps tie everything together, so ...

Interesting that Shadow is in jail for getting caught during a robbery his wife instigated, as opposed to an assault charge ( I was going to say for defending Laura, but I think I'm getting mixed up with Con Air).

Yeah, it would have been much better had we ended three with him walking into the hotel room and seeing his reaction with no idea what he saw, then four shows us what it did and ends in the room again and we know it was her.

Wife and I thought that this weeks episode made Laura feel like a sociopath and/or purely unsympathetic. The actress did a good job but I dislike the character she is portraying.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

Spoiler:

Going back to Islamic tradition, djinn are no better or worse, morally, than humans. They're beings of fire rather than earth, and like humans can be good or evil, true believers, followers of other religions of the book or unbelievers, and be judged by God in the same way.

So, I like to believe that the djinn was honestly doing Salim a good turn. Just because it was good for both of them doesn't detract from that in my mind.

I also believe that this series will tackle the question of Jesus and God, something the book shied away from.

That's a theme that Gaiman has explored before. This is his short story, Troll Bridge. Again, something that to an observer looks dishonest, or cruel... but to the participants seems quite the fair deal.

https://talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2014/07/neil-gaiman-troll-bridge.html

 Bromsy wrote:
Wife and I thought that this weeks episode made Laura feel like a sociopath and/or purely unsympathetic. The actress did a good job but I dislike the character she is portraying.

I can't disagree, but I think as the shows goes forward she might become one of the more interesting characters, given her 'first' life turned into a bad joke with a nasty punchline mostly of her own making (or possibly not depending on godly intervention) she might try to be a better class of undead, or get far worse under the already dead what can be worse rational

That was a pretty good episode.

I'm enjoying watching Gillian Anderson's pop-culture transformations as Media. Glam-Bowie was terrific last night.

Strange for sure. Not sure what to make of it.

Plus the Djin...
That was rather random.

Huh. I hadn't recognized Gillian.

 jhe90 wrote:
Strange for sure. Not sure what to make of it.

Plus the Djin...
That was rather random.

The little "random" bits play the role of showing the wider world under the world. This way we can see more of the mythos without directly making them significant characters (at least right way).

That is the way I see it.

I do like the random bits, though I didn't totally understand this week's again.

Yeah, I had a bit of trouble getting my head round it.


Also, I'm sure I missed most of the Bowie lyrics that Media was quoting.

 BrotherGecko wrote:

 jhe90 wrote:
Strange for sure. Not sure what to make of it.

Plus the Djin...
That was rather random.

The little "random" bits play the role of showing the wider world under the world. This way we can see more of the mythos without directly making them significant characters (at least right way).

That is the way I see it.

Only having seen 2, then full Craziness, it kinda was a well...

Well that's unexpected!

The leprechaun is shaping up to be my favorite character of all. I think Shadow Moon is my least favorite. He's the main guy, but he's such a downer. I mean I guess I can see why, but still. I liked how Wednesday was telling the cops the whole story with no spoilers at all, and they just thought he was crazy.

I thought the whole thing with the animated part at the beginning was just trying to say that gods only die when people forget about them.

 Necros wrote:
I thought the whole thing with the animated part at the beginning was just trying to say that gods only die when people forget about them.

That was my take away as well.

I don't think the concept of gods dying from lack of belief was fully divulged in the show until that animated scene and that concept is a major theme throughout the book (and presumably the show).

Yup, that's pretty much it.

While people still remember, the gods still exist. They don't have to believe in them, just remember they existed, and the gods will still be around - albeit as a pale shadow of their former selves.

I skipped the animated intro bit - mostly because I just don't understand the need for the mythology and creation belief thing.

I just can't fathom the WHY such a thing exists. It's like explaining colour to someone blind from birth.

(Mostly watching it for a less sweary Ian McShane, though - but the Gillian Anderson bits are quite pleasing, too ).

On ep2 of this and having never read the books am quite confused
Will plough on and see where it goes however, it does have a nice style to it.

And spoilers people!

 chromedog wrote:

I skipped the animated intro bit - mostly because I just don't understand the need for the mythology and creation belief thing.

I just can't fathom the WHY such a thing exists. It's like explaining colour to someone blind from birth.

You lost me here. What are you referring to?

Really enjoyed the flashback episode, the scene in the bathroom was brilliant stuff
Quite like Lauras character, hopefully they flesh her out a bit more.
Agreed on the comments about Shadow Moon, hes frigging boring at this point

I will say though a few of the scenes throughout the series have been a a bit drawn out and self indulgent.

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 chromedog wrote:

I skipped the animated intro bit - mostly because I just don't understand the need for the mythology and creation belief thing.

I just can't fathom the WHY such a thing exists. It's like explaining colour to someone blind from birth.

You lost me here. What are you referring to?

The pseudo claymation CG animated bit that starts immediately after the opening credits for ep5 that goes from about 2:30 to 6:50 in.
Something about a native migratory people moving and Bison and spears and whatever. Something about a creation myth (whatever).

That bit. Like I said, I don't understand the whole need for a creation myth thing, but I also don't understand faith or the need to believe in a "higher power".
This is what I mean about not understanding the "why" it exists. I wasn't raised with a particular religious belief - they all seemed equally odd to me.

Someone TRYING to explain why to me is like trying to explain colour to the blind. I have no frame of reference. Moreover, I cannot conceive of one.

and @Ratius: Drawn out and self-indulgent is kind of a hallmark of Gaiman, tbh.

Ah righto, Im not familiar with Gaimans stuff so this is new territory for me.
Caught up to ep5. Was okish. I enjoyed the scenes with Laura and the Irish guy, less so the interrogation room scene. Again too dragged out I felt.

PS
What is the deal with the black woman absorbing people and the whole taxi driver sex thing? Are they Gods too? Their plot lines just sort of came and went. Am I missing something?
And am I correct in thinking, there are 3 new world gods - TV/Mr World/Techbrat but only two old world - Wednesday and the Russian guy with the hammer?

 Ratius wrote:
Ah righto, Im not familiar with Gaimans stuff so this is new territory for me.
Caught up to ep5. Was okish. I enjoyed the scenes with Laura and the Irish guy, less so the interrogation room scene. Again too dragged out I felt.

PS
What is the deal with the black woman absorbing people and the whole taxi driver sex thing? Are they Gods too? Their plot lines just sort of came and went. Am I missing something?
And am I correct in thinking, there are 3 new world gods - TV/Mr World/Techbrat but only two old world - Wednesday and the Russian guy with the hammer?

I and some other people managed to narrow her down. She is a goddess who gains her power via eating during the point of orgasam.
She is a old goddess. That's evens your new god/old line Horus Heresy style.

Her name was said during thr scene. Some link also to queen of Sheba.
We got some off stuff googling that...

The "random" scenes are a nod to the book, where every few chapters we get a little insight into the wider world, specifically to show that there's more going on outside the Wednesday/Shadow thread, as well as to illustrate the nature of the world the Gods inhabit, i.e. they follow a very Pretchettesque (no surprise, given his and Gaiman's friendship) concept in that they are powered by rememberance, belief and worship, and can never truly die until they're forgotten.

Equally, anything humanity puts faith in can become a god, hence the latest scene with the mammoth skull. In a time when man was ignorant of the way the universe worked, they'd worship pretty much anything. They worshipped the mammoth as it was what fed and clothed them, with the death of the priestess and the arrival of the buffalo (which saved them from starvation) the tribe that worshipped the mammoth ceased to do so, and in a time with no written record, that god eventually became completely forgotten and disappeared.

The new Gods are representative of how humanity is now less concerned with old religion, and fame, celebrity and technology have become the new "religion" hence creating Gods that represent them.

I loved the Blowing a Kiss scene. Seeing the Techkid get his teeth knocked out was hilarious. Not as funny as Mad Sweeney racking himself on the car door though.

I genuinely LOL'd. The Sweeney stuff is great, because it all happens off camera pretty much in the book, but what they're showing him going through is absolutely plausible given where his character's heading and the path he ultimately travels.

 cuda1179 wrote:
I loved the Blowing a Kiss scene. Seeing the Techkid get his teeth knocked out was hilarious. Not as funny as Mad Sweeney racking himself on the car door though.

I would not be the least bit surprised if that door racking was accidental because he pulled it off so naturally.

Took me a moment to figure out what you were on about there. You foreigners and your funny slang!

God (gods!), what a weird show... !

Have to say am really enjoying it. Have read the books (which I can only remember bits and pieces of) so have some idea of what's going on, but am watching it with someone who hasn't and is getting a bit lost in places (I keep saying that it will make sense eventually..I seem to remember that it sort of does!)

I loved the animated intro of the last episode, and the sequence of the old lady meeting Anubis after she has slipped off the chair.

Another thing.. this is probably the first show I have seen that fully justifies a 4k TV. The imagery, colours and general picture clarity are absolutely incredible. You can tell so much effort has gone into the AV side of things, bits of it are like a piece of art.

Tonights episode was a good change of pace. I really love when the dive deeper into the lore. I really enjoy Mr. Jacquel and Mr. Ibis and the scenes they are in.

Watched 5, the ones with police station and Mr wensday facing the new gods.

Solid episode. Zombie wife, unlucky leprechaun, its all compeling stuff.

Apparently the next one is the season finale did I see? Feels really short.

This is the current paradigm for TV shows.

Short seasons. It's easier to get 8-10 episode seasons budgeted for than the old paradigm 26-ep syndication seasons.

12 or 13 feels the norm for me.

Yeah. I mean things like big bang theory do 24-26

But they established.
Even GOT sticks to around 10, Rome did ish, quite a few more expensive productions have hovered around that line per season.

But it seems both a short or long serrid seems to bracket a 10-12 hour window for show total length by that...

I think 8 - 10 is about right for 'story' shows, and whilst world building and sub-plots is nice sometimes they cause drag, for example I loved Daredevil and Jessica Jones but think they could have trimmed 2 or 3 episodes without losing much

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
I think 8 - 10 is about right for 'story' shows, and whilst world building and sub-plots is nice sometimes they cause drag, for example I loved Daredevil and Jessica Jones but think they could have trimmed 2 or 3 episodes without losing much

Long enough to a deep story, quick enough to avoid drag and get to the point.
Maybe 12 if its a first season and you have to set the scene and get groundwork laid.

But yeah. I think around 10 is ideal for a show like American gods.

I'm all for short seasons if they're dense and everything is important. So far in American Gods we've had one total filler episode (Git gone) and one largely filler episode (Prayer for Mad Sweeney). I get that they want to flesh out some characters so they can get at least three seasons out of the book, but it does mean that a quarter of the episodes wont have advanced the plot meaningfully.

It's a real shame because when it's on point it's absolutely fantastic.

Kinda works though as it builds up background properly if doing 3 seasons. They let you get into the universe properly even if not read the book.

They are pretty darn on point though and given oddities etc.
8.5 to 9 out of 10.

Vulcan... Mr wensday, new gods, things are indeed heating up.

Honestly one of few serris I've seen of late to truely grab my intrest and hold it.

Want a season two already!

 jhe90 wrote:
Yeah. I mean things like big bang theory do 24-26

But they established.
Even GOT sticks to around 10, Rome did ish, quite a few more expensive productions have hovered around that line per season.

But it seems both a short or long serrid seems to bracket a 10-12 hour window for show total length by that...

I think it's more relevant to compare AG to GoT, in terms of the production value and (I should imagine) the amount of budget, CGI that is going into each episode (rather than comparing to something like Big Bang for instance)

 Pacific wrote:

 jhe90 wrote:
Yeah. I mean things like big bang theory do 24-26

But they established.
Even GOT sticks to around 10, Rome did ish, quite a few more expensive productions have hovered around that line per season.

But it seems both a short or long serrid seems to bracket a 10-12 hour window for show total length by that...

I think it's more relevant to compare AG to GoT, in terms of the production value and (I should imagine) the amount of budget, CGI that is going into each episode (rather than comparing to something like Big Bang for instance)

True however if you add total tun time. They both add up near same. 30min vs hour episodes. And actor costs it sounds crazy but big bang might cost as much per episode as some cast are on some pretty high salary.

But yeah, the cgi I cannot fault, the production values are excellent, episode have me engrossed and guessing.
Its very rare for me to find something this good.

Overall I enjoyed the first season, a little trippy in some parts but at least it wasn't so trippy it was stupid like Legion. I gave that show 1 episode and never cared enough to look back.

I liked the filler episodes, but i felt like the season should have been longer if they wanted to do that much character backgrounding. But they were still all well done. I'm saving up for a 4K TV this xmas, hoping for a good black friday sale. Maybe I'll rewatch it when I get it... but if my cable box can only do regular HD, is it really gonna look any better?

I'll note that Legion gets better after the second episode. I did really hate that non-linear story telling aspect of the first two though.

I am enjoying the show, but I have a few issues with choices made by the writers and directors. They keep inserting their politics and it distracts from the experience (for those that have different views).

For example, I always watch the commentary after the episode. On one episode they said they wanted to show the best and the worst of Christianity. Their "best" example was a group of people breaking the law for economic opportunity (illegal immigrants). Their "worst of Christianity" was rednecks slaughtering the illegal immigrants with gunfire . So they wanted to show the worst but had to make up some perverse fantasy because this does not happen in reality.

Same episode had a "gun town" where everyone dressed as Nazis for a funeral. They all shot their guns into the air. Actual gun owners outside of the middle east never do this (barring the odd drunk redneck).

Third and final example, the show runners were so interested in crapping on Christianity with multiple Jesus guys, they ruined a great moment from the book about Easter. Instead of a rich estate, Wednesday talks to her in a cafe where some moody college girl says she does not celebrate Easter because she's "pagan" and Wednesday really rubs in that the old worship is so forgotten that even those who claim to be followers are just posers. A key moment from the books that was lost just to score "Haha! Korean Jesus! Silly Christians!"points.

<end rant>

Seen the first few episods and enjoying it alot - lots of great imagery and characters - even if ti did turn into an overlong gay porn epsiode at one point - still guess it makes a change from the african goddess absorbing partners.

So are the old pagen gods are they just the American versions of themselves - ie Old Norse relegion stille exists in their homeland as do some of the others?

Laura is great - probably my favourite - and her "friend" is also much fun "get away you zombie whore" - liked that she clicked on pretty quickly what she was having actually watched movies etc.

How much fun is Gillian Anderson having

Started a new job in March, and this show served as a very useful ice breaker with one of my co-workers. He fething loves this show. In fact he persuaded me to watch it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Seen the first few episods and enjoying it alot - lots of great imagery and characters - even if ti did turn into an overlong gay porn epsiode at one point[snip]

I'm not gay, but that scene was pretty hot. Get fethed by a Djinn so hard, you become a Djinn yourself? Is that what happened? The human's eyes seemed like they starting burning like the Djinn's eyes after the, ah...deed was done.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Probably better you colonials that are fans of McShane don't look out for a show called Lovejoy, it may somewhat undermine your opinion.

I actually liked that show.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Seen the first few episods and enjoying it alot - lots of great imagery and characters - even if ti did turn into an overlong gay porn epsiode at one point - still guess it makes a change from the african goddess absorbing partners.

No more so than the straight sex scenes in ... just about anything else these days.

As for the gods, spoilers from the novel:

Same here.

I'm not one of the younger folk who only know him from Deadwood.

I think the first thing I saw him in was Space:1999 back in the mid 70s.

I first knew of him as the dodgy antiques dealer Lovejoy, but the first thing I actually watched with him in it was one of the Babylon 5 TV Movies - where he played a dodgy antiques dealer - in SPAAAACE!

Lovejoy and deadwood I know him from.

But . Mr Wednesday is more deadwood I think.

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Started a new job in March, and this show served as a very useful ice breaker with one of my co-workers. He fething loves this show. In fact he persuaded me to watch it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Seen the first few episods and enjoying it alot - lots of great imagery and characters - even if ti did turn into an overlong gay porn epsiode at one point[snip]

I'm not gay, but that scene was pretty hot. Get fethed by a Djinn so hard, you become a Djinn yourself? Is that what happened? The human's eyes seemed like they starting burning like the Djinn's eyes after the, ah...deed was done.

I was not sure if it killed him, took his body over or what. Sign of getting old that I just find the porn bits in shows go on a bit

I loved the faceless guys in the last episode and their sort of dance multiplying thing they had going on and they way they spawned the kid god. Didn't like World so much this time though. Also kind of bummed it was all build up to just one zap.

Finally caught up on Episodes 6,7 and 8

Episode 6 was a little shaky, I thing the town would have been more disturbing with a Pleasentville vibe to it rather than the whole Uniforms et al

Episode 7, bit odd, changing Essie to Irish made it simpler to link her to Sweeney as I suspect Piskies are far less known than Leprechauns

Episode 8, Bunnies are creepy, many Jesus' was funny, and never fudge with Wednesday

All in All a good run, roll on Season 2

The "Coming To America" segments are all tied into the main story in the series; in the book, they're unconnected vignettes.

I'm looking forward to the next seasons; I'm pretty sure it's going to end up in the same place as the book, but they've muddled enough things up that the path is going to be different. I wonder if Neil's decided who the man in the grey suit is, yet?

Watched the end of the season and we enjoyed.

Ostara was fun - hope she is in it more.

Still trying to get my head round some of the in universe rules - So Odin kills Vulkan - but can he die if people believe in him - same as a Jesus getting killed by his bullets? Still don't get how that works. Do they reform?

Also how does Belkis loose her power if she is basically sex (?) - she should be more powerful once she gets to the us?

Laura is so much fun - and enjoyed her "ancestor".

Equally shakey on the 'rules', maybe another Vulkan will come into existence but it wont be the same one, also possible that the Gods can permanently kill each other, suspect the Sword may also have some bearing

I have a pet theory that Belquis power has been undercut by the New Gods, the destruction of her Temple, and maybe the HIV/AIDS epidemic (the girl in the flashback had a HIV+ wristband) killing large numbers of potential worshippers and therefore her power, so that the New Gods can get her to spy for them

I don't think Bilquis' power was undercut by the new gods - that was done by the old gods (in particular by followers of Islam, going by episode 8). The Technical Boy offered her a second chance, but with a cost. We'll see how that goes in the subsequent seasons.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
I don't think Bilquis' power was undercut by the new gods - that was done by the old gods (in particular by followers of Islam, going by episode 8). The Technical Boy offered her a second chance, but with a cost. We'll see how that goes in the subsequent seasons.

Spoiler:

In the book, Bilquis is an extra - she refuses the Technical Boy's offer and he kills her, which affects him for the rest of the book, and indirectly leads to his death. I wonder if in the series, he'll be killed by Bilquis instead.

hmm ok thanks

I get that her power can be undermined by Islam in her homeland and whilst it rebuilds in the US in the 60s is again knocked by AIDs - but then why not by Syphalis or other STDs whihc have been around along time? Still a bit confused by her.

Also in the book - can gods who are actually still beleived in die.

ie in the show we see a Mexican Jesus get gunned down by bullets made by Vulcan but presumably he is not actually dead as he still has people who beleive in him - unless he was the god of that specific gorup of people?? Vulcan has a active cult and Odin "kills" him but does he just reform, a New Vilcan comes into existance or becuase Odin did it with the magic sword he doe snot come back and the belief goes to someone else - does Odin inherit it? I half expected the bullets to suddenly have his name on them?

Likely thinking too much about it

 Mr Morden wrote:
ie in the show we see a Mexican Jesus get gunned down by bullets made by Vulcan but presumably he is not actually dead as he still has people who beleive in him - unless he was the god of that specific gorup of people??

Yup. We saw the Mexican Jesus get gunned down. There was a scene in the finale with DOZENS of other Jesuses... Plus Mexican Jesus might be Resurrected.

Vulcan has a active cult and Odin "kills" him but does he just reform, a New Vilcan comes into existance or becuase Odin did it with the magic sword he doe snot come back and the belief goes to someone else - does Odin inherit it? I half expected the bullets to suddenly have his name on them?

Vulcan's followers no longer literally believe in him, rather they believe in the power of modern firearms, which Vulcan piggy backs on through his VulcanIndustries (or whatever it was called) gun manufacturing business. They believe in the power of guns, which he makes, and therefore by extension they believe in Vulcan however indirectly.

However, when Odin "kills" Vulcan, Odin tosses the corpse into the metal vats and pisses in it, which taints and curses the current batches of bullets. The cursed bullets will likely lead to a scandal for the Vulcan Industry business (assuming it still persists after Vulcan's apparent death) and damage their public image and confidence, which will affect the (indirect) worship of Vulcan.

So, I just saw this posted on BOLS..

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2017/11/geekery-american-gods-creators-leave-the-series.html

Basically, the show's original creators up and quit.

I thought the first season was good, hope they get some good people on board to do the next one.

Ah that's a pity.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Ah that's a pity.

Agreed. I really like the first season. Hopefully 2nd will be as good even with new faces making it.

Well, S2 certainly crept up on me, didn't realise it was out so soon!

Watched Ep1 last night, and I think they handled a pivotal and fundamentally abstract scene pretty well, and I'm intrigued by the divergences. Wasn't blown away, but it was good enough that I'm optimistic that the quality of S1 will be maintained.

Mmmmmm... Don’t think I like this New Media. I know they had to recast after Gillian Anderson left, but I agree with the kid, I don’t see how this is an upgrade.

Watched first two epsiodes and finding it frustrating...

Visuals very good, Ian Mcshane is always good but we decided its probably best watched drunk or spaced out.....which we were not.

I don't know if it matters but I don't get how the gods work - so how is a Hindu (Kali) god short of worshippers - yeah Odin and Aphrodite might have 3 men and a cat in the US worshippng them but according to Wiki there are more than a million people just in the US worshipping the Hindu pantheon?

What is Mr World? I don't get who or what he is? Media, technology - makes sense. Mr World, Mr Town - who, what?

Mr World is globalisation. The idea being that humanity becoming increasingly connected threatens the whole concept of all the religions.

Which I suspect is why we're seeing deities of higher profile religions, the new gods don't just threaten the older, nearly forgotten ones but the idea of worship in its entirety.

She's not Kali either, btw. I forget what she's credited as but it wasn't Kali, it was another Hindu god though, so your logic is still the same.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Mr World is globalisation. The idea being that humanity becoming increasingly connected threatens the whole concept of all the religions.

Which I suspect is why we're seeing deities of higher profile religions, the new gods don't just threaten the older, nearly forgotten ones but the idea of worship in its entirety.

She's not Kali either, btw. I forget what she's credited as but it wasn't Kali, it was another Hindu god though, so your logic is still the same.

Wiki says Kali?

Sakina Jaffrey as Mama-Ji (season 2), a waitress at the Motel America and the Hindu goddess of death and liberation, Kali. With her necklace of skulls, acerbic wit and free spirit, she is a match for any mighty god or man

.

Thanks for the info on Mr World - Have to think about that now

Hmm, having gone back it was Durga I'd seen her referenced as, but then, she's apparently a multi armed Hindu goddess as well, so I can see where the lines got crossed.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Watched first two epsiodes and finding it frustrating...

Visuals very good, Ian Mcshane is always good but we decided its probably best watched drunk or spaced out.....which we were not.

I don't know if it matters but I don't get how the gods work - so how is a Hindu (Kali) god short of worshippers - yeah Odin and Aphrodite might have 3 men and a cat in the US worshippng them but according to Wiki there are more than a million people just in the US worshipping the Hindu pantheon?

What is Mr World? I don't get who or what he is? Media, technology - makes sense. Mr World, Mr Town - who, what?

The God's in American Gods are kind of on the same wavelength of the Chaos God in Warhammer largely fuelled by worship and belief, yep the Kali thing is a bit odd but (and this is a guess/tinfoil theory) but 'American' Kali (as the gods can have multiple version as per the Jesus episode) may be regarded as little more than a boogywomen and placated rather than actually worshipped like the big 3 of that pantheon

Mr Town and his ilk others are kind of manifestions of the collective belief of MiB's or G-Men, complete with stereotype 'agent' names

as for Mr World, well he's complicated,,,

Been watching it .. I enjoy some of it, but other parts just kinda make my brain hurt. I mean, I get it, sort of, most of the time. Other times it feels trippy for trippy's sake.

 Turnip Jedi wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Watched first two epsiodes and finding it frustrating...

Visuals very good, Ian Mcshane is always good but we decided its probably best watched drunk or spaced out.....which we were not.

I don't know if it matters but I don't get how the gods work - so how is a Hindu (Kali) god short of worshippers - yeah Odin and Aphrodite might have 3 men and a cat in the US worshippng them but according to Wiki there are more than a million people just in the US worshipping the Hindu pantheon?

What is Mr World? I don't get who or what he is? Media, technology - makes sense. Mr World, Mr Town - who, what?

The God's in American Gods are kind of on the same wavelength of the Chaos God in Warhammer largely fuelled by worship and belief, yep the Kali thing is a bit odd but (and this is a guess/tinfoil theory) but 'American' Kali (as the gods can have multiple version as per the Jesus episode) may be regarded as little more than a boogywomen and placated rather than actually worshipped like the big 3 of that pantheon

Mr Town and his ilk others are kind of manifestions of the collective belief of MiB's or G-Men, complete with stereotype 'agent' names

as for Mr World, well he's complicated,,,

Yeah I kind of got the belief = power - but presumably they are also constrained from appearing to humans somehow otherwise as they have actual material form they would generate huge amounts of new belif by just appearing MCU style?

I do tend to agree with Necros - its pretty self indulgent and ramberling.

IIRC from the books, Mr Town was an ordinary man - or at least, he and his colleagues were personifications of the MIB/secret agent types with no more power than ordinary men.

Mind you, the plot has wandered so far away from the book now (well, since about episoide 3 of season 1) it's not obvious that taking anything from the book is helpful.

Also, the gods in America aren't necessarily the gods as a whole - there'll be an Odin in Scandinavia (and a Wotan in Germany), perhaps even one scraping a living in Turkey if he's not faded completely. Indian Kali is probably doing pretty well even if the American one is down on her luck.

It's also mentioned in the books that America isn't a fertile place for gods - whether that's to do with the land itself, or the fact that everyone's an immigrant or something about the "American psyche" is up to you.

bit behind on my streaming, finally did Season 2

4/10, took an awful long time to pretty much go nowhere, New Media was very annoying (although that might have been her point),

fingers crossed Season 3 picks up the pace as another 8 episode of fup all happening in Lakeside might end it

EDIT, after a chat with one of my nerd herd I'm raising my score to 4.5 for the homage to the old Thor comic with Wedneday's Spear being disguised as a walking cane, in the Thor episode no less

I think in the book there was also a clear distinction between gods in America (including the new ones) and the gods of America.

New Media was definitely a downgrade. As you said, really annoying.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC from the books, Mr Town was an ordinary man - or at least, he and his colleagues were personifications of the MIB/secret agent types with no more power than ordinary men.

Mind you, the plot has wandered so far away from the book now (well, since about episoide 3 of season 1) it's not obvious that taking anything from the book is helpful.

Also, the gods in America aren't necessarily the gods as a whole - there'll be an Odin in Scandinavia (and a Wotan in Germany), perhaps even one scraping a living in Turkey if he's not faded completely. Indian Kali is probably doing pretty well even if the American one is down on her luck.

It's also mentioned in the books that America isn't a fertile place for gods - whether that's to do with the land itself, or the fact that everyone's an immigrant or something about the "American psyche" is up to you.

Isn't everyone an immigrant unless they live in Africa?

I don;t know - it just seems a bit weird for the sake of being wierd

 Mr Morden wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC from the books, Mr Town was an ordinary man - or at least, he and his colleagues were personifications of the MIB/secret agent types with no more power than ordinary men.

Mind you, the plot has wandered so far away from the book now (well, since about episoide 3 of season 1) it's not obvious that taking anything from the book is helpful.

Also, the gods in America aren't necessarily the gods as a whole - there'll be an Odin in Scandinavia (and a Wotan in Germany), perhaps even one scraping a living in Turkey if he's not faded completely. Indian Kali is probably doing pretty well even if the American one is down on her luck.

It's also mentioned in the books that America isn't a fertile place for gods - whether that's to do with the land itself, or the fact that everyone's an immigrant or something about the "American psyche" is up to you.

Isn't everyone an immigrant unless they live in Africa?

I don;t know - it just seems a bit weird for the sake of being wierd

Insofar as we know everyone is descended from African homo sapiens, but that doesn't really have any relevance to the immigrants that moved gods in the narrative - the old gods have all long since faded away. The oldest ones acknowledged were still the recipients of widespread worship pretty recently (if not currently).

nfe wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC from the books, Mr Town was an ordinary man - or at least, he and his colleagues were personifications of the MIB/secret agent types with no more power than ordinary men.

Mind you, the plot has wandered so far away from the book now (well, since about episoide 3 of season 1) it's not obvious that taking anything from the book is helpful.

Also, the gods in America aren't necessarily the gods as a whole - there'll be an Odin in Scandinavia (and a Wotan in Germany), perhaps even one scraping a living in Turkey if he's not faded completely. Indian Kali is probably doing pretty well even if the American one is down on her luck.

It's also mentioned in the books that America isn't a fertile place for gods - whether that's to do with the land itself, or the fact that everyone's an immigrant or something about the "American psyche" is up to you.

Isn't everyone an immigrant unless they live in Africa?

I don;t know - it just seems a bit weird for the sake of being wierd

Insofar as we know everyone is descended from African homo sapiens, but that doesn't really have any relevance to the immigrants that moved gods in the narrative - the old gods have all long since faded away. The oldest ones acknowledged were still the recipients of widespread worship pretty recently (if not currently).

Yeah but thats where it does not work for me - Hindu gods are old AND current gods??

Yeah but thats where it does not work for me - Hindu gods are old AND current gods??

whilst it falls into the weird cos reasons, the American incarnations are new compared to the originals, Wednesday is most likely the oldest non-native god having arrived with Vikings in the late 9th century, with the rest following as various groups migrate to America and bring a version of their gods with them like Mr Nancy arriving with african slaves, the czenabog and the sisters with eastern europeans etc,

 Mr Morden wrote:

nfe wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC from the books, Mr Town was an ordinary man - or at least, he and his colleagues were personifications of the MIB/secret agent types with no more power than ordinary men.

Mind you, the plot has wandered so far away from the book now (well, since about episoide 3 of season 1) it's not obvious that taking anything from the book is helpful.

Also, the gods in America aren't necessarily the gods as a whole - there'll be an Odin in Scandinavia (and a Wotan in Germany), perhaps even one scraping a living in Turkey if he's not faded completely. Indian Kali is probably doing pretty well even if the American one is down on her luck.

It's also mentioned in the books that America isn't a fertile place for gods - whether that's to do with the land itself, or the fact that everyone's an immigrant or something about the "American psyche" is up to you.

Isn't everyone an immigrant unless they live in Africa?

I don;t know - it just seems a bit weird for the sake of being wierd

Insofar as we know everyone is descended from African homo sapiens, but that doesn't really have any relevance to the immigrants that moved gods in the narrative - the old gods have all long since faded away. The oldest ones acknowledged were still the recipients of widespread worship pretty recently (if not currently).

Yeah but thats where it does not work for me - Hindu gods are old AND current gods??

I'm not sure where the problem lies, here?

The premise is that worship manifests deities. When people arrive somewhere new and continue worshipping the gods of home (or wherever they were previously) then they manifest new versions of those deities. Those deities continue to hang around as long as they're being worshipped, and fade in power and eventually away to nothingness without worship or acknowledgement. The oldest deities explicitly referenced are probably the Hindu ones but they're still recipients of worship and have been throughout the period since they first arrived in the Americas.

Deities that are not being worshipped aren't transported anywhere.

I put 'old' in italics because I mean several millennia older than those that appear. We know a lot about a lot of deities that were long forgotten about by the time people moved in significant numbers to the Americas from Europe, Asia, and Africa - none of them turn up in the show because no one was worshipping them by the time they set sail for the Americas.

The problem is multiple for me the more I watched it:

The gods need to be worshipped and fade away if not - so why don;t they manifest and get a whole bunch of new worshippers - interacting with mortals is not something they were shy about in the mythic past - Does somethimg stop them doing a MCU Thor style appearance - if so what? Instant worship from at least some people and power boost seems worth it?.

As I mentioned before - they say - "oh the HIndu gods are fading" but they actually have a strong worship base of millions of people in the US - so why are they?

Why is US Odin still so powerful in comparison to the tohers when as far as I am aware few worship him (or ever did) in USA?

The Christian god/s seem to be massively fragmented for some reason but ok, but still any one of them will be massively powerful compared to Odin remnant?

Easter still gets power by proxy - do the others?

As far as i can the show wants to make you think about stuff but when you do - I can't make it work in my head.

 Mr Morden wrote:
The problem is multiple for me the more I watched it:

The gods need to be worshipped and fade away if not - so why don;t they manifest and get a whole bunch of new worshippers - interacting with mortals is not something they were shy about in the mythic past - Does somethimg stop them doing a MCU Thor style appearance - if so what? Instant worship from at least some people and power boost seems worth it?.

What happened in the mythic past doesn't necessarily have much overlap with what happened in the real past. Maybe they never interacted with mortals to any great degree?

As I mentioned before - they say - "oh the HIndu gods are fading" but they actually have a strong worship base of millions of people in the US - so why are they?

Why is US Odin still so powerful in comparison to the tohers when as far as I am aware few worship him (or ever did) in USA?

What do you mean by powerful? He's a con artist that gets most of what he gets done via hoodwinking and coercing people. I don't recall the specific reference to Hindu gods fading, but many don't receive worship. There are a lot and they've ebbed and flowed depending on the cultic, social, and personal preoccupations of Hindu people for thousands of years.

The Christian god/s seem to be massively fragmented for some reason but ok, but still any one of them will be massively powerful compared to Odin remnant?

Jesus is fragmented because different denominations interpret him very differently. God is never depicted or, insofar as I remember, even referenced (without going into whether or not Jesus is part of God depending on denomination, again).

Easter still gets power by proxy - do the others?

Probably? The anthropomorphised concept-gods like media and technology that aren't the recipients of direct worship.


I don't think the show really wants you to think about these things, and I don't think Gaiman or anyone else has sat and tried to draw up a consistent logic for the narrative world - but it isn't wall-to-wall inconsistencies. Then again, even if it was: magic. The religious stories that deities originate in aren't very consistent either.

But if they did show their powers - they would get worshipped...

The main Hindi god in the 2nd seson is Kali - I can't see her being ignored by Hunidu's - although I am not that familair with that faith's details? She is definately worshipped in the West....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

If she had been some minor goddess then ok fine but Kali?

Odin seems to be able to call down a pretty powerful storm when he wants to....

If you believe in Jesus - you believe in God - so he would become real in some manner -even if he was not before??

Probably just thinking about it too much.

I think I saw it mentioned in Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, that deities are supported by “faith” not belief. So MCU Thor is believed to exist because there is proof of existence. No faith is required, so maybe in the rules of American Gods that wouldn’t help sustain them?

If we consider the arrival of the Vikings to America in the show...



Odin could have just popped up and saved them, but that would have created belief, not required faith.

And of course yer man Grimnr isn't the most helpful of gods, unless it helps him of course, a fair few of his tales involve him making life tricky for mortals for shizz and giggles

also a bit of a shame they had to ditch the Ostara plot due the the intra-season hijinx as that was as close to a blatant show of power as we've seen (still think Wednesday's lightning was a kind of one shot from having Shadow belief in him, however briefly)

 Turnip Jedi wrote:
And of course yer man Grimnr isn't the most helpful of gods, unless it helps him of course, a fair few of his tales involve him making life tricky for mortals for shizz and giggles

also a bit of a shame they had to ditch the Ostara plot due the the intra-season hijinx as that was as close to a blatant show of power as we've seen (still think Wednesday's lightning was a kind of one shot from having Shadow belief in him, however briefly)

But again Shadow only believes because he has been shown stuff - he does not have blind faith - quite the opposite - he has seen the work of the gods and so he believes?

If it works on him - it will work on many humans?

The Djinn and the leprechaun seems to be beyond all of this as well - their powers work regardless...

true but as both the ifrit and sweeneys main powers appear to be bad luck, leading to being in debt to Wednesday are Hawkeye levels of divine power...

Maybe, instead, the Gods and such exist as a sort of Gestalt manifestation. Like the Ork waaagh. An “entity” may be created through group belief in something specific, and maintained through general belief in the same idea / basis.

Wednesday the conman isn’t believed in en masse. But conning people into doing what you want is (nation-istly speaking) an American thing. Look who’s running the show?

So Wednesday morphs, in time, to being the God of schemers and liars in pursuit of power. A goddess of weather wanes in power as humans master their environment. Hheating and air conditioning, hydroponic agriculture, generally less susceptible to day to day weather events... but still part of our collective conciousness is an awareness of what nature can do.

In Wednesday’s case, blatant acts of power would invalidate his need to be conniving. He could just force his way through. He’d be a different god. One of power and strength acting in the open. Same with Globalization. Most powerful as operating behind the scenes without people “knowing” what’s going on.