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American Gods on Starz


Mark Antony

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On 03/05/2017 at 8:48 AM, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Yeah the comparison between fuller and Hawley is interesting. I actually think Fuller is a good fit for this show, and his visuals seem to sit very well with how I imagined events in the books.

However that is not always a compliment. I was never a huge fan of the book, which I felt lacked any sort of subtlety and was a lot like a Stephen King book at times ( also not a compliment) it had a bunch of interesting ideas but painted them in a very obvious way, using some very formulaic tropes and characters.

Fullers work on Hannibal was very similar, he totally lacks the ability to do subtle, and while he does pretty visuals they are usually so on the nose that they lack any mystery or hidden meaning. 

I could say similar things about Legion I guess but there is a level of playfulness and invention in that show that Hannibal never had.



There's definitely comparison to be made, but in terms of visual and narrative weirdness Hawley's definitely stronger, more inventive and usually with more point. Fuller makes gorgeous-looking TV shows, but when it comes to narrative trickery and more out-there moments, as I said above he's not subtle. Whereas Hawley has much more actual use from it.

 


On the other hand, if Legion is any indication (I'm told Fargo is stronger on this score) Fuller's a much, much stronger writer and showrunner of dialogue and character moments. It's almost the other way around- there's nothing wrong with Legion on that front, but it's all very up front and straightforward, and even in this one episode the exchange between Shadow and Aubrey was more memorable on those levels than anything in season 1 of Legion. But I do need to watch Fargo before I can fully judge Hawley there.

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Just watched Ep1. Really enjoyed it. Not keen on some of the over-stylised violence, as others alluded to it could have been more restrained or realistic (although I gasped in awe at the shot of Shadow strung up to hang in the heavy rain), but enjoyed the acting and dialogue massively, especially the marvellous McShane. As soon as Mr. Wednesday entered the story I was hooked. Then the Bilquis sequence  :eek:

I haven't read the book but I have a feeling watching this will put it on my list.

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Everything seems well made, so I'll keep watching.

Episode 2 was not an exciting watch on its own. The opening scene was fun, but the rest seemed to only serve as a set-up for the next. An hours worth of it. I think someone pointed out the music playing a little too prominently, but I think for episode 2, it made the slow part much easier to tolerate.

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4 hours ago, akh said:

Everything seems well made, so I'll keep watching.

Episode 2 was not an exciting watch on its own. The opening scene was fun, but the rest seemed to only serve as a set-up for the next. An hours worth of it. I think someone pointed out the music playing a little too prominently, but I think for episode 2, it made the slow part much easier to tolerate.

Has it leaked or something? I thought it's on Sunday nights? 

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On 5/7/2017 at 11:09 AM, akh said:

Everything seems well made, so I'll keep watching.

Episode 2 was not an exciting watch on its own. The opening scene was fun, but the rest seemed to only serve as a set-up for the next. An hours worth of it. I think someone pointed out the music playing a little too prominently, but I think for episode 2, it made the slow part much easier to tolerate.

I liked it and actually thought it was well-paced up until Chicago with the Zoryas/Chezenbog -- but I thought that scene dragged in the book too -- so it was appropriate. Anyway, even when the show drags I still really enjoy it. And "wanna see Lucy's tits?" was as priceless as ever. 

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I didn't think the Czernobog scenes dragged- that's exactly the kind of thing Fuller is best at and he pulled it off.

I do think it's gonna be a very, very non-episodic show so we won't be getting arcs and grand finales in every episode, even by modern  long-form standards, but that's fine by me.

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I've seen the first episode, really enjoyed it, American Gods is my favourite book of his after Neverwhere so enjoyed it on screen, can't wait to see episode 2, sadly won't have time this evening.

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A solid second episode. Not as remarkable, weird or eventful as the first one but still good.

The TV scene was great and exactly what I pictured that character to be like. I totally didn't realize she was played by Gillian Anderson though. Anansi was not exactly like a pictured him, at least not lookswise but he certainly had the right swagger, plus I always pictured a lot of the gods to be old as fuck.

Czernobog and the sister was great too. I like Peter Stormare and it is certainly kinda fitting that Czernobog is portrayed by an actor who has spent a considerable chunk of his carer playing east-european characters.

And we even got a space-boner.

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Ian Fucking McShane. Love him. 

Not having read the book, and still not really knowing what's going on besides very high-level plot, I thought this episode was great. I marveled at the casting choices and enjoyed them all. Cloris Leachman  at 91 even. So great. 

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Loved the Anasi scene.... Loved the I love Lucy scene...., and Cloris Leachman is just f'ing fantastic...

This is one of those shows where it really helps to have read the book.... if I hadn't, I'd be staring at the screen aghast like like a kid who walked in on his parents having sex

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Loved the meeting with Czernobog and the Zoryas. The guy on the cover of Zorya Utrennaya's romance novel looks like Shadow :)

Loved the intro with Anansi, the little spider especially. I thought that was Mr. Ibis writing the Coming to America accounts.

The casting of Ian McShane as Wednesday was perfect.

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3 hours ago, Martini Sigil said:

Loved the Anasi scene.... Loved the I love Lucy scene...., and Cloris Leachman is just f'ing fantastic...

This is one of those shows where it really helps to have read the book.... if I hadn't, I'd be staring at the screen aghast like like a kid who walked in on his parents having sex

This is almost exactly how I feel watching some of these scenes.  Such a weird fucking show.  

I was a little what "What.The.Actual.Fuck." this week, but still a little bit there.  

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I've read the book (several times) and I found that ep. a little tedious.  Husband hasn't read the book and I had to explain what was going on.  Hope it picks up next week.  I think I may have hoped for too much from this adaptation - possibly I was too hyped by the prospect of the show and the casting of Ian McShane (who's great, obviously).  We'll see.

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12 minutes ago, the hound of sansa said:

Do we (the book readers) have any clue as to where this season will end? 

This first season is supposed to cover the first 1/3 of the book.

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9 hours ago, briantw said:

I've read the book and I still don't know what the fuck is going on.

I got half way through the book and was still thinking 'WTF' most of the time. A lot of it forces you to put your faith in it  (ironically or not), reading whole chapters that seem quite disconnected. Tends to make more sense by the end. 

Surprised the show is doing the same thing.

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