First, let’s start off with the easy stuff. Shadow and Wednesday stop off at Anansi’s clothier—just as Vulcan showed his allegiance, false though it was, by crafting a sword, Anansi does it with bespoke suits. Anansi tells another story of Black pain in an unforgiving New World, but this one has a darker turn. Then, we’re off to Easter’s Easter party. Wednesday lays on the charm and smarm to hook in Easter; meanwhile, Shadow, a man who refuses to believe in what he sees, is confronted with a holy host of gods. The storm Wednesday seeded in the second episode with the dandelion fluff finally blows in and makes The Children a sacrifice to Easter. Shadow’s spiritual crisis comes to a head as Wednesday forces the belief right out of him. Mr. World and the new gods declare war.
Wednesday set up Laura’s death as a sacrifice and to maneuver Shadow into his grasp. Clearly, Shadow can’t be as insignificant as Mad Sweeney believes—Wednesday wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble and all those years of planning to snare some meaningless rando. It’s Shadow’s belief in particular that sets Wednesday, or should I say Odin, off. Apparently, sacrifice of life is like a bump of coke for a god. If Easter was powerful enough to steal Spring before, she likely would’ve tried it. But with death on her hands, she has enough short term power to work her magic…just as Wednesday planned.
Since the premiere, I’ve been saying that at the pace the season was going it looked like Wednesday and Shadow would reach the House on the Rock just in time for the final credits. Turns out I was half right. Not to veer too far into the novel, but moving Shadow’s “come to Jesus” moment to before the House on the Rock rather than during their time there changes the whole meaning of the visit. In the book, that’s where Wednesday makes his pitch to the other gods and where Shadow finally sees so much he has no choice but to believe. Instead, both of those things happen at Easter’s. Without those moments, the House on the Rock is little more than a meeting spot; most of the godly debate happens after they exit the attraction. As to what’s next, I’m in the dark as much as the newbies.
Women get a lot to do this week. The two oldest deities we’ve seen are Bilquis and Easter, while Wednesday represents the next group of gods who supplanted the first order, and Mr. World the newest replacements. This could be a hint toward the Venus figurines from the Paleolithic era. While we don’t know their true purpose, some of the theories claim these figures were part of fertility rites, representations of mother goddesses, or women looking down at their own bodies as models. Their prolonged existence also nods to women as survivors and the traditional association of goddesses to love, sexuality, birth, and life.
Death does not become Laura Moon. Temporarily losing the sun coin has hastened her decomposition. Laura cared so little in life yet cares so much in death. “Good, because as it turns out I really have a lot to live for and it’s so close I can feel it. It’s the only thing I can feel. So, I would really like to not be dead anymore so I can feel it fully.” This is the first time seeing Laura acting timid. She smiles and simpers, but it isn’t a scam. She’s genuine in her respect and honest about her intentions. Easter is Laura’s only chance at becoming the woman Shadow always thought she was. But she’s not so lucky, even with a leprechaun at her side. Because her death was orchestrated by Wednesday as a sacrifice, Easter can’t undo it. Yet another woman screwed over by a dude.
“They forced our queen into the backseat.” What a hellishly layered line. A Black god in America saying that sentence about a Black woman who yearns for the freedom to live her life free of the patriarchy. And as he says it, we see Bilquis consume a light-skinned man, a man who initially dismissed her and only took interest when she offered her body. Here’s where I have trouble with Bilquis’ “Coming to America” story. The whole multiple Jesuses thing establishes that there can be many versions of the same god, depending on the believer. Bilquis splits in two, one going to Los Angeles to become a homeless woman and the other staying near the Ba’ran temple in Ma’rib, Yemen, to eventually be destroyed by Daesh during their 2015 occupation. That means there should be at least two other Bilquises floating around—one tied to Judeo-Christian-Islam lore as the Queen of Sheba and the other associated with Sungbo’s Eredo near Ijebu Ode, Nigeria, where she’s known as Bilikisu Sungbo.
As for the LA Bilquis, I don’t buy her descent into ruin. Not at all. Here’s a woman who thrives on sexual conquest, and you’re telling me that she, a very attractive and sexually available woman, can’t get any? In Los Angeles, a town infamous for decadence and hedonism? Even without a cellphone she should be able to pick up half a dozen conquests in a single evening just by walking to a bar. If she cleans out their wallets after the fact like book Bilquis does, she should be well off. Instead, the goddess that could adapt to changing times over the course of a millennium somehow couldn’t handle the shift to the US? Wednesday, Anubis, Ibis, and Anansi all exist without their original believers, so Bilquis should’ve been able to transition just fine without the Yemeni woman who brought her over. While Americans don’t worship Bilquis, Easter demonstrates that any kind of belief, direct or indirect, will suffice. Wednesday is obsessed with prayer in his name, but that seems more to do with his ego than with the realities of godhood.
More importantly, American Gods has now taken this powerful, independent queen and put her fate into the hands of men. Specifically, white men—the new gods are white and two of the three are men. Bilquis’ story is one of female empowerment and survival in the face of man’s rage, yet when brought to the New World she flounders until a white man offers her aid. She shows no initiative, takes no actions, just slides into oblivion. She doesn’t pull herself up, she waits for a man to do it for her. I don’t believe it and I really don’t like it. This portrayal is the exact opposite of the Bilquis we met in Yemen, and undercuts the Bilquis from the second episode. This new wrinkle minimizes her self-determination and puts her salvation in the hands of men. They even decided how she should look! Now Bilquis is little more than a pawn in the battle between angry white men. She has no agency now.
Not only did the show force Bilquis under a white man’s heel, but it did it again with Easter. Easter is another ancient goddess who also lost her position as queen to men and a male-dominated religion. When men steal her sacred day, she doesn’t adapt for the modern age, but apparently waits for a white man, Mr. World, to do it. She doesn’t resist the new gods until another white man, Wednesday, flatters her.
She’s supposed to be this all-powerful mother goddess and instead she’s easily manipulated by a dude and another dude’s spokeswoman. Easter has to be wholly ignorant of American spirituality if she really believes Wednesday when he says humans will pray to Ostara for their harvests. If anything, her actions will benefit the Jesuses, not her. We don’t live in an atheist world, and no amount of Media interference could erase the very Christian principles on which our nation was founded. Easter says she’s no fool, but buying Wednesday and Media’s hogwash is downright foolish.
There’s also something to be said about a show where a Black woman is allowed to live only by the grace of a white man while a white woman is allowed to not only thrive by submitting to white men but is also able to rebel and claim independence (all while being supported by a male ally). Bilquis is largely silent, whereas the other gods can barely shut up. It’s also pretty hinky watching a white woman treat a Black man as an object of her desire. Easter female-gazes all over Shadow and treats him not like a man or a human but as a thing that pleases her. That’s white feminism to a T.
So far, Wednesday has only sought alliances with men or white women. Yet the show doesn’t seem to notice the larger context surrounding Easter or Bilquis’ evolution, or consider how it looks to have a white woman get all “jungle fever” on a Black man. Or if it does, the series isn’t interested in exploring that context. I’ve said it before, but this is a show that really needs a diverse writers’ room if it wants to adequately tackle these topics. The white male perspective is all over American Gods, and when it comes to portraying racism and misogyny, that fact is much to its detriment. The show has a lot to say about the myriad elements of the American experience, but it lacks the contextual nuance to bring home the point.
Despite its many complicated problems, American Gods is still a tremendous show. It’s a gorgeous heartbreaker and a visceral escape. Every tiny little production detail is exquisite, and the acting superb. The changes from page to screen haven’t always worked, but I admire that they took the chance and tried to build something new. Even when it annoys the hell out of me, I love it. American Gods has made me a believer. See you for Season Two!
Final Thoughts
- Reminder to tag your spoilers.
- “You wouldn’t believe in me if I told you.”
- “Death hurts. I mean, mostly that hurt is just absences of things.”
- Anansi has just a touch of gray in his mutton chops, showing his age.
- Yeesh, those are some bad “natural hair” wigs they put on Yetide Badaki.
- Men took from Bilquis, so it’s fitting that the first person she takes on her way to the New World is a man.
- A scene of a woman dying from AIDS complications is especially powerful coming from a show helmed by two gay men.
- Why Kentucky? Who knows. In the book Easter lives in the pagan haven of San Francisco. De-Springing the landscape looks less impressive in a metropolis that stays green most of the year. Plus Kristin Chenoweth’s Southern Belle schtick is too delightful to leave out.
- I love Shadow’s little moments of revelation where he suddenly sees the real world.
- YOU’RE KILLING ME HERE, BRYAN.
- This week Media appears as Judy Garland’s Hannah Brown from Easter Parade.
- If Media and the new gods are responsible for Santa Claus’ popularity, that means Mr. World has been around since at least 1823, when Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” was first published (the poem that really popularized the character).
- Mexican Jesus is apparently alive and well and enjoying the Easter holiday.
- Look at that goofy smile on Shadow’s face when he sees Laura for the first time since the hotel. He’s such an adorable puppy.
- I hope Bilquis uses House on the Rock to turn the tables on the new gods. Her act of bus conquest suggests she isn’t as cowed as Technical Boy thinks.
- The A.V. Club has a great interview with Chenoweth on Easter.
- All that glorious food porn is brought to by Janice Poon, crafter of the tasty eats on Hannibal.
Alex Brown is a teen librarian, writer, geeknerdloserweirdo, and all-around pop culture obsessive who watches entirely too much TV. Keep up with her every move on Twitter and Instagram, or get lost in the rabbit warren of ships and fandoms on her Tumblr.
The one thing that amused me about this battle in the war is that if the new gods hadn’t shown up, there’s a good chance that Easter would have sat out the war rather than joining with Wednesday.
What was that outfit Technical Boy was wearing in the picture above? Any outfit would look better on anyone but him, but the haircut is so especially horrendous it seems like he’s going for a very specific look, kind of like Media.
Thoughts on Anansi? In an earlier ep, you talked a lot about him. I’m wondering if anything has changed for you with this opening scene?
I have to say, I’m missing book Anansi. I want to hear about tiger’s balls and all that. His stories in the book gave us inight into his character as well as things to come. Show Anansi doesn’t seem to be serving that purpose.
As far as the male/female dynamic, well, if I had to distill the book down to three words, I would choose “Odin tricks everyone.” I honestly don’t know how you could have any goddesses that Odin is trying to manipulate who don’t, er, get manipulated. And still make the original plot work.
But Bilquis? Yeah, that’s some fucked-up shit, there.
@Karen: Yep. That’s it. Nicely phrased.
I am amused to consider that many viewers will probably have gotten most of their exposure to the Norse pantheon from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where Odin is basically just the King of Asgard – powerful, but not complex – and Loki is the Trickster Supreme. This version of Odin may be something of a revelation for them. :)
It’s not like American Gods is a scholarly study of comparative mythologies, but the Odin of the book and the show is more like the classical Allfather – a seeker and a keeper of secrets, a manipulator, ruthless and cunning, always looking for a way to win the no-win scenario. I really enjoy him.
How thick is Shadow? Come on, man, you’d have to be very ignorant and uneducated (and he doesn’t seem to be) to not realize which god Wednesday is.
@5. MaGnUs. I would usually think that but maybe he just doesn’t read. Hubby and a friend saw this series and liked it but really had no idea who anyone was. They’re both very intelligent, well educated people but dont really read for pleasure, so the last time they read anything about any mythologies was college, maybe even high school.
@1: Ah, but Wednesday knew the new gods would be there, 1) because he killed Vulcan and made a lot of noise about going to Kentucky so they knew he’d turn up, and 2) for spoilery reasons.
@3: TBH, I don’t have any additional thoughts on Anansi. He hasn’t done much thus far. I like this Anansi a lot better for the age we’re in, and he has less colonial overtones – Neil Gaiman is a lot of things, but good at writing from diverse perspectives he’s not. His Mr. Nancy was pretty cringe worthy at times, in a “bad stereotypes” way. Anyway, Anansi doesn’t do anything in the book until House on the Rock, so I suspect next season we’ll get more of Orlando Jones. But I disagree that he isn’t hinting at larger things, it’s just not the larger arc but character development. His slave ship speech directly tied into Shadow’s lynching and reaction to it, and his story of the fallen queen directly foreshadows Easter and how she turncoats.
As for Easter’s manipulation, I get it, but the particular reasons Wednesday and Media use are dumb. Easter has lived in the US long enough to know better. For a show supposed to be discussing American spirituality, it completely misses Amercian spirituality. That worked (somewhat) in the novel, but fails here.
@5: I dunno, a lot of people don’t know enough Norse mythology to start picking out gods on the street. Hell, a lot of people don’t know where the names of the days of the week come from. And there’s a major difference between the Western “belief” in God (as in they don’t go to church or pray but believe in a vague sense of a higher power) and being directly confronted with gods plural. Gods that exist outside the parameters of the Judeo-Christian God and are more mercurial than benevolent. I think it’d be easier for an American latent Christian to be cool after seeing multiple Jesuses yet be in total denial when confronted with ancient polytheistic deities.
Is it just me or does Technical Boy irritate the hell out of everyone? When Shadow took a step forward as Tech Brat was verbally assaulting Wednesday, I was praying Shadow was going to deck him. He reminds me of every annoying punk who got beat up in high school.
One minor quibble: the show’s explanation for why Laura calls Shadow “Puppy.” IIRC (my copy of the book is loaned out), in the book it was because Shadow wanted to give her a puppy and her reply was, I already have you, or something to that effect. NOT he followed her around like a little puppy dog. That could be implied from the book’s account, or not.
The problem I have with Easter/Ostara and the Jesuses tying themselves together is that as a Catholic Woman with ties to Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Rites of Catholicism (yes, Roman Catholicism is NOT the only strain, we have Byzantine, Melkite, Maronite, Syrian, Armenian, Coptic, and etc. into ad nauseum) there’s a lot of Christians who never called the Day of Resurrection, Easter . The ones who worship in Eastern churches and those Roman Catholics with really strong Mediterranean roots call it Pascha (or linguistic variations there on), which connects it to the word for Bread and also for the word for Paschal Sacrifice. (Actually there’s a really delicious Eastern European bread called Paska, which we make in honor of the day.) Moreover, Western Easter and Eastern Pascha are usually on totally different Sundays because Eastern Rites and Eastern Orthodoxy still follow the Julian Calendar. Which means that sometimes My Easter and my Cousin’s Pascha are a month apart. Also, many Born Again and Evangelical Protestant sects refuse to call Easter, Easter any longer, because of the Pagan connection. They call it Resurrection Sunday. So the connection between Ostara and the Jesuses are more tenuous than the writers think.
On a linked note, when Wednesday said that no one prays to Ostara any longer. I have a few Wiccan acquaintances and I said. “What about Wiccans? I remember my friends mentioning that they have Ostara?” Which may have helped if the deity still had her San Francisco roots that Gaiman wrote.
A scene of a woman dying from AIDS complications is especially powerful coming from a show helmed by two gay men.
Quick correction: I think it’s only one gay man. Michael Green has made references to his wife on Twitter.
@11: Thanks fo the correction. I hadn’t heard of his wife and should’ve taken the time to Google.
I want to think the show (writers) are aware enough to know exactly what they did with Bilquis–hence Anansi’s telling of her fall and being shored up by the New Gods (as others have been) in that manner. Given her conversation with Technical Boy and the bus at the end, perhaps she does have more fight in her than realized by her new patrons. If the point of her story is adaptation and survival over the men who tried to tear her down before, there may be hints of her eventual turnaround.
Or I am being super optimistic. But given how blatant Easter’s fawning on Shadow was–roommate and I both had a visceral reaction to her referring to him as “chocolate” especially–I feel like they know they’re treading on tricky ground with these choices.
Neil Gaiman gave a shout-out to the women writers and directors of the last two episodes, but it still definitely feels like primarily white guy viewpoints, especially since that’s who we see in the little STARZ behind the scenes vignettes post-episode. White guys who are trying, but there’re some concerns for sure.
I am now getting worried over Sweeney’s “personal” reasons for wanting to resurrect Laura. I’m really hoping it’s because he doesn’t feel this is worth the deal he made, battle owed or not (given his shouted defiance last week, this seems almost like he’s fighting his nature, perhaps). Not because he’s now got a crush on Laura. Especially if we’re meant to believe Sweeney sees some of his past adherent Essie in her, given the use of Browning in both roles.
@10 I had the feeling Easter invited all the various Jesus’ to play up the hostess role, but did seem to be particular over the version(s) who “shared” the day. She went between acting the sycophant, to truly being angry at the insults Wednesday leveled to her guest(s), to showing that underlying pain of being supplanted by Him in the popular mind. Wednesday even pointed out some of the Jesus’ present weren’t related to the holiday, when he and Shadow arrived. So again, wanting to offer benefit of the doubt that the show is at least somewhat aware of what they’re adding in some of these cases, and awkwardly trying to provide commentary.
Edit: and Media was totally playing up the more popular Southern Belle who was not-so-subtly bullying Easter. The fake nicety was layered on thick with a coat of sugar.
5. MaGnUs: “How thick is Shadow? Come on, man, you’d have to be very ignorant and uneducated (and he doesn’t seem to be) to not realize which god Wednesday is.”
Try a person-on-the-street type sampling, or friends and family, if you don’t want to approach strangers. Very few will know that Wednesday is named after Odin. Some may not even know that Thursday is Thor’s day. Why are four of our weekdays named after Norse gods anyway? We get Tuesday after Tyr and Friday after Frigga (or Freya?). Romance language names follow Mars and Venus (at least the war and love aspects line up), and the day in between is named after Mercury.
Even more confusing, we mispronounce it all the time. We see Wednesday and say Wendsday. Why? Kinda like Brett Favre transposing the v and r to Farve.
Also in this episode, we have confirmation that Shadow is a nickname, like Laura calling him Puppy. He followed his grandma(?) around like a shadow.
Possible spoiler for non-book viewers:
perhaps we can say Monday is Shadow’s day, Moonday.
A larger question for me, as a non-religious person, is why we admire/worship/need gods anyway. A professor of Shakespeare once asked, why does the writer focus so much on royals and nobles? Part of the answer was that such people are more widely represented in the historical record. Another aspect was that they had enough, or more, time to become and exert themselves as individuals, certainly more than peasants consigned to subsistence living.
Safe to assume that we are all genre readers and viewers here. But if we live in a democracy, why do we root for kings, queens, and gods in our fantasy literature? Why do so many fans want Daenerys to end up on the Iron Throne “because she was born to rule”? Americans anyway rejected rule by monarchy. Why do we still care about royals or gods?
By extension, Alex is completely right that a lot of the god war in American Gods makes no sense. Easter will never be worshipped for herself, no matter how many eggs, candy and bunnies are thrown in. The real associations of the holiday with those things are already unexplainable by most Christians who says “Christ has risen” on Easter Sunday.
Also agree that it’s more than faintly ridiculous that Bilquis would need a dating app to find partners. Is it supposed to be inferred that the AIDS crisis brought her low? But related to my earlier question, why should we admire her? She represents a strong female presence, a queen worshipped in several middle eastern cultures, but she is also a sexual vampire. She consumes her worshippers en masse in the origin story. Ecstasy in communion with gods or angels sounds great (see the Bernini sculpture “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa”), but at the cost of your life? Would you do it if you knew that going in?
Well, of course Mexican Jesus was there, despite having been shot earlier. Resurrection is kind of Jesus’ thing, isn’t it?
@Victoria Hannah: Yes, Eastern Christianity exists, as well as those Evangelicals. But this is a show about the USA, and the overwhelming majority of US Christians say “Easter”. (I suspect your “many sects” is pushing it.) And among those who aren’t Christian, the association of name and day is even stronger.
My initial thoughts were exactly “How thick is Shadow?” But then I remembered my teenage self reading The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams. I didn´t get it. And I did read books about mythology, I did read fantasy… but I was used to gods and magic happening in other worlds, not this one. So all the “today is wendesday” and other little clues made absolutely no sense to me, not until the moment “I am Odin. Surprise!”
So I get it now. Mythology is stuff, that happens somewhere else. It is hard to imagine gods in ordinary world. Even though there are clues, you try to deny them and look for some mundane explanation.
On the other hand, after what he´s been through… how thick is Shadow?
@14/Sunspear: As far as I know, the weekdays are named after Germanic gods because the Germanic peoples adopted the Roman seven-day week and translated the names from the Roman deities to their own.
18. JanaJansen: sure, but just 3 out of 7: Mars/Tyr, Venus/Freya and the Mercury/ Odin swap. Not sure what the Thor equivalent was. They kept Saturn’s day. And then the Sun and the Moon. Calendars and keeping time are messy things.
@19/Sunspear: The Thor equivalent was Jupiter, because they’re both thunder gods. The reason for the sun and the moon is that the weekdays were originally named after astronomical/astrological objects – the seven “classical planets”. I don’t know why they kept Saturn. Perhaps there was no Germanic equivalent?
@18. Sure there’s a lot that say Easter. But there’s a lot that say Pascha. In my area there are a lot of people who’s lives really reflect “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (including mine). And, yes, there’s a lot of Eastern Catholic Sects. I made a link clickable for a source on them. We do not say Happy Easter either. My Gede and Baba, maternal grandparents, said Happy Easter by saying a call and response of: Khrystos voskres! Voistynu voskres! (or Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!) My Greek acquaintances say the same: Khristós Anésti! Alithós Anésti! Though, I understand most people forgetting that Eastern Europeans and Greeks even immigrated here. We’re often forgotten. And Eastern Europeans and Greeks maintain our traditions the longest. I’m third generation and still know some of my ancestral languages and customs. Two separate cousins have common phrases in our ancestral tongues tattooed somewhere on them. (Please refer to my comment on the Czernobog episode for further enlightenment.)
@15. Catholics do have an explanation of eating those foods. Catholics and Orthodox undergo Lent, a period of 40 days of penitence. In the Middle Ages, through to probably before the Second Vatican Council, the eating of all meat, dairy, and sweets were forbidden to Catholics during that period because our food was supposed to be abstemious. (Actually, in the television series, The Borgias, Season 2, Episode 6, has a very accurate depiction of the extremes taken during a Medieval/Renaissance Lenten Fast.) In many cases, Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox continue this practice to this very day. Therefore, when Pascha/Easter came, the fast was broken and all manner of food can be eaten. Actually, during the course of the year, no matter what time, meat still cannot be eaten on Fridays, except the Friday after Pascha/Easter and the Friday after Christmas, both laying within the Octave. We are still feasting then, and are not required the meatless Friday Penance. Therefore the eating of those foods is the indication that feasting is about to begin!
This was the last in the season? But the show was only just picking up momentum! Great opening act, but crappy whole season. This is the problem with too much serialisation, they stretch too little story over too many episodes. They could have cut the two Mad Sweeny/Laura episodes for a start (instead of all the slow-mo shots of people standing around while the -admittedly gorgeous- soundtrack plays, shove a couple of scenes of them in there instead), that would have given us a little more time to play with to at least get a pay off. If you only have a handful of episodes, then you gotta make them all count towards driving the action and delivering a conclusion. Jeez.
I’m out for next season. I wish I hadn’t even bothered with this one now. I’ll worship any god who can give me some good old episodic tv back, or at least have them wrap up a story arc in a season.
The show seems to overlook the degree to which technology and media rely on sex–even this site has to monitor our comments, filtering out a variety of sexual allusions and tributes to our goddess. Perhaps the oversight reflects the characters, the arrogantly naive technology and self complacent media, rather than the writers.
Either way, the goddess seems to reign supreme, unchecked, in the internet.
I still think Shadow is thick, he didn’t even google “wednesday” at some point after meeting Wednesday and learning there’s something supernatural going on? I’m not talking about his own, personal education… I know people in the street and even many suposedly educated people won’t know the Wednesday/Odin connection… but a couple of episodes in, he should have at least wondered and done a little googling. :)
@9 – mp1952: But she probably (I haven’t read the book) says that because he does follow her around like one.
@10 – Victoria and @13 – LynMars: And even if not all the Jesuses (Jesii?) are related to Easter because many Christians don’t use the word “Easter”; modern global culture has been suffused enough by the link between Easter, bunnies, and chocolate and Jesus, through US media. It’s consumed everywhere, so even if your own, personal religious belief doesn’t make the connection, you still have it in mind somewhere, subsconsciously.
@16 – David: Plus, we may have multiple Mexican Jesii. :)
Wait — did you just say this was the season finale already?! ARRRGH!!
So thoughtless of you to put a spoiler in the emailed description of this article… I decided to read the book before watching the series. Is that crazy or what? I better unsub to your newsletters for a while to avoid more spoilers for the show.
First, a confession, I don’t get the channel so have to wait for DVD, loved the book. But since the first photos came out I’ve been itching to ask somebody, anybody, about the casting choice for Easter.
So since you briefly touched on female deities shaped by men in this article, I was wondering if anyone had a take on their revamp of Easter as a particularly petite woman.
From the media (ha) releases I was excited about Bilquis and Media, but I was really upset by Easter. That they took a character particularly described as beautiful, sexy, and large-I think Shadow says something about never seeing someone that so truly fit curvaceous before-and a goddess of bounty and chose to cast a notably (even for hollywood) small and slender actress. It came off as a slap in the face ‘we believe everything is true…except that a large woman has a place.’
@9 Puppy was because they couldn’t have a pet where they lived so he said he could do anything a puppy would he’d be her puppy and chew her shows and pee on the rug.
@26: I have no control of what goes in the newsletter, so don’t get grumpy at me.
@27: I’m still undecided. I love Chenoweth and get why Fuller/Green wanted her (she was specifically asked to play the part), but I can’t really see the logical reason for casting her. Changing her into a Southern belle is fun, but I think it does a disservice to the character. It makes Easter more of a Christian hangers-on deity rather than a pagan deity. Perhaps that’s intentional, though? It was implied she sided with the new gods, so her persona should match their new role for her. TV!Easter is commercialized WASP Christian Easter than Book!Ostara pagan Easter.
Thanks, Magpie; that was my exact and immediate response to the announcement of that casting (you can look it up).
Alex, I generally find Chenoweth annoying, although I didn’t mind her so much here–but my overall summary of this season of the show is, so many fundamental changes have been made to characters and incidents that I have no idea where they’re going with the story and am not necessarily expecting it to parallel the book very closely. Although, as has been said here, and as my daughter said last night when we discussed this, the book is so episodic and non-plot-driven that it doesn’t actually take much to parallel it.
Which is not to suggest I won’t keep watching, to find out.
@@@@@ 27
The casting for Easter/Ostara is, imo, just one of the things this show did incredibly wrong. Also, why is Easter working with the new gods? Why is Bilquis for that matter? Those are two pretty big changes from the book. Hell, the last three episodes (at least) did not come from the book at all. This show is barely American Gods at all, my opinion of course as I’m sure there are plenty here that disagree with me.
Also, there seems to be some confusion about a line in this episode. Easter asked Shadow why he was called Shadow and he said it was because he followed his mom around like her shadow. It was not about why Laura called him puppy. Or maybe the earlier comment @@@@@ 9 about the puppy nickname wasn’t in reference to this episode but just a question of the show in general?
Lastly, Alex may have faith in the showrunners (and liked that they changed things from the book even if the changes didn’t work) but I do not and therefore I will most likely not watch next season. Color me very disappointed.
@24 MaGnUs not only that, I’m pretty sure Shadow has heard someone call outright call Wednesday by the name Wotan (Czernobog maybe?) and just previous to this he met a limping “smith” named Vulcan and didn’t clue in?
Exactly, thanks.