American Gods Altar: “The Bone Orchard”
Neil Gaiman’s American Gods adaptation debuted last night on Starz. Were you inclined to worship at its altar or blaspheme? Come discuss “The Bone Orchard” with us!
I had been putting up thoughts about the new episodes of Doctor Who on Monday mornings but since I didn’t get around to watching this weekend and American Gods premiered I figured I’d switch it up. Feel free to chat about Doctor Who over here if you’re so inclined.
Bryan Fuller and Michael Green wrote, and David Slade directed, “The Bone Orchard” which starred Ricky Whittle in the lead role of Shadow Moon and Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday. I’ve watched three episodes of the season so far thanks to Starz screeners an have been blown away by the visuals. Fuller, always known for his delicious mind, is really getting to stretch his legs here. My biggest concern is those who haven’t read the book may have no idea what the hell is going on. I sure didn’t when I started reading it a few months ago. It’s a meandering journey and one that takes a lot of detours. I’m very interested to see how the show will develop certain characters for the sake of extending the series past one season.
That said, it was really amazing to see folks freaking out over that Bilquis scene on Twitter last night…
What did you think? Share your thoughts on the first episode of American Gods in the comments! If you’re going to refer to plot threads in the book, please preface your comment with “BOOK SPOILERS.”
I enjoyed it, but I’m also on the fence right now. The casting is perfect. The scenes are gorgeous. The effects are solid. But even though I liked the book, I felt the book was missing something, and I’m hoping the show will improve upon that.
I heard all the lady characters have been fleshed out, so I’m excited about that; just Shadow and Wednesday wasn’t enough for me. I’m hoping they dive more into the gods, their personalities, their existential plights, etc. Also, it’s acted wonderfully, Audrey’s scene in the graveyard was gut-wrenching.
It’s been more than a decade since I read the book and I remember it being kind of sedated for what should have felt like a more thrilling experience. The first episode, here, did a good job of adding some style…but now I’m thinking that the book might not have been sedated after all. It might just be that Neil Gaiman’s version of myth and legend reads like someone loving their own fart smell to me. I’ve never really cared for anything he did after Sandman.
OMG THIS WAS SO GOOD
What was your favorite part so far? Mine is, surprisingly, Mad Sweeney who I just realized only yesterday is the same actor who played Pornstache on Orange is the New Black, Pablo Schreiber, so my mind is blown.
It’s a toss between that and Aubrey’s interaction with Shadow in the
graveyeard. She’s so needlessly mean and b*tchy to him in the book, and
it’s good to see her portray it as more as grief than anything else.
Aubrey was amazing. You could see the haze of the drugs, the anger, the grief, all of it. That actress nailed it.
Wow, Pornstache has been hitting the gym, dude was huge. This made me look at his IMDb and: “His paternal half-brother is actor Liev Schreiber.” Whoooa.
Wow, I did not detect that about Mad Sweeney being Pornstache. And I’m the one who usually says “Hey, that’s the guy who was an extra in that film back in 1985.” Or like “Hey, the Viper guy was a vampire for like two minutes (before he got killed) in that Buffy episode when she started college.”
I agree! I’m loving it, but I have no clue if someone who’s read the book would understand half of what’s going on, lol. I’m looking forward to more!
I have a friend who hasn’t read the book (which we constantly shame him for) watch it, and he’s totally digging it. So I think they’re doing a good job there, too.
Oh, good! It’s hard to see a story objectively once you’ve been immersed in it. I was just imagining non-book readers going WTF every two seconds.