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mdwatchestv · 7 years

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American Gods 1x02: Burn Motherfucker, Burn

Welcome everyone let us gather in worship for episode two of American Gods! There is a part of me that wishes I had never read the book and was instead experiencing this show completely cold, just relishing the assault of characters and stimulus with zero context. If you are having this experience, please let me know how that's going for you. Does it feel like being shot through a wind tunnel? Peacefully drifting through the cosmic vagina? Have you stopped watching? I feel like probably if it was that last one you would have stopped reading this by now. So I hope not.

Anyway this week started off with a bang. If you were at all worried that episode two couldn't compete with the powerful punch packed by ep one, I hope those fears were literally burned to the mother fucking ground. This week's Coming to America was, besides fucking awesome, a perfect illustration of the elements that make this show so delicious. Ingredient one on display is a powerhouse performance. Now I have always found Orlando Jones to be an enjoyable actor, he was by far the best thing Sleepy Hollow (RIP) had going for it. But he has never left me as shewk as he did on Sunday. After campaigning (successfully) for the role or Mr. Nancy on Twitter, Jones set a high bar for himself to deliver the goods. And well...

As you can see, he did. Ingredient number two is the tone and content. As much as I am loathe to use the term "difficult", the subject of American slavery is a difficult one to cover. However American slavery is also just that: American. To really cover the topic of "what makes America, America" as this show seems to be angling to do, you have to talk about the millions of people brought here against their will. Not only does American Gods plunge into this topic head on, but it does so with anger, gravitas, and wit. In a show stopping monologue (that I bet Tarantino wishes he had written first), Mr. Nancy gives a ship full of shackled slaves an unyielding look at the future of black people getting fucked in America. He paints a picture of unending subjugation and suffering, of endless cruelty and humiliation. He also cracks jokes, wears a razor sharp three piece suit, and comes with jazz accompaniment. It’s a potentially tricky juxtaposition of elements, but in the hands of Fuller, Green, and Jones, the scene slays.

As I wrote about last week Bryan Fuller is the master of walking the tonal tightrope and that is really where American Gods excels. It is blood-soaked, filled with novel-length monologues, and takes on ten ton subject matter. It is also genuinely funny, irreverent, and stylish to boot. I mean this episode had a dick pic y'all, a bone a fide hard on. And guess what? America didn't end. Take note Game of Thrones.

After the show stopping opening scene (ya, there was more after that) this week's episode flirted with various dichotomies. We were introduced to the new god Media, by way of Lucille Ball, by way of Gillian Anderson, by way of all of my dreams. Like the other new god Tech Boy, Media is slick and detached, visually polished and poised. She is worshipped passively by millions (including, by default, the audience of the show), and is confident in her relevance and power.

In contrast old god Bilquis is very much of the physical world. She has visceral desires, her worship is carnal, and emotional. She seems to feel emotions that are more human than godly. Despite the million things that are happening at every second, the show is very clear in it's delineating of the gods. Even if it is not always clear what exactly is happening, there is a very strong sense of "us vs them", "this vs that".

This episode we also met Russian death god Czernobog whose name means "Black God", and who has a real chip on his shoulder about his counterpart/brother the "White God". Czernobog enjoys sledgehammering cows to death, vodka, and leisurely games of checkers. Also bless this show for being able to turn on a dime from nonstop high speed crazy to a ten minute checkers playing sequence that is just as taught and compelling as anything else we have seen.

Once again the cast continues to be off the chart bananas. Gillian Anderson, Peter Stormare, non-speaking Martha Kelly, CLORIS LEACHMAN. I'm done.

So Shadow bets his life in checkers game against Czernebog and loses. Will he be bludgeoned to death in the morning? Truly anything is possible because Shadow's untimely death wouldn't necessarily mean the end of the series or even his departure from it.

I'll be back next week, and let's just say American Gods has been easing us into us to a world that is unafraid to show cock. Get ready ya'll. Can't wait.

XO MD

PS Bonus god flesh gif:

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