Well, we were bound to encounter a less than stellar episode eventually, and A Prayer for Mad Sweeney is that episode. It’s certainly not bad; in fact, it’s very enjoyable and if it were placed anywhere else besides as the penultimate episode of the season, it would raise from less-than-stellar to good. The problem is that this episode is essentially one long detour from the main plotline right before the season finale. It’s a great story that’s well told, but placing the episode this close to the finale was a mistake. Written by Maria Melnik (and Michael Green and Bryan Fuller) and directed by Adam Kane, A Prayer for Mad Sweeney tells the story of how Mad Sweeney came to America. After her reunion with Shadow (Ricky Whittle) ends far too quickly, Laura (Emily Browning) turns to an unlikely travel companion to find her way back to life, and back to Shadow. Mad Sweeney’s (Pablo Schreiber) long, winding, and often tragic past is explored. (As always, this episode will feature spoilers. You have been warned.) (more…)
starz
Life is Great! (American Gods S01E06 – “A Murder of Gods” Review)
At the end of A Murder of Gods, Laura tells Salim that life is great. And, to be honest, that’s really indicative of this episode. Life – and all that one can do in life – is great. And this episode is great, too. Written by Seamus Kevin Fahey, Bryan Fuller, and Michael Green and directed by Adam Kane, A Murder of Gods picks up shortly after last week’s Lemon Scented You left off. On the run after the New Gods’ show of force, Shadow (Ricky Whittle) and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) seek safe haven with one of Mr. Wednesday’s oldest friends, Vulcan (Corbin Bernsen), God of the Fire and the Forge. (As always, this review contains spoilers! So, if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you’ll probably want to see it before you read any further.) (more…)
The Merger of the Gods (American Gods S01E05 – “Lemon Scented You” REVIEW)
What do you get when you put the leaders of two warring factions of gods together in the same room? Perhaps it would be something like what happens in Lemon Scented You, the latest episode in STARZ’s hit adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods. After the backstory-heavy episode last week, Lemon Scented You kicks things up a notch when the leader of the New Gods, Mr. World (Crispin Glover), finally meets with the leader of the Old Gods, Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). Written by David Graziano (teleplay) and Bryan Fuller and Michael Green (head writers/showrunners) and directed by Vincenzo Natali, Lemon Scented You picks up from where the past two episodes have left off: Shadow (Ricky Whittle) walks into his motel room and finds his dead wife, Laura (Emily Browning), waiting for him on his bed – very much not dead. Shadow’s emotional reunion with his wife is interrupted when he and Wednesday are arrested and kidnapped by the New Gods, led by the mysterious Mr. World. (Spoilers ahead!) (more…)
REVIEW: American Gods S01E04 – “Git Gone”
It’s early Sunday morning, which means another episode of STARZ’s American Gods has been uploaded, which means it’s time for another review of American Gods. We’re halfway through the series now, which is very exciting! But also sad, because that means we’ve only got four weeks left of this incredible show. But, let’s not focus on the sad things, but the happy things! And this episode is definitely a happy thing. I mean, it’s not really a happy episode, but it’s a great one, and that should make all of us happy! This week’s episode was entitled Git Gone and was written by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green and directed by Craig Zobel. This week’s episode was a bit unique in terms of the usual format for this show; in this episode, we alternate between the past and the present as Laura’s (Emily Browning) life and death are explored – how she met Shadow (Ricky Whittle), how she died, and how exactly she came to be sitting on the edge of his motel room bed. As always, this review won’t be spoiler-free, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you might wanna wait to read this review until you’ve watched it! (more…)
REVIEW: American Gods S01E03 – “Head Full of Snow”
The third episode of STARZ’s American Gods has just been uploaded to the STARZ website, and I have just finished watching it, so it’s time to continue reviewing what’s quickly become my new favorite show currently on TV. This week’s episode was written by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green and was directed by David Slade (Guillermo Navarro directed the Salim and Jinn scene). In Head Full of Snow, Shadow begins to question his decision to work for Mr. Wednesday after all that happened at the end of last week’s episode and the discovery of Wednesday’s plan to rob a bank. As if all that wasn’t enough, Shadow makes a startling discovery when he returns to his hotel room, one that might change his view of things. As always, this review will contain spoilers, so watch the episode before reading this review! (more…)
REVIEW: American Gods S01E02 – “The Secret of Spoons”
The second episode of STARZ’s new show American Gods has been uploaded to their website, and I have just watched it, so, it’s time to review it! This week’s episode was written by Michael Green and Bryan Fuller and was directed by David Slade. (It’s worth noting that this week’s Coming to America segment was directed by Guillermo Navaro.) In The Secret of Spoons, Shadow (Ricky Whittle) experiences a number of odd events as he and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) begin their quest to recruit the Old Gods for the coming battle. He and Shadow travel to Chicago where Shadow agrees to a very high-stakes game of chess with the old Slavic god, Czernobog (Peter Stormare). This review will contain spoilers, so if you’ve yet to see the episode, don’t read the review! The short and sweet of it is: it’s a really good episode. It builds on everything that made the first episode good and pushes the show forward. Now, if you continue reading this, I’m assuming you’ve seen the episode. Last chance to turn back! (more…)
REVIEW: American Gods S01E01 – “The Bone Orchard”
Shadow Moon (Whittle) in The Bone Orchard
REVIEW: American Gods – Shadows #2
American Gods: Shadows #2 is the latest issue of Dark Horse’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel, American Gods. It, essentially, adapts the entire second chapter of the original novel pretty faithfully. In this issue, Shadow and Wednesday continue their conversation at Jack’s Crocodile Bar, Shadow meets the leprechaun Mad Sweeney and has an altercation with him, and Shadow attends his wife’s funeral.
I’ve got sort of mixed feelings about this issue. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s starting to feel like there’s no much actual adaptation going on. It’s pretty much a copy-paste of the original novel with some really beautiful illustrations added in. And that’s not a bad thing, per say. But it doesn’t really feel like we’re getting anything new here.
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REVIEW: "Anansi Boys" by: Neil Gaiman
Okay, so I really liked this book. It’s a massively different beast than American Gods, but at the same time, it very much feels like it’s a part of that universe. Anansi Boys is on a much smaller scale than American Gods was. While American Gods dealt with gods fighting against each other, Anansi Boys is an extremely personal story about the children of a god (Mr. Nancy, Anansi) connecting with each other and coming into their own.
REVIEW: "Black Dog" by: Neil Gaiman
It’s hard to compare Black Dog with The Monarch of the Glen. They’re such different stories. But I have to say that I think I like Black Dog better. Monarch felt more like an American Gods story, but Black Dog was more engaging.
I loved the kind of ghost story feel it gave me the whole time I read it. Again, there was some nice development with Shadow, but I still wish they’d focus more on the whole son of Odin thing.
But I digress. This short is really good, it’s well paced, builds up tension expertly, and then resolves everything in a satisfying way. I definitely enjoyed it. Here’s hoping for a true American Gods sequel!
(4 out of 5 wands)
