I’ve never read the series, but I read one reviewer stating that “American Gods was all done by Gaiman in Sandman, before, and he did it better there”. [paraphrasing]
/shrug
Man, unless I completely misread Sandman or American Gods, that statement is not true at all.
There are gods and mythological figures in both works. They’re both sometimes abstract and ambiguous. That’s about as similar as they get.
I think the reviewer was thinking more about the tone, the pathos, etc., and the mythical figures in both works. Again, shrug, I feel no need to go back and prove the reviewer right/wrong, because American Gods is this little ball of perfect to me.
Having read Gaiman’s stuff, he is definitely guilty of doing the same thing over and over again. He writes a story that takes place in a world that is almost exactly like our own except that the supernatural is a thing.
“Main character never realized their mundane world would be turned upside down when they discovered X was real” could quite literally be the plot synopsis of virtually every Neil Gaiman book. That being said, I enjoy him as a writer, but I completely understand how his stuff can feel recycled to some.
And a lot of the urban fantasy genre in general, really.
The devil’s in the details, of course.
Opening scene of this week’s episode (#3).
Perfect.
I thought Legion was really weird at times but this show takes the cake. Still enjoying it with the best stuff being the weekly intro scene.
I do wonder if the surreal and obtuse nature of the show wears on viewers eventually.
It’s definitely weirder than your typical CBS prime time comedy, but I’m not finding it too weird overall. As someone who loved Hannibal, and Legion, and other slightly weird shows, this is really great so far. I actually expected it to be even more weird than it is.
I haven’t read the books, but I get what’s happening (I think) and though the imagery takes interpretation, the plot I think is pretty straightforward.
That’s not really what Sandman is about, though. It’s basically transplanting classical epic into graphic novel form. It’s a story about storytelling.
Can’t speak to American Gods as I only got a few dozen pages into it in my teens. Turns out the TV show is on Amazon Prime in the UK though, which is nice.
The thing about Sandman is MisterMourning’s description does describe it if you change “main character” to “the reader”. I like Gaiman but yes his works are generally about turning the mundane world upside down. From there it’s simply a matter of from who’s perspective he is exposing this world to you.
Best episode of the series yet even thought they didn’t have a “coming to America” intro.
So many great scenes but my fav is the “bathroom” conversation. Just a great backstory episode. Still don’t know what’s going on for most part but it’s the show I look forward most every week to watching.
I just love how fucking weird and gorgeous this show is.
Yeah, this is terrific. I really liked the Media-as-David-Bowie scene, along with everything involving Mr. Wednesday.
Another great and weird episode. The animated intro was great, along with finally seeing Crispen as Mr World. Also how awesome is Gillian Anderson?
She has a fantastic way with voices (accents, tones, etc.). I really think she’s a truly underrated actress. She has worked steadily in television and film over the years, and she seems to usually get great reviews for that work, but she just doesn’t seem to get wide recognition for it after the fact.
And yeah, I will take unfiltered Crispen Glover any day of the week. That was inspired casting. He’s been gone far too long from my TV. Bring on Glover brand madness, I say!
I was pretty lukewarm on this episode. Felt mostly like exposition and since I’ve read the book I don’t need these things spelled out for me. Still a few good bits (like Laura beating up Mad Sweeney) and the casting remains impeccable, but, yeah.
I really liked this episode, but that’s been true for everyone so far.
Check out The Fall if you haven’t yet and want more Gillian.
Coincidentally, I was thinking of that when I wrote the post. So good.
Another week, another sweet episode.
The cast is simply such a joy to watch and the Sweeney/Laura dynamic is pure gold (no pun intended). The one exception, of all people, would be Rickie Whittle. Not sure if his character is intentionally a bit bland because he’s the audience perspective, but he seems to be mostly meander between looking pissed off or confused. The non-Shadow parts and the Shadow parts that involve Wednesday just seem more interesting and entertaining than the scenes that are mostly focused on him.
Always looking forward to new deities being introduced, but Mexican Jesus probably was the least inventive bit so far, especially coming after the breathtakingly beautiful animated piece in the fifth episode. The intro to the Vulcan factory, however, was splendid.
McShane channeled Al Swearengen this episode. Which is absolutely fine with me :)