Serie - American Gods : our review on Lemon Scented You episod (105)

By Mulder, 27 may 2017

The narrator begins with another “Coming to America” vignette that expressing the foreboding nature of Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) sentiments about his only fear of being forgotten. It starts with an ancient tribe crossing to America during the last ice age. The tribe carries a totem of their god, Nynyunnini which is the giant severed head of a mammoth. They struggle with starvation amongst other plights assumed but once they finally make it inland they are greeted by a native tribe to which they absorb into. Eventually their old tribes ways, and their old god Nynyunnini is forgotten and killed off essentially once the old tribe dissolves into the newer ones. This fable of what happened to Nynyunnini is an almost too perfect description of Mr. Wednesday’s fear. The digitally animated scene is an evolution from previous narrative driven intros for “American Gods” and with any luck we can hope for more scenes like this and when Shadow was pulled into Technical Boy’s limousine.

Returning to Shadow (Ricky Whittle) and Laura (Emily Browning), she strives to lure and persuade him by her charms but she comes up short. Shadow is too smart to be burnt twice and he completely disregards Laura’s futile albeit genuine attempts. She is almost to make a small step forward in the direction she wants but Shadow shuts it down when he denies being her “puppy” anymore. Oddly though when Laura does find a minor success trying to change Shadows mind she feels a flutter in her heart. The return of her heartbeat after being with Shadow could be just the thing she needs to fully be received then again, there are all those missing organs of hers to account for and replace.

Media (Gillian Anderson) kidnaps Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) and informs him that Mr. World (Crispin Glover) who we have failed to see up until this episode, demands that he wholeheartedly apologies to both Shadow and Mr. Wednesday. Reluctantly Technical Boy complies but still ends up showing resistance which cost him dearly but exposes him as a vulnerable god.

Gillian Anderson has two appearances, the first as the late David Bowie and the second as Marilyn Monroe. Media announces and introduces Mr. World to Shadow and Mr. Wednesday and when he enters you can feel Mr. Wednesday justifiably worry for this new god is much more powerful than he currently seems. Crispin Glover is superb as Mr. World, explaining how he imagines a place for Mr. Wednesday within the organization of new gods and not to be cast out. Mr. World understands the significance of a god that has been around for countless millennia and wants to recruit Mr. Wednesday or as Media illustrated in a rebranding pitch, Odin.

“American Gods” story leaps bounds ahead by giving an actual face to the looming enemy of Mr. Wednesday, even if that face is multidimensional. The view that the new gods have for Mr. Wednesday is not agreed upon and this seems to cause some unrest within the ranks but Media keeps Technical Boys mutinous attitude in check. As for the new gods rallying behind Mr. Wednesday, they can all agree, or at least be suspected to agree upon the singular ideal, that survival is vital.

Synopsis:
When Shadow Moon is released from prison, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and a storm begins to brew. Little does Shadow know, this storm will change the course of his entire life. Left adrift by the recent, tragic death of his wife, and suddenly hired as Mr. Wednesday’s bodyguard, Shadow finds himself in the center of a world that he struggles to understand. It’s a hidden world where magic is real, where the Old Gods fear both irrelevance and the growing power of the New Gods, like Technology and Media. Mr. Wednesday seeks to build a coalition of Old Gods to defend their existence in this new America, and reclaim some of the influence that they’ve lost. As Shadow travels across the country with Mr. Wednesday, he struggles to accept this new reality, and his place in it.

American Gods
Based on American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Developed by Bryan Fuller, Michael Green
Composer Brian Reitzell
Starring Ricky Whittle (Shadow Moon), Emily Browning (Laura Moon / Essie Tregowan), Crispin Glover (Mr World), Bruce Langley (Technical Boy), Yetide Badaki (Bilquis), Pablo Schreiber (Mad Sweeney), Ian McShane (Mr. Wednesday)

A Whispertone review