To be honest Salim and Laura both bore me but even considering that the quality of the show seems to be on a downward trajectory. Shadow's journey is not as compelling as it should be and the show in general seems to be all over the place. It's unfair to compare it to the book, but even compared to the first season the recent episodes are disappointing. The first season was legitimately good but all the showrunner changes have really damaged the narrative and diminished cohesiveness. It's a shame.
18 Reviews
My rant on obligatory sex scenes in general
bogus-bogus-one8 March 2021
Why in the world do writers include extended sex scenes in this day and age? It doesn't move the story along and if viewers are really interested in sex, they can find anything they are curios about on their favorite porn site. Even worse in this particular episode, way too much time was spent trying to make some point about sexual orientation rather than entertaining. I'm not a prude, I just don't appreciate the clumsy message delivery.
A couple ideas for the future writers and editors of the world. Verify the a sex scene really adds something, or cut it. If you want to make a point, do it in an interesting way and don't preach.
Inclusive messages could be entertaining if .... you ain't lazy.
That's Nice. And...?
Gislef8 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The episode was good. But boring. If nothing else, director Tim Southam managed to make a LGTBQ orgy as boring as a heterosexual orgy. The orgy seemed to go on forever. And ever. And ever. Amen.
The rest of it was nice but kinda pointless. Yetide Badaki's performance as the subconscious image Tech Boy has of Bilquis is good. But... so what? Tech Boy is imprisoned by World. Why didn't World do that a few episodes back when Tech Boy first came to him? Why tell Tech Boy about Artifact One when you're just going to lock him up in a mind palace (or whatever the heck it was) anyway.
Laura gets the Spear with the help of another leprechaun. But didn't World say he was going to get her the Spear? The performance, in this case by Emily Browning, was good as she came to grips with Sweeney's death. But nothing really happened.
Omid Abtahi is good as Salim, but he's always good as Salim. He doesn't seem to have anything to do in the series other then be the token LGBTQ character. Really, does Salim have any impact on anything?
Which brings up Salim and Laura's concern about World killing them if they fail to kill Wednesday. Couldn't he do that anyway? What protection did they have against him that failing a deal with him voided? They walked in and out of his HQ.
Denis O'Hare was good, as always, as Tyr. But other than to turn Shadow loose, and provide a story arc to get rid of Marilyn Manson's character who wasn't that significant in the first place... so what?
Do you see a pattern developing here? There's a lot of good performances going to pretty much nothing. Maybe that's the way of season 3. Good acting, and by Langley, Danner, Trejo, as well, but to what end? The production staff still has two episodes to pull it together.
Shadow is a loose cannon, Tech Boy is a loose cannon, Wednesday is a loose cannon (does he even seem interested in fighting the New Gods now?). Laura is a gun aimed at Wednesday, but he doesn't seem to be much of a threat to the New Gods so why do they care if he lives or dies? Wednesday seems busy cleaning his own messes with Tyr, Demeter, Shadow, etc. Too busy doing that to take on the New Gods.
So season 3 is worth watching for the performances. Which mean the season isn't a total write-off. But there isn't much plot momentum.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
The rest of it was nice but kinda pointless. Yetide Badaki's performance as the subconscious image Tech Boy has of Bilquis is good. But... so what? Tech Boy is imprisoned by World. Why didn't World do that a few episodes back when Tech Boy first came to him? Why tell Tech Boy about Artifact One when you're just going to lock him up in a mind palace (or whatever the heck it was) anyway.
Laura gets the Spear with the help of another leprechaun. But didn't World say he was going to get her the Spear? The performance, in this case by Emily Browning, was good as she came to grips with Sweeney's death. But nothing really happened.
Omid Abtahi is good as Salim, but he's always good as Salim. He doesn't seem to have anything to do in the series other then be the token LGBTQ character. Really, does Salim have any impact on anything?
Which brings up Salim and Laura's concern about World killing them if they fail to kill Wednesday. Couldn't he do that anyway? What protection did they have against him that failing a deal with him voided? They walked in and out of his HQ.
Denis O'Hare was good, as always, as Tyr. But other than to turn Shadow loose, and provide a story arc to get rid of Marilyn Manson's character who wasn't that significant in the first place... so what?
Do you see a pattern developing here? There's a lot of good performances going to pretty much nothing. Maybe that's the way of season 3. Good acting, and by Langley, Danner, Trejo, as well, but to what end? The production staff still has two episodes to pull it together.
Shadow is a loose cannon, Tech Boy is a loose cannon, Wednesday is a loose cannon (does he even seem interested in fighting the New Gods now?). Laura is a gun aimed at Wednesday, but he doesn't seem to be much of a threat to the New Gods so why do they care if he lives or dies? Wednesday seems busy cleaning his own messes with Tyr, Demeter, Shadow, etc. Too busy doing that to take on the New Gods.
So season 3 is worth watching for the performances. Which mean the season isn't a total write-off. But there isn't much plot momentum.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Episode full of emotion
jamesjpherman7 March 2021
It's true this season is moving slowly towards something. And it's true that so far, the visual story telling is not as hot as it was in the first season. But I have invested a fair amount in this production and I'm quite satisfied with it.
But now, this episode has lay bare Laura's complex character, her drive, and her most vulnerable side. Why the hate?
more propaganda than story
toku_kkai9 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
When the bigger part of the episode is focused on an orgy made to look innocent so one of the least important supportive characters gets over a past love while the main story line takes about 3 minutes of the entire episode and that main story leads nowhere in the overall big story you know it is more about pushing propaganda than actually telling a story. Visually this season I find to be very beautiful, the colors, the places where it is filmed and so on, but the story is really trash, abysmal. I really hope it doesn't get a new season because there was supposed to be a war between the old gods and new and right now I don't think either part wants to do it anymore. The entire show is about being politically corect, they got rid of Anansi, a black guy, because reasons, they got rid of the Mad Sweeny, who knows why at this point, and for the last 2 episodes it only pandered to social justice themes. I have no problem with including lgbt stuff, if it is done in the right way, like the romance between Selim and the Djin, it was done the right way, this orgy thing, no. Also the black culture segment from the previous episode was done way better, but again without being much related with the story, simply bad wrtiting.
Great episode for Laura and Salim!
Oath_keeper48 March 2021
Sweeney Junior
pauleskridge14 March 2024
Seven stars. Maybe only six. Sure, why not the Rabbit God? The more the
merrier, right? And it gives us a milieu to deal with Salim in a way that
makes some sense. It also leads to Laura's connection with Sweeney Junior. Liam's okay, I guess. And Iwan Rheon is a good actor. But he's such a bland
come-down after Sweeney. Tyr's play is revealed, to no surprize if anyone was
paying attention. And the confrontation between Tyr and Odin plays out exactly
as one would guess, given the participants. The Technical Boy/Bilquis
hallucination was awesome! The story is aiming at a sort of synthesis of Old
and New that Gaiman never considered in the text. And I think that's a cool
development. The big problem is that it's new development that's cropping up
when we've only got two more episodes to go. Too little, too late? 14 March
2024.
Just weak
amazon-0906627 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
There is nothing to be against Gays and Transgenders and they deserve a happy life as everybody else. But this LGBQT propaganda is just annoying, weak and silly.
In the first season i did not "enjoy" the Salim + Jinn sex scene, because i am just straight, but i found it a fantastic story element of a man who finally starts to be himself and to be free in his sexual life.
This episode just is useless, the main story is in this episode just a side story. Its all about gay and transgender, which would be on itself absolutely fine, but to depict it as a fantastic free society only if the LGBTQ can have their orgies is immature, or do i have to have orgies as a straight man to confirm that i am straight and free?.... sorry but i really dont see much value in this particulary episode other than to promote gay and transsex as something wonderful and godlike... i hope this show goes not lower, because other than this episode i really like all the telling how american gods were established.
In the first season i did not "enjoy" the Salim + Jinn sex scene, because i am just straight, but i found it a fantastic story element of a man who finally starts to be himself and to be free in his sexual life.
This episode just is useless, the main story is in this episode just a side story. Its all about gay and transgender, which would be on itself absolutely fine, but to depict it as a fantastic free society only if the LGBTQ can have their orgies is immature, or do i have to have orgies as a straight man to confirm that i am straight and free?.... sorry but i really dont see much value in this particulary episode other than to promote gay and transsex as something wonderful and godlike... i hope this show goes not lower, because other than this episode i really like all the telling how american gods were established.
Best episode of the series so far
geophyzzer8 March 2021
Not a tremendous amount of plot advancement, but that's nothing new for this season. What we do get, however, is a sweet and tender interlude about identity and moving past grief and trauma to discover who we really are... and both how hard that choice can be, and how freeing it can be when you finally make it. Some truly great acting from Salim and Laura are a cherry on top.
Slowest episode
xtremos-100-45929210 March 2021
After 30 minutes of nothing, you have a little piece of argument, but nothing too much relevant, is this a joke? By the way another blink to the new world after removing characters because the actor personal life. Can't recommend anybody.
A great episode for Laura and Salim, a badass episode for Wednesday
jdfoz9 March 2021
This episode really gave us a lot of time to spend with Laura and Salim, building their characters, motivations, and fulfilling Salim's seasonal arc in the most American Gods way possible. On top of that we got an amazing, epic, beautifully filmed, well-choreographed God showdown with Wednesday, and that alone made the episode worthwhile, let alone the rest of the rich character building stuff we got with Laura, Salim, and Technical Boy, along with some great LGBTQ+ representation (although the exact scene we're all thinking of is a little drawn out and could've been cut down a bit). Hyped for the next coming weeks to see how this season pays off!
Nasty episode
Abigail-Abby6 May 2021
Nice ep. for Salim and Laura
mzedme8 March 2021
Yeah alright, I can see why this has been cancelled now.
Ajaquai26 November 2022
First season: Amazing. Really deep moving scenes which connect through the episodes. I loved the one where you get a contrast between how one lady accepts her fate with Jaquel, vs what happens with Laura.
Second season: Missing characters (I get it was behind the scenes drama, but it really hurt the show.) New characters are introduced then just disappear (like New Media who wasn't a touch on old media.) Pacing issues are starting to appear but it's still interesting enough to hold together.
3rd season. Wow. What happened???? It's an absolute mess. There's flashes of brilliance, but then it's back to a slog of overlong, weirdly paced scenes that are frequently totally irrelevant. It all came together with this episode (which I haven't finished). I've always though this show overdoes the explicit scenes in places, but in here we might as well just have a porno featuring Salim. It's barely even trying to be mythical anymore. It's just a bunch of people having adult times together for ages. Seriously, you could take most of this episode out and it would barely even matter. I guess "cut to black" isn't in the showrunner's vocab.
I dunno. Laura's boring, Salim's boring, even Shadow's story is getting dragged out. Vilquis' story seems to have gone off the rails into nonsensical (and not particularly interesting) weirdness frequently. Mr/Ms World changes his skin with no rhyme or reason again just making everything disjointed. Tech boy and his interactions with Vilquis are about the only interesting and on topic thing left by this point.
Real shame what they did with such a promising series.
Second season: Missing characters (I get it was behind the scenes drama, but it really hurt the show.) New characters are introduced then just disappear (like New Media who wasn't a touch on old media.) Pacing issues are starting to appear but it's still interesting enough to hold together.
3rd season. Wow. What happened???? It's an absolute mess. There's flashes of brilliance, but then it's back to a slog of overlong, weirdly paced scenes that are frequently totally irrelevant. It all came together with this episode (which I haven't finished). I've always though this show overdoes the explicit scenes in places, but in here we might as well just have a porno featuring Salim. It's barely even trying to be mythical anymore. It's just a bunch of people having adult times together for ages. Seriously, you could take most of this episode out and it would barely even matter. I guess "cut to black" isn't in the showrunner's vocab.
I dunno. Laura's boring, Salim's boring, even Shadow's story is getting dragged out. Vilquis' story seems to have gone off the rails into nonsensical (and not particularly interesting) weirdness frequently. Mr/Ms World changes his skin with no rhyme or reason again just making everything disjointed. Tech boy and his interactions with Vilquis are about the only interesting and on topic thing left by this point.
Real shame what they did with such a promising series.
Best Episode so far!!!!
Calvinclown12 March 2021
The amaizing hidden messages in every scene and detail, and the deeper meaning of these different scenes make this episode so extremely strong.
The explanation of the awakening, in the scene of "self fixing technical boy", or the finding his true self again Salim scenes makes this epsiode so grate.
Love that Peacock.
marckline000-6711 March 2021
Starts in a old hotel in 1951 , lovely place , a stranger enters it and after a little chat changes the place forever with some god magic. Let's see the dentist takes Shadow Moon to Wolf's Den , on the way a nosy guy , gets his throat removed , then the dentist has a fight with Odin , loses then burns, so no more followers have to die , yippy. Getting back to the future present day same hotel must be having some kind of conference party for a fancy dress for peacocks. Laura and Salim have some drinks and discuss about the spear in which Laura eventually gets it , wtg babe. Technical Boy gets a update , his hard drive was boosted by some old gateway hard drive. Best part was on the bridge when Laura Moon says goodbye to Mad Sweeney's ashes , very sentimental then Salim preys under a bridge to the sweater Gods. I did a re edit the beginning had a point of saying who you were in your present body and the late night party just meant people wanted to be desired , anything or everything happened, its a fantasy show and yet some parts are most definitely real , like in today's society.
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