Watch & Remark: American Gods, Git Gone

Welcome back to my weekly review of American Gods! Some extra good news: an American Gods soundtrack will be released on June 16th, giving us 20 tracks to listen to long after the season has left us adrift and looking for more material.

To be honest, this episode was good, but it was also boring. It had more of a narrative structure than the last few episodes, and definitely gave us some very needed context for the relationship between Laura and Shadow, and why Laura will play a large role in episodes to come.

Image Source: spoilersguide.com

In this episode, Git Gone, we are introduced to Laura and Shadow's relationship at the very beginning, and we get to watch how it progresses, from a cocky Shadow and a bored Laura. We see card tricks, lots of sex, Laura and Robbie's affair, and get a reunion with Anubis to top it off, alongside our first meeting with the Ibis & Jacquel Funeral Home. There are a lot of connections to previous episodes, in bits of dialogue, certain scenes, and the only side-story we get is Laura visiting the funeral home to get a "makeover."

Laura's attitude in this episode will confuse emotional people, as she doesn't appear to have many. I like how this actress is playing Laura, but as an emotional person I don't really appreciate the disconnect between her and Shadow. Laura is more going through the motions of life than she is embracing it, and while I loved Laura in the book, I am still more or less ambivalent to the Laura on the show. We do get to see Laura being a badass, kicking a guy so hard she separates his spine from his body, but it's gruesome and strange.

TW: There is a lot of gore in this one, including a violent car wreck, a return to the scene were Shadow was lynched and bathed in blood, so beware if you have a weak stomach or if that scene squicked you badly, because this takes that gore and really runs with it to make it worse. Also, there is an instance of animal death.

Image Source: ibtimes.co.uk

There were two major detail change from the book in this episode: the reason Shadow went to prison, and Audrey and Laura meeting again. In Gaiman's novel, Shadow is sent to prison for beating a man almost to death for stealing from him, but in the show it appears that Shadow is sent to prison because he got caught trying to rob the casino that Laura worked at while she was still alive. This was an interesting change, and I'm not sure if I liked it. The book version made Shadow seem more characteristic of a bodyguard, and more violent, where this version didn't give me that impression.

The scene with Audrey and Laura was interesting, slightly creepy, and, I thought, a good idea. It gives the show a bit of depth, and gives Laura some motivation to continue protecting the light of her life and moving forward with being her unique, newly emotional self. I'm enjoying these changes from the book, and it's interesting to see how the show is adapting such a controversial book to the TV medium while maintaining the integrity and shock factor of Gaiman's novel.

This episode left us off right where the last episode did: Laura waiting for Shadow in his hotel room. So, we will pick back up with next weeks episode, Lemon Scented You. I hope that it has a little more action. Join me next week!