From Page to Screen - A Book to TV Comparison of Episode 4 of 'American Gods'

Written by Scott Murray

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Spoiler reminder: while I will freely discuss anything in the book or show that has happened so far, I will not spoil things in the book which have not yet occurred in the show.

Wow, okay. Well, almost nothing from this episode was in the book at all, so I’m left without very much to compare. In fact, Laura’s return in the book is only that: her return. Their life before the book’s beginning isn’t explored as thoroughly as it is here, but it’s important nonetheless.
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Laura’s return means a lot to Shadow: it represents the last remnant of Shadow’s old life still clinging to him, and in much the same way Laura is clinging to her old life and to life itself, her presence in Shadow’s life is unnatural and unexpected. More than that, it brings with it a massive amount of baggage and weight: Shadow is putting his old life to bed and leaving it behind. More than that, he has begun to willingly step into this new life in a world of Gods. Laura’s return is more than just an anchor: it brings with it emotion, grief, memory, heartbreak, love, and so many other things which will now weigh on Shadow and follow him around much the same way Laura is, like a lost puppy. In the book these feelings of his are more obscure, shown to us in glimpses through body language, or word choice, or even the occasional brief conversation with another character, and we are allowed to see only the effect it has on him. This is because, in the book, we are on Shadow’s path but we are separate from him, watching him walk it. For the show the decision has been to bring us into Shadow’s shoes and have us experience things as he does: to that end we have to understand just what Laura means to him, and to do that we have to see and know all the memories just as well as Shadow and Laura do. For that purpose, we get this episode of backstory. This will certainly help us not just see but feel what it means to Shadow that his dead wife is returned to him despite being still dead.

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In the meantime, we got some more allusions and references: Egyptian Gods were a big theme here even before Anubis arrives to take Laura away, and we finally get to meet Jacquel and Ibis properly in their funeral home. I hope their (much longer and later) time from the book is still to come, but I am certainly glad to see them finally appearing formally here. Bringing Audrey back into the fold is interesting because she does appear again in the book, briefly and much later, and I find myself wondering if that appearance will happen in the show and how her actions then might change because of her interactions with Laura in this episode. Additionally, the idea that Shadow stands out in her new vision as something or someone she is drawn to is thematically consistent with the book, and I appreciated the touch of having him shine out with light. That may be because the coin he gave her is either the sun’s protection or ‘the sun itself’, as Zorya Polunochnaya (the one on the rooftop) told us earlier. It is a particularly special coin that Sweeney gave to Shadow by mistake and apparently has special properties, and since Shadows gave it to her it would make sense that he is now her sun, or her portal with which to see the light and the world. On the other hand, it may be referencing something from much later in the novel, which I will refrain from mentioning. Regardless, it’s a nice visual touch either way.

We also see some neat interplay between our characters and the Gods, even from this time before their proper introduction: Laura keeps a cat, like that old woman in the ‘Somewhere in America’ segment, and is also approached by Anubis. Is it coincidence, then, that Jacquel and Ibis also have a cat in their funeral home? She leaves the TV on, (thinking of Media, anyone?) but only when she’s not home. Did the cat watch it in Laura’s absence? If cats are really connected to the Old Gods, then was this an intersection of them and Media? Also, Shadow has already run afoul of Technology, apparently, as we see when Laura points out all the cameras in her casino. Was the Technical Boy watching him for longer than he or we know? I also greatly appreciated the silhouettes of the two ravens flying above Laura and Robbie’s car before their deaths, calling back to the bird we saw above Shadow and Wednesday’s car on their way to Chicago, and seeming to reference Odin’s birds Hugin and Munin. This would appear to be how Wednesday knew about Laura’s death, but does it also mean he had a hand in it? Since her death and the events leading up to it are less detailed in the book, I can only ponder.
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In the end, episode 4 adds some wonderful emotional weight to our story and chains a strange anchor to Shadow’s leg. Although I’m a bit concerned at how long this episode ran – and wondering how they’ll fit the rest of the plot into only four more episodes – the changes or alterations I’ve seen before have ended up circling back around to enrich and deepen the core experience. I’m hopeful these will do the same.

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