From Page to Screen - A Book to TV Comparison of Episode 8 of 'American Gods'

Written by Scott Murray

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

As always, I will spoil only things from either the book or the show which have already been seen on screen, but I will not spoil anything from the book that hasn’t yet happened in the show.

The season finale brought us all sorts of wonderful developments, and the one I’m most excited about is the sign depicting The House on the Rock! The events which occur there are integral to the plot and one of the first major events in the book, and they happen so early in the novel that I was getting worried we’d never see the place. Finally having confirmation that we’re going to see it was an absolute delight! I shan’t spoil anything about what happens there, but rest assured that it’s an important location.

The real meat of the episode brought us some important developments with Bilquis, Laura, and Easter, all finally culminating in a formal declaration of war. But first we get a little more face time with Mr. Nancy, who, as he should, calls Shadow stupid. (He did this constantly throughout their meetings in the book.) I believe we’ll get our proper introduction to him in the next season at The House on the Rock, but for now we only hear him tell a story. Mr. Nancy’s story reveals a lot more about Bilquis than we ever got in the novel, and it all leads up to the ultimate reveal that she is beholden to the New Gods and The Technical Boy in particular. As speculated in the first episode, technology has actually made life easier for this particular Old God and she finds herself in thrall to it. It would seem the New Gods have sent her to The House on the Rock, where, if book events hold, she may be encountering some other Old Gods. I won’t spoil anything, and since Bilquis wasn’t like this in the book I’m actually incapable of spoiling what she’ll do because I don’t know, but I’d guess she’s been asked to serve as a spy. She doesn’t seem particularly happy about the whole arrangement however, and although she’s agreed to play along for now her current attitude would certainly have the capacity to lead us to the events that occur the final time we see her in the book. That is to say that despite her added depth and expanded role, she seems well suited to end up in the same place in the show as in the novel. This system for adding depth to a story without changing its overarching plot feels good, and I’m eager to see where else she’s been woven into the narrative.

Sweeney and Laura have finally caught up with Shadow and Wednesday, and Laura has been pronounced particularly and especially dead. This is where we got the most new, 'not in the book' information, since in the book Sweeney and Laura never met or traveled together, and they both spent long stretches of time 'off screen,' only coming back into view when they crossed paths with Shadow. Not only do we find that Laura is apparently a special kind of dead, but Sweeney spills the beans on Wednesday orchestrating her death and Shadow’s incarceration, information we were not given in the book until the very end. Once this is revealed to a newly believing Shadow, it may shake his trust in Wednesday. We’ll have to wait for the next season to see just how much and what Shadow will do. I don’t think, however, that Shadow will accept Laura back; although the circumstances leading up to her infidelity were orchestrated by outside forces, her cheating was her own decision, just as her asking him to pull the job which got him arrested was her decision too. Although his capture was not (necessarily) due to a flaw in her plan, Shadow has already seen her true colors, and it’s been revealed to him just how empty his previous life was. This may leave him between a rock and a hard place, but the Gods have at least confessed a need for him, which Laura only found after death. Besides, Shadow already knew Wednesday was a liar (as he saw when Wednesday told Easter that the New Gods had killed Vulcan,) so the revelation that he’s also being manipulated might not be quite so shocking for him.
           
As a side note, did Anubis come for Laura when she died as a favor to Wednesday? Or is he simply handling all the dead who aren’t claimed by a Jesus or other major religion, as a way to subsist on the meager scraps left behind by other gods?

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As for Easter, she plays quite the role here, and certainly a much larger one than in the book. However, as usual, the showrunners have perfectly preserved the nature of the character: in the book Easter was also piggybacking off of Christianity, and although she was doing it much more broadly and directly in the show, it led to the same end result: Wednesday stepping in and reminding her just how much of a farce it all truly is. The many Jesuses were a nice touch, both of religious commentary and comedy, but I am particularly glad at their use of the one sitting on the pool to provide us with a shortened version of one of the greatest lessons from the book: that even if we do not believe, we have no other road than that which our senses show us, and we must walk that road to the end. I’ll admit a bit of bias since that’s arguably my favorite paragraph out of the book, but it’s also a central tenet to Shadow’s journey: that even when he does not believe, he must follow, but that the very path on which he walks was shaped by belief. It hints not only at the power of belief but also at its limitations, and subtly hints at the power that Shadow’s own belief might hold, if only he would wield it.

Bringing Easter forward does make me wonder about one future segment of the show, however. In the book, she only appears once, during a large section of time when Shadow is mostly on his own while Wednesday goes around attempting to convince gods to join his side in the war. Shadow is brought along for a handful of these adventures, and one of them is to convince Easter. Bringing her forward isn’t a problem in itself, but it does make me wonder what’s going to happen with that section in the show. Removing Wednesday’s convincing trips could be done with little mess, but during his time alone Shadow has important character development, so it can’t just be removed entirely. Perhaps they’re simply streamlining, so they can focus more on Shadow later without having to insert his impromptu trips? Regardless of what they do, they’ve handled things very well so far, so I’ve got faith they will handle this change well too.

Lastly, I’ve been thinking about the tree creature thing, and I wonder if it might have something to do with The World Tree from Norse Mythology? It would seem to not necessarily be related since there’s also the repeating tree imagery appearing with the Buffalo in Shadow’s dreams, but the importance of the World Tree, and the importance of some tree-related events later in the book, are making me wonder.

Since this is the last episode of the season, I’d like to take a moment to praise this adaptation, and to give credit to all the people who’ve helped bring one of my favorite books to life in a wonderful, intriguing, and satisfying way. In all, I think we’ve been treated to a fantastic example of an adaptation that is high quality and true to the source material even while making significant changes, and which remains interesting and surprising to new and old fans alike. That’s no small feat, especially with such a well-loved book as American Gods and such a socially-connected topic as gods and religion, and everyone involved in the creation of this series should be rightfully proud of the product of their delicate and precise work. I’m incredibly thankful to be taken on this magical journey, and I can’t wait to see where the road leads in season two.

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