Shadow and Zorya Polunochnaya

Published May 18, 2017 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi Guys,

Thanks for reading my email last week. The pod has been great and I can’t wait to hear it each week. Especially this week, when I was feeling a bit down about the show, you guys totally turned me around.

There is so much that I love about this show, but I have a few small grievances with the pace and style of the show. I feel like there is emphasis on these super-long scenes that don’t forward the plot (Bilquis in ep 2 and Salim in ep 3). They don’t hit the mark for me. The Bilquis scene that started with a spinning space boner, then a 3.5 min montage of her conquests, then another 2 min at the museum. That’s too long. Same with the Jinn scene. Everything leading up to the hotel room was great, but we had almost 4 min that could have been abbreviated.

It almost seems like some network note that each episode must contain a 3.5 min sex scene at around the 35-min mark. Fine, then make it sexy or use it for exposition. It’s just long and dull, somewhat silly.

As a book reader, I have been through the text and searched for hidden meaning and the underlying mythology. So, from the show I was hoping to get much more in the visuals. hidden symbolism, Easter eggs, pop-culture references, etc. Yet, these are few and far between in the first few episodes. Feels like a missed opportunity.

Of course, there’s plenty to dig into in the dialogue, but we didn’t need the show for that.

So, a few small things for this week:

Anubis scene.
* I think this is meant to be present day, as Mrs. Fadil says that she has a phone that is also a camera. * He comes to her even though she is a Muslim because she is one of the few that still remember him. So, he probably doesn’t have that much going on, while Allah is likely super-busy at the moment. * Mrs. Fadil puts so much faith into him that she gives up her final choice, but then has a last-minute hesitation. The cat that gives her a gentle nudge is Bastet, wife of Anubis.
Jinn and Salim
* This scene showed how people feeling alienated in a foreign land can find comfort with people who share common stories. It is an instant trust given to a total stranger based on that very basic part of our identities. * I’m not convinced that Salim became the Jinn, but the Jinn granted him a wish by giving him a new identity that would give him freedom, in a sense * This could also be a commentary on the venn diagram between ethnicity and vocation in big cities
Shadow and Zorya Polunochnaya
* Zorya P tells Shadow he used to be protected by the sun. She could be referencing Sweeney’s lucky coin here, but likely she is talking about the sun itself.
Wednesday and Shadow
* When Wednesday is buying Shadow his hot cocoa, he puts a bill down on the counter and the attendant hands him back a $20.

What kind of note would he have paid with to get back 20? Thirty dollars for hot cocoa seems a bit steep so clearly this is one of his charms.

* The Chinese restaurant honours Odin as well.
* The wolf can symbolize many things

i. Odin is accompanied by two wolves

ii. Baldur, Odin’s second son (loved by all but Loki, and protected by the sun itself) had dreams of a wolf that would end the world

iii. Odin is killed by Loki’s son, Fenrir the Wolf

That’s it for this week.

Love from London,
Jez

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