I’m so glad there was a Coming to America story for a New God. Truly, I had such a smile on my face. I’m a bit disappointed that when Technical Boy first manifested himself in America it wasn’t a bit more as his book-self, but well, it’s two different characters after all.
I love that Mama-ji works in every Motel America ever. That’s so funny.
There wasn’t much of New Media in this episode. I don’t have anything to add for now.
Now we see why the New Gods fear Mister World. Him crushing Tech’s eyes was such a good scene.
I have to admit, the whole scene with Technical Boy and the CEO… I had a hard time understanding it. Mostly because I understood nothing of what these people said. The drawback of being French and watching an unsubtitled english-speaking show… I get the idea that now Technical Boy is considered obsolete and was “put away” by Mister World, but outside of that… I’m just really confused.
And we are finally introduced to the show’s version of the Intangibles, after one season of delay. At first I thought the three girl scouts were modern incarnations of the Norns, I had to wait until they started speaking of debts and money to realize that they were the “interface” of the Money God.
I waited for William Sanderson’s character to be called “Money”, in a similar fashion to Media, but apparently he is more on the level of the “Caretaker” because his name in the credits is “The Bookkeeper” (and both of them are old decrepit guys). Or maybe it’s just because he is merely one of the aspects of the great god Money, like the three “Penny Scouts”.
And I have to say… every new fan kept saying “Hey, why isn’t there Money in the New Gods? Money is the most important stuff in America! He should be at the head of the New Gods, not Mister World!” Well, here’s the reason why. Money is becoming obsolete. It is replaced by bitcoins and online transactions. Now bank accounts are dematerialized, and the idea of piles of green paper in big bank vaults is becoming ridiculous. And here is the result: the Bookkeeper is now an old-fashioned accountant, decrepit, with trembling hands and all the signs of aging.
I am glad that we start to see more of the “old New Gods” in this season. They were only briefly explored in the final part of the book, with Shadow describing the New God’s “burning brighter but shorter” stuff and the Railroad Baron, but the series seems to like exploring and exploiting this thematic, already with Media change in New Media and Argus’ obsolescence.
I am a bit disappointed the encounter with Money led to nothing. But it kept in line with the character of the Intangibles in the book, where they sided with the New Gods but ultimately preached peace and withdraw, to let the “laws of the market” decide the outcoming of the war.
It was, or at least seems to be, a good episode. I only wish I understood more of what happened in it.
