Full spoilers for American Gods' series premiere, "The Bone Orchard," continue below.
At the Hollywood premiere of American Gods, no one in the audience seemed to know what to do after Bisques' intense, glorious "Somewhere in America" vignette played in the middle of the episode.
Played by Yetide Badaki, the sequence shows the washed up, struggling African love goddess bring a man she met off a phone dating app into her room, have sex with him, and then slowly absorb him up into her through her vagina in a graphic, stylized sex scene. After a moment of silence following the scene's conclusion, slowly one person, and then many in the Cinerama Dome auditorium, started clapping and cheering at what they had just witnessed.
I had the opportunity to sit down with several American Gods cast members, including Badaki, to discuss the premiere and that scene in particular. Here's their take on the jaw-dropping sequence and how it relates back to the themes American Gods is exploring.
IGN: Bilquis' scene in the premiere is insane. What is really interesting to you about that scene, what do you want the audience reaction to be about your scene?
Yetide Badaki: It was interesting when I first read it, because it was my audition scene.
IGN: Bryan Fuller didn't make it easy.
Badaki: Right. And, but the interesting thing is, when I first read it, and even in that room, I ended up in tears. Because the thing that initially drew me was this, was this absolute struggle for connection. And in this day and age, I mean, there's a New York Times article that's talking about how this generation is having less sex, you know. And beyond that, there's more articles about how there's less intimacy. I mean, the sex is only indicative of the intimacy. And they were pointing to things like technology, people having other ways to spend their time, you know, playing their video game or watching Netflix. And also, just the way that people are interacting seems to be kind of a little more stilted now, and kind of filtered through this cold medium. And so, that, in that short scene, that search of really wanting to connect with that other person, really missing what that was, that place, that we all still remember, at least at this point. I don't know about you all, especially when it comes to dating, but it seems to be getting harder and harder to connect. Like, you want to. But I blame, Technical Boy. #BlameTechnicalBoy.
IGN: But I mean, she consumes these people, right. So, would you, do you empathize with that? It's sort a villainous take.
Badaki: Well, there's more to come that will show a lot more.
Emily Browning: Pardon the pun, yeah.
Badaki: Oh, Emily. It shows more, I think as we watch more, we will learn. I think the biggest difference between the olden gods is that, with the old gods it's more of a symbiotic relationship. I give you this, you give me that. And both parties are knowledgeable of it. With the newer gods, it seems that people don't even realize that they're putting their belief and their energy into. So they're almost being leeched without knowledge. So, I only bring that up, because I can't quite say much more about what's going on, but with the old gods, there's always that symbiotic relationship.
Browning: Also, with the old gods it seems like there is a higher purpose, whereas with technology it's almost like, this is just, like, media, technology, it's sort of, this is our way of lulling into, you know, the worshippers would just become malleable. Whereas, even though Bilquis does essentially assimilate this man into her body, it's like he looked like he was having a great time, yeah. But, I mean, he's being sacrificed to love, whereas with the newer gods, it's hard to figure out what the meaning is.
Crispin Glover: I think the proper word for it is propaganda. It really is involved in this culture far more than people even start to think about. And I think there's a metaphorical element that Gaiman picked up on that's in there.
Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
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