American Gods TV series

Has anyone else here been watching this? I have been able to follow what is happening pretty well, overall. I am pretty sure I'm misunderstanding some things, but, whatever. It will all become clear... or not.

I had been a little surprised at how few cast members are actually American citizens... until this week's episode. This episode (A Murder of Gods) might be the reason American actors might have decided not to get involved with this show... it is so overtly politicized, I bet a lot of actors who have lived in the US for their entire life would say "Um, no thanks, I'd rather not lose half my friends for the rest of my life" if they read the script and realized what their role would involve. I personally tend to agree with what they say in this episode, but I don't think I would have made it so black and white. They are going to lose a LOT of viewers with this episode.

What else can I say about this show... well, I have been a bit stunned by Emily Browning. Holy crap. I don't think I have seen her in anything since that Lemony Snicket movie... no, since The Uninvited. If you have been watching American Gods, you'll know why I'm in shock after seeing her performance. Just that one scene where her undead character walks home, covered in blood, carrying her own severed arm, after having been killed in a car crash while giving her lover a blow job... Jesus fucking Christ, I was in shock. Maybe that's why she took the role, to avoid being typecast as an angelic innocent waif. I have no idea.

What else, what else...

--Mad Sweeney the 6'5" leprechaun is hilarious, because/although he is usually offensive as hell...

--also, I am a little confused about why Laura (the Emily Browning character) always sees Shadow as surrounded by a sort of nimbus or aura of flame. What the hell is up with that?

--Also also, flies seem to appear a lot. You know, flies, like in The Fly, but totally flies, not half-flies. They probably mean something, but I don't know what. Maybe something to do with Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies? I don't know.

--Gillian Anderson has been pretty mind-blowing, playing Lucy (from I Love Lucy), Ziggy Stardust, and Marilyn Monroe. I liked her Ziggy Stardust segment a LOT. The writers did a great job with that too, packing in tons of quotes from Bowie songs.

--Technical Boy, played by Bruce Langley, cracks me up. I actually said "good job dude" or something like that, to him on Twitter, and he said thanks. So, that was cool.

--also also also also also, they have a lot of significant-seeming shots of clouds. Not so much in this episode, but in other episodes. I wonder if it is supposed to mean something. Does anyone here know??

Anyone have any thoughts at all, on anything I said here, or anything else about the show?