The great thing about adapting American Gods into a show is that the medium allows the showrunners to spend time and further develop the story.  Episode 4, “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” had the freedom to explore the previously untold story of the Technical Boy’s origin.

The episode did a great job of showing the evolution of technology over the decades and how its history is intertwined with entertainment.  All cutting edge technology will one day become obsolete, so it makes sense to show the anthropomorphized version of that technology fearful of falling behind.  He struggles to stay the most advanced god, as others such as Argus and New Media have upgraded themselves by incorporating technology.

On the other hand, there is another sequence that was not as well developed.  There is a dream sex scene that may seem out of place for those who have not read the book.  Not many details were given, but the woman with Shadow is Bast—the Egyptian cat goddess.  She has been seen as her feline form earlier in the show at Ibis and Jacquel’s funeral parlor, but this is her first human appearance.  Hopefully, they will spend more time on her later.

The episode also takes an interesting look at money.  Money has no intrinsic value; its only worth is the faith people have in it.  The world Neil Gaiman created in American Gods operates in a way that if enough people believe in something and sacrifice to it, then it manifests itself as a god.  Knowing this, it makes perfect sense that Money would be a god.  The show has has taken a different approach than the source material and opened up the world by introducing different gods that were not in the book.  The incorporation of Money, and other such gods, creates an interesting opportunity that allows events to play out in different ways.