Network: Starz
Showrunners: Bryan Fuller & Michael Green
Main Cast: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Pablo Schreiber, Ian McShane
I haven’t read Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel, the legendary source material for American Gods. It’s my contention that I shouldn’t have to. If you’re making a TV series, make it stand on its own. The same goes for films, books, video games, or any other kind of adaptation. Fan-service is rarely worthwhile, aside from that momentary flicker of recognition.
In the premiere, “The Bone Orchard”, it seemed like American Gods struggled a bit with this. The story was hard to follow. Like our protagonist, Shadow Moon, we got to be in awe of the visuals around him, but the introduction of Technical Boy was too cryptic, stylish without substance. While I understand season-long arcs are meant to stand as one (hence this season-long review), episodes have to serve their own purposes as well. There’s a rhythm to good TV episodes, and “The Bone Orchard” seemed off-beat. Stick around, folks, and perhaps this will all begin to make sense later. I wasn’t hooked, and I felt like I’d be better off reading the book at some point, so I bailed.
Curiosity brought me back around, months later, and I realized something. “The Bone Orchard” is probably the worst episode of the season, particularly when it comes to opaqueness (plus, there’s that laughably awful depiction of a severed arm, still clutching a sword, flying through the air and cutting another man’s throat). A premiere should be set-up, trading story for intrigue, but “The Bone Orchard” failed to deliver the intrigue. Beginning with episode 1.02 “The Secret of Spoons”, American Gods still struggles a bit with story, but it brings home the intrigue.
If you don’t know the story, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), fresh out of prison, is on his way home to see his wife Laura (Emily Browning). Unfortunately, she dies in an auto accident on the night he’s set to return. In a vulnerable state, he takes a job for a mysterious traveler who calls himself “Mr. Wednesday” (Ian McShane). Early on, he meets Technical Boy (Bruce Langley), who appears to be a millennial capable of changing the reality around him, and Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber), a leprechaun fond of his lucky coin. I’ll spare the details of some other specifics, but ultimately, Wednesday is recruiting old forgotten gods, their followers now dead or converted, to join him in a coming battle against the new idols of the world – a group which includes Technical Boy, the entity American Gods would have you believe you are praying to now as you view this on whatever screen you chose.
There’s far too much mystery for the sake of mystery, and Shadow Moon is in a perpetual state of confusion that tends to get old. Perhaps it’s for the sake of stretching a single novel into multiple seasons of a TV series, but again, the show has to work on its own. At times, it drags. However, Wednesday is a fantastic, enigmatic central force, and McShane seems like the only possible actor to play him. Wednesday is a god, and McShane’s voice and cadence are god-like. You notice he’s not on the screen as much as you’d like, and you notice because he’s just that good. Whittle doesn’t stand out, on the other hand, but it’s probably not his fault. Again, all Shadow has to do is stand around, look like a male model, and either be confused or angry that he’s confused. Other recognizable actors show up to play other gods, and they all seem to relish the roles. Gillian Anderson, Peter Stormare, Kristin Chenowith, and Corbin Bernsen are all phenomenal in too-infrequently recurring roles.
In fact, there are some in the main cast I wish we could have seen more of. Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) is one of the most compelling deities in the series, and while she gets a fantastic side-story late in the season, felt underused. I’m not sure how Crispin Glover wound up in the main cast, but in the brief moments he’s on screen, he’s as you’d expect Crispin Glover to be – creepy as hell and a welcome addition to this bizarre series.
American Gods is at its best from a storytelling perspective when it focuses on Laura. It’s not that Laura is by nature more interesting than other characters, but Emily Browning’s performance towers over the rest of her star-studded cast in this first season. There’s just something about Browning that makes her enigmatic. Scenes with Laura tend to deviate further from advancing the main storyline, and in a show that is glacial with its story advancement, that could and probably should have been frustrating. Instead, you can’t take your eyes off her. She’s tender, bad-ass, sassy, lovable, and also a little bit detestable. It’s great. Episode 1.04, “Git Gone”, focuses heavily on Laura and Shadow’s backstory, and that’s the episode I became hooked on American Gods. When Browning and Schreiber get pushed together as an unlikely road trip duo, Jamie-Brienne style, the show really hits its stride. By that point, the main story is finally moving at an acceptable pace, and the whole thing becomes enjoyable. If you try the show and it moves too slowly, I definitely recommend sticking with it through “Git Gone” or its follow-up, 1.05 “Lemon Scented You”. If you aren’t hooked by that point, you probably won’t be.
As I wrap this up, I realize I haven’t really delved into the other great aspect of American Gods, but mind-blowing visuals don’t really translate to text so well. It’s visually one of the most stunning series I’ve seen. That, combined with strong performances, particularly from Browning and McShane, make it a must-watch. I have no idea how fans of the book will like it. Fans of TV, like me, should be glad it’s around, even if season 1 did feel a bit too much like a slow preamble to the real stuff.
3.5 / 5