The Erratic Surrealism Of American Gods Season 1.

The Good: Good performances, Intriguing set-up, Moments of character, Special effects
The Bad: Some truly dull characters, Deliberately opaque plot, Slow pacing
The Basics: The first season of American Gods works hard to set up something much better than itself.


The fundamental problem with creating great serialized television and fleshing out a world of one's own over the course of several episodes and seasons is that the burden falls upon the creator of such works - writers, executive producers, and directors - to create something that is both instantly compelling and does not rush its own story. Finding the balance is a hard thing, which is probably why so very many writers and executive producers today enjoy playing in already-established universes (Star Trek, Star Wars, the various super hero franchises built upon decades of source material, etc.). So, when a well-established creator of genre works leaves the comfort of one of those safe, already-conceived universes to do their own thing, it is the type of project that gets instant notoriety and comes with a behind-the-scenes intrigue that draws in an audience.

Bryan Fuller brought a look-in audience to the first season of American Gods when the renowned writer and executive producer did the legwork of creating Star Trek: Discovery and then abandoned the project in favor of American Gods. Fuller, who came up in Hollywood as a writer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager (eventually working his way up to be one of the executive producers of that show) quickly departed the familiar to create his own works . . . all of which were obsessed with death or (some form of) the divine. And Fuller quickly achieved the sort of success that a cult hit creator has with Wonderfalls (reviewed here!), Dead Like Me (reviewed here!), and Pushing Daisies (first season reviewed here!). Fuller returned to franchise work with Hannibal and he was set to continue in that vein with Star Trek: Discovery, when he abruptly left that nascent project for American Gods.

American Gods allowed Fuller to play in an already-established world (the show is based upon a novel by Neil Gaiman) with an exceptional amount of freedom. Gaiman's American Gods had not been realized on screen before and Fuller had to create a show that would likely have a breadth and duration that would exceed the confines of the single novel source material. And the fundamental problem with the first season of American Gods is that it is built, almost entirely, on faith that the next component of the show will be better, more clear, more intriguing, than the current component. American Gods does not have an instantly compelling pilot episode . . . so viewers have to have faith that the second episode will be better. The midseason diverges from the protagonist, so viewers have to have faith that the show will refocus; the season builds to a climax that requires faith that the second season will pay-off the massive risk in a satisfying way . . . the entire first season is a series of risks requiring a deferment of true gratification, which is an inherently problematic way to create a serialized television show. That said, it is also one of the best ways to establish a larger narrative that has a real ability to develop and grow as it goes on.

Unfortunately for American Gods Season 1, the show's protagonist is put in the unenviable position of being one of the two least-interesting characters in the show. Season 1 of American Gods is built around Shadow Moon, a character who quite reasonably travels through the modern world without any faith as a low-level scam artist and conman. Paroled from prison early when his wife dies, Shadow Moon finds himself in the company of a mysterious man, who calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and the two begin a cross-country journey to a meeting Wednesday plans to attend. While the character of Shadow Moon might sound initially interesting, he is emotionally shut-off and his distance makes him entirely inaccessible. Shadow Moon drifts from prison to learning about the death of his wife to having his mind slowly opened to the presence of divine entities on Earth with no emotional journey. American Gods Season 1 is more the physical journey of Shadow Moon than it is his emotional trip. Indeed, one suspects if American Gods achieves a cult status that leads to merchandising, a t-shirt of "The Many Emotions Of Shadow Moon" will take its place on the racks next to identical t-shirts for Spock and Darth Vader.

And it is hard to criticize Ricky Whittle, who plays Shadow Moon, for the portrayal of the character. Rewatching the season multiple times, the first season of American Gods for Shadow Moon is built around the season's final moment and Shadow Moon's revelatory moment. Unfortunately for Whittle and American Gods Season 1, the moment of supposed epiphany is the most odd combination of understated (in the performance) and over-the-top (for the line). The result is a subtle character who ought to be the embodiment of the doubting, jaded, unimpressed audience within the show, but instead never becomes emotionally real enough to truly connect with the audience.

While Shadow Moon is emotionally inaccessible and impossible to invest emotionally in because of his unrealistic emotional distance from everything he encounters, Laura Moon is flat-out unlikable. Shadow Moon's wife, Laura, has an affair, dies, and is magically resurrected. Laura is a snotty, mean, bored and often-boring character who is the subject of two episodes of the eight-episode first season of American Gods and those episodes do nothing to make her more likable or interesting. What is perhaps most impressive about Laura Moon is that actress Emily Browning plays her - and her ancestor character, Essie MacGowan - with a decent emotional range. Browning's performance in American Gods Season 1 inspired me to give Sucker Punch (reviewed again here!) a second viewing and what struck me most about her growth as an actress between the two works is her ability or willingness to emote with her expressions in American Gods. Laura Moon might be flat-out unlikable, but Browning plays her well.

The first season of American Gods has a remarkably simple plot - so much so that it is almost unsurprising that two episodes have to almost entirely diverge from it in order to get the season up to eight episodes: Shadow Moon is paroled from prison when he meets Mr. Wednesday and enters his employ. Shadow's job is to drive Mr. Wednesday around and protect him from threats, but he soon ends up helping Wednesday with schemes like robbing a bank's night depository and he finds himself the target of divine entities (new gods). While Shadow Moon drives Mr. Wednesday from one meeting to another (Mr. Wednesday's meetings are with classic Russian, Greek/Roman, and African gods now living in the United States), Laura Moon, resurrected by a magical Leprechaun's coin, follows Shadow's journey in the presence of the leprechaun Mad Sweeney and a man who was touched by a djinn (man, I hope that "Touched By A Djinn" is the name of a second season episode now!).

The two most consistently-represented divine beings - the leprechaun Mad Sweeney and the god Mr. Wednesday - easily steal the thunder from the two human protagonists. As well, Media's infrequent appearances instantly capture the viewer's attention and when Mr. World (the antagonist who Mr. Wednesday fears) finally makes an appearance, it is powerful. Media is expertly played by Gillian Anderson, who seems to have a great time portraying Lucy Ricardo, David Bowie, Marilyn Monroe, and other incarnations of legendary people who were made through their media presence. Mad Sweeney is caustic and sarcastic and Pablo Schreiber's embodiment of him is impressive in that Mad Sweeney is an asshole, much like Schreiber's Orange Is The New Black Pornstache character, who Schreiber plays in an entirely different way from the last iconic dickbag he played.

Ian McShane plays Mr. Wednesday and he is perfectly cast for the role of a god who is essentially down on his luck and looking to build a new base of worshipers. McShane plays Wednesday well, maintaining a level of intrigue throughout the first season of American Gods that is both consistent and compelling. The ability to do that is impressive considering that Shadow Moon is a particularly inattentive character whose epiphany is hinged on being told explicitly who Mr. Wednesday is in the season finale . . . which is problematic in that the audience is told exactly who Wednesday is a few episodes prior to that. McShane, though, has the bearing, demeanor, and on-screen gravitas to credibly play a character who is wise, commanding, and has a trickster aspect to him. McShane dominates every scene he is in (in the best possible way).

There are more characters in American Gods, but in the first season, they are kept a supporting characters, most of whom are deliberately obscured and/or set up for bigger roles in subsequent seasons. And part of that is because the first season of American Gods deliberately obscures the overall plot arc of the season. The Old Gods who are living now in the United States are struggling for relevance in the face of New Gods - Media, technology, and interconnectedness. The Old Gods are either attempting to reinvent themselves to stay alive (the show features vignettes of various gods, including one whose entire base of worshipers has completely died out, thus killing the god) or are being marshaled to fight the New Gods outright. But most of the big meetings do not happen in the first season and the outright war is not the subject of the first season; American Gods defers its action, character growth, and (for much of the season) true purpose.

The direction in the first season of American Gods is homogeneously wonderful. American Gods Season 1 is a beautiful-looking show and it flows effortlessly between surreal scenes and a cold, literal world.

Ultimately, the first season of American Gods is an essential bedrock season of a serialized show. The characters are established, the purpose is (eventually) made clear, and the concept is solid. Whether Bryan Fuller and the rest of the American Gods team can pull off the larger story in a satisfying way will determine whether the investment viewers place in watching the first season is paid off, but on its own, the first season of American Gods is far more erratic and requires far more faith to invest in than one might want to admit.

For a better understanding of exactly what this season entails, please check out my reviews of the individual episodes at:
"The Bone Orchard"
"The Secret Of Spoons"
"Head Full Of Snow"
"Git Gone"
"Lemon Scented You"
"A Murder Of Gods"
"A Prayer For Mad Sweeney"
"Come To Jesus"

For other works from the 2016 – 2017 television season, please check out my reviews of:
Twin Peaks - Season 3 ("The Return")
Doctor Who - Season 10
Glow - Season 1
Orange Is The New Black - Season 5
House Of Cards - Season 5
The Flash - Season 3
Supergirl - Season 2
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Season 3
Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 4
Sense8 - Season 2
Dear White People - Season 1
Legends Of Tomorrow - Season 2
The Walking Dead - Season 7
Thirteen Reasons Why - Season 1
Grace And Frankie - Season 3
Iron Fist - Season 1
Love - Season 2
Santa Clarita Diet - Season 1
A Series Of Unfortunate Events - Season 1
One Day At A Time - Season 1
Travelers - Season 1
The OA - Season 1
Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life
"Invasion!" - Arrow
Luke Cage - Season 1
Stranger Things - Season 1

5.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The First Season Of American Gods Peaks At "Come To Jesus"

The Good: Well-paced, Plot ties the season together, Good performances, Decent character moments
The Bad: Could use more Shadow Moon
The Basics: "Come To Jesus" finishes the first season of American Gods well, though it is very much the culmination of the prior episodes, as opposed to being a story driven by the show's protagonist.


As the first season of American Gods ratcheted up toward its end, the basic purpose of the entire series became clear: Wednesday is an Old God, who is nearing the end of his relevance and power in the face of New Gods, some of whom want to extinguish the ancient divinities (and reinvent others). Given the apparent invincibility of the New God Mr. World, the stakes are both high for the series and for a compelling season finale. "Come To Jesus" is the first season finale of American Gods and it bears the burden of ending in a place that makes viewers want to tune back in for the second season and put the characters in a predicament that justifies the faith viewers have put in the first half of the oft-surreal, oft-obscure show.

"Come To Jesus" (largely) succeeds with both goals.

Picking up after the events of "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" (reviewed here!) which found Mad Sweeney (in the main narrative) overcome with a sense of guilt strong enough to make him change his mind about killing Laura Moon a second time, "Come To Jesus" is the culmination of the journey Wednesday and Shadow Moon began back in the pilot. Now, with a clear purpose, Wednesday is attempting to recruit Old Gods and "Come To Jesus" has him attempting to bring the Old Goddess Ostara, Easter, into the fray on his side. "Come To Jesus" is the ultimate episode for the atheists and agnostics who have invested in American Gods as it explicitly argues that modern religions have co-opted old religious figures, symbols, and holidays and that a god is anyone (or thing) that is worshiped (hence the multiple Jesuses in the episode).

Opening with Wednesday and Shadow Moon at Mr. Nancy's shop where he works his loom to create oufits for the pair. Mr. Nancy (Anansi) tells the pair the story of Bilquis and how she would be worshiped at orgies and bring down rulers in ancient Egypt. Bilquis evolves through the ages, until 1979, Tehran, where she is forced out of the Middle East. She retreats to America, where she is soon forgotten and homeless. On the streets, she is approached by Techno Boy, who offers her worship in the form of followers on a dating site in her name (Sheba). Nancy concludes the story by making his point explicit; gods need queens to truly rule and remain relevant.

Wednesday and Shadow Moon arrive in Kentucky, en route to their meeting in Wisconsin. The goddess Ostara is holding court on her day, which has been co-opted by the Christians as Easter. Shadow Moon quickly recognizes that he is in the presence of many gods, including several Jesuses. Wednesday tries to make Ostara angry over the fact that no one prays in her name and that antagonism affords them the chance to meet privately. Techno Boy hunts down Bilquis and calls in her debt to him, charging her with using her seductive powers to bring down one of his enemies. Laura Moon and Mad Sweeney arrive at Ostara's home, with Laura suffering further decomposition, while Wednesday pitches to Ostara that they starve the Americans so they start to worship Ostara again. Ostara meets with Laura Moon and reveals that she was killed by a god and cannot be resurrected using her powers. Ostara is alarmed when Media and Mr. World arrived and that leads to an escalation in Wednesday's plan.

"Come To Jesus" reveals what has been alluded to throughout the first season of American Gods, that Wednesday is the god most commonly known as Odin, the Norse god. Odin is in a war for his survival and "Come To Jesus" continues to defer the war; Wednesday is looking for a powerful ally so he might survive the impending conflict.

The brilliance in "Come To Jesus" comes from the casting. Kristin Chenoweth is perfectly cast as Ostara. Ostara is a long-forgotten goddess, whom Wednesday riles up. Ostara has been co-opted as Easter and she has compromised. But Ostara is tremendously powerful (she has the ability to bring spring) and Chenoweth is perfectly cast to play a character who is hiding her power and the full range of her majesty. Her perky deliveries are contrasted with frustrated lines and Chenoweth plays the transitions perfectly. In a similar fashion, Jeremy Davies plays Jesus Christ in a delightfully serene manner and his sadness over realizing Christians have co-opted Ostara's day for him is well-executed.

The imagery from the early episodes - Shadow Moon's bone orchard vision and the white buffalo with the flaming eyes - returns, which continues to insinuate throughout the episode that Shadow Moon is someone other than the simple man he appears to be.

"Come To Jesus" gives Emily Browning something very real and different to perform. Browning plays Laura Moon as dead, but wanting to be alive. Browning's subtle and dark performance contrasts incredibly well with Chenoweth's more perky and expressive acting. Browning expresses longing exceptionally well in "Come To Jesus" and it allows her to show off more emotional range in the part of Laura Moon than she was able to present in her character in prior episodes.

It is hard not to watch "Come To Jesus" and be completely captivated by the final act. When Gillian Anderson's Media steps into the episode, the pace accelerates in exactly the way a writer, director, and executive producer hopes to make a story that is relenting to its climax. "Come To Jesus" does what a season finale needs to . . . but it is the culmination, largely, of the season's plot elements with a somewhat unsatisfying arc for the primary protagonist. For sure, Shadow Moon has a part in "Come To Jesus," but he is still a bystander and enabler in what started out as his story. American Gods is not moved to its logical powerful, logical, conclusion by Shadow Moon, which is a little disappointing.

The special effects - CG and make-up - in "Come To Jesus" are wonderful and enhance the story in the best possible way, like good special effects ought to.

Ultimately, "Come To Jesus" is an excellent pay-off to a season that has been occasionally erratic, sometimes entirely surreal and it does everything a good season finale ought to, setting up a very different and potent second season of American Gods.

For other season finale episodes, please check out my reviews of:
"The Defenders" - The Defenders
"Call To Arms"- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"The Parting Of The Ways" - Doctor Who
"Episode 7"- Twin Peaks

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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American Gods "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney"

The Good: Fine direction, Decent acting
The Bad: Forced elements pertaining to direction, Dull characters, Disappointing plot, Kills the season's momentum.
The Basics: "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" takes a divergence in the American Gods story to pay lip service to Mad Sweeney's story and conflict.


As much as I came to appreciate the first season of American Gods, the truth is that it is a show that requires some faith to invest in and it is a wildly erratic season. The eight-episode season meanders for four episodes, gets a purpose in its fifth episode, has strong rising action in its sixth episode and then takes a radical detour for its seventh episode. "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" is the seventh episode and it diverges significantly from the tone of the a-plot of its prior episode.

"A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" picks up the Laura Moon subplot from "A Murder Of Gods" (reviewed here!) instead of continuing the throw down that Mr. Wednesday began in that episode with Mr. World. Laura Moon was the recipient of an entire backstory episode - "Git Gone" (reviewed here!) - earlier in the season and the fact that she gets a second episode focused on her family and her is surprising. Despite the title, "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" is much more a Laura Moon (and her family) story than it is one that truly develops Mad Sweeney.

In the morgue, Anubis reconstructs a body while Mr. Ibis offers him a drink. Ibis sets to writing the Coming To America story starting in 1721. He writes about the people shipped off to America with the sentence of "transportation," people condemned to indentured servitude in the Colonies. His story flashes back to the story of Essie MacGowan. Essie MacGowan grows up in Ireland, hearing stories about the supernatural creatures like banshees and leprechauns. She is raised to leave cream and bread for the leprechauns and her donations are accepted by the enchanted folk, including Mad Sweeney.

Essie MacGowan's story continues with her getting sentenced to seven years transportation after her lover, the young master of the house where she works, denies that he gave her a necklace, making her appear to be a thief. Essie escapes her sentence by seducing the captain of the ship she was being transported on. Essie marries the captain, but then robs him and flees. After years of shoplifting, Essie is caught in London and sentenced to death. The influence of Mad Sweeney and a pregnancy allow her to escape death with transportation again, this time she ends up in the colonies. While Essie's story is being relayed, Laura, Mad Sweeney and Salim go on Laura's detour until she releases Salim to follow his quest to find the Djinn. Laura and Mad Sweeney steal an ice cream truck.

"A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" is heavy with Emily Browning, who plays both Essie MacGowan and Laura Moon. Browning infuses Essie with more innate passion than Laura has possessed. Ironically, Essie becomes colder and more methodical than Laura as she develops from an apparent innocent into an outright thief. Browning makes the transition well, though she is relegated to playing Laura as cold and snotty in her non-Essie scenes in "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney."

Browning does fine as Essie, but like Laura, Essie is not a particularly interesting character. Indeed, much of Essie's story is overwhelmed with a blaring, retro-pop soundtrack and were that and the narration from Ibis not present through much of her story, its inherent boring quality would be far more evident. Essie MacGowan is a woman who is raised with a faith and when it lapses, she suffers; it's a simple story and it is vastly overstated in "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney."

Pablo Schreiber is fine in his distant supporting role of Mad Sweeney. Mad Sweeney is proven to be both bound by gratitude and belief and near-immortal in "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney," which seems to imply that leprechauns like him are some form of divine, like Vulcan, Odin, and others in American Gods.

Fundamentally, Laura Moon is not a particularly interesting character in American Gods an fleshing out the story of a character who begins as a pretty strong atheist with a family backstory that is very much one of belief does not make Laura more engaging. Like Shadow Moon, Laura has found herself rather abruptly thrust into a world packed with divine beings and creatures and given that she is pursuing a full resurrection, she just seems snotty in "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney." In fact, "A Prayer For Mad Sweeney" implies that Mad Sweeney feels indebted to Essie MacGowan's family for his continued existence and in conflict with Wednesday's wishes for Laura. The episode does not explore that aspect enough to be truly satisfying, though.

The result is an episode that tries to force viewers to care about some of its (until now, generally) peripheral characters and it makes the attempt with inorganic tricks and without a satisfying sense of development.

For other episodes that are deep character studies, please check out my reviews of:
"Duet" - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
"Alex"- Supergirl
"Step In The Arena" - Luke Cage

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

3/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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American Gods With Explicit Purpose: "A Murder Of Gods"

The Good: Good acting, Moments of character, Direction
The Bad: Plot meanders
The Basics: "A Murder Of Gods" does a good job of transitioning the various American Gods characters to a place where the critical ones each have a purpose!


As the first season of American Gods progressed, the show hit a stride after it gained a purpose. After a series of meandering episodes, the primary antagonist to Mr. Wednesday appeared in "Lemon Scented You" (reviewed here!). Mr. World was pretty awesome when he popped up and his entrance was cleverly related; he knows everything about everyone, but Wednesday had essentially slipped under his radar. It's a neat idea, that the omniscient character would know everything, but have to focus to get recall. "Lemon Scented You" was notable in that Technical Boy turned Mr. World's focus on Wednesday and Shadow Moon. So, as "A Murder Of Gods" begins and the essential purpose of American Gods is now known, the series experiences a burden of making it make sense that Mr. World is not refocusing on Wednesday so quickly.

The instant joy that comes for viewers in "A Murder Of Gods" is that, now that the cat is out of the bag on the plot for the first season, the new episode wastes no time in introducing new gods with clarity. After a teaser that shows Mexican Jesus, Vulcan explicitly enters the story and it is nice to see a new character introduced without pretense, subtlety or mystery. Vulcan, even in American Gods is Vulcan, the Roman God Of Fire and Smithing - the Roman appropriation of the Greek god Hephaestus. So, unlike Wednesday's very opaque visit with the Russian gods - who many viewers have no knowledge of - Wednesday clearly approaches Vulcan for aid in his attempt to restore the power of old gods and stop the new gods from eradicating them.

The "Coming To America" vignette features a Mexican border crossing at night. At the climax of the crossing, minutemen (the border vigilantes) arrive and shoot at the immigrants, including Mexican Jesus. Leaving the decimated police station, Shadow Moon is entirely in shock about what he saw inside and the death of all the officers who had been holding them moments before. When Shadow tells Wednesday he saw Laura, Wednesday decides it is time to run. As they drive off, Wednesday sees Laura trying to catch them. Laura, finding her car missing, enlists Mad Sweeney to steal her a car. In attempting to steal a car, Laura and Mad Sweeney meet Salim and the three set out for Kentucky.

Arriving at Vulcan, Virginia, Wednesday and Shadow Moon find a gun-toting town where bullets are manufactured at the plant there. Vulcan is reluctant to join Wednesday's war, but they head off to explore the possibilities. Mad Sweeney wakes up to find that Laura has brought them back to Indiana. While they have a drink at the bar in which Shadow Moon made his deal with Wednesday, Wednesday and Shadow Moon meet with Vulcan. Wednesday asks Vulcan to made him a blade for his impending attack on the new gods and Vulcan agrees. Wednesday inspires Shadow to see Laura and he is able to tap into her as she stalks her family of origin.

The opening of "A Murder Of Gods" is decent foreshadowing in American Gods and makes explicit comments Wednesday made in prior episodes. There are multiple Jesuses based on the belief and groups in the American Gods world and Mexican Jesus is both the first once referenced and explicitly seen in the show.

"A Murder Of Gods" is refreshing in that it makes so much explicit, for a change. Laura Moon is now on a quest to get resurrected, Mad Sweeney is on a mission to get his lucky coin back and Wednesday is in a fight for his very survival. Even Salim has a purpose in "A Murder Of Gods" as he is searching for a Djinn. In the second half of the episode as "A Murder Of Gods" transitions from the scattered characters all going on road trips to Wednesday making an appeal to Vulcan to join his side in the impending war, the episode reveals the grand potential of the series.

As with most episode of American Gods, "A Murder Of Gods" is incredibly well-directed. Adam Kane makes the mundane beautiful with shots of lighting matches, bullets raining down upon a car, and even the simple act of Salim turning his head. "A Murder Of Gods" is visual poetry.

For an episode that includes Corbin Bernsen in the role of Vulcan, the real shock on the acting front is that Pablo Schreiber dominates "A Murder Of Gods." Bernsen is wonderful as Vulcan; infusing the character with a subtle, unexplained racism against Shadow Moon and Ian McShane plays off Bernsen masterfully. When Bernsen's Vulcan asks Shadow about hanging, Ian McShane's expression is nuanced and amazing in that Adam Kane captures it at the right angle and timing.

But, despite the greatness of the veteran actors, it is Pablo Schreiber who rules the acting front of "A Murder Of Gods." Schreiber is given a lot of exposition to deliver as Mad Sweeney and in his key scene, Mad Sweeney becomes darkly philosophical and Schreiber makes the lines sound like a song. It is exceptional how Schreiber is able to make the unlucky, unlikable leprechaun who is delivering harsh truths into a must-watch character, but he does so in "A Murder Of Gods."

On the character front, Shadow Moon - now armed with some truths about gods living among the mortals - is able to start asking better questions and his frustration becomes much more palpable and understandable. When Shadow Moon asks relevant questions and is simply told that he wouldn't believe the answers, the viewer feels what Shadow does. "A Murder Of Gods" is a good transition episode that allows the characters to push forward - from Laura making an effort to make peace with her mother to Salim praying to celebrate life to Wednesday becoming explicitly shocked from betrayal - and it makes them all seem relevant.

Even in the a-plot, not much happens in "A Murder Of Gods," but the episode looks good and has the primary performers acting at a higher caliber (possibly because now they understood just what their characters were doing!) than in some of the prior episodes. That makes it a treat to watch and come back to!

For other works Corbin Bernsen, please check out my reviews of:
Psych - Season 8
The Big Year
Psych - Season 1
"Deja Q"- Star Trek: The Next Generation

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Enter The American Gods Adversary: "Lemon Scented You"

The Good: Wonderful performances, Good plot, Decent character progression, Impressive directing
The Bad: ? I'm still not certain, but the episode is not perfect.
The Basics: "Lemon Scented You" finally brings explicit purpose to American Gods and is makes for a near-perfect hour of television!


Sometimes, a show is presented in such a way that it starts and presents itself without making its story explicit right away. Character-driven stories often take some time to develop the protagonist as their own, well-rounded person before the essential conflict of the story begins. The first season of American Gods was only eight episodes long and the true purpose, antagonist and reason for the series is only made explicit in the fifth episode. That episode is "Lemon Scented You" and it is nice that, after giving the show the benefit of the doubt for four episodes, it finally is set-up to become something other than a meandering tale that seems more about getting fans to guess what is going on than actually tell a coherent story.

"Lemon Scented You" follows on the heels of "Git Gone" (reviewed here!) and it starts out with establishing the premise of the series explicitly and then finally advancing the story of Shadow Moon from the surprising moment two episodes prior. American Gods, at least in its first season, explores a world populated by actual gods wherein old gods have been dying off, utterly forgotten and are struggling for their survival. The old gods are in conflict with a host of new deities who not only want to control humanity, but eradicate the old gods who refuse to adapt to their new way of doing things.

Opening in the snow with the story of a tribe that crosses the tundra with their ancient god, that is ultimately forgotten, Shadow Moon returns to his motel to find Laura waiting for him there. After determining that she is real, the two discuss how Laura cheated on him. Shadow returns to the room after getting her a pack of cigarettes to find Laura in the tub, warming up for him in case he wants to touch her. A crow brings Wednesday a message and Wednesday interrupts Shadow and Laura's reunion. The men are arrested then.

Technical Boy falls victim to one of his own virtual reality devices, where he encounters Media, who tells him he needs to apologize. Technical Boy refuses to apologize directly, despite it being a asked of him by Mr. World. Shadow Moon and Wednesday are interrogated, but neither breaks under the local police's questioning. While they are being interrogated, Mad Sweeney finds Laura and he tries to take his coin back by force. Unable to do that, Mad Sweeney is arrested when the police arrives and Laura plays dead. Back at the police station, Media and Mr. World arrive to offer Wednesday a deal instead of a fight.

Coming on the heels of "Git Gone," "Lemon Scented You" is a refreshing change of pace. "Git Gone" was a fairly intimate character study of the unlikable Laura Moon as she makes her way through life, dies, and comes back confused and no more fun to be around than when she was initially alive. So, moving the story ahead in explicit and interesting ways was pretty much demanded by "Lemon Scented You" and it, blissfully, provides.

"Lemon Scented You" marks the return of Technical Boy, who was in so little of the pilot episode (reviewed here!) that it was hard to actually define him as an antagonist for the season. Mr. World bursts into "Lemon Scented You," after being referenced by Media and Technical Boy, with an incredible presence and a body count. Coming on the heels of Mr. Wednesday telling his interrogator explicitly about his conflict and his upcoming war with the new gods, Mr. World's entrance into the story is powerful.

Bryan Fuller must have been great to work with as Tracie Thoms, who was on his show Wonderfalls (reviewed here!) back in the day, pops up in "Lemon Scented You." Thoms plays Shadow Moon's police interrogator and it is nice to see that after all these years, she has not lost her on-screen grativas. Unfortunately for Thoms, who is good in her brief role, she gets completely overshadowed by the return of Pablo Schreiber as Mad Sweeney - who has amazing presence - and Crispin Glover, who's entrance as Mr. World is quite memorable. The acting in "Lemon Scented You" is universally great, though it certainly helps by having Gillian Anderson playing both David Bowie and Marilyn Monroe in two exceptionally well-written tongue-in-cheek scenes that allow her to show off.

Director Vincenzo Natali translates Maria Melnik and David Graziano's story and script into a truly beautiful hour of television. There are amazing shots in "Lemon Scented You" and this is the episode that finally hooks viewers who are on the fence about the show.

"Lemon Scented You" is a near-perfect hour of television. There is an ineffable quality to perfection; I cannot recall a perfect anything (other than album of music) where I did not know on the first pass that it was perfect. "Lemon Scented You" comes close, but misses narrowly. Is it the arrest of Mad Sweeney? Is it Laura Moon getting the episode's last scene? Whatever element of "Lemon Scented You" robs it of perfection, most viewers are unlikely to see the difference between what is in the episode and what a perfect story contains. Regardless, this is easily the best episode thus far of American Gods and it is a treat to return to multiple times!

For other works with Crispin Glover, please check out my reviews of:
Hot Tub Time Machine
Alice In Wonderland
9
Epic Movie
Charlie's Angels
Back To The Future

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other television and movie reviews, please visit my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Short Sad Life Of Laura Moon: "Git Gone"

The Good: Good performances, Good direction
The Bad: Dull characters, Dull plot, Erratic pacing (last 15 minutes is better than the first 45!)
The Basics: "Git Gone" fleshes out Laura Moon about as well as one can expect for a boring, bored, character who died in the series premiere.


Someone watched Lost. The climactic opening of the hatch in the first season finale of Lost left the writers and producers at a very difficult position; the mystery of the hatch had driven fan theories and made interest in the show rise at a time when usually a popular show starts to see fall-off in viewers. With the hatch being blown open, the mystery was now gone and the writers and executive producers had to pay off all that emotional investment, lest the second season go down in flames very quickly. To keep the level of intrigue high and delay a full, comprehensible revelation as long as possible, the second season of Lost (reviewed here!) took the primary characters to a point, then replayed with a different character to that point, and then replayed with another character to that point. When American Gods capped "Head Full Of Snow" (reviewed here!) with Shadow walking into his motel room and seeing his dead wife sitting on his bed, but begins "Git Gone" at the (apparent) beginning of Laura Moon's story, it's clear to genre fans that the Starz series is playing the same narrative game.

"Git Gone" is an attempt to make Laura Moon, a character dead almost immediately in the American Gods narrative, into a vital character. Unfortunately, it does not take long into "Git Gone" before it is apparent that Laura is neither a vital character, nor a particularly good or interesting one.

Laura is dealing blackjack at a little casino in Indiana, where she resists the automatic shuffling machine (preferring to deal by hand). She leads a simple life, after work eating meagerly and getting high on insecticide spray. One day, after four years of working at the casino, Shadow walks in and attempts to steal at her table by swapping chips subtly. Laura waves him off the attempt and after her shift, she finds Shadow waiting for her. Laura takes Shadow back to her house and the two begin a relationship. Soon, they are married and Laura slips into a numb pattern of work, passionless sex with Shadow and waiting for her life to pop.

Four years into their relationship, Laura sits Shadow down and tells him she wants to rob the casino. Laura's "perfect plan," though, fails and Shadow takes the fall for her, going to prison. While Shadow is in prison, Laura dutifully waits for him taking his calls and doing more inhalants until her cat dies. Laura's friend Audrey has a husband, Robbie, who is handy for Laura while Shadow is in prison and he buries her cat, which starts the two having an affair. As Shadow moves toward his release, Laura and Robbie's affair reaches a peak and the two go out driving when they get into a car accident. Laura finds herself with Anubis and when he challenges her, she is abruptly and shockingly resurrected. Back on Earth, Laura begins to follow a mysterious light, which leads her to Shadow.

Emily Browning is fine as Laura in "Git Gone" - she plays Laura as a bored, dull young woman who is thoroughly unlikable. To her credit, Browning is able to display range and she emotes using more than one facial expression, which is a distinct step up from her performance in Sucker Punch (reviewed here!). Laura Moon is a boring, unlikable character, but Browning plays the bored character well.

The real acting winner in "Git Gone," though, is Dane Cook. Cook plays Robbie and it is one of the more subtle, less manic, characters that he has played. In fact, Robbie is one of the first characters I can recall where Dane Cook fully invests in a character; watching "Git Gone," one does not see "Dane Cook as . . ." Dane Cook plays Robbie without any hint of Dane Cook.

Craig Zobel's direction for "Git Gone" is notable for finding the right balance of what is shown and what is obscured. Zobel illustrates the repetitive quality of Laura's life quite effectively. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Zobel's directing in "Git Gone" is in the inevitable car crash. Zobel does not sensationalize or show excessive detail in the car crash and he makes that work. The lack of gore for the car crash contrasts nicely with the colorful netherworld Laura finds herself in following the crash.

Ultimately, "Git Gone" does about all it can to make Laura interesting, but her character is a bored, lousy schemer. While there are ample hints within the episode that someone else is involved in much of what goes wrong in her life, it is hard to care because just as Laura lopes dully through life, the episode never gets much momentum as it plods from boring new scenes through events viewers already know about.

For other works with Betty Gilpin, please check out my reviews of:
Glow - Season 1
"The Bone Orchard"- American Gods
Fringe - Season 1

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

3.5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"Head Full Of Snow" Advances American Gods In A Delightfully Surreal Direction!

The Good: Good acting, Decent character moments, Good direction/special effects
The Bad: Light on plot development, Characters only advance incrementally
The Basics: "Head Full Of Snow" introduces more divine entities into American Gods, before Shadow Moon and Wednesday rob a bank.


As American Gods progressed, the show started to find a good balance between telling self-contained stories and building a truly serialized narrative. One of the ways that the show's writers accomplished this was by having episodes where a common theme unites the disparate events of the episode, across all of the characters - both familiar and new. The third episode of American Gods is united by death.

The death theme of "Head Full Of Snow" makes a lot of sense coming off of "The Secret Of Spoons" (reviewed here!) given that the show's most consistent protagonist, Shadow Moon, was given a death sentence at the climax of the episode. "Head Full Of Snow" opens with a lot of potential. American Gods was a new show still with "Head Full Of Snow" and the potential of the show is that it will actually kill off its main character, so the idea that Shadow Moon is sleeping his last night as the episode begins feels very real, especially after a vignette opening that features a death.

In Queens, Mrs. Fadil is preparing a meal for her children when there is a knock on the door. She recognizes the visitor as Anubis, from her childhood, as opposed to any of the figures from her Muslim faith that she converted to later in life. She follows Anubis to a surreal desert where she is judged and allowed to move onto death. In Chicago, Shadow Moon is awoken from his sleep and he climbs to the roof where he meets Zorya Polunochnaya. She looks into Shadow Moon's fortune, then gives him the moon (which takes the form of a coin). Shadow approaches Czernobog and he bargains for a second game of checkers. When Shadow manages to win against Czernobog, the Russian agrees to travel to Wisconsin to participate in Mr. Wednesday's meeting.

In Indiana, Mad Sweeney awakens to a shotgun in his face and when he wanders away from the bar and the driver who picks him up dies in a horrible accident, he realizes that he has lost his lucky gold coin. Elsewhere, in New York City, Salim waits a day for a meeting for which his appointment never shows up. After that, Salim encounters a Jinn who is a cab driver and the two make love, with the Jinn takes Salim's form. In Chicago, Wednesday scouts a bank to rob and he tells Shadow Moon to envision show. Shadow is shocked when, while Wednesday is printing the materials he needs to accomplish his scam, he envisions snow and wakes up to an uncommon snow storm.

"Head Full Of Snow" is a slow build of an episode for its first half and a very basic scam plot for the second half. Wednesday has a scam to rob a bank by posing as a night deposit guard and he relies upon Shadow Moon to cover for him when the police check out his alibi. Ian McShane carries the second half of the episode by presenting Wednesday as an open-minded trickster. Wednesday is slowly opening Shadow up to the possibility that the world is much bigger and more complicated than Shadow has previously believed. Many of McShane's scenes are subtle exposition and philosophy - leading Shadow Moon and coerce the protagonist while asking for his belief - but McShane makes them not only watchable, but engaging. Ian McShane has raw charisma that few actors possess and long before the end of "Head Full Of Snow," it is obvious that Wednesday is a being with exceptional abilities and a strange dependence.

Pablo Schreiber steals his scenes in "Head Full Of Snow" and the confidence with which Omid Abtahi and Mousa Kraish approach their sex scene is a testament to their acting abilities. But in an episode with continued subtle performances from Cloris Leachman, Chris Obi, and Peter Stormare, Ricky Whittle finally breaks out. After all that Whittle's character, Shadow Moon, has been through, "Head Full Of Snow" finally gives him a bit to play that allows him to show some range. Shadow gets exhausted, which makes sense if he gets very little sleep after his death sentence begins and Whittle plays that with an impressive level of control over his body language. Whittle is able to emote well Shadow attempting to focus, but falling prey to Wednesday's voice and the suggestion that he needs to focus.

"Head Full Of Snow" balances the performances with decent special effects. The episode opens delightfully surreal as Anubis leads Mrs. Fadil away and the effects continue with the flawless execution of the Jinn's flaming eyes. Director David Slade does an excellent job of augmenting Whittle's performance with effects-driven sequences of water freezing into ice and the snow crystallizing.

Despite the performances and as few moments of character, "Head Full Of Snow" is an episode where the protagonist does not advance or develop in a truly impressive or significant way. The result is an interesting and easy-to-watch episode that is not overly impressive or concrete on the narrative front outside the context of the larger serialized storyline of the first season of American Gods.

For other works with Peter Stormare, please check out my reviews of:
22 Jump Street
The Zero Theorem
Pain & Gain
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Prison Break - Season 1
The Brothers Grimm
Constantine
Minority Report
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Awakenings

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

6/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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American Gods Grows Into Intrigue With "The Secret Of Spoons."

The Good: Good performances, Wonderful direction, Characters start to become intriguing
The Bad: Most of the characters are very easy to empathize with, Minimal plot
The Basics: "The Secret Of Spoons" starts the real journey of American Gods with Mr. Wednesday and Shadow Moon getting to Chicago to meet with old Russian gods.


American Gods was a television show that came with a built-in audience given that it was based upon a novel by Neil Gaiman, beloved of the genre fans. Selling the series to a wider audience was done by simply having the show developed by Bryan Fuller. When an executive producer leaves the next Star Trek television series for a project, that instantly raises the stature of the project for which he left it. So, American Gods picked up an initial audience of Gaiman fans, Fuller fans and Trekkers for the look-in and what newbies like me discovered from the pilot episode was that the first season of the show was going to require some faith and time to get into. "The Secret Of Spoons," the second episode of the first season of American Gods is very much a second chapter in a story that is in no way clear yet. "The Secret Of Spoons" does a decent job of more clearly focusing on Shadow Moon as a protagonist and reinforcing the idea that in the world of American Gods, divine influence is a thing, both in the past and in the present.

"The Secret Of Spoons" picks up immediately after "The Bone Orchard" (reviewed here!) and is impossible to discuss without some references to the prior episode. "The Bone Orchard" introduced the essential American Gods characters of Shadow Moon, Mr. Wednesday, and Mad Sweeney,with glimpses into Laura Moon, Bilquis, and the new god Technical Boy, who tried to have Shadow Moon lynched before he was mysteriously rescued. "The Secret Of Spoons" picks up the main Shadow Moon narrative immediately after he has escaped death from Technical Boy's forces.

Opening with another "Coming to America" vignette, this time in 1697 on a slave ship, the imprisoned Okoye cries out to the spider god Anansi. Mr. Nancy appears and delivers a sermon about all that is coming to the people on the ship and their descendants. Okoye's bonds are broken and he frees his compatriots to burn the boat to kill the Dutch slavers. Shadow Moon is stapled up and returns to the motel where he confronts Mr. Wednesday. Shadow returns to his house where he recalls aspects of his life with Laura and confronts the realities of her cheating on him with their mutual friend, Robbie. Shadow boxes up the possessions he wants and prepares the house for sale before moving on with Mr. Wednesday and the mysterious man's muscle.

Leaving Eagle Point behind, Mr. Wednesday has Shadow drive him to Chicago for his hammer. While Wednesday meets with someone at a dive en route, he tasks Shadow with shopping for him. At the big box store, Shadow Moon is spoken to by Lucy Ricardo, through a television. Lucy Ricardo, the voice of Media, is impressed with Shadow Moon and offers him a job on her team, which Shadow refuses. Reaching Chicago, Wednesday meets with Zorya Vechernyaua and weasels his way into an invitation to their home for dinner. There, Shadow Moon encounters the Zorya sisters and they wait for Czernobog (a cattle slaughterer) to arrive. Czernobog gets into a checkers match with Shadow Moon after dinner . . . for Shadow's life.

"The Secret Of Spoons" does a decent job of revealing cultural ignorance to Americans. I took several Mythology courses back in college and high school and it was only as "The Secret Of Spoons" moves into the proper mission of Mr. Wednesday and Shadow Moon that I realized that I had absolutely no knowledge of Russian mythology. The deities visited in only the second episode of American Gods will be new to most viewers. Ironically, Anansi was instantly recognizable to me, but the Russian gods were entirely new to me!

Ian McShane is perfectly cast as Mr. Wednesday and "The Secret Of Spoons" allows him to play the character as wise, knowing and subtly powerful. McShane manages to make Wednesday intriguing to watch in every single scene by credibly delivering even the most diction-intense phrases with a knowledgeable ease and then landing the reductive phases with humor. McShane has absolutely the right amount of charisma to sell the idea of an understated deity roaming the Earth.

Ricky Whittle, by contrast, continues to play the ultimate straightman to McShane and the rest of the cast. Whittle is charged with making Shadow Moon a grounded and realistic character; he is an ex-con who has lived in a very literal world. Shadow Moon is being moved incrementally over the entire first season into a much more mystically-influenced world. Whittle continues in "The Secret Of Spoons" to portray Shadow Moon as a cold pragmatist and while it is hard to care much about his fate yet, Whittle makes the character accessible to the audience by keeping him understated and having his reactions feel familiar.

Peter Stormare continues his trend of appearing in works with, apparently, unwashed hair. Stormare's Czernobog is a pragmatic killer and his character is defined mostly through his long monologues. Stormare is an incredible storyteller in "The Secret Of Spoons" and while his character is not physically animated in the episode, he is dynamic as a storyteller and he makes the character vital to watch.

The other big acting moment in "The Secret Of Spoons" comes from Gillian Anderson. Anderson is unrecognizable playing Lucy Ricardo (Media) and that's saying something. Anderson gets Ball's twang down perfectly in her brief scene and she makes the sudden appearance of Media seem far less jarring than, for example, Bilquis's random scene in the episode. Cloris Leachman is predictably wonderful in her subtle performance of the Zorya matriarch, but Anderson makes her lone scene stand out in a surprising way.

Director David Slade gets a huge amount of credit for his direction in "The Secret Of Spoons." Slade makes almost everything and everyone look dirty, but fabulous at the same time. Outside Shadow Moon's trip to the big box store, the settings are filthy, the people are greasy and Slade uses lighting masterfully to indicate time shifts during Shadow Moon's flashbacks in his home. Slade does a great job with opening "The Secret Of Spoons" with an intriguing vignette that looks amazing and in the latter scenes of the episode, capturing the deep wrinkles and shining eyes of Ian McShane makes the mundane look beautiful.

"The Secret Of Spoons" is the beginning of a pretty banal road trip (at this point) where the purpose is not yet clear and the characters are hard to empathize with at this point. That said, "The Secret Of Spoons" has the show gaining a little momentum and making the basic premise incredibly clear as Shadow Moon encounters people who are clearly divine entities working on Earth.

For other works with Ian McShane, please visit my reviews of:
John Wick
Jack The Giant Slayer
Snow White And The Huntsman
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Coraline
Death Race
Scoop
Babylon 5: River Of Souls

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

6.5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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"The Bone Orchard" Sets The Bar Weird For American Gods.

The Good: Decent acting, Good direction
The Bad: Erratic and obscure narrative, Characters are generally inaccessible and aloof
The Basics: American Gods opens with "The Bone Orchard," which manages to make a surreal presentation of Shadow Moon getting out of prison and slowly finding his way into a much larger world.


There are few executive producers who attract an audience like Bryan Fuller. Fuller rose quickly from being a writer to a writer/executive producer transitioning from the short-lived fan-loved shows like Wonderfalls (reviewed here!) and Dead Like Me (reviewed here!) to more mainstream successes like Hannibal. When Star Trek Discovery was first announced, Bryan Fuller was the name the studio executives quickly threw out to placate fans (fans like me, who were not, generally, placated if for no other reason than that CBS had a distribution idea long before they had a solid series idea) and it worked for some. But when Bryan Fuller abandoned Star Trek Discovery, it turned a lot of eyes to the project that he was leaving it for: American Gods.

American Gods begins with "The Bone Orchard" and while Fuller's writing and producing began with an admitted obsession with the Star Trek franchise, his interests clearly lie in a very different place now. "The Bone Orchard" is about as far from Star Trek as one might imagine. "The Bone Orchard" opens immediately with a theological (albeit weird) bent and develops into a fantasy that is a fish-out-of-water pragmatist in a world quietly populated by deities.

Opening with "Coming To America, 813," Mr. Ibis writes the story of a small Viking ship landing in North America. When one of the crew is slain by a native arrow, the Vikings decide leave, remaining only on the beach while they wait for the wind to pick up. The Vikings poke out their eyes and fight to get the attention of the All Father, to no avail. After all their sacrifices, when the wind returns, they leave and never get in another boat or speak of their ordeal. Flashing forward to the present, Shadow Moon is days away from getting out of prison when he calls his wife, Laura. Shadow is concerned that something is not quite right and that night while he sleeps, he sees his wife in a dream. His dream continues to a surreal forest filled with bones, a sky that resembles a nebula, and trees that move on their own.

Shadow awakens the next morning where he is led to the Warden's office and told that Laura has died. Released that afternoon, Shadow Moon finds himself stuck in an airport waiting to get back to Eagle Point, Indiana. In the terminal, Shadow watches a grifter get upgraded to first class. On the plane, Shadow is bumped up to first class because the flight is overbooked. There, Shadow properly meets the grifter, who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. Wednesday talks to Shadow and offers Shadow a questionable job. Shadow turns down the job on principle, not wanting to risk going back to prison, and Mr. Wednesday seems to know specific details about Shadow Moon's past and present. When the plane is forced to land because of the weather, Shadow Moon gets a rental car and starts driving the rest of the way to Eagle Point for his wife's very awkward funeral.

"The Bone Orchard" has an ambitious, if very blood beginning. The viking segment is so gory that one would suspect that director David Slade is a big fan of the works of Quentin Tarantino. The episode is beautifully-shot, replays well, and has a surreal pace to it that shows a clear cinematic influence from Twin Peaks. "The Bone Orchard" is a beginning of a heavily-serialized story and the episode, appropriately, follows a skeptical character (much like the audience) being slowly introduced to a much larger world.

Unlike most of Bryan Fuller's post-Star Trek: Voyager works, "The Bone Orchard" starts American Gods off without a hook. Most of Fuller's works have an easy-to-describe one-line concept: girl dies and becomes a grim reaper, young woman starts hearing voices (possibly divine) from inanimate objects in the shape of animals, etc. American Gods does not have that type of hook for its protagonist and "The Bone Orchard" is a slow progression into anything resembling a larger narrative. American Gods is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's book, which I have not read before now; "The Bone Orchard" feels very much like a first chapter.

On its own, "The Bone Orchard" is a tough pilot to get thrilled about. The episode is generally well-performed, but it has a surreal, often-disconnected quality, much like the cave scene in The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!). Shadow Moon has visions in his dreams and right around the time that viewers get interested in the journey that Shadow Moon is on trying to get back to his hometown, "The Bone Orchard" leaps to an unrelated scene featuring Bilquis bedding a blind date . . . before consuming him through her vagina. The storytelling for "The Bone Orchard" works better in the context of the larger season and the overall narrative than as a concise story of its own. Shadow Moon has a disconnected story in "The Bone Orchard" and given that the show and protagonist have no clear hook to the story, the pilot is a bit off-putting on its own and it requires a lot of faith to come back to the story to see where it is going.

"The Bone Orchard" does what it has to do with setting up the broader story of American Gods, but the mysterious elements surrounding Shadow Moon, his dead wife, and the identity of Mr. Wednesday are broken up with a narrator character and a sexual consumer, the sudden appearance of a leprechaun and an attack by a virtual-reality headset. "The Bone Orchard" sets up a complicated world filled with apparently supernatural individuals and the basic concept is a practical one; Shadow Moon enters the narrative filled with gods, demigods and supernatural beings with the same skepticism as the modern audience. Shadow's gritty, real world is opened up incrementally in "The Bone Orchard" as he transitions from the cold, hard reality of prison to slowly make himself open to a Faustian bargain with Mr. Wednesday.

On the acting front, Ricky Whittle dominates "The Bone Orchard." Whittle had a comparatively unmemorable part in Austenland (reviewed here!) and in "The Bone Orchard," he plays the role of Shadow Moon with suspicion and an aloof quality that is not entirely accessible, but is completely practical for the character. Whittle is joined on screen by Ian McShane and Pablo Schreiber for the bulk of "The Bone Orchard." McShane has a massive body of work and Mr. Wednesday allows him to immediately show off some range transitioning from lost and weak to cocky and subtly powerful. While Whittle has to play in subtle changes, McShane shows off range. Pablo Schreiber is impressive in that he plays another asshole character, in the form of Mad Sweeney the leprechaun, without any hint of his Orange Is The New Black antagonist.

The best pilot episodes get viewers to want to tune in to the next episode. On that front, "The Bone Orchard" is a dismal failure. On my second viewing of the episode, it occurred to me that if I didn't know where the story was going, I wouldn't have cared enough to continue. On my first trip through the first season of American Gods, I went into the second episode on the faith that Bryan Fuller had a plan. That plan or any real intrigue from the protagonist is lacking in "The Bone Orchard." Faith in Fuller is rewarded, but "The Bone Orchard" is a much more erratic start than some might hope given how so many genre fans raved about American Gods right off the bat.

For other pilot episodes, please check out my reviews of:
"Snow Gives Way" - Iron Fist
"The Cage"- Star Trek
"Pilot" - Twin Peaks
"The Gathering"- Babylon 5

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into American Gods - The Complete First Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the debut season of the surreal series here!
Thanks!]

4.5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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