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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Enter Elektra! "Kinbaku" Redirects The Second Season Of Daredevil!

The Good: Serialized plot elements, Allusions
The Bad: Mediocre plot, Raises far more questions than it answers, Nothing exceptional on the acting front
The Basics: Elektra is introduced to Daredevil in an unremarkable way in "Kinbaku."


Entering the second season of Daredevil many fans of the franchise were thrilled that the show was adding the character of Elektra to the mix. Elektra's introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a big deal (although the MCU has recast significant characters before), so the casting of Elodie Yung as Elektra Natchios made the entertainment news long before the second season of Daredevil premiered. The appearance of Elektra in the Marvel Cinematic Universe leads to the potential that the second season of Daredevil might undo the negative impression of the prior cinematic incarnation ofDaredevil (reviewed here!).

Unfortunately for the writers and producers of Daredevil adding a popular character like Elektra to the mix comes with inherent issues. Elektra has a huge fanbase of her own - not because of the film Elektra (reviewed here!) either! - who know who and what Elektra Natchios is. For the bulk of her tenure in Marvel Comics, Elektra Natchios has been a ruthless assassin and, at her inception, that was who she was. The problem with adding her into the Netflix series Daredevil is reconciling who she is known to be (which is something fans pretty much demand of their Marvel characters when they hit the theaters and television screens) with the characters who are already established. Given the high level of moralization at the outset of the second season of Daredevil, adding a trained assassin to the mix would go very obviously against Matt Murdock's character.

"Kinbaku" is the first proper episode of Daredevil that features Elektra. Elektra might have appeared for the final moments of "Penny And Dime" (reviewed here!), but "Kinbaku" is the first episode that includes her in a substantive way. From very early on in "Kinbaku," the plan of the executive producers of Daredevil is surprisingly clear: Matt Murdock does not know Elektra's true nature. As a result, "Kinbaku" has the potential to allow newbies to fall in love with Elektra through the slow reveal and established fans to recall what they initially liked about Elektra in the first place. "Kinbaku" makes it clear from its outset that the episode is going to be a proper introduction to Elektra and that she and Matt Murdock have an extensive history.

Ten years ago, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson are crashing a high society party when Murdock is caught. Before security can eject him from the party, he is rescued by Elektra, who vouches for his presence there. In the present, Elektra reveals that she is back in Hell's Kitchen to try to divest her portfolio of Roxxon stock; she wants her massive wealth to not include the sinister energy company and she wants Murdock to help her negotiate the deal. Murdock rejects Elektra, though when the next morning he discovers that Nelson & Murdock is virtually bankrupt, he has some trepidation about turning away Elektra's money. Karen Page arrives at the office with information about how the media is reporting the Frank Castle case and she reveals that she broke into Castle's house to her employers. Nelson is thrilled to learn there is suddenly money in the bank and Murdock asks him not to spend it, claiming it is from a client who he doesn't think will pan out.

Flashing back to the party, Matt Murdock engages in a witty banter with Elektra and the two have palpable chemistry. Elektra takes Matt out in a stolen car, illustrating how the beautiful woman is able to get Murdock to go against his usualy moral character. When ADA Tower visits Nelson & Murdock, he asks Foggy Nelson for all the documents pertaining to the Grotto case, but Nelson refuses to turn them over without a subpoena. Murdock realizes that he cannot even get into the building that Elektra's meeting is at, so he surveils it from a nearby building. At the meeting, Elektra disables Roxxon's servers. After a rough day of tying together leads in the murder of Frank Castle's family, Karen Page has a date with Matt Murdock.

"Kinbaku" is a character study and the introduction and exploration of Elektra is little more than that. Fans of the source material will appreciate how Elektra is characterized immediately in "Kinbaku" as a woman who gets Matt Murdock to go against his character; she excites Murdock in a visceral way that overrides his usual rationality and morality. "Kinbaku" shows that well without making it explicit within the episode. Fans of the Daredevil television show will be able to find the clues that reveal Elektra's true nature long before it is revealed. In "Kinbaku," viewers get Elektra's backstory from Murdock's perspective - a history of their brief, passionate, time together ten years before; we do not get her history. That said, attentive viewers will catch the giant clue thrust in their faces when Elektra first appears after the opening credits (her line about German beer is identical to one delivered in the prior season and is a massive clue to her backstory).

While most of "Kinbaku" introduces Elektra - past and present - to Daredevil, the narrative of Frank Castle does not abruptly end (as one might expect). Instead, throughout the episode there is a thread involving Karen Page investigating Frank Castle's past. That brings Page to the New York Bulletin, where she confronts Ellison, the editor of the newspaper. The references to Ben Urich in Page's storyline help tie "Kinbaku" to the prior season and redirect Karen Page's character in a new and intriguing direction.

"Kinbaku" is also flush with allusions to other aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Should Jessica Jones get a second season, it would have a difficult time not making explicit that the organization that created Jones and Simmons is a subsidiary of Roxxon, based on a single line in "Kinbaku." Ellison references "the incident' and Marci Stahl drops back into the narrative with an oblique reference to Hogarth's law firm from Jessica Jones! Easter eggs aside, the return of Stahl and Karen Page digging through piles of newspapers keeps viewers engaged through the otherwise mediocre introduction of Elektra.

The dominance of the Elektra storyline makes it easy to overlook the odd lapses in continuity in "Kinbaku." Matt Murdock in the flashbacks does entirely uncharacteristic things and from her outset, the only way Elektra makes sense as a character is if she is either wrapped up with the worst sort of people or such a liar that she believes her own lies. In the past, Elektra gives Matt Murdock the chance to get his vengeance on the man who killed Murdock's father. Either Natchios's father was wrapped up with organized and corporate crime or Elektra is able to lie to Murdock's face without him detecting any change in her heartbeat.

Director Floria Sigismondi takes a lackluster script and at least makes it look good. Charlie Cox is appropriately de-aged for the flashback scenes and the sex scene with Elektra is shot very artfully. The second date location for Murdock and Page is beautifully shot and amid the spectacle, the passion in the post-date scene is well-presented - both physically and from a performance standpoint.

But "Kinbaku" is a bridge episode and it is a thoroughly unremarkable episode in its own right. Daredevil is at an awkward transition between The Punisher and Elektra as primary antagonists for the second season and the build-up to the Sweeney flashback makes the opening more unfathomable. "Kinbaku" is the beginning and end of the relationship between Matt Murdock and Elektra and it reveals enough about Elektra's character to make Matt Murdock permanently repulsed by her. As a result, Murdock's low-key reaction to Elektra popping back up into his life becomes something of a parody of understatement.

Outside Karen Page starting an investigation at the Bulletin, "Kinbaku" is utterly forgettable and fits poorly into the narrative of the second season of Daredevil. Viewers are almost better served by skipping the episode and getting Elektra's backstory from her perspective in one of the later episodes. Indeed, skipping "Kinbaku" and leaping into the next episode eliminates the mediocre. As it stands, "Kinbaku" might well be the low point of the second season of Daredevil.

For other works with Geoffrey Cantor, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Bert And Arnie's Guide To Friendship
Men In Black 3
Man On A Ledge
When In Rome
Public Enemies

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

4/10

For other television episode and movie reviews, please visit my Movie Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Whether It's Real History Or Not, The Runaways Is Surprisingly Engaging!

The Good: Good acting, Decent story, Soundtrack is well-presented.
The Bad: Somewhat predictable, Dark.
The Basics: A surprisingly good rock band drama story, Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart use The Runaways to rise into their own as actresses.


I'm not sure how things work in Hollywood, as I've never endeavored to spend much time there, but it seems to me with hundreds of different people to work with in the acting community, I would probably want to work with as many different people as possible. And yet, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning went from working together on New Moon (click here for that review ) to The Runaways and then back to work on the latest film in the Twilight saga. Go figure. Both Fanning and Stewart, though, seem to be working to break the images they might have been cast for previously or typecast in. And in The Runaways, both Fanning and Stewart do what is expected of good or great actors, they live up to the promise of giving the viewer something new.

In the case of Kristen Stewart, that means her portrayal of Joan Jett is one that is confident and ballsy as opposed to having her cowering and waiting to be saved at every turn. And, in the case of Dakota Fanning, it means that she plays a character who is outwardly sexual and for those of us who remember her from her younger roles, this has the net effect of making us feel old and disturbing us. But, the truth is, the acting is the thing to watch here.

Joan Jett is living in the 1970s as a teenager, listening to music and wanting very much to try her hand at it. Cherie Currie is a teenager who wants something better for herself and who wants to differentiate herself from her twin sister. Currie and Jett meet in Los Angeles on the streets and they click. Pushed together by Kim Fowley, a guy who knows music, likes the all-girl sound of the band and makes it one of his missions to make them a success. And The Runaways are launched, paving the way for teen girl bands.

But, Currie gets into the sex, drugs and lies that accompany so many rock and roll stories and Fowley is far less about the music than Jett would like. Tension and torsion between Jett, Currie and Fowley cause The Runaways to fracture.

The Runaways is essentially a VH1 band biopic of the week, but with real stars and as a result, the story is one which becomes predictable and obvious in many ways. Writer and director Floria Sigismondi adapted Currie's autobiography for the script, but made some creative and legal changes to accommodate both the film audience and demands of some of the players involved. The result is a movie which is not terribly fresh or original in its story. A bunch of girls who don't quite fit in start a band. It has an edgy sound which no one has heard before, the right person hears it, they make it (relatively) big. But, the people involved have conflicts, the band falls apart. Sound generic? Well, that's pretty much how the film is, at least on the plot front.

On the character front, The Runaways works a little better. Cherie Currie is painted as an experimental, eager girl (she's an early teen, but despite her rampant sexuality, she still comes across very girlish in many scenes) and this initially becomes a point of bonding between Currie and Joan Jett and point of exploitation for Kim. Currie has an "I'll try anything once" type attitude and is intrigued by the idea Jett is pitching; to do something no one else has ever done, which is to form an all-girl band. Currie's sense of adventure and experimentalism is piqued. But what makes The Runaways work so well in the end is the same thing that makes a Shakespearean tragedy work; the flaws which bring about the end of the protagonist(s) are within them from the beginning. So, while Fowley is both an aid and a detraction as the band's manager, his influence becomes more incidental as the film progresses. Instead, the seeds for the demise of the band were always within it (at least in this film version of the group). Currie continues to push for the next, new, exciting thing, while Jett finds a comfort level in The Runaways which she wants to hone and grow with. And between Jett and Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West and Robin are dragged around and fall.

In many ways, the other members of the band are incidental characters (though it is nice to see Alia Shawkat in film as Robin). This is a story of Joan Jett, Cherie Currie and Kim Fowley and the others become accessories to their story. This does not mean the performers do not do well; they do, especially Shawkat whose performance is unlike anything she did on Arrested Development, but the essential struggles are between the other three. To that end, Michael Shannon gives a good supporting performance as Fowley, though one suspects his dialogue was enough to get the film the "R" rating.

What separates The Runaways from a VH1 Behind The Music (other than its fictionalized account, as opposed to being an actual documentary) or movie-of-the-week is the performances, not just the star power. Kristen Stewart steps out as Joan Jett to become an actress with actual presence on screen. She is energetic and she speaks with a forthrightness and force that makes the viewer believe that her character has a dream and she has the will to pursue it. She is eager, experimental and driven and Stewart captures that well. Unlike the moneyed performances which have made her a celebrity, in The Runaways, she gives a performance where she is able to embody steely-eyed resolve and she sells it. More than just a mullet and a slouch, Kristen Stewart sells the idea of a woman with a dream with the hard jaw and vision to see it through.

But it is, eerily enough, Dakota Fanning who steals the show on The Runaways. While Stewart might have the willpower thing down pat, Fanning gets the loose, easy body language of a wandering soul perfect. While her character is undeniably an experimental tease who is eager for every experience she can get, Fanning plays her with a wide-eyed sense of optimism that makes the viewer believe in her "anything is possible" attitude. Fanning plays off Stewart's sense of resolve with a sensibility that makes the process fun. In The Runaways, Joan Jett has a dream and she sets her mind to it, Cherie Currie looks for the most fun ways to accomplish it. Fanning does a decent job of making Cherie more than just a sexed up teenager who is restless, she infuses the idea that Currie has a similar sense of ambition as Jett, but it is far less focused. Fanning's loose body language gives the viewer the sense that her character is always looking for something and she'll look everywhere to try to find it. This is the essence of great acting; Fanning has never had a role like this one and she nails it.

Despite my musical studies, I am largely unfamiliar with The Runaways, but the music presented in the film is decent garage band rock with a female twist to it. The album has a rich soundtrack which is not intrusive, but is frequently obvious. This makes sense as the film is about a rock band, though it does a fairly decent job of not having an excessive number of scenes where the band is just playing music (without developing the story in one form or another).

Basically, The Runaways is a band rising, band falling story, but it is done with a quality of acting that sets it apart from most, making it easy to knock this up into "above average" territory. Now on DVD, "The Runaways" comes with a commentary track that is fun and insightful, along with previews of other films. This might not be the most inspired set of bonus features, but it is typical for this type of film.

For other movies featuring Kristen Stewart and/or Dakota Fanning, please check out my reviews of:
Eclipse
Twilight

7/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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