America is violence. America is sex. America is immigrants. America is a hodgepodge of all combined. Bryan Fuller & Michael Green’s tv adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name is a surreal and fantastical journey through America as it tackles its gods… both old and new.
I’m going to be honest right in this first paragraph. I have zero clue what the show is or what the book is actually about. All I knew of it going into the show was that it dealt with mythology in America; the fading worship of the old gods, and the growing worship of new kinds of gods. That was enough to get me interested. Cue seeing the trailer for the show, seeing Kristin Chenoweth in a gigantic floral fascinator, and that guaranteed my watching.
Now, after watching the first episode I can definitively state that this image is a contrast to literally everything in the show. While Chenoweth in this image is the pastel, bright and cheery goddess Easter, the show itself is dark and takes extreme liberties in its creative visual style.
The closest comparison I can make of this show is that it reminds me heavily of 300. It’s bloody and gratuitous. Normally I would be uncomfortable with a show like that, but they take it to such over the top extremities that the fights are watchable. Because really… When else are you going to realistically see someone being sliced in half, from the bottom up, sending their spine flying? Never I’ll bet.
Shadow Moon, played by Ricky Whittle, is thrust into the world of the clashing gods when his wife dies and he joins up with the mysterious Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). They both bring something captivating in what is really just plot building before the ball actually starts rolling.
And where is that ball rolling? War. Or at least that’s what I gathered from the first episode. I admit I had to read some reviews after watching so I could get a more fleshed out idea of where the show was going. To be honest, I still don’t know where it’s going. But it’s very clear that Mr. Wednesday (or more likely Odin) and the old gods are fading out, and the new gods, like that shiny hipster guy at the end (Bruce Langley) are dead set on making sure they fade out for good.
In what was probably the most unsettling but enthralling scenes, Bilquis (Yetide Bedaki) stole the show in her establishing moment. This is a goddess who is falling by the wayside, trying to become relevant. Again, I’m really not one for graphic anything, and this scene was certainly all kinds of graphic and strange. Bedaki gives such a powerful performance as a goddess starving to be worshipped. It’s intense and surreal and I would not recommend watching it without headphones in. But it’s definitely one of the more iconic moments of the premiere episode.
American Gods is a fascinating and such a strange piece of media. I should definitely pick up the book sometime. But in the meantime, there’s this show. This graphic and surreal show that makes blood act like a broken fire hydrant. It’s art, in a distinctly tv-kind of way.
I do have to say though, for being a show called American Gods, there seems to be a lacking of diversity. Now, the show is being led by a black man, and there are some more black characters coming in which is fantastic. America isn’t America without its representation of black people, it really isn’t. But for it to be called American, and the IMDb page having a gigantic list of only black and white actors? Not exactly representative of America.
I understand the show will be going through mostly middle America, but to not include any Asians, Latinos, or Native Americans is certainly not reflective of the diversity in America. If American Gods is really going to be the “most politically charged show of today” (paraphrased by many news outlets), then it needs to address the existence of the groups that do not fit into the black/white narrative.
Perspective in Color 