An exciting, fresh new fantasy series from Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.
Full spoilers for American Gods: Season 1 continue below.
American Gods is unlike anything else on television, and when it's at its best, it's some of the most jaw-dropping, impressive and moving work on the air. The highs of American Gods' first season outshine its stumbles, and the conversation it has already sparked about religion, gender, politics and our sense of self prove that this is a series that rewards analysis and repeat viewings.
Showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green took Neil Gaiman's challenging modern fantasy novel and expanded its themes and scope without dumbing down his vision. As such, it was definitely a show that benefited from outside knowledge of the story; if you hadn't read the book before starting episode 1 (or done even a cursory Wikipedia read), then chances are you quickly found yourself in over your head. This is a dense story, and can be alienating for those not already aware of the greater context of this narrative.
Whether or not you view that as a negative depends on your patience for stories that keep their mysteries mysterious, and depends on whether you came in as a book reader or not. For me, I appreciate that Fuller and Green constructed a story that brought you along for the ride. Even if you didn't know exactly what was going on, the imagery and situations presented were meant to be so evocative as to start conversations. Some of the standout moments of the season weren't necessarily connected to the core throughline of Shadow and Wednesday's road trip, but rather the thematic core of this series -- specifically Bilquis's sad tale and the love scene between Salim and the Jinn, as well as Laura Moon's flashback catch up episode.
But despite its highs, Season 1 of American Gods was not a perfect season by any means. There were several stumbles, from pacing to the execution of various episodes. "Lemon Scented You" was an example of an episode that I felt was uneven, and "A Murder of Gods" has been frequently regarded as a low point of the season. After a strong opening in the series premiere, the next two episodes spun their wheels a bit during the trip to Chicago. Was the second-to-last episode of the season the right time to have a full hour focused on Mad Sweeney, Essie MacGowan and Laura Moon? Probably not, despite the fact it was a pretty great episode on its own. Even the finale ended the season far too abruptly and left me wanting much more -- likely because an episode this season was cut for budgetary reasons, and Season 1 actually was supposed to reach the House on the Rock.
In many ways, Fuller, Green and Gaiman seemed to be working out the kinks in American Gods: Season 1, figuring out what they could get away with and what didn't work. In fact, they've been pretty candid about that and the budgetary and production issues behind-the-scenes (case in point: this Vanity Fair interview). So despite the uneven nature of Season 1, the strengths of American Gods' debut year promise greater things to come when the series comes back with its 10-episode Season 2.
Fuller and Green's passion behind-the-scenes is the key element that makes American Gods work as well as it does. There's a fearlessness to this season that deserves respect, and Starz gets a hat-tip for letting its showrunners push boundaries as much as they do. "Head Full of Snow" has earned much-deserved praise for its explicit gay sex scene, and part of what makes scenes like that and Bilquis's life as a Tinder prostitute working for the Technical Boy is the amount of empathy the writers develop for these characters. It's also why Laura and Bilquis's expanded roles work so well; American Gods takes the time to explore who these people are and what motivates them, instead of just focusing on Wednesday and Shadow like in Gaiman's novel.
It's why so many of the secondary characters grow to shine as brightly as (if not moreso than) the core duo by the end of Season 1. Standouts were Gillian Anderson as the delightful Media -- how can we pick a favorite character she played when she stole the show as everyone from David Bowie to Lucille Ball to Judy Garland? Emily Browning brought an unexpected emotional grounding to the role of Laura Moon that was necessary for her expanded role in the story. Pablo Schreiber helped Mad Sweeney pop off the screen in a storyline that was developed much more than I initially expected. Orlando Jones had limited screentime in a few episodes, and Kristin Chenoweth only in one, but they came in at 100 percent and commanded the screen when they were on it. And Crispin Glover was perfectly terrifying as the villainous Mr. World.
Every actor was immaculately picked for the role they were given and showed up to play, even with as small and brilliant a casting choice as Jeremy Davies as Jesus. The show became more and more of an ensemble with each passing episode, shifting the focus away from the two characters we're introduced to as the leads. Ricky Whittle has the toughest job on American Gods by playing the straight-faced Shadow Moon who, in the book, acts as the audience's conduit into the story. That's much harder to do on the screen, and Whittle imbues the right amount of skepticism and confusion into his depiction of the character (though it still drives me crazy that he didn't connect the dots about who Wednesday was sooner). His journey to belief was effective, even if it did start to get overshadowed by other, more colorful characters' emotional evolutions later in the season.
The same goes for Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday, who is the most perfect casting imaginable for this character. For all that the Odin reveal took to long to get to, McShane struck the necessary balance for the flawed, devious but championable character. My hope for Season 2 is that Fuller and Green are able to find a better balance between the duo at the core of American Gods and the side characters and adventures that clearly excite and captivate the showrunners. By learning from the hiccups in Season 1, this Starz series can lean into the elements that made it so special, unique and unlike anything else on television by the time they make Season 2, and deliver something truly amazing.
The Verdict
American Gods hit some incredible highs in Season 1, and its strengths far outshine its weaknesses. From excellent, colorful performances from its array of talented performers to moving, conversation-sparking imagery, this is a show that swung for the fences. But pacing issues and story imbalances caused Season 1 to not hit every mark it attempted to, though we have faith that the creative team behind the series will learn from those experiments and deliver an even stronger second season.
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