Based on the book by Neil Gaiman, American Gods introduces
us to a world where the supernatural and the real come alive in a commentary on
modern America and the interplay between society, religion and mythology. The opening
scene shows a group of Vikings landing on a beach and being unable to leave
until they appease the god of the winds. How do they do this? Well, realising he
is a war god, they decide to slaughter one another until the wind starts to blow
again. This scene sets up much that is to follow, with the supernatural
elements, bloody violence, and dark satire on human society.
We then cut to modern times and the character of Shadow
Moon. We find Shadow in prison, with only a week to serve on his sentence. However,
following his wife's sudden death he is given early release and leaves to
travel across country to her funeral. Boarding a flight Shadow meet a
mysterious stranger who introduces himself as "Mr. Wednesday". After
being offered a job by the stranger, which he reject, Shadow continues on his
way. Later he is forced into accepting the job, though still unsure exactly
what it entails. He also comes face to face with a real life Leprechaun, able
to produce gold coins from thin air, and gets involved in a bar fight with him.
Finally arriving at his wife's funeral he discovers that she was having an
affair with his best friend. A little depressed he heads away from the cemetery
and this is where the show takes another sharp turn into the surreal. He is
accosted by a digital god, a sort of representation of technological progress
who informs him that the time for "Wednesday" has passed and it is
now his time. He then attempts to kill Shadow.
The show has a great deal of creativity and intelligence.
The opening credit sequence is a psychedelic mash-up of ancient religious
iconography and modern symbols (such as a neon cowboy) that clue you in to what
the show is trying to say. It is essentially about what drive humanity and why
they believe or follow certain things, sex, money, religion, whatever the
ideology might be they are all mixed together in this complex web of society.
There was also great humour. In the opening sequence we see a Viking turned
into a human porcupine by a hail of arrow, and this type of dark humour comes
to typify the show. There are a few great lines and it is clear the show is
going to provide a cast of fun characters as things progress. Perhaps the most
talked about scene will be the one with Bilquis, a sex scene in which a man
gets swallowed whole by the goddess (yes, exactly how you would imagine). It is
a fairly intelligent show, with the kind of oblique references and you will get
a real kick out of it if you have an interested in classical religions and
mythology guessing who the various characters are or represent.
There is also an incredible level of violence, with buckets
of blood being thrown around and heads and bodies being smashed or shredded,
guts flying everywhere. This is a show that doesn't hold back on showing you
what happens when you mess around with gods, and I liked that. If I had one
problem with it then it would be that at times it appeared to shiny and
polished, as much American television does. There is a sense of unreality there
in the way it is presented that doesn't help draw you in. But overall, the
script and acting is solid, and it is such an original story I am really
excited to see where they go with it.
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