Season 1 of the Starz adaptation of "American Gods" kicked off in April, to much hype. With literary god Neil Gaiman in an executive position alongside "Hannibal" showrunner Bryan Fuller, what could possibly go wrong?
Turns out, plenty.
The Spoiler-Free Review
The biggest issue with the first season of "American Gods" is that its story falls short of amazing, and does not even truly feel like an arc, but rather a season's worth of exposition. There are too many characters who play a seemingly insignificant role. The scope of not only the show's mythos but its internal rules often feel flimsy and ambiguous, and even when explanations come, they feel untrustworthy.
Actor Ricky Whittle is not the most charismatic lead, but he does tend to grow on you as the season progresses as the "straight guy" who witnesses utter chaos around him. Ian McShane is immaculate as Mr. Wednesday, whose personality is typical fodder for the type-cast McShane. The most problematic character has to be Laura Moon, whose un-likability is matched only by her screen time.
Criticisms aside, there is something about "American Gods" that captivates viewers and will make you want to see what happens, even if you question why you might have such desires. Perhaps it is Bryan Fuller's surreal, cinematic flare blending with Gaiman's fantasy backdrop that makes the show so enticing. It is good that Fuller will have another season to improve upon what he has started, since Season 2 has already been greenlit by Starz.
Overall, I give Season 1 of "American Gods" 3.5/5 stars.
The Spoiler-Full Review
The show wasted no time in letting the audience know it was going to be surprising and excessive (Episode 101 featured the Queen of Sheba stealing men's youth and energy by absorbing them through her vagina). The show has managed to stay consistently sexually promiscuous and gory throughout, but it often relies on this for its entertainment value, since its story is so lacking.
If Shadow is meant to be the main character, then the show needs to find a way to make him feel important to his own story. He seems more like a witness than an organic being with personality and heart.
More focus seems to be on his wife, Laura, for some reason. We are told that Shadow and Laura love each other, but due to the lack of chemistry between the actors, we do not feel it. This makes her whole quest to resurrect her zombie body rather irrelevant. This is coupled with the fact that she is morally bankrupt, not in a charming, Frank Underwood kind of way. She is simply... for lack of a better term... a bitch.
Laura is also the focal point of two standalone episodes that have little to do with the main story arc (the war between the old gods and the new). In one of these, Mad Sweeney realizes he no longer wants to rip his magic coin from Laura's body (the one thing keeping her alive), because she reminds him of a girl from his long past who believed in leprechauns, Essie McGowan, who confusingly is also played by Emily Browning. Why the same actress plays two different roles is never explained. Is Laura Essie's descendant? She must be, in order for Sweeney to take sudden sympathy for her. This episode was not only a distraction but it was bewildering and boring.
It also exemplifies how the show takes its time getting to a significant plot point by beating around the bush. The central conflict (the war) is only ever talked about throughout Season 1. It is arguable that little headway is actually made in the recruitment to either side until the finale, which ends in more of a Mexican standoff than anything.
The premise is fascinating, that belief is what makes gods as powerful as they are. This brings a sort of abstract concept to a somewhat grounded, modern setting. Often, "American Gods" struggles to find its tone because of this; does it want to be gritty and violent or stylized and campy? The attempts to be both often force the show to come up short.
However, with these fantastical elements comes the need for crisp special effects, an area where the show needs most of its improvement. Constantly we are transported to surreal, dream-like worlds that are mostly the work of CGI. These overly green-screened scenes are problematically unrealistic. As an appreciator of film and television, I try not to undermine a work simply because of limited special effects, but if a viewer is pulled out of the story due to the sub-par visuals, then the onus is on the producers.
We live in the golden age of television, and premium channels like HBO and Showtime host a slate of high-grade entertainment. If Starz is ever going to compete, it is going to have to step its game up, first by fixing its overly sharp frame rate for its shows, and by strengthening the quality of its originals that have mainstream crossover potential like "American Gods."
