I only ever binge watch TV shows when I’ve been waiting for them for quite some time or if I get an impulse to binge some totally irrelevant show that I care about much less than all the other stuff on my to-watch list. Why I decided to let this impulse take me to American Gods I don’t know but I’m not opposed to it.
I went into this knowing very little about it as I haven’t read the novel nor have I watched any sort of trailer or preview. I knew the basic premise and that it features gods. With eight hour-length episodes the season wasn’t hard to get through and looking at how quickly I managed you’d think I was blown away.
I wasn’t.
That is not to say I didn’t have a good time, but I feel like it’s hard to find a good way to promote or advertise this series because… not much happens in this first season. I’m not even spoilering anything by telling you it’s about an old god recruiting other old gods so they can fight the new gods who want them gone. Also the main character is important somehow but other than accidentally bringing his dead wife back to “life” he doesn’t do much. That’s the whole season. Eight hours summed up in two mid-length sentences.
It’s not the pacing or the tension that brings you forward in this show, if anything, being kept in the dark because we’re so mysterious is just annoying at this point. Shadow Moon might not be allowed to know everything from the beginning but the audience knows so much more than him already by knowing about the show, so being talked to the way Mr. Wednesday talks to Shadow is nothing if not annoying. But I digress, I guess the creators of the show were real confident they would get to expand upon the story in further seasons because no sane person would pitch a show idea with this series.
I must sound like I hated my time watching American Gods and that’s not true, I just mean I can’t figure out a good way to sell you the show other than the masterful story-telling. In every episode is a short (or not so short) segment where a story is told of how gods appeared to people throughout history and how they influenced that history. You know these stories to be true because a character in the show who is also a god tells you about them, and so often you find yourself wishing these segments lasted longer.
The show has a few funny gags and moments which is when I got comfortable with the watching experience, but when Mr. Wednesday torments Shadow about what he believes in it was really losing me. Somehow the dramatic moments didn’t hit as hard because the stakes weren’t properly introduced. I cared much more about the B plot of Laura and Mad Sweeney than Mr. Wednesday’s roadtrip across North America to talk to interesting but mostly unpleasant people as cryptically as he possibly managed.
So the intrigue is kept alive by the way what little solid information we’re allowed to have is presented and that is good story-telling. I could compare it to another show I’ve recently watched called ‘The Leftovers’ that treats its audience much similarly to how Mr. Wednesday treats Shadow Moon, always avoiding real answers, the frustration of not knowing but a reveal feeling like it might just be within reach… but that’s three seasons of The Leftovers and one season of American Gods.
If you don’t care enough to know how this story ends you won’t watch the whole first season, you’ll watch two maybe three episodes, and if you stick with the season throughout you’re probably like me, slightly frustrated but interested enough to forgive the faux mystery and the elusive A plot.
6/10
I know, harsh, I feel cruel too. But if there really will be another four seasons of this I want to leave them room for improvement. Hopefully in the second season they’ll no longer have to introduce the characters and the status quo and we can get down to the real business.
Alarms Ring Out 