American Gods Review Episode 1×01 “The Bone Orchard”

American Gods gives us a blood good, mind-bending series premiere

Bryan Fuller and Michael Green have created a new series for Starz based on Neil Gaiman’s international best-seller of the same name. Telling the story of Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), an ex-con who finds himself caught in a world and a war he doesn’t understand, Shadow winds up as Mr. Wednesday’s (Ian McShane) bodyguard. Suddenly magic is real and the Old Gods are battling both irrelevance and the rise of New Gods like Technology and Media.

Bryan Fuller and “American Gods” chose to begin their new series with a “Vikings” like opening. Mr. Ibis tells the story of warriors landing in the new world where they are promptly repelled by the natives. They’re far from home, however, and their own Gods don’t seem to hear their need to get out. Suddenly we’re with Shadow Moon, who is being let out of prison early following the untimely death of his wife just days before his scheduled release. Shadow meets the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday and through the latter’s manipulations ends up as his bodyguard.

While Shadow adjusts to his new life and tries to come to grips with his wife’s death we also meet Mad Sweeney, the world’s tallest leprechaun, and Bilquis, Goddess of Love. And you maybe don’t want to go home with her. When Shadow is attacked and almost killed his first day on the job, we’re wondering if Shadow (and us) really know what we’re in for.

Shadow Moon is out of prison, but still, finds himself locked up in mystery

Thus far the show has begun to introduce an eclectic mix of characters, but none more enigmatic than the rather quiet Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle). Even at the outset, we see Shadow merely existing in his world. He is there, but how much is he participating in the world around him? Even in prison, Shadow looks pretty badass, but we don’t get the sense he’s a top dog in the prison from his interactions with the other prisoners, and he doesn’t seem to have any sort of connection to anyone except his cellmate. He’s on the outside looking in. For all intents and purposes, Shadow’s life is not one he’s living.

We might even call him a little naive. Mr. Wednesday shows up randomly in a bathroom after Shadow meets him on a plane and he’s nonplussed. What gives, Shadow? One flaming-eyed bull tells you-you believe and you’re all in? Shadow sees how easily Wednesday cons the gate agent at the airport. Mad Sweeney tells him Wednesday is a con man. Shadow’s conned into working for him when Wednesday manipulates Shadow’s coin toss and tells him himself he’s a swindler- and yet Shadow agrees to work with him and even gives Wednesday his loyalty at the risk of his own life. What does that say about Shadow Moon?

But we’re going to stick with him. Shadow Moon doesn’t seem like much of anything yet, but it’s clear he’s got something. For one, we love a good mystery and he’s certainly mysterious. We know he’s in prison, but why is he there? Shadow’s lack of reaction to almost everything going on around him is simultaneously amazing and maddening. He speaks, but part of his allure is that he seems content to observe what’s going on around him rather than have an immediate gut reaction. This makes the scenes where he does react more potent. Shadow, screaming over the valley in anguish, or speaking to the buried body of his dead wife in one of the longest speeches he gives in the episode have more punch because of his silent non-reactions elsewhere.

“I just want to come back better than when I went in. I want to be part of your history.” ~ Shadow Moon

Shadow’s dreams are another part of his mysterious allure. The episode’s title, “The Bone Orchard”, is lifted right from a recurring dream he has both in prison and on a plane as Shadow is dreaming of a tree surrounded by bones. From the opening, steeped in Norse mythology, to the noose imagery, the bone orchard and characters who claim to be leprechauns, (and the show being called American Gods, after all) mythology is playing a huge role in the show. How is Shadow connected, since he’s the one consistently dreaming of these things? Is he actually hanged by Technical Boy at the end of the first episode, or is it all part of this extraordinary dreaming by Shadow Moon? Will Shadow’s dreams continue to foreshadow doom?

Blood, mythology & surrealism, oh my!

From the bloody violence of the Viking opening, “American Gods” establishes exactly what sort of show it will be. There’s a surrealism and heightened reality to the storytelling which is only amped up by the visuals that are classic Bryan Fuller. Take the opening sequence: Vikings, storming the beach of the New World before they’re stopped by hundreds of arrows straight into Viking at the front, which of course leads to sacrifice and an all-out bloodbath where we’d love to see the bill for dyed karo syrup from the makeup department. This is something we’ve seen in “Hannibal” from Fuller before, and we’ve even seen it on Starz before as “Spartacus” fans will remember.
The cinematography in the fight scenes alternates between frenetic energy and slow motion. These special effects let you participate in the fights in a way that though you’re viscerally experiencing the violence, the surrealism has a distancing effect. When you’re watching fountains of blood leap forward, their red color and viscosity punched up to the nth degree we certainly winced and vocalized but never had to turn away. Watching an arm sail through the air in an opening in slow motion right after someone takes a sword and bursts someone’s skull open like a water balloon was a bold choice. The safe bet is they’ll continue in this stylistic vein, and it’s working. We actually even wanted a longer fight between Shadow and Mad Sweeney, though where the editing cut was at the end of that fight was the best part about it.

“Wednesday is forgotten history. He’s old. He should just let it happen. We are the future, and we don’t give a f*ck about him or anyone else like him anymore.” ~ Technical Boy

Some of our favorite effects moments came in the scene towards the end of the episode where Shadow Moon met Technical Boy. By leaching scenes of color, or bumping them up it gives each scene and each interaction with a new God a completely different feeling. Technical Boy’s color story is white, and the pixelation effects are the coolest in the episode. The heavy reliance on the technological effects, the brightness, and especially the hum and clicks of the sound design in the presence of this “God” lends this scene something sharply contrasting to the rest of the episode. Fuller & Green establish this second “world” with a shiny newness that very clearly establishes the contrasts between the old and the new. These new Gods aren’t afraid to show their face, they’re not afraid to show what they are. Do you think this overtness makes them more or less sinister than the mysterious Wednesday?

Bilquis lays herself bare in more ways than one in her unusual approach to worship

Let’s talk about it: The show has its water cooler scene for sure. Yetide Badaki makes the biggest impression of the episode as Bilquis, Goddess of Love. This Goddess isn’t quite content with hearts and flowers, though. The strength of this scene was in the details. Firstly, hats of to the head of makeup Colin Penman. You hear “Goddess of Love” and we’d expect some overly made up, overblown, trying-to-hard Goddess. But that’s not what they’ve done here with Badaki, they’ve gone in the complete opposite direction. Her face is bare and still remains absolutely gorgeous. The lack of makeup on her makes her seem tentative and broken at first. When she asks her date if he likes her, with the plaintive hitch in her voice, we see that these Gods are broken. They’re needy and hungry for exactly what Bilquis demands- Worship.

“Daughter of the south, storm queen on a throne of honey! Secret owner of all gold! I am yours, my beloved Bilquis!” ~ Bilquis Worshipper

Then the set Bilquis absorbs that worship in- Red, with red candles, red bedding, red walls, red curtains- This guy had what was coming to him, honestly, who walks into a boudoir like that and doesn’t have his suspicions? But it all worked, down to him lighting a red candle right in front of statues and icons of Bilquis herself right before she absorbs him. If we had one complaint it was that we wish he acknowledged the fact that he was giving her his body before he went. He glanced at her, yes, but it’s a minor quibble in a scene that really clued us into what the Gods need in this world. The set here seemed stark, especially when contrasted with Jack’s Crocodile Bar in the next scene, but they were exactly what was needed, so hats off to Patti Podesta, Kevin Phipps and Rory Cheyne.

Final Verdict: “The devil is in the details,” in the American Gods premiere: Dazzling effects, mysterious character development, and otherworldly surrealism create a whole that we’re interested in sticking with.

The series premiere of American Gods is off with a bloody and godly bang. After we spent the first fifteen minutes thinking maybe it would’ve been better had we been watching it high, we really got on board with the offbeat storytelling of Pushing Daisies and the blood of Hannibal. The Gaiman novel, with its rich mythology and grotesque situations, so far seems to be a match made in heaven with Fuller.

One of our criticisms is that the opening scenes are a bit slow and it takes a little time to build anything. The show finds its proverbial footing once Shadow meets Mr. Wednesday. By then we were drawn into the various mysteries the show was setting up and started putting together theories on the mythology and were well on board.

The way the mythology is established, slowly and through the mysterious development of each character brought up question after question, especially about our two lead characters Mr. Wednesday and Shadow Moon. Why was Shadow in prison? What’s his specific fascination with coin tricks? Will Mad Sweeney’s gold coin falling into Laura’s grave mean trouble or good for Shadow Moon? How was Wednesday able to find Shadow so easily, and what is their connection? What do Shadow’s dreams represent and will he continue to have a connection to the world of the Gods through his dreams? Why is Shadow so accepting of these crazy magical circumstances around him?

American Gods establishes a surrealistic effects-laden visual style with scenes unique to each of the Gods it’s introducing. Even though each scene was stylistically unique, the way Fuller and Green use the treatment of the effects to establish new vs. old, ancient story vs. dream world, made it feel like a cohesive whole. When we’re looking at the production design of Bilquis’ boudoir, drenched in red and covered in candles set before ancient statues and contrast it with Technical Boy’s clean, stark pixelated world, each carefully considered piece, bit of makeup, hair design, set dressing, color saturation works to highlight the differences between the two worlds. It’s a great way to begin.

Though we’ve talked about the style of the fights and blood, whether or not it’s too much is still up in the air. In the premiere, there was enough mysterious storyline to keep us guessing, and by the end, we weren’t even really sure if Shadow Moon was being hanged by Technical Boy or whether it was part of his nightmares. Technical Boy’s henchmen being invisibly sliced from stem to stern and exploding into a fountain of blood and viscera started to walk a fine line between, “Whoa!” and, “Is that a spine? What’s going on?” Gaiman’s original novel has violence to spare, but there are some additions here. It will be interesting to see how much is added further down the road.

The casting thus far has been pretty spot on, with Ian McShane getting top honors as the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday for the premiere. Is there anyone else you’d really want to turn to play a roguish, complex man who you’re sure is some sort of a villain but you’re not sure how? We see the con, but honestly he’s so good we don’t even care. It’s the one way we’re really in the same boat as Shadow Moon. To see the switch from the doddering old man at the airport counter to the manipulative mastermind at Jack’s Crocodile Bar is an exercise in watching a great actor do what he does best. The rest of the cast does admirable work as well, and it’s great to see other actors from the “Fullerverse” even in small roles. Who else loved seeing Beth Grant in Jack’s Crocodile Bar?
We’re definitely on board with American Gods after the premiere. There were so many things we loved, the cast, the initial setup of the characters and the seeds of a story that made us start thinking question after question. The effects are brilliant and the show definitely has a style. Occasionally we felt like we weren’t smart enough to watch it, but then we just let it go and enjoyed.

Question after Question…

• Did you notice the crow flying over the prison while Shadow Moon was working out? Anyone a fan of Norse Mythology?
• What’s Mad Sweeney’s deal? How did he find Shadow and Wednesday?
• The coin tricks from Sweeney and Shadow make us feel like there needs to be a lot more to them, but we can’t figure out what!
• They really hit us over the head with the hanging this episode, huh? What’s that about?
• We were torn between absolute disgust with Audrey and feeling terribly bad for her. Where did you fall on the spectrum?
• Who else will appear from the “Fullerverse”?

American Gods returns next Sunday May 7th, 2017 at 9ET/8C on Starz.