'American Gods' Episode 1: 'The Bone Orchard' Review

Image from Geeks of Doom

By Darian Scalamoni

            It’s been a while since I’ve done TV reviews and I want to start this one by saying with all the television on, I’m going to do my best to review them as best I can but it’s hard to keep up. Having said that, I have some time and really wanted to talk about the series premiere of the Starz series, American Gods. Other shows I’m currently watching include Fargo and Genius, both of which I will write full season long reviews when the shows complete their respective runs.

            Having said all that, American Gods is based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name and though it’s definitely not his first work to be adapted, it is an ambitious book that had a long journey to the small screen. HBO had interest in bringing the bestselling work to TV in 2011 but had many issues before Starz acquired the show’s rights in 2014. Now, we’re here in 2017 and the show was finally broadcast last night on the premium network and from what I’ve read in other outlets, it seems the television adaptation is a bit different than the source material. I have not read the book though so I’ll be sticking to the show’s approach and story when writing reviews.

            The show follows Shadow Moon, an ex-convict who is released from prison and given the news that his wife was killed in a car accident. Not soon after, his life will change forever with his meeting of a mysterious man on a plane by the name of Mr. Wednesday. It’s clear that Gaiman has given the showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green the reins to embrace the alluring and engaging elements. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life, for example, one of the characters we’re introduced to named Bilquis, an ancient goddess of love and sex in a scene in which she’s having sex with a man who she then literally swallows whole into her vagina. It’s brow-raising and shocking to say the least but as I just said, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

            We’re also introduced to other Gods such as Technical Boy, a New God of the Internet and technology who creates these bit-by-bit surroundings around Shadow when trying to get information on why Wednesday hired him. His henchman of sorts called, “The Children” are faceless creations that Tech Boy can digitize into the physical world. They’re ordered to not only kill Shadow but “destroy” him as well. This leads to him getting beaten to a bloody pulp and then lynched. Shadow is eventually saved from something or someone that is not revealed to us by the end of the first installment.

            Beyond all that I’ve disclosed above, it’s hard to grasp much of a true story format by the show. It looks to be a show that is more thought-provoking than any on television today. It’s grotesque, gory, hilarious and outlandish. I’m more intrigued than understanding it thus far but the cinematography, music as well as performances from Ian McShane, Pablo Schreiber and Bruce Langley gives me hope moving forward.

7/10