American Godsdebuted on Starz one year ago today.
Some year its been.
Life in the United States these past 12 months has been a sputteringly apocalyptic carnival.
Credit: Jan Thijs/Starz
Its now possible to criticizeAmerican Godsseason 1 for being a little too normal, maybe not crazy enough.
And this is a show where the god of the Internet lynches people.
And this is a show where a mysterious woman swallows people mid-coitus via vulva.
The new gods are globalized techno-spiritualists.
Ive never read Gaimans book, though I love him forever for creatingThe Sandmanandhater-shielding George R. R. Martin.
A man named Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) gets out of prison.
He meets a man named Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane).
His wife (Emily Browning) dies.
He agrees to work for Mr. Wednesday, and they drive places.
ButAmerican Gods eight-episode first season spun in multiple directions, with regular tangents away from Shadow and Wednesday.
The dead wife was a constant presence, arguably the main character.
A leprechaun (Pablo Schreiber) kept looking for his lucky coin.
There was a slave ship uprising, a long walk across the prehistoric land bridge.
One of these Coming to America short stories consumed practically a whole episode.
(Or, more precisely, America-making).
American Godswas full of stuff like this.
This wasnt the only Jesus inAmerican Gods.
By the finale, there was a flock of Jesuses, with Jeremy Davies stuntcast as Jesus Prime.
At one point, Shadow and Wednesday go to an American town that worships guns.
There were a lot ofAmerican Godsmoments like that this past year.
Randomly, in the middle of season 1, someone suggested hurling a nuclear bomb at North Korea.
American Gods first season was showrun by a pair of my TV gods.
Bryan Fuller is a minor Comic-Con deity,Pushing DaisiesandDead Like MeandHannibal.
Fuller and Green took Gaimans concept as license for endless stylistic excursions.
They had a big budget, seemed quite willing to blow it every couple scenes.
By the end of the finale he was left staring at everything the gods hath wrought-ed around him.
If this all sounds messy, boy it was.
(If it sounds thrilling, ditto.)
I dont thinkAmerican Godswas the runaway success Starz wanted.
Fuller and Green departed the show, or were forcefully departedunclear.
The series can only change going forward.
Ill wait, intrigued, to see whatAmerican Godsbecomes.
Its first season is already one for the books.
Heres a big-budget nerd property filmed like a Monte Hellman road-trip odyssey.
