I first
heard about this series back when it came out.
I mean, Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me,
Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, Hannibal,)
and Michael Green (Kings) making a
show based on a Neil Gaiman book? Are
you kidding me? However, the fact that
it’s on STARZ meant I wasn’t able to check out its first season until it came
out on DVD. Thankfully, though, I’ve now
had a chance to sink my teeth into this amazing show.
Upon
getting out of jail, Shadow Moon meets Mr. Wednesday, a mysterious man who
keeps strange company and claims to be a god.
Mr. Wednesday offers Shadow a job as his driver and all-purpose
assistant while he (Wednesday) embarks on a cross-country mission. He’s spoiling for a showdown between the old
and new gods and enlists Shadow’s help as he rallies as many old gods to his
side as he can.
Oh man,
this show is a treat. It takes elements
of Full, Green, and Gaiman’s talents to create a visually-arresting,
thought-provoking series with beautiful dialogue and truly inventive
ideas. Fair warning, it’s a very slow
series, in which the journey is just as important as the destination, but I
love every tangent, sidetrack, and story break.
It’s packed with so much awesomeness and creativity, and I’ll happily
follow these compelling characters anywhere they go.
I just
love the idea of gods immigrating to American along with the people of the
countries they’re from, of America shaping and changing the gods by being
there. All the old gods – ex: Anansi, Anubis, Ostera (Easter) – have
assimilated to various degrees, and changes in worship/offerings/sacrifice over
the ages have made a difference as well.
Additionally, we have the new gods, those who were born out of America
itself, such as Media and Technology. I
love seeing them all, and the different forms their divinity takes.
It’s not
all about the gods, though. Shadow
offers us a vantage point through the lens of the human world, someone who’s
seeing these increasingly-insane things and yet still doesn’t know if he truly
believes in anything. He helps us get at
the questions of humanity and gods. What
happens to a god when people stop worshipping them? As all-powerful as they are, do gods need us
more than we need them?
And the
cast, goodness gracious! Both
showrunners have brought some of “their” people to the proceedings. On the Michael Green side, we have
heavy-hitter Ian McShane (Silas from Kings)
as Mr. Wednesday. For Bryan Fuller, we
have appearances by Gillian Anderson, Kristin Chenoweth, Beth Grant, and Tracie
Thoms. Just for added awesomeness, we
also get Emily Browning (Violet Baudelaire from the movie version of A Series of Unfortunate Events,) Pablo
Schreiber (“Pornstache” from Orange is
the New Black,) Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones (he did appear in an episode
of Pushing Daisies, but I know him
best as Irving from Sleepy Hollow,)
and Omid Abtahi (Mockingjay.) Needless to say, everyone is fantastic.
Warnings
Graphic
violence and sexual content, swearing, drinking/smoking, disturbing images, and
strong thematic elements.
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