While I’ve written a review for the first four episodes of American Gods season three, I wanted to go a little further into each episode as it premieres. Episode one of season three is out now. If you haven’t checked out season three’s premiere, you definitely should. I know American Gods has changed hands, had behind the scenes drama, and its share of controversy, but it’s still a great show. And I can tell you that it only gets better from here.
Slight Spoilers
Season three takes place three months after the events of season two. Remember, a lot happened in season two’s finale. Shadow found out Wednesday was his father, it was confirmed Mad Sweeney was dead, and the New Gods made a huge play that essentially sent Odin’s plans into hiding. In season three, we see Shadow trying to leave his father and the god war behind. As we know, that isn’t easy. This is season three. This is the Lakeside story. Shadow’s journey with Wednesday is just beginning
Marilyn Manson Opened the Episode Epically
While Shadow looks for a normal life, everyone else looks for more. More worship. More success. More answers. We see Marilyn Manson open the episode in a beautiful display of heavy metal and Viking worship. This is something that isn’t a thing in the book, but I love the idea of Odin’s berserkers being around in modern-day – not having much else to do than try to live in a world that isn’t the one they’re used to. There’s no real battlefield, but they are still there for Odin. Around when Odin needs extra worship.
Love Ms. World
Dominique Jackson makes her premiere as Ms. World and I love it. Vicious, tactical, and unapologetic. Crispin Glover plays a great Mr. World, but I’m loving Ms. World. Especially her interactions with Technical Boy. I’m glad they kept Technical Boy and they explain the absence of Quantum Boy really easily.
Bilquis and Tech Boy
While everyone is looking to gear up for another round of war, Bilquis is trying to slip back into what she was doing before getting roped into the Old Gods vs the New Gods. I highly enjoyed the scene between Yetide Badaki and Bruce Langley and it’s interesting the spin they’ve taken with a plot point from the book. Technical Boy may have bit off more than he can chew. And Bilquis may have to deal with the consequences of sending someone important to the “vagina nebula”.
What’s Laura Moon Been Up To?
Finally, we see Laura not accepting that Mad Sweeney is dead. We saw Laura carry Sweeney’s body in season two’s finale and the first episode shows what Laura had been doing in regards to Sweeney these past three months. I think it was made very obvious that Laura would not follow Shadow around as she tried to in season two/one and in the books. I’m looking forward to Laura having her own story and maybe people won’t look at her through one-dimensional lens.
Rating: 4.5/5
All in all, I enjoyed episode one. It was a great introduction to the story that will be told in season three. It’s obvious season three has a different feel than the previous two seasons. But, this is a different section of the book. All the characters have a self-realization that they didn’t have previously and this feels like the mature and natural progression of the story.
What did you think of American Gods season three’s first episode?
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