Wildly inventive, insane, absurdist look at the role of Gods in the history and life of America, and a coming war between the old pagan Gods, and the newer Gods that supplanted them.
Visually breathtaking, filled with juicy, quirky performances this is a show where it's very hard to know exactly what's going on a lot of the time, or how all these surreal, disparate characters and strange piecemeal history fit together. And yet it's compulsively watchable – sexy, funny, violent, scary and occasionally moving. It's as out there as any show has ever been, matching Twin Peaks and Legion for sheer brave oddness,
Ian McShane is wonderful (as usual) as a manipulative God of some sort (to be revealed – and pleasingly not quite what I expected) who takes on a young man fresh out of jail - 'Shadow Moon' - as an apprentice. But what that apprenticeship means and where that journey will lead is a deep mystery to both us and Shadow. Along the way there are wives risen from the dead, unlucky leprechauns, 20th century media gods like Lucille Ball and David Bowie (a terrific Gillian Anderson looking like she's having a lot of fun). There are slave rebellions and appearances by multiple Jesuses (Jesi?). And that's just the tip of the hallucinatory iceberg.
The one thing the show lacks is a ton of emotion to match its many other strengths. It has affecting moments here and there, but in general it's much more a head trip than a heart trip. And that keeps it from having quite as much power as it keeps threatening to. It's always fascinating, but rarely all- consuming in the way of those very rare pieces that challenge the mind, but also still pull at the heart.
But I'll take gorgeously shot, inventively directed, super-smart, well acted, beautifully written, intellectual madness over plain old kitchen sink drama every day, if nothing else because it's very, very rare to see it done this well.
Visually breathtaking, filled with juicy, quirky performances this is a show where it's very hard to know exactly what's going on a lot of the time, or how all these surreal, disparate characters and strange piecemeal history fit together. And yet it's compulsively watchable – sexy, funny, violent, scary and occasionally moving. It's as out there as any show has ever been, matching Twin Peaks and Legion for sheer brave oddness,
Ian McShane is wonderful (as usual) as a manipulative God of some sort (to be revealed – and pleasingly not quite what I expected) who takes on a young man fresh out of jail - 'Shadow Moon' - as an apprentice. But what that apprenticeship means and where that journey will lead is a deep mystery to both us and Shadow. Along the way there are wives risen from the dead, unlucky leprechauns, 20th century media gods like Lucille Ball and David Bowie (a terrific Gillian Anderson looking like she's having a lot of fun). There are slave rebellions and appearances by multiple Jesuses (Jesi?). And that's just the tip of the hallucinatory iceberg.
The one thing the show lacks is a ton of emotion to match its many other strengths. It has affecting moments here and there, but in general it's much more a head trip than a heart trip. And that keeps it from having quite as much power as it keeps threatening to. It's always fascinating, but rarely all- consuming in the way of those very rare pieces that challenge the mind, but also still pull at the heart.
But I'll take gorgeously shot, inventively directed, super-smart, well acted, beautifully written, intellectual madness over plain old kitchen sink drama every day, if nothing else because it's very, very rare to see it done this well.