American Gods
Amazon Prime, Mondays
One of the most interesting side effects of the current boom in global TV drama, driven by streaming services like Netflix, and the massive investment in scripted series by the likes of HBO, Sky and the BBC, is that we’re getting to see some really weird shit. Earlier this year, Fox aired its mindbending version of Marvel comic Legion, which I declared in this column to be the oddest, most wildly inventive new series of the year. Oh, but little did I know what bizarre treats were in store in A mazon Prime’s new project, American Gods, which just started this week. I should have guessed that the creative combo of maverick fantasy author Neil Gaiman (who wrote the book) and uncompromising showrunner Bryan Fuller would produce exceptionally peculiar results. After all, Fuller’s three seasons of Hannibal are the goriest, most out-there drama ever seen on US network TV. And American Gods is made for US cable channel Starz, known for its gratuitous nudity, swearing and violence. The resulting show is stunning. The whole concept – strapping dude (Ricky Whittle) leaves jail and becomes bodyguard to a creepy ancient God (Ian Mcshane), who wants to defeat the new deities of technology and media – takes some getting used to. Then, as soon as you clap eyes on the actual show, it delivers a bloody battle in which people get sliced in half, before moving on to what must be the most outrageous scene of sexual coupling in TV history as – spoiler alert – the Goddess of Love consumes her latest romantic conquest via her vagina. And there are seven more hours of this giddily bonkers stuff, thank god(s).