American Gods Season 3 Fixes The Biggest Problem With The Book

American Gods Season 3 Fixes The Biggest Problem With The Book

By focusing on characters besides the chief protagonist Shadow Moon, American Gods season 3 has addressed the main problem with the original novel.

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American Gods Season 3 Fixes The Biggest Problem With The Book

Warning: The following feature contains SPOILERS for American Gods season 3.

By focusing more on its supporting cast, season 3 of American Gods has corrected one of the biggest problems with the novel that inspired it: the central character of Shadow Moon isn’t as interesting as the gods manipulating him. While it is unclear if this decision was by design or necessity, the end result has ultimately been to the benefit of the struggling series.

It would be an understatement to describe American Gods as a troubled production. While American Gods season 1 was a smash hit with viewers and critics alike, earning a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the show began to drop in the ratings amid drama behind the scenes. Each season to date has seen a new showrunner placed in charge of the series, which in turn has led some actors to quit the series in protest out of loyalty to the ousted producers and other actors like Orlando Jones being fired or not having their option picked up for the next season. This may have been why American Gods season 2 began to migrate further away from the central story of the original book, devoting whole episodes to the life of Mad Sweeney and the death of Thor since they could no longer move forward with the original plans for Gillian Anderson’s Media or Kristin Chenoweth’s Ostara.

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American Gods season 3 has continued this trend toward moving away from the central plot of the novel and its focus on ex-con Shadow Moon. While the bulk of the season 3 premiere was based around Shadow’s long-awaited arrival in the small town of Lakeside, Wisconsin, the plot quickly put Shadow back on the road searching for the African love goddess Bilquis. This is probably because the portions of the book set in Lakeside are the slowest sections of American Gods because Shadow Moon was an everyman character to whom things happened rather than an active character who made things happen. While the action of the novel eventually develops Shadow into an active protagonist, the Lakeside sections of the book see him trying to keep his head down and blend in until Mr. Wednesday showed up to tell him where to go next, which does not make for exciting television.

By contrast, American Gods has come to spend more time after the season 3 premiere focused on members of the ensemble other than Shadow and revealing what they have been doing. These subplots have greatly expanded the world of American Gods, with Shadow’s dead wife Laura spending several episodes in Purgatory after her efforts to resurrect the leprechaun Mad Sweeney accidentally ended her unlife and sent her spirit to a celestial bus station. The show has also shown more of the secret life of America’s Odin, Mr. Wednesday, as he set about rescuing his ex-wife, the harvest goddess Demeter, from a Florida nursing home.

While fans of the original novel may grouse about these deviations from the central story, it was always author Neil Gaiman’s intention that the American Gods show build upon the book and tell new stories born of the same core idea of old gods finding new life in a new world and new gods being born of humanity’s creative spirit. The move away from the main storyline has also enabled the series’ producers to roll with the ever-shifting cast and not worry about the problems caused by core characters suddenly being unavailable. If nothing else, it’s much more fun to watch Mr. Wednesday drawing power from the blood spilled in the mosh pit at a Viking-themed death metal concert than Shadow Moon moping around Wisconsin trying not to look suspicious.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/american-gods-season-3-better-book-fix/

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