Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: Christopher J. Byrne, Frederick E.O. Toye, Deborah Chow, Staci Passon, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Rachel Talalay, Paco Cabezas, Roadshow Entertainment.
Cast: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Orlando Jones, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley, Mousa Kraish, Omid Abtahi, Demore Barnes, Pablo Schreiber, Ian McShane.
Myths put one in touch with sacred realities, the fundamental sources of being, power and truth. Mythology (from the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos for word or speech, so the spoken story of a people) is the study and interpretation of often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths or the collection of such stories which deal with various aspects of the human condition: good and evil.
An interesting analogy in the second season of American Gods is that of Old Gods, the gods from ancient mythology, and the New Gods, the gods of society, technology and globalisation.
In a religious context, however, myths are storied vehicles of supreme truth, the most basic and important truths of all. By them people regulate and interpret their lives and find worth and purpose in their existence.
Season 2 follows Shadow Moon, an ex-convict who is the right-hand man and bodyguard for Mr Wednesday, an Old God who is in the midst of a war between the Old Gods, the New Gods and those from ancient mythology.
It capably reflects modern society’s obsession with money, skill, media, celebrity and drugs. We were forged in god’s image, but the gods are also made in ours – and in Series 2 the battle moves inexorably toward crisis point as the destinies of gods and men collide.
Adapted from Neil Gaiman’s best-selling novel, this is a ‘second bite of the lavish war between old gods and new gods in this provocative and boundary-busting drama’.
