Since finishing our massive Running Man marathon, we’ve been catching up on a fair amount of American television. Most of it has been stuff I haven’t felt a particular need to write about. You know, the usual network sitcoms and procedurals, and occasional sitcom procedurals (shout out to Brooklyn Nine-Nine!). But then we started watching the eight-episode American Gods, and oh man I knew I was going to have to write about it (ps: how much am I loving eight-episode seasons? a whole bunch, you guys). But this one’s a bit weird because it’s based on a book that I thoroughly love, which itself references much, much older stories that I also thoroughly love. Other shows I’ve written about have also been based on or referenced pre-existing things (like every Netflix Marvel show and Stranger Things, for example), but myths and legends have been a part of my life for even longer than comics and 80s films have. So strap yourselves in because this one’s going to be a bit more personal than usual.
Major spoilers for the first season of the show and minor spoilers for the novel it’s based on, which possibly means minor spoilers for upcoming seasons of the show (plus, some spoilers for some myths and legends, but those have existed for literally thousands of years, so if I spoil those for you, that's on you, not me).
(FYI: I will be using the words “story” and “myth” interchangeably in this entire write-up.)
