It’s difficult to write weekly reviews of a serialized TV show. When writing a review, you typically want to be able to examine all aspects of the thing you’re reviewing. For a TV show or a film, you want to look at the acting, directing, and writing. That last element is particularly difficult when you’re covering a show that airs week-to-week as many of the episodes don’t have a self-contained narrative that can be evaluated; instead, you hope that what gets set up in earlier episodes is paid off in later ones. This is very true for American Gods—a show which has often been criticized for its slow-paced narrative. So, in that light, I don’t think it’s such a great idea to review each episode of the show the way I’d review an entire story. Instead, I am going to simply talk about what I liked and didn’t like in each episode, with an emphasis on what I hope to see the show do going forward. For this week’s episode, “Serious Moonlight,” there’s a lot to like. Sure, the episode still acts primarily as a setup for the rest of the season, but the individual events of the episode are pretty delightful—from finally getting a good glimpse at Lakeside to journeying to Chicago for a Slavic celebration. There’s a lot to like about this week’s episode and a lot to look forward to. (4 out of 5 wands.)

NOTE: This review will feature spoilers for American Gods S03E02. Read at your own risk.

American Gods S03E02 – “Serious Moonlight”
(written by Moise Verneau, directed by Julian Holmes)
Shadow (Ricky Whittle) explores his oddly welcoming new town before heading to Chicago for a gathering of the Old Gods on Koliada, an ancient Slavic festival. At the Koliada, Wednesday (Ian McShane) reconnects with his oldest friend, and Salim (Omid Abtahi) mourns the unexpected end of his relationship with The Jinn. Shadow returns to Lakeside to find the town rocked by the disappearance of a teenage girl—and discovers that he himself is a suspect.