'American Gods' Season 3 Episode 1 Spoilers: Shadow Moon is living a lie and Wednesday is out to manipulate him
Spoilers for 'American Gods' Season 3 Episode 1 titled 'A Winter's Tale'
'American Gods' Season 3 premiered on January 10 at midnight on Starz app and the first episode of the show that's back after quite a bit of controversy takes us back to where it all began. Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) is dead set on a fresh start, but can Wednesday (Ian McShane) really stay away? The show is centered on the conflict between the old gods and the new, and Wednesday who is actually none other than Norse god Odin happens to be Shadow's father. After months of staying away from his son, who he had also manipulated and used in many ways over the last couple of seasons, we saw the two part ways in the finale of Season 2, but alas, Wednesday is a creature of habit.
So just when Shadow is settling down in life in Milwaukee with a job where he is clearly appreciated, Wednesday decides that he needs his son's respect and support to win the war that is coming. Of course, for two seasons now, Wednesday has been claiming that this war will bring destruction to the US from the very beginning. However, his claims have always been mostly about his survival and rarely for righteous reasons. That is the reason why we believe that in Season 3, the garb of righteousness that Wednesday had tried to hide in will be destroyed by none other than his own son. At least, the premiere episode of Season 3 indicates as much.
The first thing that Shadow, who now lives as Mike, tells his father is to call him a "Motherfu****". That is how much Shadow has come to hate Wednesday and he continues to not want anything to do with the Old God. However, Wednesday has a different plan. He wants Shadow in Lakeside and there is no way Shadow can do much, not when he is living using an alias. Just in time, we see Shadow get a job that requires background search, the kind that would definitely reveal that Mike was really Shadow and was wanted by law enforcement.
So he gives in and follows Wednesday to meet with an Old God called Whiskey Jack. This is the God that Wednesday hopes would help him but Whiskey Jack instead tells him to "f**k off". Turns out, Odin's followers had killed Whiskey and began worshipping Odin and this had resulted in Odin gaining much power and wealth with no concern whatsoever about the innocent people who were being killed and maimed. Yes, that is exactly what the New Gods are doing to the Old Gods, and no, neither side is righteous. Odin is working solely on self-interest and so are the other gods. It is their survival that they are most interested in and Shadow has come to this realization the hard way.
In addition to this, it is also clear that the show is doing its very best to get back into the good graces of the audience who have almost given up on the title in the face of all the controversies that the show was mired in. The biggest one being the very public break-up between actor Orlando Jones who played Anansi and the showrunners. This followed up by Mousa Kraish's exit left fans with not much to look forward to because these two characters happened to be fan favorites.
'American Gods' Season 3 episodes will premiere at 12 am every Sunday on the Starz App and will then be broadcast on the Starz channel at 8 pm ET.
