American Gods Recap: The Bone Orchard

Season 1/ Episode 1/ Starz **Spoilers coming at you like a barrage of raining arrows** Starz’s American Gods makes it clear what kind of show it’s going to be right in the first few minutes. The opening scene starts with what will presumably be the first of many stories of a group of people coming to America and bringing their respective gods along with them. In the first episode, we’re introduced to a group of Vikings whose ship lands off the coast somewhere. As the Vikings bring their ship in, they do as expected and attempt to explore the lush greenery of this new land they’ve discovered. However, as soon as one of them takes half of a step off of the beach, at least 50 blue-feathered arrows fly out of the woods and land straight in his chest. Not a single one hits the ground or anyone else. Dude’s basically a pin cushion. After realizing they clearly aren’t meant to go any further, the Vikings decide to turn back home. Unfortunately, there’s not enough wind to set sail so they turn to their god – Odin. Their first attempt to get Odin’s attention involves going down the line and poking each other’s eyes out to honor him. No luck, sadly. [But it did help set a precedent of how violent the show can be just for the sake of shock value.] They soon realize that the best way to honor a god of war is to hold battle. With no one left to fight, the Vikings have the first-ever Shirts vs. Skins match on American soil.

It’s pure carnage, people. There’s actually a scene where a sever…