American Gods Review: Head Full of Snow (Season 1 Episode 3)

American Gods Season 1 Episode 3, “Head Full of Snow,” is perhaps the most disjointed of the series yet.

While not particularly plot-driven, at least not until the third act, “Head Full of Snow” has the responsibility of setting the stage for episodes. If this feels familiar, that would be because that is what American Gods has done most primarily in these first three episodes: putting pieces on a board.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is, at times, a bit disorienting.

The series, however, is still being very deliberate in how much Shadow Moon (played by Ricky Whittle) is allowed to know in the realm of gods and myth.

What little the show offers supernaturally to Shadow, on the other hand, is not done solely for the sake of stylistic flourishes or letting Shadow in on the show’s larger mythology.

Instead, it is presented here to gauge how much he is willing to dive into the weird and where his faith lies in the world. American Gods, for the most part, uses it to further explore Shadow and what he believes in.

The answer to that is what we always assumed it would be: Shadow believes in love, i.e. his deceased wife, Laura (Emily Browning), which connects to the last shot of her sitting on his bed — and mostly will be continued on Season 1 Episode 4, “Git Gone.”

This the continued theme of the series that your faith and belief in something larger than yourself has a real and tangible effect on the world. It’s neither a good nor evil; simply a thing that is.

You can unknowingly sacrifice yourself to Bilquis because you believe and worship her lust and sexuality; or you can believe in snow and it happens.

In the end, your faith matters and regardless of what kind it is, it just needs to exist in something.

The cold open, for instance, shows Anubis (Demore Barnes), who, unlike some of the other gods that have shown up so far, isn’t trying to trick someone and is instead trying to help the spirit of a woman solely because she believed in him. Again, faith has power and it’s a consistent driving force of the series.

American Gods is never stronger than when it’s having conversational scenes in a car or cafe with Shadow and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane). It is the most alive at these times and the chemistry and banter between the two characters is kinetic and electrifying that it almost singlehandedly makes up for any shortcomings the series may have.

The exchange at the end of the episode is yet another example of how strong the dynamic and dialogue is between the two.

If there was any one thing that drug the episode down it would be the sequence in the middle featuring The Jinn (played by Mousa Kraish) that feels very much like a cold open that the series didn’t have room for in another episode. That is probably exactly what happened, actually.

It’s a great sequence and has a fantastic sex scene, but it feels entirely out of place thirty minutes into “Head Full of Snow.”

Other than that and some minor disjointedness throughout, “Head Full of Snow”  is the strongest entry thus far and promises potential that won’t come without a reasonable amount of frustration for a show such as this.

Some Stray Thoughts:

• More Egyptian mythology, please
• So much — and yet not enough — of Ian McShane shamelessly hitting on Cloris Leachman. More of that, too.
• Surely someone saw Shadow cursing at a bank video camera, right?
• Gillian Anderson was sorely missing. Please come back.
• “Puppy” is objectively the worst affectionate nickname of all time.

What did you think of this episode of American Gods? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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American Gods airs Sundays at 9/8c on STARZ.

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