15 Best TV Moments Of 2017 (So Far)

3. The Barroom Brawl - American Gods

American Gods Mad Sweeney Shadow Mr Wednesday crocodile bar
Starz

Episode: The Bone Orchard

Translating the work of Neil Gaiman from page to screen is no easy feat, especially when its something so sprawling as American Gods, but it helps when you've got Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) and Michael Green (Logan, Alien: Covenant) at the helm. Add in a cast including Ian McShane and Ricky Whittle, and you've got the weird, wonderful series that is American Gods.

The show has had some real success in adding original material to Gaiman's work, not least in the Laura-centric episode 4, but a real standout comes in the pilot.

It's a gorgeous episode anyway, but we're really plunged into this world in Jack's Crocodile Bar, when Shadow has a bar fight with Pablo Schreiber's Mad Sweeney. It's a great moment in the books, but elevated in live-action: the fists fly in fast and furious fashion, the crocodile provides an indelible backdrop, and McShane just calmly watches it unfold.

It's the turning point of the episode, where you truly get onboard or get off: it sets up the working relationship between Wednesday and Shadow, introduces us to one of the many strange characters we'd come to now, and establishes Shadow as a hero worth rooting for, all soundtracked by a combination of Aiko Aiko and I Put a Spell on You.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.