Do we like Mr. Wednesday?
A character from American Gods (2017–2021)
Our score: 3 out of 10. Great company, terrible to rely on. He's charming and funny, but he lies, manipulates and uses people. We'd enjoy the road trip and keep a hand on our wallet.
Mr. Wednesday is a rumpled, charismatic old grifter. He meets Shadow Moon, an ex-convict, just after Shadow is released from prison and finds his life in ruins. Wednesday offers him a job as driver and bodyguard. Shadow turns it down, then ends up taking it. Wednesday takes him on a tour of America's forgotten corners to recruit other Old Gods, the deities that immigrants brought with them and that people have stopped worshipping. The Old Gods are being pushed aside by the New Gods, who represent technology, media and globalization.
Wednesday is the show's best company. He is theatrical, quotable, fond of food, drink and company, and he can talk his way into or out of anything. He also keeps most of his plans to himself. He tells Shadow only what he needs to know, and he is relaxed about breaking rules and bending the truth, which is why he scores so low. He is fun to follow but not easy to trust.
He is Odin, the Norse All-Father, and he turns out to be Shadow's father. In Neil Gaiman's novel, the war he is selling to the other gods is itself a con. He plans to profit from the bloodshed, and he is willing to sacrifice others to do it. The warmth he shows Shadow is real, but it never outranks the plan.