Monday, May 04, 2015

TV show review: The Almighty Johnsons

I don't know why I hadn't heard about this show earlier. The first I knew about it was when I was in Kansas late last year and heard season 3 was starting. And it sounded brilliant!

Long ago the Norse gods, best known these days for their connection to The Avengers, came down from Asgard and inhabited the bodies of a bunch of worshipers in Midgard (Earth). Whenever someone in those families turns 21 BOOM they're inhabited by a god. It's not a possession. More symbiotic. That person gets that god's considerably lessened powers and becomes trapped in that god's recurring story. Some gods will always be irresistibly drawn to each other no matter what. They will excel in careers related to their god's specialty.

Our story begins when the youngest of the Johnson brothers turns 21. His brothers take him out in the woods, strip him naked, hand him a sword, and let him get struck by lightning. The family oracle and their remarkably young looking grandpa declares Axl Johnson to be the new embodiment of Odin.

The thing about Odin is that if he dies then all of his relatives on Earth will die no matter how remote. On the other hand, if he can find Frigg, his destined wife, then all the gods will get their full powers back.

The show ran for three seasons before getting cancelled. And why it got cancelled is something of a mystery. It's the first show from New Zealand that got picked up in the United States without being completely remade. Luckily, the series had a satisfactory ending.

I marathoned the series on Netflix streaming, doing 3-6 episodes almost every night. Often because they'd end the episode in such a way that would leave me yelling "DAMMIT! Now I have to watch the NEXT episode!" When I knew I should have gone to bed two hours before.

One of the brothers you may recognize from his time spent as one of the good looking dwarves in the Hobbit movies. This explains his on-again/off-again beard, many dwarf and short jokes, and even a reference to the shire.

You don't see me talk about shows in my blog a lot. I'm mentioning this only because I thought it was brilliant and I really think you should get the DVDs or stream it on Netflix. 

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