American Gods Season 3 Finale Review

This is a review of American Gods Season 3 finale, which premiered on Starz on March 21. Warning, spoilers below.

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American Gods has all the parts to create a richly layered story. Visually stunning, well-cast, with nuanced dissections of American culture and what does or does not make something deified at its heart. And yet the sum of its parts just feels lacking. There’s a hollowness behind the stunning visuals, a blandness to the dialogue that leaves you wanting something far more daring, and musical cues that can often make one a little cringe-y. It gets close to the mark, but still misses really nailing the point, smoothing over-complicated story matters with twisty visual stimuli and allusion rather than really standing for anything at its core.

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Focusing so much on the journey of Shadow Moon this season has ultimately weakened the beautiful patchwork quilt this story could ultimately be. A shame, considering we’ve reached the story’s major climax (Czernobog orgasm jokes aside).

It sort of breaks the heart to write this as a fan of the source material and so many people involved. The episode is—for all intents and purposes—ultimately fine, but having read the Neil Gaiman novel and loved the first season, there’s a longing for what American Gods could have really been that you feel in every decision it makes, especially during such a crucial point in the story. In the season three finale, Shadow Moon has finally made it to the World Tree at the heart of America, to hold vigil for his dead father, Wednesday/Odin. He knows Laura has killed Wednesday and lets her go despite Norse code. She connects with Bilquis as Shadow straps himself into the tree for nine days and nights of hell. In the end, that’s all that really happens until both Wednesday and Shadow Moon’s dead bodies disappear. A literal storm starts brewing at the end.

Revelations unfold: Technical Boy is more than he seems, and so is Mr. World—to an extent. Perhaps the most crushing blow of all is that of Shadow coming to understand that this vigil was actually something of a ruse to make Odin return to his most all-powerful form. Betrayal has a way of changing things, and the finale certainly sets up an interesting “what’s to come.” Whether or not it will be able to pull that off is another thing entirely.

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There’s a level of that Tyra Banks “we were all rooting for you!” meme-ified emotion going on in this review. Maybe one can care too much and be unable to just take this finale and this iteration of the tale for what it is and detach it from the history one has with the story. But from a viewer standpoint, it all just feels a bit slapdash and ultimately missing the heart of the story that was set up in its complicated and beautiful first season. Without the fury of someone like Orlando Jones’ Mr. Nancy, the love of the Jinn and Salim, and all the other little tales woven throughout Gaiman’s original story, American Gods doesn’t feel like it’s getting at the full scope of America and what drives it.

And that—especially as a viewer in 2021—is a very frustrating thing. Perhaps for more casual fans of the story, this suffices, but with a story this complicated, is there really such a thing? Only time and the number of people still watching (how poetic), will tell us this.

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WWE Fastlane 2021 Live Results: Riddle Vs. Mustafa Ali For The United States Championship

The final stop on the road to Wrestlemania has arrived. It’s WWE Fastlane, a pay-per-view that offers one final chance to shake up the championship bouts already set for next month’s Wrestlemania. And luckily for you, GameSpot is here and ready to deliver all of the live results you’ll need.

Of course, only one of WWE’s top titles is on the line tonight, with Roman Reigns defending the Universal Championship. Still, the stakes for this show are high as we expect a number of storyline developments that will play directly into the Wrestlemania match card. Will The Fiend return tonight? Will Sasha Banks or Bianca Belair turn heel to cement their feud? Could Daniel Bryan find a way to insert himself into the Wrestlemania main event?

WWE Fastlane 2021 takes place at the Thunderdome, which emanates from the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s the last pay-per-view event at the Thunderdome before WWE heads to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida next month for Wrestlemania. It remains to be seen what the company will do for the pay-per-views that follow.

For American viewers, the main card begins at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT. Those in the UK will have a late night into an early morning as the show starts at 11 PM GMT. On Monday, March 22 at 10 AM AEDT, Australians will kick off their workweek with Fastlane. As usual, there will be a Kickoff Show beginning one hour prior, which will be free to watch on YouTube and WWE’s Twitter.

In the United States, this event will be streaming on both the Peacock streaming service, as well as the WWE Network. It’ll be the last WWE Network event for American fans, as the service’s programming is becoming a Peacock exclusive.

You can take a look at the card for WWE Fastlane 2021 below.

  • Roman Reigns (c) vs. Daniel Bryan (Universal Championship)
  • Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c) vs. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair (Women’s Tag Team Championship)
  • Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews (Intercontinental Championship)
  • Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali (United States Championship)
  • Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
  • Randy Orton vs. Alexa Bliss
  • Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman

It’s worth noting that Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman has been added and removed from the show a number of times. While it’s still not listed on WWE’s own website, it’s being promoted during the Kickoff Show, meaning it looks like it’ll happen tonight, rather than at Wrestlemania.

Below you’ll find our live results from the show, along with notes of any important happenings from the matches. You should also take a moment to listen to the special episode of Wrestle Buddies below, in which Chris E. Hayner and Mat Elfring share their Fastlane predictions.

Kickoff Show

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Riddle vs. Mustafa Ali (United States Championship)

Given how Ali and the rest of Retribution have been booked lately, there was never any doubt that Riddle would retain his title in this match. The group that was introduced as outsiders looking to upset the norm within WWE have been booked as nothing more than enhancement talent with an origin story since not too long after Ali was named as their leader. Riddle got in more offense than expected and the back-and-forth between the two was interesting. Yet still, Riddle finished him off with a top rope Bro Derek.

Result: Riddle beats Mustafa Ali by pinfall to retain the United States Championship

After the match, thankfully, the members of Retribution walked out on Ali, hopefully putting this storyline and faction out of its misery once and for all. Plus Mace and T-Bar took Ali out with a double chokeslam for good measure.

Steam Refuses to Sell Pick-Up Artist Game Super Seducer 3

Super Seducer 3: The Final Seduction, a game where you are said to “learn powerful skills for attracting beautiful women,” has been banned from Steam as the platform “does not ship sexually explicit images of real people.”

Developer Richard La Ruina took to Twitter to share the news, saying Valve will not allow it to be released in any form. Furthermore, the Steam page is gone alongside the “61,700 wish lists.”

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La Ruina shared the message he received from The Steam Team, in which Steam said its decision to remove Super Seducer 3 was final.

“We have finished reviewing your latest build and we aren’t going to be able to ship Super Seducer 3 on Steam. As we have mentioned previously, Steam does not ship sexually explicit images of real people,” Steam wrote. “After multiple product resubmissions and product reviews, we feel we are at an impasse and therefore this decision is final. We do not have any additional feedback or details to share beyond what we have provided in previous conversations.”

La Ruina also explained how Steam rejected both the uncensored & censored (Twitch) versions, never gave any specifics as to what content they didn’t like, blocked the Super Seducer 3 demo which was a censored Gym level, and said that “if I got an ESRB-M rating that would not affect their decision.”

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Despite La Ruina’s promise to “take a butcher knife to the game and take weeks to make all kinds of edits,” Steam still said “we are not going to sell the game or re-review it.”

This isn’t the first time the Super Seducer series has found itself in this situation, as the first game was set to release on PlayStation 4 before Sony decided against it.

Super Seducer: How to Talk to Girls and Super Seducer 2: Advanced Seduction Tactics are both still available for purchase on Steam.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.