This week is the second episode of American Gods, and the show is continuing to fire on all cylinders. Much like Shadow Moon, we are being thrust into the world of Old and New Gods with no help from a cryptic Mr. Wednesday. Last week we were introduced to a few of the Old and New Gods in the inaugural episode of the new series based on Neil Gaiman’s classic novel. The second episode, “The Secret of Spoons” continues the craziness from the first episode and continues to push the envelope, introducing new characters and thrusting us deeper into this new world through the eyes of Shadow Moon as he experiences the madness unfold around him.
Here are a few highlights from tonight’s episode “The Secret of Spoons.”
1. Slave Ship Insurrection and The Introduction Or Mr. Nancy.
The episode opens once again with the theme of “Coming to America.” This time instead of showing Vikings embracing their devotion to Odin, we see the tales of a slave ship as they embrace the dreaded Middle Passage. One of the slaves prays to the African god Anansi. The trickster god Anansi has always been in mythology as a spider. As the slave continues his prayer of hope to Anansi, we see a spider (some pretty good CGI) and then walks down one of the Old Gods Mr. Nancy (Orlando Jones). Mr. Nancy delivers a great monolog to the African captives that pretty much criticizes the treatment of Africans and African Americans since they have arrived at the New World. He touches everything from slavery, to Jim Crow, to even the recent onslaught of police shootings that many young African Americans have suffered through. His speech inspires the slaves to revolt against their Dutch captors, even if that means burning down the ship and killing themselves. Mr. Nancy’s power is with his words as he was able to convince them to kill their masters at the expense of killing themselves.
2. Shadow Moon’s Suffering Continues
Shadow Moon, having almost been hanged by the Technical Boy last week has to go to his wife’s old home to put everything in order since she left. He’s at an empty house. His “welcome home” balloons have deflated and he’s left with an empty home now that his wife’s dead. When he sleeps, he still sees her in his dreams. It’s going to take a long time for him to get over this. As Shadow is cleaning up, he collects his wife’s personal effects from when she died. He goes through her phone and realizes that the affair was not a onetime thing as she has been sleeping with his best friend for quite some time as he sees them exchanging text messages. He even sees a picture message he sent her, showing his erect member. Of course, that’s a sight a husband cannot get out of his head, so when he stares at the picture of him and his wife, he just simply now envisions the picture of his friend’s penis. Sucks to be this guy!
3. Media Makes Her Appearance
Shadow has to go on a shopping run for Mr. Wednesday. As he goes to the nearby bog box store, he sees I Love Lucy on the flat screens. At first, it’s just aa regular show, but then he notices that Lucy is talking directly to him. There we are introduced to one of the New Gods, Media (Gillian Anderson) who remarkably looks just like Lucy Ricardo from the old TV show. Media actively tries to recruit Shadow to the side of the New Gods, but he refuses. Media explains that she is the future as now the world literally worships media. Media is less aggressive than the Technical Boy, which means she might be even more dangerous. Gillian Anderson naturally shines as the New God.
4. More Bilquis
Last week, we were treated to the crazy scene involving Bilquis, who after having sex with a Tinder date swallows the unsuspecting person into her vagina. It was jaw-dropping and visually impressive. So, of course, we are going to get more of that. This week, there’s a montage of Bilquis engaging in sex with multiple partners, both male, and female, and each one of them gets swallowed up by her. I highly doubt this is something that we can get used to seeing as it’s still crazy!
5. Introducing Zora
When Mr. Wednesday and Shadow make it to Chicago, we are introduced to a few more Old Gods. Mr. Wednesday is fond of Zorya Vechernyaya. She and her sister Zorya Utrennyaya. Stay in their apartment with their third sisters who remains in her room, “sleeping.” For some reason, they are keen on her staying in her room sleeping. Something big must be going on with the third sister.
6. Introducing Czernobog
Mr. Wednesday must be desperate if he’s recruiting Czernobog. The Old God’s first reaction when meeting Mr. Wednesday is to throw a lamp at him. There’s obviously some bad blood between the two. When they all have dinner together, Czernobog tells Shadow tales of him smashing cows heads with his hammer. It’s clear he enjoys the idea of slaughtering things. After refusing Mr. Wednesday, Czernobog agrees to join him on his quest, only if he plays Shadow in a game of chess. Of course, there is a catch. If Shadow loses he’ll bash his brains in. Of course, Shadow loses the match, so next week, he promises to kill Shadow. How will he get out of this?
