American Gods Review: The Secret of Spoon (Season 1 Episode 2)

American Gods Season 1 Episode 2, “The Secret of Spoon,” picks up where the pilot ended and also continues the trend of the series being rather coy as to what it is actually about.

This episode makes it even clearer that the show expects you to have read the book or have a base knowledge of the larger plot at hand. You are supposed to know that certain characters are gods (old or new) and that they are talking about being gods.

The series truly — obviously — doesn’t care if you have no relationship with the source material or if you’ve simply walked in off the street.

This carries on from American Gods Season 1 Episode 1, “The Bone Orchard,” that the show’s biggest flaw is how intensely it keeps the uninitiated viewers at an arm’s length. It’s purposefully obtuse if you aren’t familiar with the novel and annoyingly like an in-joke if you have.

So far, the story is being deliberately plodding and impenetrable. This comes at no fault of Ricky Whittle, who’s doing a great job, but most of the plot is essentially: something weird happens to Shadow and he either barely responds or he asks Ian McShane’s Mr.Wednesday about it and is met with numerous non-answers.

This does not make for very compelling television.

American Gods is likely in a holding pattern in this episode waiting for the next great step it can take, but right now we just have Shadow wondering if he’s losing his mind, which is not the most interesting of plot lines.

The better, more watchable, version of this show is one where Shadow is allowed to know that he’s stepping into this land of gods and myth and is able to react accordingly. Instead, what we’re given for now is mercurial, artsy display of images and events that have no context and, as a result, feel meaningless.

There’s a good show in here somewhere. It’s just being held back by the pacing and the show’s insistence of not cluing in outsiders on what is actually happening, whether you’re Shadow or non-book readers.

The performances and small character moments are the things giving American Gods its weight in this episode. Conversations between Shadow and Wednesday fill the show with such electricity that it completely drives the episode on its own.

Whittle and McShane continue to have amazing chemistry together that results in banter that feels entirely effortless- something that McShane does ever-so-well.

Also, even in her brief scene this week, Gillian Anderson’s Media — presented as Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy — is entirely fantastic. If anything, her scene is too brief and it would be an extra treat to see more of her in this episode.

It’ll be interesting to see going forward what other incarnations we’ll see her pop as. Undoubtedly, Anderson will be a joy and steal the episode, as she most always is.

Peter Stormare as Czernobog and Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya are also interesting, to say the least. Leachman has a very calming effect in her scenes and Stormare is like having a mildly aggressive bull in the room. The combination of the two is very fascinating as a result.

Their entire sequence at the end falls flat, however, because the climax of that all hinges on the audience having any worry over Shadow’s fate, even though we know he can’t be in any actual danger, despite what the episode would have us believe.

American Gods continues to frustrate but it’s not without potential.

Some stray thoughts:

• Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy in the cold open was great. There was some implied knowledge to future events that could be interesting to explore in a future episode.
• Again, more Gillian Anderson, please.
• What was the deal with the dandelion?
• Bilquis is sure eating a lot of people. Does she have an endgame for that?
• There’s something very Ian McShane about Wednesday missing the theatricals of telegrams.

What did you think of this episode of American Gods? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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American Gods airs Sundays at 9/8c on STARZ.

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