‘American Gods 1×02: The Secret of Spoon’ Review
Stars: Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Orlando Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Peter Stormare, Kristin Chenoweth, Gillian Anderson, Cloris Leachman | Created by Neil Gaiman | Developed for TV by Bryan Fuller
American Gods started impressively last week, but now the introductions are over, now the fun begins. Can the second episode live up to the hype created by the first… Mr. Wednesday’s (Ian McShane) road trip has begun, with Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) now driving him to Chicago. Speaking to more of the old gods, he looks to recruit for the coming battle, while Moon is paid a visit by Media (Gillian Anderson).
This week we are introduced to a new bunch of (old) gods, with the first being Mr. Nancy (Orlando Jones) who starts the show off with an impressive monologue to his followers on a slave ship (his introduction to America). The scene stealers in this episode though are Media (Gillian Anderson) and Czernobog (Peter Stormare) who dominate every scene they are in.
While I have read up on who these characters represent, I won’t spoil it. You either know already from reading Neil Gaiman’s book or you’ll enjoy finding out yourself in the show. I am torn between Media and Czernobog though as to who is my favourite god.
Gillian Anderson as Media has one of the best introductions in the show so far, though it is hard to beat Bilquis’ (Yetide Badaki) who also appears again this week. Anderson’s take on Lucy from I Love Lucy is amusing as it is alluring, and it is surprising that Moon didn’t just give in to her job proposal. Luckily for us though his refusal to give in makes sure we get introduced to Czernobog.
Peter Stormare is one of those actors who takes any role and just dominates it. Pure anger and rage, Czernobog will be an instant favourite for horror fans. His talk about how to slaughter cows with his hammer is reminiscent of the Hitchhiker scene in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and I’m sure it will leave some animal lovers feeling a little queasy.
The style of this episode is very reminiscent of Hannibal, and is just as blood soaked. I do hope that Hannibal fans are watching American Gods because there are so many parallels with the style that it is bound to make them happy, and of course long for the show to one day come back. Czernobog may not be Doctor Lecter, but he would give him a run for his money, that is for sure.
The Secret of Spoon feels a more confident episode now that the introductions of last week have taken place. It is interesting to see the cast being slowly revealed, and hints about what is to come. It’ll be even more interesting to look more into these gods and find out more about them. That will no doubt come in time.
For those questioning American Gods and what is going on, this second episode should answer a few questions. It isn’t really that hard to understand, even if you haven’t read the book. I do feel though that for fans of the novel, they are getting more out of the show than the uninitiated. It is easy to see though that there is much more to come from American Gods, and personally I can’t wait.
***** 5/5
American Gods is available on Amazon Prime in the UK on Mondays.