American Gods Episode Two: “The Secret of Spoon”

This episode starts with a bang, as we get our first glimpse of Orlando Jones as Mr. Nancy, in a scene I imagine will be a fan favorite. He’s debonair, and filled with a righteous anger as he compels a ship of African slaves to revolt. It’s an astonishing scene that sets the tone for the whole episode.
We rejoin Shadow as he tries to make sense of what the hell just happened to him. Technical Boy and his droogs tried to kill him, and Shadow is pissed as hell. He unloads his anger on Mr. Wednesday. In response, Wednesday doubles his pay and promises there will be vengeance. Shadow, disgusted, goes to his room in the run-down motel to staple his wounds and try to get some sleep. The next day he returns to the home he shared with his deceased wife and takes on the daunting task of boxing up the life they had together. He makes an unpleasant discovery on her cell phone that helps him move on a little. Soon, he and Wednesday are back on the road.
Shadow encounters Media in the guise of Lucille Ball in a store and loses it, asking Wednesday if he’s going crazy. Wednesday shows as much compassion as you’d expect (read, none) and forces them on to Chicago. Here is where we meet Czernobog and his sisters, slavic gods forced to scrape by telling fortunes and killing cattle in a meatpacking plant. Czernobog refuses to join Wednesday, but has a change of heart when Shadow loses a fateful game of checkers to him.
Our Reactions
Meghan: First of all, holy hell that opening scene. I thought Orlando Jones was an excellent choice for Mr. Nancy, but that sealed the deal. I think this “Coming to America” scene was taken from the story of the two siblings from Africa in the actual novel, though it goes quite differently than in the text. Still, it’s a jaw-dropper, full of righteous anger and hard truths, and totally keeping with the spirit of the show.
Again, the music is completely on point. From the brilliant use of Bob Dylan, to the sad little scrap of melody that Czernobog mumbles as he’s playing checkers. I love that we got our first hint of how the show is going to deal with technology. American Gods was published in 2001, six years before the first iPhone was released. The story hinges on a low amount of technology, and I was curious how the show would address things like smartphones. I wasn’t disappointed—Mr. Wednesday simply threw Shadow’s smartphone out the car window. Well, that’s that sorted.
I always imagined Czernobog as older and more…ragged that this casting suggested. I was a fool to doubt Bryan Fuller, because Peter Stormare is perfect in the role. Nasty, yet oddly funny. Even better, are the sisters. Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya is absolutely wonderful, with lovely wit and a beautiful kind of quiet, slightly damaged dignity. She seems regal.
Kelly: This episode made a lot of sense as a next step. After the splashy opening last week, they needed to extend what they gave us there into a fully fleshed out world, and start to reel in the hooks sunk in in the first installment. We move from touring a carnival sideshow to the reality of living the surreal day-to-day experiences that are Shadow’s new normal. Our journey as an audience parallels Shadow’s deeper involvement with Wednesday’s world, and I think a reaction-shot episode was pretty much what we needed at this point. Everyone is sizing each other up, testing the boundaries, seeing what’ll happen—and we don’t know either, which makes it all very tantalizing to watch.
This episode wasn’t only Shadow-centric for his entry into a new world—it was about leaving his old world behind. First and foremost, it was about grief and it’s surreal aftermath, with Wednesday’s world functioning as a fantastic extended metaphor for the misfires of dealing with the world post-trauma—the tricks it plays on you, the things you confront that you swore could never be true, the jagged-edge intrusions of memory. This is most prominently shown through the use of Laura, but I also loved the use of jarring sounds, unexpected images, and apparently left-field interjections that intrude every time Shadow thinks he has a handle on things. (Hi, Gillian Anderson!)
I appreciate that the show wasn’t afraid to work with silence and repressed emotion, especially in the first half of the episode (and wonderfully mirrored in Bliquis’ scenes), allowing fragile moments of peace and memory to shatter with the increasing realization that life not only goes on, but that it insists you go on with it, even as it’s uglier, and stranger, and more pitiless than you knew it could be.
It was a moodier, thornier episode, but in a good way. When we slow down and really look at what’s going on, well, to paraphrase another pretty moody guy—the gods stare also into us. And having their attention is maybe not all it’s cracked up to be.
Book vs. Show (Meghan)
This episode was fairly in line with the book, apart from a few big changes. First, of course, is the introduction of Mr. Nancy—in the book, this doesn’t happen until everyone meets at the House on the Rock. Unveiling him now was smart—there’s a lot of ground to cover between here and there, and with only eight episodes to work with, he wouldn’t otherwise show up until the season ends. They also merged his story with the “Coming To America” slave story, cutting it down and changing the outcome. In the book, two siblings are taken to the new world and sold. The book details the different ways their lives play out, and is one of the best interludes in the novel, but filming it would take the entire hour. They made a smart choice plugging in Mr. Nancy to shorten it in a way that won’t offend book purists too much.
Another big change is Media. In the book, Shadow encounters her in his hotel room when he can’t sleep. Her appearance is easy to write off as a hallucination brought on by exhaustion. In the show, Shadow stumbles upon her in a big department store. She projects herself on every screen, and there’s no mistake that she’s real. The book version feels more intimate and creepy, revealing how Shadow can’t trust even something as mundane as a television. The adaptation loses that a little in exchange for a big, almost sci-fi scene that displays Media’s power. Does it work? I can’t make up my mind. The show does give us a wonderful scene of Shadow freaking out to Wednesday over the weirdness, and they did keep Media’s most famous line in, so there’s that.
I’m glad they showed Shadow at his home with Laura. This scene is breezed over in the book, but it gives viewers a chance to watch him mourn, and come to grips with what really happened. It’s tragic watching him walk into his old house, and Ricky Whittle shows so much without saying a word. We also got a very, uh, 21st century reminder of Laura’s relationship with Shadow’s friend Robbie.
Kelly and Meghan Talk It Over
Kelly: Meghan, I really really agree with you about Mr. Nancy’s intro. I said last week I hoped these vignettes would stick around, and oh man, if they’re all going to be like this, I’m really glad it looks they they will. They really are showcases for the actors, and Orlando Jones was able to create a great, self-contained short-story with a monologue that not only reveals a whole lot about the ethos of the world and the raisons d’etre of the gods, but is also was a 2017 update that works. For book fans, it also functioned as thematic foreshadowing. Plus, it was awesome. Jones did 1000 percent of what was possible with this scene—much like Aubrey’s moment in the graveyard last week. It will be a touchstone as we start to string together plots.
Meghan: There are many “Coming To America” vignettes in the book, and I’m excited to see how they’ll continue to make them work. My only hope is they don’t confuse people who are watching without having read. I do think they’re important, though—they lend a wonderful sense of magical realism to everything. In the main story, there’s Czernobog in Chicago, which I thought it was so well done. What did you think?
Kelly: Czernobog’s world was perfect. I’ve been excited about what they’ve done with a lot of the characters, but none of them were as in line with my imagination. Hats off to the cinematographers and set designers who manage to present such stark contrasts everywhere we go while making it all feel of a piece. There’s Bliquis’ red again, and Shadow’s blood rubbing out on the floor again—but with a filter of cigarette smoke and old sweat over all of it. I loved the sense of timelessness in that setting, a blurring of old and new a mix of resistance to change (“I am a bad cook… It’s beneath me to learn.”) with the undeniable fact that they all have changed. You could really feel the pull with Czernobog, no? The seduction—different than Wednesday, but the same, in a sense—that delicate thread being spun out and drawn around someone more and more tightly. The scene really made me get, in a way that I didn’t in the book, why he and Wednesday are drawn to each other.  It’s like the ultimate challenge for Wednesday, you know?
Oh and can we talk a little about Wednesday? The way Ian McShane is playing him is just brilliant. His sense of fun, his light-hearted preoccupation with nonsense and enjoying himself along the way. At first I thought this was a way to endear him to the audience. But knowing what I know as a book reader, seeing those things said out loud—it makes his character far more sinister than I ever thought. When he’s being charming and silly, I actually find him the most appallingly scary. Ian McShane is the best. Sometimes I feel like the whole design of the show could have been taken from the map of the world written all over his face.
Meghan: Ian McShane is a freaking force of nature. I remember watching him in Deadwood, unable to tear my eyes away. Wednesday feels like Swearinger’s cousin. I just saw John Wick, which had an Ian McShane cameo, and he steals every scene he’s in. The second they cast him, I knew things were going to be okay.
Kelly: Finally,  Bilquis: I feel like she’s the most vulnerable, exposed face of the powers we’ve seen so far, in terms of her motivations. In the book, her storyline is fairly unconnected, but I wonder if in the show they might find a way to reel her in a bit more tightly. She’s such a great character, I always wished she got more time with her in the book.
Meghan: I thought the way they handled her last week was impressive, and I know both Gaiman and Fuller have said they want to expand the roles of the women in the book, so I know they will do more with her. Personally, I can’t wait until we meet Easter!
Kelly: You had some great ideas about the music last week. What did you think of it this week?
Meghan: I am such a music nerd, don’t get me started. They used Bob Dylan. Do I have to say more? I love how they’re leaning hard into the folksy, bluesy side of American rock music. Lead Belly last week, Bob Dylan this week. I’m holding out hope for some Woody Guthrie or Emmylou Harris.
Wisdom of the Gods (AKA Our Favorite Quotes)
“Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a man got f–ked. Now how is that for a story? ‘Cause that’s the story of black people in America. Shit, you all don’t know that you’re black yet. You think you’re just people. Let me be the first to tell you that you are all black. The moment that these Dutch motherf–kers set foot here and decided that they’re white and you get to be black and that’s the nice name they call you…Let me paint a picture of what’s waiting for you in America….”
“This guy gets it. I like him. He’s getting angry. Angry is good. Angry gets s–t done.”
—Two amazing bits from Anansi’s tour de force opening monologue at the beginning. I’ll stop before I transcribe the whole thing.
“They don’t have a clue, they don’t  have a f–king clue.”
“I don’t give a f–k if they have a f–king clue! I want one! Give me a f–king clue!”
“Clues were not in the agreement.”
—Shadow/Wednesday
“Time and attention. Better than lamb’s blood.” —Media
“A sudden onset of strange. Cause for consternation…Seems you have a choice. You may have to consider that you didn’t see what you saw… Or you did. The world is either crazy or you are. Both are solid options. Take your pick. When you decide, come and let me know. But don’t rush into it. Take your time. Difficult decision.” —Wednesday
Shadow has his tea leaves read:
“What does it say?”
“You will live a long life and have many children.”
“…that bad, huh?”
“….”
“…Any good news?”
“Your mother die of cancer.”
“…Yes?”
“You no die of cancer.”
Final Thoughts (Kelly)
We leave Shadow having apparently realized something of the depths of what he’s dealing with after his faceoff with Czernobog, and perhaps having put himself in a situation he can’t get out of. I’m curious to see what they do with the next chapter. If so far we’ve been dipping in our toes and checking the temperature, it’s a full on immersion in the deep-end. We’ll see you at one of the most important places in America next week, friends!
What did you think of episode two?