Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: american gods, neil gaiman, Review, starz, tv

Some Takeaways From American Gods E102: The Secret of Spoon – "Always better dead than forgotten"

Submitted for your consideration by Bleeding Cool contributor, Ray Flook his thoughts on the latest episode of American Gods.

So for those of you who didn't check-out my thoughts on the first episode of American Gods, "The Bone Orchard" (and why wait when you can read it here), here's how this works: this is pretty much a version of the "thoughts" posts you see on Bleeding Cool, like what Rich is doing with the current season of Doctor Who. To be clear? This isn't a "real review" (pretty sure someone at some point from Bleeding Cool will be doing that) so much as a mental checklist of things to keep in mind when you watch the episode again or watch it later on this week.

Even with that said…

***SPOILERS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!***

…so if you're not familiar with the book or the show, you definitely want to keep that warning in-mind. If you are a fan of the novel or have an idea of what's ahead, then at this point spoilers probably aren't that big of an issue for you storyline-wise but there may be some visual surprises or subtle changes that you'll want to avoid until you see them for yourselves.

Alright, if you're still with us, here's what STARZ has to say about this week's episode, "The Secret of Spoon":

As Mr. Wednesday begins recruitment for the coming battle, Shadow Moon travels with him to Chicago, and agrees to a very high stakes game of checkers with the old Slavic god, Czernobog.

So let's see where things went from where we last left-off…

• Considering that the horrific lynching of Shadow ended the first episode, seeing the year "1697" and that the episode begins on a slave ship were very effective ways to remind the viewer of the brutal intensity from last episode and show them (from the very beginning of this episode) the historical context from which this violence and hate emanated from…ingrained in the fibers of this country's tapestry.

• As played by Jones, Mr. Nancy (Anansi) is a revelation of smoothness and savagery…rage and reason…courage and coercion. With what I'm sure will become one of the most memorable performances in a show already bleeding memorable performances, Jones works the hull of the ship like an alternative universe mash-up of a half-time, locker room coach and motivational speaker…making what is to come even more disturbing (if that's even possible).

• "You all don't know you're black yet." / "This guy gets it. I like him. He's getting angry." / "Let…the mother-fu*ker…burn!" are some of the lines from Mr. Nancy that stuck-out the most.

• Know this might not be the most important thing to take out of that scene, but props to the costuming department for that suit that Mr. Nancy's wearing: stylish and loud; classic and bold. In this case, it's not a matter of whether the suit makes the man or vice-versa: the man and the suit make each other.

• Going from the image of the burning ship to the image of Shadow still hanging perfectly demonstrated the creators' willingness to force the viewer to face and deal with uncomfortable truths…and that those uncomfortable truths are still there even when an episode ends.

• Before I die, I want to be in the kind of love affair that McShane shares with the word "f*ck" because it's a love that dares to be intense, passionate and all-consuming.

• As an aside, the person I was watching the episode with let out an audible "Awww…" when Shadow dropped his towel but the camera didn't follow suit.

• Whittle does an effective job handling another very emotional scene. In this case, the moment when Shadow wakes-up from his "dream" about Laura and starts to cry. From what we've seen of Whittle so far, I'm very interested to see where he takes his Shadow as the storylines heat-up.

• Something about the "Motel America" stuff took me out of the flow of the episode for a bit…

• With the right angles and proper sound, the simple act of packing boxes can be made to look like a savage act of violence…

• I'd like to think that I wouldn't look through her cell phone…but I also like to think that I'm Superman. Sadly, neither one of those is true.

• Nothing good ever comes from a "dick pic" in the long run…

• I know Shadow gets damaged through the course of the book, but shit…we're only two episodes in and Whittle's Shadow already looks righteously fracked-up.

• "If you can't look out for yourself, how the hell are you going to look after me?" Interesting fore-"Shadow"-ing (and yes, I'm proud of that pun)…

• Gillian Anderson's Lucille Ball (Media's form when Shadow and the viewers first meet her) was a welcomed new perspective on where the "new gods" are coming from as both sides gather forces and head towards an inevitable stand-off.

• Anderson actually made me find I Love Lucy sexy for the very first time…

• "There are bigger sacrifices one might be asked to make…bigger than going a little mad."-Mr. Wednesday (McShane), obvious (and ominous) precursor of what's to follow.

• "Charms can be learned, just like anything else."

• So far, American Gods is 2/2 when it comes to episodes I'd need to take a cold shower after watching…

• Cloris Leachman (Zorya Vechernyaya) is an icon of acting, particularly in the field of comedy. Having said that…two things: whenever she appears on screen, I still hear, "Frau Blücher!" and the sound of a horse in my head; and I've always had the feeling that throwing back shots like that wouldn't really be "acting" for her.

• I say this with a mountain of respect for the man as an actor…but Peter Stormare (Czernobog) could play Pope John Paul II and he'd still make The Pope look like he's grimy, dangerous and on his twelfth pack of cigarettes for the day.

• "Family is who you survive with when you need to survive." – Vechernyaya (Leachman)

• I'm not saying I'm going to give-up eating meat…but Czernobog (Stormare) makes a descriptively good argument to at least think about how your food hits your plate sometimes.

• Shadow rocks a perfect "Why'd-You-Take-That-Fu*king-Hammer-Down?" face at the right moment.

• As if I needed yet another reason to hate checkers…

So that's it for this week…remember to keep these things in mind when you watch or rewatch the second episode. I'll be back next week with takeaways from American Gods E103: "Head Full of Snow"

Ray Flook has been a contributing writer to Bleeding Cool since 2013 and "Ray-splaining" geek stuff his entire life. You can follow him on Twitter at @oldmangeek88; on Instagram at @oldmangeek; and soon through the Big Bad Geek podcast.

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