AMERICAN GODS: “The House On The Rock” (S2E1): Avengers, Assemble!
For fans of Neil Gaiman‘s seminal work of fiction, American Gods, life has been good. In 2017, Starz debuted their first season of a televised adaptation of the novel, and many were surprised at how well the book translated to screen.
American Gods is a strange book. It’s filled with moments of ethereal and surrealist fantasy, and the reality of the fantasy is questioned as often as it is explained (if it’s ever explained). It’s all at once a quest-fantasy-buddy-cop-road-trip-crime-mystery-apocalyptic-hellfest. In short, it’s a lot.
But with their team of actors and producers, Starz was able to bring the novel to life. The show features some of the most bizarre and inspiring cinematography that I’ve ever seen on television. It’s not afraid of bright colors, fast movement, or slow dialogue. It’s a show that dares to acknowledge boundaries only to tear them down.
The show also served as a sort of creative playground for Neil Gaiman, allowing him to expand on characters from the novel that he wasn’t able to tell us about before. It’s an exciting way to elaborate upon something that we love, without giving us something as predictable as a sequel or a prequel.
Previously on AMERICAN GODS…
Last Sunday, American Gods returned to television once more, and things started to heat up. Season 1 introduced us to Shadow Moon (played with a fine mixture of stoicism and wonder by Ricky Whittle) who is released from prison only to be recruited by the mysterious Wednesday (Ian McShane) to join him as he prepares for war.
Shadow is confronted by an angry leprechaun named Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber) and is followed by his undead wife, Laura (Emily Browning). Together, he and Wednesday must race to defeat the sinister and vague “Mr. World”, who wishes to bring around an age of new gods.
Got that? There’s stuff I missed, like Shadow getting tortured and hung, Gillian Anderson playing David Bowie, and Kristine Chenoweth throwing a party for a bunch of Jesuses, but we’ve gotta talk Season 2.
Getting the Band Back Together
Season 2 opens with Mr. World and Tech Boy ominously talking about how they need to find Media (remember when I said Gillian Anderson plays David Bowie? That’s Media). The show then has us join Shadow and company, who are traveling to The House on the Rock, so that Wednesday, who we learned at the end of season 1 is really Odin, (look out Anthony Hopkins!) can convince the other gods to fight against Mr. World.
The crew boards a carousel, and in some of that otherworldly CGI that is becoming a staple of this show, the gods and Shadow are whisked into a vortex to a place where they can debate whether to fight or not. Meanwhile, Laura pines for Shadow, and wants to protect him from Wednesday and his tricks, while Mad Sweeney wants the coin that is sustaining her undead life.
The episode closes as the gods dine together, only to have their mingling cut short by a blast from the window. A sniper begins to open fire on the gods, killing the wise old Zorya Vechernyaya. Shadow chases down the killer, and is pulled into the sky by a tractor beam, leaving the audience wonder “WHAT?” until next Sunday.
A Good Start
“The House on the Rock” brought back a lot of elements of the show that I originally fell in love with. The surrealist visual language of the show remains an important part of their storytelling, and the cast seems like there hasn’t been a two year break between seasons with the way that they slip back into their characters.
Particularly, I’m glad the show is giving more screen time to Orlando Jones’s Mr. Nancy. Jones sinks his teeth into the swaggeringly classy Mr. Nancy in such a way that you just smile every time time he starts talking and hope he never stops. His performance is contrasted well with Yetide Badaki’s Bilquis, who is also one of the focuses of the episode. She’s quiet and pensive, and has her character boiled down to a thesis that seems to simply be ” be intriguing”.
Season 2 feels as though the writers are allowing other characters’ story lines to shine. They’ve established Shadow as our leading man, and we feel comfortable allowing others to come to the forefront. These are characters with fascinating qualities and motives that I think most viewers would love to see more of.
Will you be tuning in? Did you like Episode 1? Share your comments down below, and I’ll see you next week!
American Gods returns this Sunday, March 17th.
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