Worshippers of Neil Gaiman, STARZ, and American Gods rejoice as the second season of American Gods is almost upon us! The series initially premiered in May 2017 with a total of eight episodes and now almost two years later, season 2 will also deliver eight episodes with it premiering on March 10th.
Now with it being so long since the show first aired, perhaps you’ve forgotten what happened and don’t have the time to rewatch the series? Well, here’s our recap of the first season!
But first things first, for the unaware, American Gods follows an ex-con named Shadow who is hired by the mysterious con man named Mr Wednesday. Shadow soon finds himself caught in the middle of a war between the old deities of immigrant cultures, from Norse to Slavic and Egyptian mythologies, and the modern messiah’s, who we essentially worship on a regular basis, such as Technology and Media.
Now, if you plan on watching the series, you’re in for a ride. Some may find the series confusing, and that is understandable as the book by Neil Gaiman is also like this since it’s filled with a significant amount of content across 600+ pages, and for me, it’s a book unlike anything I have ever read before. This is what makes American Gods so very intriguing and almost disorienting because you have nothing really to compare it to. In regards to the television series, you could attempt to compare elements from the series to other television shows, except there’s no point as it’s in a category entirely by itself.
Now on to the season recap! You can also check out our full episode recaps by clicking the episode titles!
1.01 ‘The Bone Orchard’
The first episode introduces us to Shadow Moon who is currently in prison. With his sentence almost over, he’s released early as his wife has died in an accident and while on his way home, he meets a man by the name of Mr Wednesday who would like Shadow to work for him, except he declines. Stopping at Jack’s Crocodile Bar, Shadow runs into Wednesday again and soon finds himself employed and also in a fight with a 7 foot leprechaun by the name of Mad Sweeney.
While at the funeral, Shadow learns his best friend was involved in the car accident as they were involved in some extra activities whilst driving. After dropping a gold coin on Laura‘s grave that he got from Sweeney, Shadow then finds himself in a car with someone named Technical Boy who is asking questions about Mr Wednesday. The Boy orders Shadow to be ‘deleted’ and he’s attacked and strung up by his neck to a tree. However, a mysterious force cuts Shadow down and kills all of his attackers. We’re also introduced to a seductive woman by the name of Bilquis who takes a man completely inside of her (via lower extremities in case you were wondering) thanks to him worshipping her.
1.02 ‘The Secret of Spoon’
The episode begins in 1697 with an incredibly intense monologue from Anansi, a deity from African folklore who often travels in the form of a spider. He convinces the slaves to kill their captors and burn the ship, even though they’ll die too. Back in the present, Wednesday and Shadow eventually hit the road to get his hammer in Chicago, but first Shadow meets Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy, except it’s really Gillian Anderson playing the role of Media, another ‘new god’.
In Chicago, we meet Zorya Vechernyaya—a guardian goddess from Slavic mythology watches the skies in rotation with her two sisters, Utrennyaya and Polunochnaya. We also meet Czernobog, another Slavic deity, but incredibly grumpy and rude. Czernobog offers a bet to Shadow: if Shadow wins, he will join them, but if he loses, Czernobog gets to hit him with his hammer and kill him. At the end, Shadow loses.
1.03 ‘Head Full of Snow’
Introducing Anubis, the Egyptian god of death, is how the third episode begins and we see how making it to the afterlife works. Back in the present, Shadow speaks with Polunochnaya in his dreams who plucks the moon from the sky and gives it to Shadow in the form of a silver Liberty-head dollar. Shadow goads Czernobog into playing him again with the same terms, which sees Shadow win. On the road again, Wednesday and Shadow rob a bank, which is easily done by the pair.
We’re also introduced to Salim who is having a bad day and grabs a cab where the driver just happens to be an Ifrit, otherwise known as Jinn or, a Genie (but not a Genie). The pair bond and Salim invites him inside and they share an incredibly passionate and intimate scene. When Salim wakes, he finds his clothes and companion gone and in place of them, the Jinn has left his own along with his identification and taxi keys. Essentially, the Jinn did grant him a wish by giving Salim a chance to live and start over.
As for Mad Sweeney, he soon realises something is amiss as he’s having terrible luck and realises his gold coin is missing. He visits Laura’s grave, but finds the coin has burned through the casket and Laura is missing. Where is she? She’s in Shadow’s motel room.
1.04 ‘Git Gone’
Episode 4 is essentially Laura’s story as we see her working at a casino and she’s not pleased with her life and gambles a little too much with her life in order to feel something. Eventually she meets Shadow and they get to know one another while also planning a casino heist together, which ends with Shadow in prison. Laura begins a two-year affair with Shadow’s best friend and ends it with a ‘parting gift’ since Shadow is being released. Unfortunately, it ends up killing Laura and leaving a male extremity in her mouth. We see Laura face Anubis, but she won’t let him weigh her heart because she knows it will weigh heavy. She denies Anubis and finds herself clawing her way out of her grave and it turns out Laura was Shadow’s mysterious saviour in episode 1.
Laura heads to Audrey‘s, Robbie’s wife, to repair herself and eventually the pair go to find Shadow, but not before they almost hit a man and a jackal, which turns out to be Thoth and Anubis. They take Laura with them to their establishment, Ibis and Jacquel Funeral Parlor, to repair her and make her presentable before she meets Shadow at his motel.
1.05 ‘Lemon Scented You’
Laura and a reluctant Shadow get reacquainted, but Shadow and Wednesday are quickly hauled away by the police because of their bank heist. Meanwhile, Technical Boy finds himself in conversation with a David Bowie-esque Media as Mr World wants him to apologise to both Wednesday and Shadow. The thieves are taken to an interrogation room, and it’s the first time Wednesday appears scared and rightly so as screams fill the station when a Marilyn Monroe clad Media enters the room, along with Mr World. With a reluctant apology from Technical Boy, the New Gods wish to form an alliance by offering Odin a nuclear missile with his name on it, but he’s not interested. The New Gods leave with Wednesday and Shadow not far behind them. As for Laura, she receives a visit from Sweeney who is after his coin.
1.06 ‘A Murder of Gods’
Our episode begins with a group of people trying to cross the border between Mexico and the U.S when they’re caught by rangers, however, Mexican Jesus gives up his life for them, even though they end up being killed. Laura and Sweeney wind up together since she’s after Shadow and he wants his coin back. The pair end up in Salim’s new taxi and they all head to Kentucky as Sweeney mentions he knows the Jinn that Salim is looking for.
As for Shadow and Wednesday, they arrive in Vulcan, Virginia where everyone carries a gun. We’re introduced to Vulcan, the ancient Roman god of fire and volcanoes, but in the present time, he’s a manufacturer of bullets so essentially he’s become a franchise so people can worship him through his bullets. Wednesday requires a blade he can carry into battle, but it seems Vulcan has sold them out to the new gods. So what better way to test a newly made sword than decapitating Vulcan and pushing him into the molten vat to be made into bullets, but not before Wednesday urinates into it and curses them.
1.07 ‘A Prayer For Mad Sweeney’
Ibis tells us a story and whisks us away to 18th century Ireland where a grandmother tells a young girl about the fair folk and leprechauns, and the offering she later gives attracts Sweeney. An older Essie (who is also played by Emily Browning) sleeps with a young man of her household who gives her a necklace and promises to marry her when she returns. The lady of the house believes the necklace to be stolen and so Essie is sent to the Americas where she attracts the eyes of a captain, and they return to London to be married. She becomes quite the accomplished thief and she is eventually imprisoned with her next-cell-neighbour being Sweeney. Essie winds up pregnant and she’s transported permanently to Virginia and becomes a wet-nurse. She eventually marries her master and then one day Sweeney travels to America and introduces himself.
In the present, Sweeney tells Salim where to find his Jinn while Sweeney and Laura steal an ice-cream truck. The pair end up in a car accident and the coin falls out of Laura. When he wakes, he almost takes the coin but we see a flashback to him at her first accident and it’s revealed Wednesday planned her death. Feeling guilty, he returns the coin and the pair continue their journey.
1.08 ‘Come To Jesus’
Mr Nancy (Anansi) tells us a story of a queen and it seems Bilquis’s story begins in 864BCE where a horde of naked bodies worship her. Her gradual downfall sees her travel to America in the 70s and she begins to fade, especially as she watches her lover die of HIV. A haggard Bilquis sees her temple destroyed as “there’s no end to the cruelty of men threatened by strong women” and she is soon approached by Technical Boy introducing her to the wonders of online dating to bring the once powerful queen into the digital age.
Shadow meets yet another god in the form of Ostara or Easter along with meeting multiple versions of Jesus. Wednesday stirs up trouble claiming the Jesuses have stolen her day and that the New Gods killed Vulcan. He suggests perhaps she harms the spring harvest to starve them a little. Laura and Sweeney arrive at Ostara’s and Laura soon learns it was Wednesday who killed her. Connecting the dots, Laura realises everything that happened to them was Wednesday—the failed robbery, jail, Laura’s death—and she’s pissed.
Media arrives in the form of Judy Garland and she faces off against Wednesday. It is here the big reveal happens and by listing his many names, he finally says “I am Odin!” and announces he gives these deaths to Ostara and kills the henchmen in a lightning strike. Ostara then pulls the life from the land. After Shadow announces he believes in everything, Laura turns up to talk to him and Bilquis is travelling to Wisconsin and to the House of Rock
