American Gods Season 2 Episode 1 Review: The House on the Rock
It’s been a long, rocky road for American Gods Season 2; the ambitious Neil Gaiman adaptation aired its Season 1 finale back in 2017, and since then, the show parted ways with its original showrunners, Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, and then reportedly sidelined their replacement, Jesse Alexander, with production being plagued with rumors of behind-the-scenes turmoil and shooting delays.
But plenty of projects are forced to contend with backstage drama – all that matters is the finished product. After all that, the Season 2 premiere of American Gods is… awesome.
It doesn’t have the poetry of Season 1, which benefited immensely from Fuller’s aesthetic flair and Green’s eye for detail. The script does an adequate job of reminding us who all the major players are and where their loyalties lie. The first episode brought us back to the gods and the adventure. We got to see what has to be the most epic and oddest of road trip companions, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), Laura Moon (Emily Browning), and Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber).
Emily Browning’s Laura Moon and Pablo Schreiber’s Mad Sweeney offer a welcome break from all the foreshadowing with their acerbic delivery and general disdain for the pomp and circumstance of what Mr. Wednesday is peddling.
The show’s stellar cast remains magnetic – in addition to Browning and Schreiber’s delicious performances, Orlando Jones’ Mr. Nancy offers a shot of adrenaline to the episode the moment he appears on screen, sinking his teeth into the scenery with relish. Likewise, Yetide Badaki’s Bilquis is effortlessly alluring, bringing a regal gravitas to her scenes even when she’s at her most duplicitous, playing double-agent for Mr. World. Ricky Whittle continues to imbue Shadow with a compelling sense of wonder and burgeoning faith now that he’s clued into at least a little of what Wednesday is plotting, but it’s clear that our protagonist is still a pawn in a much larger game, rather than operating with any agency of his own.
I have seen Ricky Whittle and Yetide Badaki at conventions together, and this was the first time the duo has actually filmed together. I am a proud member of ‘The Badaki Tribe’ and she shined brightly as a true goddess on the screen. I am looking forward to seeing more scenes with that duo.
The premiere also benefits hugely from visiting the real-life Wisconsin location for the House on the Rock, which is more bizarre and fascinating than almost any meticulously-designed set could be – and makes for a compelling backdrop for Wednesday’s rendezvous with his fellow Old Gods.
But fans of Gaiman’s novel (the author is credited for co-writing the episode with Alexander) may be pleased to find that the show seems to be hewing much closer to the author’s version in Season 2, rather than taking the detours that Fuller and Green did in its freshman year – Shadow and Wednesday’s explorations of the House on the Rock borrow heavily from the book’s structure. But much like Season 1, when the action shifts to the ominous machinations of Mr. World (Crispin Glover), the narrative grinds to a halt. We don’t really care about the New Gods, and without Gillian Anderson’s hypnotic turn as Media (perhaps until we meet New Media), we may have even less reason to invest in their schemes, so it’s hard not to resent the show whenever it turns its attention to Mr. World and Technical Boy (Bruce Langley), who is wasted as World’s petulant chauffeur in the premiere.
American Gods is still visually arresting in its Season 2 return, but you can definitely feel the void that original showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green left when it comes to the show’s ambition and willingness to take creative risks. The premiere functions as a serviceable scene-setter to remind us of the players and allegiances involved in the war to come (which still seems, frustratingly, pretty far on the horizon) while the talented cast helps elevate an often perfunctory script. We’re praying that future episodes manage to recapture the primal magic that made Season 1 seem so timely.
What are you thoughts on American Gods – House on The Rock? Are you team New Gods or Team Old Gods? Have you maybe switched teams?
Let’s Play Catch Up
- Bilquis is a double agent
- Technical Boy is an errand boy
- Shadow Moon is sexy as hell
- Shadow has clearly drank the koolaid.
Things that make you go hmmm
- Did anyone realize that Bilquis left just before the bullets went flying
- What’s really going on with dead wife and the leprechaun?
