'American Gods' Recap: 'The Secret of Spoons'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Like anything else in life, closure is both good and bad in so many ways. While we usually look at closure as the finale to a darker chapter of our life, allowing us to finally move forward and start anew, we often forget that there's a messy process to closure, where sometimes we learn things about the people we love that can hurt us badly and both sides of that proverbial coin was explored in great depth when it comes to last night's episode of American Gods.

As to how the show explored closure...well, as the old saying goes, we got the bad news first since this episode, 'The Secret of Spoons', picked up immediately where last week left off, with Shadow recovering from his physical wounds from the attack Technical Boy's thugs laid upon him before allowing him to deal with his emotional ones when he returned home to pack up his things and say goodbye and this sequence was downright heartbreaking to watch. Because seeing all the 'Welcome Home' decorations strewn about the house in his honor along with pictures of the happy couple, only increased the sting of last week's revelation as to how Laura Moon died, a fact that never left Shadow's mind and one that was hammered home when he bothered to snoop through her phone. 

However, with the house packed up, it was time to move on and get back to business with Mr. Wednesday and this is where the positive side of closure came into play because this forthcoming road trip to Chicago gave us a vastly different Shadow. We finally saw relief in this man, a sense of the unknown infecting his soul because he was in many ways free now, and on a new path that he doesn't completely understand, and he's okay with that, and his internal freedom and strength didn't go unnoticed because he did spend a little time chatting with the God known as Media since she too offered him a job, something he was quick to turn down, but really, Shadow's finest moment came about when he and Wednesday arrived in Chicago.

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Because it was in the Windy City that Wednesday sought to recruit a powerful warrior named Czernobog, a God who once wielded a mighty hammer in combat ages ago before becoming an unknown in America to the point where he's aged and resolved himself to working the killing floor at a slaughterhouse; a job he clearly laments in the modern age. He wants no part of Wednesday's plans but Shadow's ability to blend in and not care because he has nothing to lose intrigues the old God and a game of checkers, wherein Shadow's life was suddenly on the line in the hopes of getting Czernobog to join the cause, not only spoke to Mister Moon's complete transformation into something new by letting go of his old life, but this game also completed a far more fascinating secondary storyline, where we came to better understand this old guard of Gods...and how well they relate to the human condition.

After all, as we grow older and see the world change around us, certain emotions and thoughts can settle in. We suddenly wonder what our place is in the world now and we are faced with our own mortality as it dawns upon us that we're not getting any younger and as we begin to concern ourselves with our legacy, we often ponder on the best parts of our past and well...that's precisely what every single God on this show seems to be doing at this point. Czernobog spends plenty of time lamenting the glory days of yesteryear, as does Bilquist and Wednesday is clearly working to recapture that wonder and truthfully, I think it's a brilliant stroke storytelling wise to bring the Gods down to our level and make them deal with some of the fears and thoughts that populate our everyday lives. 

Regardless, this was just a wonderful episode. I love that everything is handled in subtle fashion, that each episode seems to be ending at just the right moment to ensure flawless continuity and even though this story was a touch more low key storytelling wise than the premiere, it still felt grandiose and powerful and once again the visuals were equally as stunning. Also, we need to take a moment and talk about that dark and jaw dropping opening with the second 'Coming to America' segment because Orlando Jones was downright brilliant in this vignette and what came out of his mouth was poignant and shocking and relevant and credit goes to Michael Green and Bryan Fuller, the writers of this episode for putting together such a thought provoking opening. Either way, I absolutely love this show and everything it's accomplishing and I cannot wait to see what wild adventures await us next week. Until then.

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