WiC Watches: American Gods season 2
By Ariba Bhuvad
EPISODE 201: “HOUSE ON THE ROCK”
American Gods is back after two years, and it doesn’t waste any time getting weird. This is a convoluted, complicated, and intriguing story, one told with abundant visual imagination and craft. The visuals are stunning and really bring the story to life. I can’t get enough of it.
“House on the Rock” begins with a man playing golf and getting run over by a limo. The Technical Boy is in it. With him is Mr. World, who is glitching hardcore after what happened with Easter in the season 1 finale. (We miss you, Kristen Chenoweth!) As the leader of the new Gods, Mr. World is itching to engage in war with the old Gods, and needs to get in touch with Media to get things started.
Shadow Moon, Laura, Sweeney, and Mr. Wednesday are all heading to the House on the Rock, where all the old Gods are just hanging out. They all ride a super-amazing carousel that seems pulled out of the best dream I never had. It’s seriously the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and I wish a fair somewhere in the world could make it a reality.
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While the four of them are on their way, Bilquis, the Jinn, and Salim are already at the House, but it appears Bilquis wasn’t exactly supposed to be there. Badaki plays Bilquis so well it gives me nightmares; there’s just something about her that frightens me. I’m always wondering what she’ll do next.
While on the carousel, things start to spin out of control until Shadow Moon ends up on a beach next to Bilquis. They make their way inside a building where the rest of the Gods have gathered in their true forms — shiny, shimmering, splendid. The purpose of this gathering is plain and simple (and hard to focus on because how cool Mama-Ji looks): the old Gods need to rally and fight the new Gods.
But there’s a catch in the plan; not everyone isn’t on board, including Mama-Ji, who just wants to live in peace as she has been for a while now. Bilquis reminds her that if they don’t all evolve, then death is inevitable because of how powerful the new Gods are. It doesn’t seem like much progress will be made from this gathering until Shadow decides to voice his support for Mr. Wednesday.
The scene shifts dramatically to a diner where the old Gods are in human form again. Laura tries to convince Shadow to stop following Mr. Wednesday. What appears to be a relatively normal gathering turns into all-out chaos when someone starts shooting from outside. This scene is so incredibly graphic and gruesome; there’s just blood and guts everywhere. Game of Thrones has nothing on this.
Shadow runs outside to stop whoever is shooting and ends up getting beamed up into some sort of ship, presumably by Mr. World. Meanwhile, inside the diner, the casualties include Zorya Vechernyaya, who passes away from a shot to the chest while Laura has a bullet in her arm. She runs outside to see where Shadow has gone, but he’s nowhere to be found.
Will Shadow be convinced to join the new Gods? And is that such a bad thing? Guess we will have to wait to find out in next week’s episode to find out. Until then, while I wasn’t blown away by “House on the Rock,” I wasn’t bored either. Between the carousel scene and the massacre scene, the visual effects were mindblowing (literally); they made the episode worth watching by themselves. I haven’t read the book (I know, I’m sorry) so it’s a little hard for me to follow a story that feels almost purposefully confusing. But I’m intrigued and ready to see where this season takes us.