[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”20815″ img_size=”800×450″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]What was Mr. World’s character card’s tagline? “Believe in fear?” The season finale opens up with the leader of the New Gods walking us through our fascination with fear, touching upon not only the War of the Worlds radio broadcast event, but the idea that we as humans pay good money to sit in movie theaters to be afraid. While in the books, Mr. World was more like a ghost than a visible character, he is more present in the second season than ever. Crispin Glover as this imposing character was perfect casting and a great way to start this episode.
Where season one ended with the threat of the spring being taken, we have a much more tangible threat that could absolutely demolish everything Shadow looked for in life after prison. Mr. World’s hold on the world has tightened and we see the full extent of New Media’s power, making all of us who may have had doubts about her character revaluate our opinions and realize she is a force to be reckoned with.
Full spoiler alert, Tech Boy comes back and seems to be better than ever now with the help of the CEO that New Media and Mr. World had recruited in episode four. Frankly, it looks like the CEO is looking regretful of his decision to walk among the gods, but there is a really great interaction between him and Bruce Langley’s Technical Boy; I’m just happy to see one of my favorite characters back.
Speaking of my number one favorite character, Mad Sweeney is dead. And Shadow is dealing with the emotional and mental repercussions of accidentally being the cause for his death. We see the wheels working in Shadow’s head that his faith in Wednesday is misplaced, as even Mr. Wednesday leaves Mr. Ibis’s funeral home, essentially running away from responsibility and consequence.
Laura Moon is on her own mission now, realizing that Shadow is truly not her “puppy” anymore and we see that despite the fight she and Sweeney had last, his death is not settling well with her. Although Pablo Schreiber has been cast as Master Chief in Showtime’s upcoming Halo series and we’re unsure if we’ll be seeing the mad leprechaun again, the end does leave a door open if that is where they want to go.
In a show about gods and mystical creatures, Salim is the only one having truly human reactions. We have to appreciate that despite all the name calling Sweeney did to him, he still goes off to buy liquor for the man, and he still wishes to stick with the Jinn, despite the obvious danger. Which, the Jinn and Salim have some truly touching moments in this episode, but we have to wonder if the Jinn will end up exactly where Sweeney is, due to doing Wednesday’s bidding.
For season three, I truly hope we get more Mr. Ibis and Mr. Nancy interactions, as those two work so well off of each other. As some of the oldest gods, them and Bilquis are adaptable and they survive. While others may panic around them, the three of them wait and bide their time; we will have to wait for season three to see how the old gods fair in this new, panicked state of affairs.
The finale went by so fast and sets up for Shadow traveling to Lakeside in season three. There is also something about Mr. World that hints to the idea that they may go in the direction of the book, but I won’t reveal that for anyone who has not read Neil Gaiman’s novel. Hopefully, we will not have to wait so long for season three, as there’s so much ahead of us and the stakes are higher than ever.
Let us know what you thought of American Gods’ second season finale.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
