American Gods S1E2 "The Secret of Spoons" Recap

The episode opens with another flashback, this time to 1697 where a slave ship is making its journey. On board, a slave begins to pray to Anansi. The trickster god Anansi appears in a more modern-day suit and gives a monologue relating all of the horrors that will await them in America for the hundreds of years to come. The slaves get so riled up by his word that they find a way to break free from their chains and set the ship on fire in order to kill the slave-owners and prevent themselves from experiencing what Anansi foretold.

Returning to the present day plot, Shadow gets medical attention to treat his wounds and then confronts Wednesday about what cause him to be attacked. Wednesday is staying at a motel and offers to keep Shadow as his bodyguard with his salary being doubled. They will leave this town soon enough. Wednesday also assures Shadow that he is indeed outraged by this assault and that he is working on a plan to retaliate.

That night, Shadow dreams of Laura. When he wakes, he goes back home and finds the remnants of his welcome-home party that never happened. He cleans the house and packs up his and Laura's belongings. He and Wednesday leave town together and Wednesday gives him a list of various items to buy. While in a store, Shadow meets a New God named Media (Gillian Johnson) who speaks to him through a television on display and wants him to work for her. Shadow declines her offer and returns to Wednesday.

Bilquis consumes more sexual partners.

Shadow and Wednesday travel to Chicago to an apartment where Zorya Vechernaya lives with her two younger sisters and a worker that is actually Czernobog, the Slavic god of darkness and evil. Zorya and her sisters watch the stars to guard against forgotten horrors. Czernobog does not trust Wednesday to be there in the home as the two share a rough past. Following a tense dinner, Czernobog plays checkers with Shadown and proposes a bet with him. If Shadow wins, Czernobog will go with them just as Wednesday wishes, but if Shadow loses, Czernobog will kill him with a large hammer that Shadow has visions of being covered in blood. Shadow loses the game and Czernobog tells him he will kill him the next morning.

American Gods airs on Sundays on Starz at 9/8c.