Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

American Gods: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 19, 2019

Note: If you're not already familiar with some of the conceits of American Gods, my advice is to skip this review until you've watched the first season. This review assumes just such a familiarity, and so may contain spoilers not just with regard to the debut season itself, but even with regard to more general ideas behind the entire series which are in fact kind of slowly doled out in the first season.

Maybe if you’ve paid attention to various trends in the general cultural zeitgeist, you’ve heard of the uptick of people who describe themselves as “spiritual, but not religious.” That arguable distinction without a difference probably related mostly to attendance at organized groups of any given denomination and/or persuasion, but there’s a perhaps implied subtext involved in that “spiritual, but not religious” descriptor that suggests that some people (an increasing amount according to some surveys) are insistent that they don’t need others to help them define whom or what to worship, or how indeed to even approach worship to begin with. And that in return points to an underlying foundational element of what was the provocative and often quite arresting first season television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods — namely, what happens to “gods” (either real or imagined) when those worshipping them at least begin to abandon their “faith”? American Gods (the TV version) seems like it might have benefited from a helping hand by some Divine Being or other, since fans will probably be well aware that the show kind of languished in purgatory (no pun intended) after its first season, a season which ended in 2017 and which then saw the departure of some notable crew and cast members, including Bryan Fuller and Gillian Anderson. The fact that this second season has appeared some two years later, and has been beset with its own fair share of behind the scenes tales of drama and friction may indicate that some angels may have fallen somewhere along the line, resulting in a show that is considerably less effective in its sophomore year.

For those wanting a (somewhat spoiler filled) recap of the show so far, please click on the following link:

American Gods: Season 1 Blu-ray review

It’s perhaps indicative of how long American Gods had been missing from the airwaves that even the “previously on. . .” recap that starts out this second season barely begins to scratch the surface of the show’s first season. Even those who followed the show (forgive me) religiously during its premiere year may therefore be at least intermittently confused as they attempt to piece everything back together as the story picks up more or less where it left off. The series’ whimsical proclivities are nonetheless on full display from the get go, so much so that some may not realize that the so-called “House on a Rock”, a location of an early meeting between gods assembled at the request of Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), is an actual, real life place, not the creation of some out of control writer. That said, it's in "little" elements like these, moments that are perhaps intrinsically "meta" in a way, that the series manages to recapture at least some of the magic of its debut season.

There’s a “road trip” aspect to at least part of this season, including some kind of funny interstitial “maps” charting the course, but that very plot dynamic tends to point up what is arguably this season’s major issue: too many detours. The story keeps wandering to and fro, all admittedly within the context of “new” gods vs. “old” gods, but there just doesn’t seem to be the organic knitting together of various plot threads that graced the first season. This is kind of interesting given the by now well reported aspect that author Neil Gaiman evidently thought the first season strayed too far from his original conception, and he wanted things to be more focused in this season.

Still, the series continues to offer a virtual smorgasbord of visual delights, and there are at least skirmishes with actual philosophical concepts, not the least of which is what exactly constitutes a “god”. The sophomore season may ironically spend too much time on repeated travails for Shadow (Ricky Whittle), including some background information that is interesting in and of itself but which lends surprisingly little to the overall story. The kind of quasi-The Bride of Frankenstein aspect involving Laura (Emily Browning) is played for occasional laughs and an increasing amount of discomfort as she experiences more “issues” with her supposed resurrection.

American Gods: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Gods: Season Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Starz and Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer largely in 1.78:1 (as with the first season, there are interstitial elements framed at 2.39:1). I'm still not entire sure whether some of the weird appearance of the first season Blu-ray was intentional or not, since it didn't exactly look what I remembered the broadcast versions looked like, but that said, there's less of the underlying black tones in this season that gave the first season a somewhat creepy look at times. That said, there is what looks like purposeful desaturation at least at times here, especially in a few outdoor scenes where color can seem at least relatively pallid when compared to other moments. Detail levels tend to be high throughout the series, able to weather rather large changes in lighting conditions. Most of the CGI looks good as well, but it can occasionally tend to be on the soft side. A few interior scenes, notably sequences involving some torture that Shadow has to endure, don't have a surplus of shadow detail, but I didn't notice any outright crush or similar anomalies.

American Gods: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Gods: Season Two features a nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, one that benefits from both a lot of outdoor material, where ambient environmental effects can dot the surrounds with good realism, but perhaps especially with the "less realistic", more fantasy prone, aspects of the series. The "carnival" setting in the opening episode, for example, provides some nice surround activity courtesy of things like the assembled crowds and other "party" noises. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this season, and there are no fidelity issues or problems with damage, dropouts or distortion.

American Gods: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The House on the Rock: Setting the Scene (1080p; 10:13) is a fun featurette with Neil Gaiman among others discussing this real life location.


• The Second Coming: Neil Gaiman on Season 2 (1080p; 13:54) may give credence to some "behind the scenes" reporting that Gaiman wanted a bit more control over the show going forward, with the author giving his insight into where he sees the sophomore season going (in more ways than one).


• Gods and Ends: Random Musings from the Cast (1080p; 10:22) features a lot of the cast members discussing being a "family" on this show.

Note: All of the supplements are found on Disc Three of this three disc set.

American Gods: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vis a vis nothing in particular other than some people's concern over minutiae (ahem), but the orthographer in me must point that American Gods: Season 1's release utilized a numeral for its title, while American Gods: Season Two utilizes the word for a number instead. It may seem (and indeed probably is) "minor", but in its own way it may point up the fact that American Gods is a different beast altogether in its sophomore season. There are still glimmers of the intelligence and labyrinthine plotting that made the first season so memorable, but this season never seems to have a firm idea of where it's going or what exactly it wants to achieve. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.