‘American Gods’ season two: Come and worship!

American Gods is one of those rare adaptations that managed not only to capture the spirit of the book on which it was based but actually enhance the source material. This was helped, no doubt, by author Neil Gaiman serving as a producer on the show.

While we wait for season three to premiere in 2020, here are the highlights of everything you might have missed from the second season’s nation of immigrants.

Shadow

Shadow (Ricky Whittle) ended the first season as a believer. He believes in Mr. Wednesday, he believes in Easter and her bunnies, he believes in it all. The first season was an intricate character study of a man at his lowest, completely without faith, who finds the ability to worship again.

Shadow’s relationship with Mr. Wednesday is at the heart of the story, and it will be interesting to see how his newfound faith is challenged by the revelation that his suffering resulted directly from Wednesday’s interference.

Mr. Wednesday

Our father the All-Father ended the first season with an astounding display of power against the new gods, similar to when a real dad goes off on the ref at your little league game, leading to his forcible rejection from the field and an uncomfortably long intermission.

Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) is not you average over-involved dad, of course. He is Odin! Father to both Chris Hemsworth and Shadow, he just successfully managed to get the war he had been planning all season. He has prepared his army and chosen his queen, and the only possible thorn in his side might be Shadow. After all, Mr. Wednesday was singlehandedly responsible for the death of Shadow’s wife and his internment in prison. That’s bound to create a few problems.

Laura Moon

Laura Moon (Emily Browning) is here . . . to ruin plans. The loveliest zombie in all the land just learned from Mad Sweeney that her death was the direct result of Mr. Wednesday’s fiddling. There might be gods aplenty on this show, but there’s only one lord and savior we pray to, and that is Laura Moon. Do you think she’s going to take that information lying down (like a corpse)? Of course not!

Mad Sweeney

Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber) ended the first season Irish and yelling. He will, in all likelihood, start the second the same way.

Bilquis

When we left Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) in “Come to Jesus”, she was presiding over a ritualistic orgy in her honor (as one does). But that was back when she still had power. The episode detailed the rise and fall, and potential rise again, of the legendary Queen of Sheba.

Bilquis had pledged herself to the new gods in an attempt to leverage some of the power she had lost, but the finale ended with Bilquis on a bus heading to the House on the Rock in Wisconsin. Who’s to say what side she takes in the war to come?

Easter

Ostara (Kristin Chenoweth) isn’t afraid of rebirth. She adapts. Ostara evolved, diminishing her power to share her holiday with Jesus and Media so she could survive in the new world. However, Mr. Wednesday made an attractive proposition to Ostara and dedicated a number of deaths in her honor. That seemed enough for the goddess of spring to step forward and unleash a plague upon the earth, taking away new growth unless the people were willing to pray for it.

Ostara hitched her wagon to the side of the old gods in the coming war, and who’s to say who’ll win. Honestly, if you’re played by the OG Glinda from Wicked and have an army of bunnies at your command, how bad could it be for you?