"The Greatest Story Ever Told" - American Gods S02E04 Review

Well, that was more like season one. Metaphorical, narratively non-linear compared to the other episodes, and full of political statements about minorities and money in America. I'm not sure if it made much sense in the overall story, but if you're looking for more of a return to type--if American Gods has a "type"--then "The Greatest Story Ever Told" is that return.

Things happen in the episode. A young boy learns of the mathematics of Bach, Wednesday tries to get another ally, Nancy meets with Bilquis and Ibis, and Technical Boy gets retired. There's no sign of Laura, Sweeney, the Djinn, or Salim. While the episode would have seemed crowded with them, their absence gives "Greatest Story" a certain lack of... urgency. Everyone keeps talking about how a war is brewing. But Wednesday seems to be in no hurry to get Gungnir from the Djinn and Salim. Laura is doing whatever she's doing. Sweeney is off to New Orleans although I'm not sure why. If the mysterious "Baron" can destroy Laura and get Sweeney's coin back, shouldn't she be concerned about that? So that's three quests that don't get mentioned. And Nancy is off on a new quest and trying to recruit Ibis and Bilquis.

Four episodes in and "Greatest Story" essentially is a prelude. Along with commentaries on religion and belief, both old and new. If that's what you want in American Gods, then that's what you get.

First we see a young Asian boy with a fascination with technology and then music, the latter given to him by his father. He learns how to create a program that will create "original" Bach music. When his father dies, the Son sees Technical Boy playing music at the funeral.

And then Shadow has sex with Bast. Who is also the cat that has been hanging around the Cairo funeral parlor.

Then the main subplot kicks in, as much as there's a main one. Wednesday takes Shadow along with him to a diner in St. Louis. Mama-Ji (Sakina Jeffrey) works there, because she works at motels and diners throughout the U.S. And Mama-Ji is the best part of the episode without Browning and Schreiber there. She remembers the old days when she was a Goddess of Bloodshed and her followers were warriors rather than hotel staff.

Wednesday reveals that Money is power in America, and he's trying to contact Money, the new (?) god of money. However, Shadow lives off the grid so when three of Money's followers--"Penny Scouts" arrive, they refuse to give Wednesday access because Shadow isn't tied to money because he lives off the grid. Except Money (William Sanderson) shows up anyway when World arrives. Money refuses to help either of them in their war because it's a bad investment, and leaves.

World is busy dealing with his "blindness" brought on by Argus' death last episode. He sends Technical Boy to recruit the boy from the music flashbacks. However, for some reason, the now grown boy, aka The CEO (Andrew Koji), refuses whatever Technical Boy is offering. World arrives and has New Media give the CEO some kind of code he's been seeking all his life, and then "retires" Technical Boy by sending one of his head-grabbing units to latch onto him.

After Shadow and Wednesday leave the funeral home, Bilquis and Nancy arrive. Nancy talks a lot about how blacks are still enslaved in America and suggests that as three "African" gods, they do something about it. Bilquis assures Nancy she's working with the old gods after World had Zorya killed, and he says that when he's king he'll need a queen. The three of them go off to have a drink.

There's also a plot thread with Ruby Goodchild (Mouna Traore) mourning her grandmother's death. She's at the funeral home, and talks to Bilquis about Jesus and God and how her faith in them gives her strength and her grandmother was the same. Bilquis notes that Jesus threatened the men in power so they had him killed, and that Jesus was on to a good thing. What that all means, I don't know.

And that's it for "Greatest Story". Wednesday doesn't get an ally, Technical Boy is (apparently) gone, and the three African gods are preparing to do something about the treatment of African-Americans in America. It's all very entertaining: Ian McShane gets in some good lines, Shadow gets an answer of sorts for why Wednesday picked him (because he isn't worth anything to anyone), and Technical Boy is gone for the foreseeable future. Maybe. New Media considers the fate of the previous Media and notes that she can sense her predecessor in her.

But nothing really happens. Last week the writer noted that Technical Boy was redundant with New Media in the picture. So eliminating him doesn't change anything. Wednesday fails to get an ally. Nancy talks a lot but doesn't do anything. Like I said earlier, it's mostly a prelude to whatever is coming down the road in future episodes.

The cast and their performances are entertaining as always. But "Greatest Story" feels a bit hollow. As if the new creative team is striving to do whatever the old creative team did last year in season one. But they seemed to have forgotten the most important thing last year's team did: move the plot along. Four episodes into the new season, and they still seem to be... dawdling, for lack of a better word. Maybe they're setting the stage for some big blowout like Easter's spreading of a famine as an opening salvo in the war. Maybe the gods of love, knowledge, and... tailoring and trickery? will unleash some kind of major scheme upon the world that will upset the apple carts of World's and Wednesday's plans. It seems like the creative team is going that way. But right now nothing is building up to anything. Maybe that's how it was last season: I haven't taken advantage of Starz's American Gods marathons to remember everything that happened.

Right now it seems like the creative team keeps doing detours and quests. That might have worked in season one, but it's season two now, folks. Let's move things along and get going somewhere. We get that the creative team had to find its footing and make its mark, but they've had enough time. It's time to wow us or give it up.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?