After an action-packed show opener for the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s monster novel, Episode 2 is a more refined affair, though still boasting great guest performances, snappy dialogue and some mind-blowing ideas.

At the end of Episode 1, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) found himself saved from a lynch mob, but just who was the guardian angel that carved up Technology Boy’s thugs? We pick up immediately from this point as Moon makes his way back to the Motel America where his new boss Mr Wednesday (a perfect Ian McShane) is entertaining a female guest.

Gaiman has already told us that this first season is covering around a third of his novel, which means that this show has the room to breathe without sacrificing some of the more nuanced sections. It covers a road trip across the States, meeting different Gods (old and new) along the way, and book readers will again appreciate the care that had been taken in translating the page to screen as we tackle chapters 3 and most of 4.

Of note is Gillian Anderson’s debut as Media, appearing on the TV screens of a Walmart-style shop. She’s fashioned as Lucille Ball (or Arnaz, as she corrects Shadow) and speaks directly to our protagonist from an episode of I Love Lucy. She bemoans how awful the show looks in HD and how it doesn’t correctly fit the aspect ratio of the LCD screens she’s being beamed from. It’s a playful performance, with much to say, and I look forward to further encounters with this new god.

Shadow and Wednesday then travel to Chicago where they meet the Zorya sisters, led by a spritely 90-year-old Cloris Leachman as a prickly Vechernyaya. But greater perils await as Shadow plays a dangerous game of checkers (draughts) with a cow-shooting, hammer-wielding, psychopathic Peter Stormare as Czernobog. It’s like The Seventh Seal of the Gaimanverse, with Moon recklessly offering his life should he lose. I mean, surely this guy deserves a bit good luck at last?

And no review of this episode would be complete without reference to the opening ‘Coming to America’ segment as desperate slaves pray to their god Anansi for salvation as they cross the seas to their new home. The spider-god (as prominently featured in Gaiman’s Anansi Boys) appears as Orlando Jones in a pimp suit, prophesying the plight of the black man in America and suggesting some drastic action they need to take.

Verdict: An essential episode that adds more colour to the deities that dominate the show’s universe, while Whittle and McShane continue to impress with their dynamic relationship. A show that’s adult in every sense, these 8 weeks are going to pass in a flash, leaving fans and new converts to the church begging for more. 8/10

Nick Joy