Things get a little funky in the third episode of American Gods’ second season. We pick up where episode two began, in the aftermath of Wednesday sacrificing his car Betty in order to crash the train that Shadow had been held and tortured on. While Shadow, Sweeney, and Laura, despite being in pieces; survived, I have to wonder if this is the last of Mr. Town that we will see? Surely, the show wouldn’t have brought on Dean Winters to only be in one episode? Or perhaps I’m wrong.
Either way, this episode has some really intense parts. We see Laura going along with Wednesday on his mission to find Argus, ticked off by Mad Sweeney as she believes that he is betraying the mission to find Shadow. Either way, though; I found it awfully telling of the bond that is forming between Laura and Sweeney, as he again beckoned her to not give up on her path and called her the word she dared him never to do again; which, I believe was on purpose, to get her to react and not looking so numb.
We really saw, in this episode; that Wednesday can be a devil himself. For as suave and persuasive as he is, he can also be cutting and downright vicious. We find this out during his interactions with Laura and while Laura may have an “I don’t care what others think of me” attitude, I truly believe that Wednesday got to her. We see in her last scene in the episode that she’s realizing how little she means to people like Wednesday and Mad Sweeney isn’t even there to lift her up; instead, he’s having some seriously bad luck without his lucky coin around.
But, let’s get to the real highlights of this episode. “Munnin” introduced us to New Media, the character stepping in since Gillian Anderson walked away from the role as Media. Kahyun Kim has a great entrance to the show that already establishes her as a new god that is greatly entangled with social media and the idea of surveillance, while keeping a flair for the dramatic as Media once did. It’s obvious that Technical Boy is baffled by this new upgrade and we can all agree that we are him during THAT scene with Argus. I already love his relationship with New Media and look forward to it being explored throughout the season.
Sam Black Crow is a special character in the book and Devery Jacobs brought her to life in this episode. As someone who can see through Shadow’s attempt at conning a local store owner, she’s a stable moment for Shadow, as Sam is human and nothing else. Therefore, it’s like Shadow can really take a break for all the mayhem that has engulfed his life since being released from prison. Jacobs plays Sam subtle enough that we get the feel for a really down to earth person. In a show full of wild, crazy characters, it’s the “normal” one who stands out the most and I’m loving her so far. In the books, I believe there is a bit of a romantic bond that goes on between Sam and Shadow, but I’m not sure if that will be the case in the series. Either way, not only do I love the representation of a First Nations person, but someone who is two spirited as well.
We had some small snips of the Jinn and Salim, as well as Mad Sweeney confirming it is the Baron he is meeting up in New Orleans. There were small whispers online, though not confirmed; that Luke Cage villain Mustafa Shakir would be playing Baron Samedi, a Haitian god of Voodoo. Whether this casting is real, we will just have to find out once Sweeney gets to New Orleans.
Have you watched American Gods season two yet? Let me know what you think!
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
