Come take a ride to the 1930s where we see some of our favorite gods before they were submerged into the current war that makes up American Gods. Episode six highlights Mr. Wednesday and his burlesque days, alongside his son Donar [Germaic name for Thor] and Donar’s showstopper lover Columbia. Before wanting to start a war with the New Gods, Grimnir looked to put on a good show every night, where his worship was in the form of boisterous applause, especially for his strong son. That’s not to say that Odin also can’t perform and we see Anansi show up as well, which is always a delightful treat.
Donar’s showstopping strength attracts the “Friends of Germany” party in looking to recruit him as a symbol of their strength, to which the Odinson agrees to. While Grimnir and Donar see this as the possibility of resurrecting their image in America, Columbia is naturally wary of these people and since we all know what happens in history, she was right not to trust them. It’s something that Donar may very well come to regret, but his uncertainty leads to a nice, little scene between Anansi and Donar that I did not expect, but that I hope people will talk about.
In the spirit of spoiling just a little for you, Bruce Langley premieres in episode six as “Telephone” Boy, who looks to be a scout for his faction in light of the war that they know America will soon be in. There does not seem to be a war just yet between the Old Gods and New Gods, but Grimnir is sure to make sure that Telephone Boy knows that they are the Ancient Ones and have more staying power than the new shiny things in America. It’s fun to see that Telephone Boy has the same ol’ attitude Tech Boy does, albeit without the flashy outfits we’re used to seeing him in. After his character was “retired” in episode four, it was nice to see Langley back in this highly enjoyable episode.
Episode six is also heartbreaking, as we learn the backstory of Donar. And this is most likely the most sincere we’ve ever seen Wednesday be, as he doesn’t originally want to tell Shadow what happened to his son. Despite how manipulative Odin can be, we can’t help, but feel bad for him and wish that things had gone differently between father and son.
During present time, Wednesday and Shadow stage an epic heist in order to retrieve a valuable that is needed so that the dwarves may repair Wednesday’s spear. As a rock fan, you’ll enjoy the item that is needed to be retrieved and because I cannot accurately describe my favorite scene in this episode properly, I’ll let you watch it below, as provided by American Gods’ Twitter page:
Repairing Odin's spear is impossible without a sufficiently cool jacket. Who knew? #AmericanGods pic.twitter.com/WzEfQxa7FZ
— American Gods US (@americangodsus) April 13, 2019
Unfortunately, I do not think people will talk about episode six as much as they should, largely because it is a background episode; but “Donar the Great” is truly one of my favorite in the season and should be enjoyed by fans. Let me know what you think!
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
