Fear Is The Answer
After 7 episodes the finale to American Gods is finally upon us. With a third season already confirmed, this hedonistic show begins with a dreamy sequence from Mr World, talking about fear and how it can consume us all. Using a UFO radio broadcast as an example, we see the profound effect fear can have as it systemically spreads among the masses. As Mr World grins maniacally into the camera, we cut forward to Shadow Moon, still conflicted over killing Mad Sweeney last week. He talks to Laura while lying on a gravestone about what happened and tells her he killed the leprecaun. She warns him about Wednesday, telling him the Old God is bad news and was the one who orchestrated her death. She tells him she’s going to kill Wednesday but before she can leave, Shadow tells her not to call him puppy anymore. As Laura walks into the house, she learns Wednesday isn’t there, having left earlier on. Before she can curse the heavens, the New Gods make their move with various data dumps into the police database. Shadow and Wednesday are made out to be the number 1 suspects for police murders and an explosion in Kentucky. To make matters worse, Salim is thrown into the mix as an assailant too, the third dangerous man for the general public to watch out for. In this wicked game of chess, New Media introduces herself to Shadow Moon and reveals she’s the one pulling the strings on the TV. As the police close in on the funeral parlour all the Gods are currently held up in, Shadow high-tails it out the back door and slips away after talking to Bilquis. Before he can do that however, the tree Yggdrasil grabs him with its roots and pulls him into another dream-like sequence, flashing images we’ve seen in the previous season together with a cacophony of voices, including Wednesday’s. As Shadow chops at the tree roots, he bursts a hole in the dream which somehow saves everyone at the funeral parlour, with the police nowhere to be seen. From here, all the Gods go their separate ways, including laura who carries Mad Sweeney’s body away. This builds toward the final scene of the episode where Shadow is stopped on a bus leaving town. We interject to Wednesday telling us “his boy” will be fine and as we skip back to Shadow, he prepares for the worst. Lined up against the bus, Shadow tries to hide his shock tas he learns his ID has been changed and he’s free to go. For the most part, American Gods continues its trend of delivering its story with more style than substance. After 7 episodes of build-up, the showdown between the New and Old Gods ultimately falls down to nothing more than a double bluff and further teasing. It’s a shame but unfortunately American Gods falters after a pretty enjoyable penultimate episode. Quite what this show holds for the future is anyone’s guess but the time when American Gods was dubbed the next Game Of Thrones is long gone, a shadow of the promise it once held so highly. There’s still time to turn this one around though but whether people will have the patience to sit through another season like this is still up for debate.
