To this point, American Gods has been enjoyable, but difficult to get into without knowing all of the nooks and crannies that the source material has to offer. With that said, this most recent episode managed to secure my faith back in the property as there was a bit of an "explainer" episode if you will. Instead of continuing with Shadow and Wednesday, we got a flashback episode entailing what Laura Moon has been up to all this time, considering she wasn't in her grave. As it turns out, she was able to cheat death, or at least come back from it, which we can only assume has something to do with Mad Sweeney's coin that was left on top of her grave. Although the episode doesn't break any new ground, as it ends as Shadow finds his alive wife, it added so much necessary context to what's going on. I didn't entirely care about Shadow's loss at the time, but I feel like seeing their relationship unfold naturally over the course of an episode was a great addition to the season. As was the welcomed return of Audrey, who can now say she was a part of both of my two favorite scenes this season, her and Shadow at the grave, and her seeing one-armed Laura return from the dead (and proceed to crap out some sort of side effect to death on a toilet). I'm realizing now that the series will always tend to stray on the side of obscurity and weirdness, but it's episodes like this that break the mold and give us a new perspective, that feel so powerful and important.
9.0/10
9.0/10