Viewing Review: American Gods 2 Episode 3

This review contains spoilers on ‘Muninn’, the third episode of AMERICAN GODS Season two. Adjust your worship schedules accordingly if you don’t want to be blessed with the gift of foresight.

FINALLY the pace has quickened a bit. There’s a reason why the episode is entitled ‘Muninn’. One of Mr. Wednesday’s crows squawks the words ‘Cairo’ and ‘Egyptian’ to a wounded and battered Shadow Moon while he was drinking from a well. This spurs Shadow forward to continue on a journey in the hopes of finding answers and maybe even Laura, who saved him from last episode’s torture.

Speaking of Laura, Mr. Wednesday is being his manipulative self again by suggesting that Shadow wants nothing to do with Laura, and that she should just leave him be. Initially she isn’t convinced and actually joins Mr. Wednesday on a quest to find Argus, the God of Surveillance. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones visiting Argus. Technical Boy and a New Media are also looking for Argus. This New Media is more up-to-date with references to social media, followers and ‘likes’. This irritates Technical Boy to no end. New Media’s Japanese/Korean Pop persona just rubs off the wrong way with Technical Boy.

As the pairs converge on Argus, Mr. Wednesday suggests that killing Argus will restore the power of her lucky coin. Laura agrees to the task after Mr. Wednesday aka Odin convinces her that this is in her best interest. Technical Boy allows this to happen not liking how Argus is ignoring him and is literally ‘hooking up’ with New Media.

As a result of Argus’s death, Technical Boy and New Media leave. Odin gives a lecture that Argus was playing both sides, and deserved to die. He hopes that the new incarnation will know which side to pick. Also, having revealed that Laura is doing this more out self-interest than her love for Shadow, Odin demands that she leave Shadow alone. For the moment, it appears that Laura agrees because she doesn’t join Odin as he leaves the dead God of Surveillance.

We go back to Shadow who goes on a road trip with Sam Blackcrow to get to Cairo to find the Egyptians. Initially, Shadow was suspicious of Sam and thought that she was a God of some sort. However, it appears she is not, and they have an interesting conversation about Laura. From their talk, you could tell that Shadow still has feelings for Laura contrary to what Odin is suggesting to Laura. Shadow makes it to Cairo, the funeral parlor of Ibis and Jacquel, where he finds Odin waiting for him.

In another road trip, Salim and the Jinn go to this place called the Porn Palace to find Iktomi, a Lakota mythology spider-trickster deity quite similar to Anansi. From there, the Jinn recovers an ‘Instrument of Death’ which I assume is Odin’s spear, Gungnir. Iktomi also gives the Jinn a sapling. The purpose of the sapling is as of yet unrevealed.

The last road trip involves Mad Sweeney traveling alone. He really is out of luck. He gets into trouble every time he tries to get any form of transportation: may it be car or boat. He tries to hitch a ride and is lucky enough to get one. Unfortunately, the bus he hitches a ride from belongs to a Christian rock band. The expression on his face is priceless as he realizes that these will be his companions until he gets to his destination.

From this episode, we find out that Old Gods can actually evolve in the modern era. This is exemplified in Argus, the God of Surveillance. In order to update, Argus had to pay homage to Technical Boy. And there is the reason why Technical Boy also wanted Argus dead: Argus wasn’t following him anymore. We also get the concept that a God’s survival is truly dependent on their portfolio. In this case, there is a big chance of Argus coming back in some form because ‘surveillance’ will always be needed. Whether Argus does come back in this series remains to be seen.

Additionally, it can’t be said enough: Laura Moon is the best character here. You pair her up with anybody, and so far the interactions just flow seamlessly. She was my favorite character in the book, and she is my favorite character in the series. She overshadows(pun intended) all other characters here including the main character, Shadow.

With this episode, AMERICAN GODS has gotten back on track. The chess pieces are moving, and the pieces are getting more defined roles. There are still a lot of mysteries to show, and I hope they put more of the mythology in the story. And there is a lot of mythology to use. If you want see how Gods meld into this world of mortals while forwarding their own agendas, then give this show a try.