Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews… American Gods (S01E06) A Murder of Gods Airdate: June 4, 2017 @americangods Ratings: 0.666 Million :: 0.26 18-49 Demo Share Score: 7.25/10
‘American Gods’ has been many things in its 6/8 episode run so far. A black 'road trip’ comedy with 'Salim/Not Salim’ (Omid Abtahi) literally driving the (third) wheel, as Mad Sweeney and Laura Moon trade quips & wisecracks with Salim’s sexual experience with The Jinn (Mousa Kraish) as kind of a pun-centric center for their jabs at each other, is truly the cornerstone of 'A Murder of Gods’ and most definitely a turn I didn’t expect the show to take. Pablo Schreiber gets my vote for MVP. It just dawned on me in this very episode just how much his aggressive, condescending tone, spitting out the words 'Dead Wife’ at a quickly decaying Laura Moon (Emily Browning) truly made me smile. With each scene, I believe Schreiber is earning himself a new rabid fan, and I can’t be the only one, so let’s call it a swiftly growing fan-base just to be fair… The irony he 'lucked’ into this role as a last second replacement isn’t lost on anyone. His one-liners this go-round were completely next level. 'Did you have a genie in your bottle? Did you rub one out of him, darling?’ The Jesus bit is a little too long to quote for one review, but yeah. Sweeney 'knows a guy who knows a guy, and the guy sitting next to that guy is (Laura’s) guy’.
Introducing the audience to New Gods must be Bryan Fuller & Michael Green’s favorite thing about making this series… They seem to really be having fun with it. This time we get a knock over the head with the most literal Chekhov’s Gun of the series yet… Well, more like Chekhov’s Bullets, thousands and thousands of them, though the episode starting with just a few. We get a very picturesque sequence of Mexican’s crossing the border in what has to be the world’s smallest river. Clearly there’s a problem because the man in the back is hesitant when entering the water. I don’t know about you, but if I wasn’t the strongest swimmer I really wouldn’t want to go last in a conga line of people doggie paddling my way across a body of water in the dark. Our sinking man is pulled out by Mexican Jesus Christo, and while he’s extremely helpful in the river, his luck airs on the side of Mad Sweeney’s (without his lucky coin)… Though I suppose he’s there doing exactly what 'Jesus Christ’ does best… Sacrificing himself. Clearly the wall hasn’t been built yet. What, no punchline drums? I’m no Mad Sweeney but I thought that was a good one.
Each bullet in the scene is clearly marked with the word 'Vulcan’, as so eloquently glossed in slow-mo Texan borderline chaos, highlighted with crosshairs and shadowy Redneck Assholes with rifles and flashy holsters. I’m normally scouring the net trying to figure out what God we’ll be introduced to, but this time it was obvious that Vulcan wasn’t a Star Trek reference and these bad boys weren’t meant for anyone to 'live long and prosper’. Vulcan is the Roman God of Fire, including volcanoes, and the forging of weapons in fire… Hence the lava and metalworking of the bullet production we are introduced to as Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) & Mr Wednesday roll into the sinister, hair-raising town of Vulcan, Virginia. This, of course, is after a montage of 'The World’s Greatest Boss’ being shown making his way through a crowd of happy-go-lucky Vulcan employees waving at him manically before climbing to the top of the warehouse and leaning on faulty railing and falling to his death in a pit of scalding hot lava.
Where are the people of the town? Why, parading through the streets honoring the ritualistic sacrifice made in their God, Vulcan’s (Corbin Bernsen) honor. At this point of the series, it’s becoming painfully/excitingly obvious who has been swayed by Mr World & Media. Old Gods who seem to be devouring life after life, like Bilquis (Yetide Badaki), and now Vulcan who’s thunderous 'You Are What You Worship’ speech (which *almost* rivals Mr Nancy’s sermon-like slave ship revolt) are dead giveaways. Don’t confuse my placement of words, Mr Nancy has given us no sign of a turn, his story took place in the past and appeared to not only get him to Point A to Point B, but to also serve as a characterization of the type of trickster God that he is, and the personification of his African Spider Mythos. These Chekhov’s Bullets firing rapidly at the audience can’t be lost on one as perceptive and 'Ultimately Ultimate’ as Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane). There is no doubt in my mind that Wednesday knew that Vulcan had already been influenced by 'The Worldly’ Mr World (Cripsin Glover) and the Omnipresent Media (Gillian Anderson)… His timely double cross and passive attitude to Shadow’s genuine concerns in a town full of Militant Nazi like gun toting caricatures all seemed to be an elaborate plan. Vulcan might not be going to Wisconsin, but his beautiful, Digital God slaying, traditional metal sword certainly will.
