‘American Gods’ Recap: ‘Ashes and Demons’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 303 of ‘American Gods’.
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Over the course of its illustrious three-year run, the STARZ series, American Gods, has managed to establish itself as one of the most dynamic television shows out there. A feat that it has accomplished by offering up some unique storytelling for certain. Because this iconic tale about a seeming everyman, now caught up in the meddling of the Gods, has made a point to switch up the themes and concepts it explores on a fairly consistent basis. Giving its viewers a fascinating viewing experience, since sometimes they simply don’t know what kind of story they are in for, and really, what’s made this acceptable, is that the show handles this shift on a weekly basis. All so that the show doesn't overwhelm the viewers and has proper time to examine whatever concept the writers’ room opted to dive into.
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But this week’s episode, took the time to change things up further, by outright offering up all kinds of storytelling shifts within a single episode. Which made ‘Ashes and Demons’ quite the fascinating tale for certain, since it focused upon the need to look at our lives in an objective manner, why honesty is important in all things, alongside a little storyline involving the possible dangers of Lakeside. And perhaps the best way to handle an examination of an episode that features this many storylines, is to follow the order we just laid out and ponder upon a surprise journey in this particular tale, one that involved Laura Moon. Because it turns out that she hasn’t been removed from the narrative in the slightest.

No instead, her decision to surrender the coin allowed for something quite powerful to happen. For when we catch up with her in this particular tale, she’s finally found her way to the afterlife. Purgatory to be specific. And as it turns out, this particular place is the DMV of the galaxy since nothing gets done in a prompt manner and that motivated Laura to scheme her way into her next steps forward and that brought forth quite the roadblock for her. Because despite her best efforts to just move forward as she saw fit, the people that work in purgatory wouldn’t let her do things her way, and they instead forced her to take a moment to reflect upon her life and face her sorted past. Not in the way that she remembers it, but in an objective manner. In order to teach her that a lot of what she blames herself for, isn’t her fault and that her life was bad, because she put the sins of her parents upon her soul and adopted them in some weird attempt to purge them. Which made for some powerful and poignant moments for certain, the kind that might finally allow for Laura Moon to forgive herself at last.

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As for the second topic of the night, well that was handled by way of Mister Wednesday. Who made his way to a mental health facility to rescue the seeming love of his long and storied life; a goddess named Demeter. But as Wednesday is wont to do, his motives didn’t quite appear to be all that noble or romantic. For Demeter just so happened to be sitting atop a boatload of money, the kind that could fund the war effort and she was quick to demand the truth from Wednesday as to whether he was there for her, or the cash. And well, while being called to the carpet for his special brand of B.S. is nothing new for the All-Father, the fact that Demeter gave him pause in doing so, speaks volumes to the fact that having someone we care about do that from time to time is important. Since it keeps a person, or in this case, a God… grounded and downright honest.
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Whether or not that will help Odin grow as a person, and motivate him to tell the truth, will have to wait for another time, however. Because there was also mention of the fact that this episode continued to explore the mystery that is Lakeside and well, let’s be honest… no good came out of this segment of the tale. Because despite Shadow and everyone else’s best efforts to find young Alison, they came up empty handed and a little research on Mister Moon’s part, after his search shift ended, revealed something sinister to the audience. In that, kids seem to go missing often in Lakeside, and the ones that disappear, seem to disappear for good. Leaving one to wonder if by chance, the right ones go missing in order to pay tribute to whatever deity watches over Lakeside. An idea that is reinforced by the cold open of last week’s episode, wherein a young child was sacrificed in the name of a God.

Which is another plot thread that will have to wait to be properly resolved. Since this episode ends with Shadow heading off to New York City to check in on Bilquis, since Shadow dreamed of her crying out for help. And judging from the blood in her apartment, she’s clearly in some kind of trouble and really in the end, this was simply a fascinating tale through and through. Because it offered us so much to chew upon and it really did explore some unique concepts and all of that helps to reinforce the fact that this series can do anything storytelling wise and truly, it will be quite interesting to see where these plot threads take us in the weeks to come. For all of this was likely part of a grander plan, one that will undoubtedly come together in an epic and satisfying manner. Until next time.  

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