‘American Gods’ Recap: ‘Muninn’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I have to admit, that I am supremely impressed with evolution of STARZ’s American Gods. Because a series that focused heavily on mythos and the notion of faith in its freshman season has outright shifted gears in its second season. For the story no longer focuses on the genesis of the various Gods that live amongst us in this universe, nor does it examine that fascinating notion in the slightest. Instead, this series has seized upon a grand opportunity to explore the human condition like never before, and last night’s episode of the series, ‘Muninn’, is a prime example of this.
 
For this particular tale dove right into some fascinating parts of what makes mankind tick, and what truly made this story so compelling, is the sheer fact that it went to places that few shows and stories ever choose to go. Because this episode took the time to examine the darker side of humanity, specifically the cruelty that we sometimes impose upon others in the hopes of teaching someone a lesson, alongside a grand exploration of our selfishness and the first element I just made mention of, was explored by way of Shadow. For he found himself alone and injured following the train crash at the end of last week’s episode and rather than scoop him up and take him someplace safe, Mr. Wednesday let Shadow fend for himself.
 
Which quite frankly, was no easy task since hey, Shadow just survived a freakin’ train crash. But after taking a bit to heal up to the best of his abilities, he hit the road and moved toward a destination named Cairo that Wednesday’s crow suggested he make as his next stop and really, all of this was done on Wednesday’s part to try and strengthen Shadow’s resolve and push him to see if he will complete an injured voyage ‘home’ in the hopes of getting answers and this was relatable simply due to the fact that we’ve seen this happen in life. We’ve watched people push others to see what they’re made of, to see if they get the point that someone is trying to hammer home and seeing such an act put on display here, is definitely something that gives the audience pause. 

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​However, it wasn’t a total beatdown for Shadow. For he did meet an intriguing person known as Sam Black Crow, and she definitely inspired Shadow to quit moping around behind the scenes and stand up for himself and eventually he did just that at the end of the episode. Yet, while Mister Moon was dealing with this journey, Wednesday and Laura went on a special mission of their own, and this is where the selfishness I made mention of earlier came into play. But before we get into that, we need to talk about what made this particular part of the episode an outright delight to watch, which was the banter on display between Laura and Wednesday. For it became apparent that these two are outright equals since Laura was able to point out Wednesday’s flaws and vice versa and well, that matters because while it was fun to watch them go back and forth, there was a point to Wednesday’s madness.
 
For their mission involved the assassination of the God known as Argus, a powerful deity that can see all. And the purpose of putting him down, related to the fact that he was playing both sides and well, so much selfishness was on display during this segment of the story. For not only did we see Laura put down Argus without giving it much thought, all with the intent of healing her body so she could attempt to woo Shadow back; the newly introduced New Media made a power play of her own, since she attempted to forge an alliance with Argus in order to make herself one of the most powerful Gods to ever walk the planet. If anything, this was just downright fascinating to see in this story, since this presentation of selfishness didn’t offer any answers on how to overcome it, it just reminded us that sometimes, we enter a situation with the best of intentions in our heart, only to take full advantage of said situation when a grand benefit to our own lives presents itself.
 
In fact, that’s really been the most enjoyable aspect of this new direction for the series, in that, it’s not offering a single solution to any part of the human condition that it presents, it’s merely putting what makes our species both good and bad on full display, and while that seems to have no rhyme or reason at this point, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before it makes sense. For American Gods is a beautifully layered story, one that has not wasted anything it’s introduced to us over the course of its short run. So, if anything, I’m looking forward to seeing where this examination of our flaws is going to take us, because when everything comes together, I expect the end result to be nothing short of fantastic. Until next time.  

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