‘American Gods’ Recap: ‘The Rapture of Burning’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘American Gods’.
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Something that is truly fascinating about mankind, is the sheer fact that there are two sides to us. One side, is inherently good and motivates us to do wondrous things that benefits our fellow man in a positive emotional or physical manner and of course, there is a real sour side to us as well. One that sees us harness incredible anger and outright darkness, to the point where we lash out and harm our brethren in a negative emotional or physical manner and well, what makes this so fascinating… is that we are able to switch between these two sides seamlessly.
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If anything, this is relevant to our discussion today, simply because the duality of man served as the focus of the next episode of American Gods. Because a bevy of characters in this fascinating universe, were placed in some incredibly compromising situations that allowed for them to demonstrate exactly what duality looks like and how it works, and that made ‘The Rapture of Burning’ quite the fascinating episode when all is said and done. One that not only put this concept on display in a frank and intriguing manner, but it also outright took the time to examine perhaps the most fascinating aspect of duality. Specifically, our proclivity to indulge in the darker stuff when we know it isn't healthy for us in the slightest.

Something that came about by way of Laura Moon’s journey in this tale. Since she was fully aware of the fact that she was pursuing the most bitter parts of her soul and that there was a chance that exacting revenge would bring her no peace. But that didn't stop her from indulging in the belief that taking out her fury on Wednesday was the only way to heal and move forward in her re-energized life and that motivated her to make quite the deal with a leprechaun named Liam Doyle so that she could get her hands on the spear. But the apparent failure of that deal, finally motivated Laura to examine her life choices for a time and deal with some of her trauma accordingly and ponder upon a better path. That is until Liam returned and gave her what she wanted after all, allowing for her to embrace the darkness once again and well... her journey just helped to remind us of how strong the pull of darkness can be and how easy it is to embrace that, over anything else.

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But while Laura dealt with the struggle of being pulled back and forth emotionally, Tyr finally exposed himself to be a villain. One that was eager to use Shadow as bait to bring Odin to a place known as the Wolf Den Cavern and well, once dear old dad arrived, duality was once again on full display. Because for the first time ever, Odin was willing to do right by his son and put his own soul and future on the line, in place of Shadow’s. Something that stunned Shadow, since he’d never seen his dad be so selfless. But of course, this was all part of a ruse, one where Wednesday embraced the good in order to indulge the bad and defeat Tyr. Reminding Shadow once again that his father is seemingly incapable of picking one side to follow, since flipping back and forth seems to serve him so well.
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But this entire episode wasn’t completely mired in a back and forth between our worst traits and our better angels. For Sailm’s journey in this tale served to remind us that while we will indeed indulge in the darkness out of fear and worry and awful habits… the good tends to win in the end. Because spending time at the Peacock Hotel with wonderful people that encouraged him to embrace the good allowed for Salim to find happiness and peace once again. And it really was quite beautiful and inspiring to see Salim shake off the pain that the Jinn caused him and to finally embrace his sexuality and his personal identity, and his journey really was the most beautiful and uplifting one of the night and wedging that within the darker stuff simply hammered home the fact that we are woefully complex beings.

The kind that has a long way to go when it comes to growth and consistency. But there is hope and beauty within all of us and the more we embrace that and celebrate it, the sooner we will achieve the balance and peace we seek. But while we wait for that proud day to happen, we can sit back and bask in the wonder of one fascinating episode. One that genuinely explored a complicated and intricate aspect of the human condition in a frank and non-judgmental manner and now that this exploration has come to a close, it will be quite interesting to see if next week's tale is going to continue this show's deep dive into the human condition, or if it will finally focus upon the plot over anything else. Because while it is lovely to learn more about who we are and what makes us tick, there are some juicy plot lines hanging heavy over this tale, the kind that need to be resolved. Until next time.

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