American Gods review, Episode 303: “Ashes and Demons”

American Gods has been shockingly watchable in its third season. That may sound like a strange thing to say, but fans understand just how much this show has struggled in its fairly short run. But now we’ve got a concrete storyline for each character, allure, mystery, and a plot that keeps viewers engaged. It feels so wonderful to actually be excited about what each episode has in store, and “Ashes and Demons” was quite the ride.

We begin in 1765 in rural Pennsylvania, where American Gods introduces us to Wednesday’s (Ian McShane) wife, Demeter (Gwynne Phillips). We see her working tirelessly alongside her two daughters in a field when suddenly one of them falls to the ground from pure exhaustion.

What follows is a strange, disturbing ritual involving slaughtering a pig. It gets quite bloody and graphic, but in short, young Demeter is performing the ritual to bless the crops in the field. In true American Gods fashion, the ritual produces something mighty strange as a cornhusk doll comes to life and transforms into the goddess Demeter, the one from Greek myth. The young woman is blessed by Demeter, and in turn, the field of crops begins to grow.

That’s one way to start an episode!

American Gods delivers yet another solid episode as more of Wednesday’s past is revealed and Laura Moon finds herself in purgatory.

In the present, Wednesday is prepping to go meet Demeter, now played by Blythe Danner. She’s in an institution where she’s revered as the goddess she is and knows that Wednesday is simply looking for someone to fund his war. She’s not having it — at all.

Better luck next time, Wednesday! He doesn’t seem deterred. Even news of the death of four members of the metal band Blood Death, doesn’t seem to get him down. For any Marilyn Manson fans out there, don’t worry, Johan Wengren managed to survive the slaughter of his fellow band members, and it seems we have not seen the last of him just yet.

And then there’s Laura Moon (Emily Browning), whose story I thought had reached a conclusion. But this week’s episode shows that she’s here to stay, even if she’s just wandering around Purgatory trying to make sense of what the hell (no pun intended) is going on.

There’s an interesting series of scenes that shows Laura traveling on some form of transport alongside other dead folks and arriving at a lobby of sorts to “check in.” Each soul is assigned a color and must wait for his/her turn to move along to the next step.

I can’t say I care much at all for Laura’s storyline, but this episode did further her arc by highlighting her refusal to accept the reality of being dead. She watches back moments in her life that she felt she was to blame for, like when she urged her father to talk to other women, which led him to cheat on her mom. By the end of the episode, she realizes it wasn’t her doing at all and that her father planned the infidelity all on his own. I’ve always wanted to see more depth to Laura’s story, and it looks like the show is finally delivering!

Back in Lakeside, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) joins the rescue efforts to find the still-missing Alison (Andi Hubick). Shadow has a crucial scene with the town sheriff, Chad (Eric Johnson). When Shadow was still a suspect in Alison’s case, it became clear that it may have been for reasons beyond Shadow being the new guy in town. There are racial undertones here, which Chad attempts to squash in a very awkward manner. He vouches for himself and for Lakeside by saying no one there meant to be racist, and Shadow’s response says a lot. “Lakeside’s still in America, right?”

Meanwhile, Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) is feeling out of sorts after absorbing her last victim. This time around, something isn’t going down right. Interestingly enough, back in Lakeside, Shadow snoozes off and has a strange dream. Upon waking up, he calls Wednesday and asks for Bilquis’ location to get a better understanding of whatever he saw.

It looks like Shadow is headed to New York City, but when he arrives, he finds her place has been turned upside down, with blood everywhere. Also Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) is there and he looks disturbed. Not sure what’s gone down there, but it can only spell trouble.

Grade: B+

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