American Gods review, Episode 304: “The Unseen”

American Gods takes us on a wild ride as Odin finds himself in a babbling mess and Technical Boy and Shadow try to locate Bilquis.

American Gods has been taking a rather interesting approach in its third season, and I must say, I’m here for it. We’re diving deeper into the psyches of each character, and getting stronger storylines that don’t leave us scratching our heads. Before, the vagueness of it all could make the show confusing and uninteresting, but now I think we’re getting somewhere.

What happened in American Gods Episode 304, “The Unseen”?

“The Unseen” opens up with the Orishas arriving in America. The Orishas are ancient deities from Yorubaland, a region in West Africa. They were worshipped by slaves, and those looking for solace amidst their horrific surroundings.

The Orishas have turned up in many of Shadow’s visions. But here we get to know Oshun (Herizen Guardiola), Yamoja (Bridget Ogundipe) and Aye (Karen Glave) better than before.

Back in the present, we pick back up with Shadow (Ricky Whittle) as he finds Bilquis (Yetide Badaki) missing and Technical Boy (Bruce Langley) a bloody mess. Technical Boy’s condition makes the whole scene look very suspicious; he is covered in blood and guts after all.

But it’s not Bilquis’ blood, but the results of a slaughter that ensued before Bilquis was dragged away by people working for Bill Sanders (Jeff Clarke), a man she *ahem* swallowed during intercourse.

Bilquis managed to take down some of the attackers but is ultimately taken prisoner at the behest of people acting on orders from Bill’s daughter Alexandra’s (Megan Vincent). Bill was billionaire philanthropist, so the urgency to locate him is real. Unfortunately, these folks are in for a rude awakening when they learn that not only is he dead, but he went in a rather strange and disturbing way.

Shadow and Technical Boy are determined to track down Bilquis, despite Technical Boy’s constant glitching (which is a result of the beating Bilquis gave him in the season premiere). There is nothing like not knowing if Technical Boy is glitching or if your TV is broken.

After beating down one of Alexandra’s security guards and scaring him with Technical Boy’s pixelated transformation (which was unsettling), Shadow and Technical Boy learn that Bilquis is being kept in Hoboken, where she’s being subjected to loud heavy metal music non-stop as a means of torture. Badaki’s acting in these scenes is superb.

During her time in lockup, Bilquis is visited by Mr. World (Crispin Glover). I’m hoping this isn’t a permanent change because I love Dominque Jackson as Ms. World.

Anyway, Mr. World tries once again to convince Bilquis to join the New Gods. At this point she’s tired of hearing it, we’re tired of hearing it, and it seems like American Gods can’t get enough of i. When she refuses to budge, he leaves with orders to kill her, that is if the mind-melting torture doesn’t get her first.

But Bilquis has little to worry about, because Oshun is there to ensure she gets through this predicament. Of course, what Bilquis sees as out-of-body experience with Oshun is seen by the guards watching over her as a meltdown. It’s quite hilarious to see them observing and thinking she’s lost it, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

Meanwhile, Odin/Mr. Wednesday (Ian Mcshane) and Cordelia (Ashley Reyes) are on a mission to get a hold of Hutchinson’s (Sebastian Spence) hard drive, which they hope will prove he is the fraud Odin believes him to be. As Demeter’s (Blythe Danner) guardian, Hutchinson has a lot of power over her, but not if Odin can help it.

Shadow refuses to help his father steal the hard drive and instead focuses his efforts on saving Bilquis. Odin and Cordelia head off to Valhalla East, a bar filled with people that Odin thinks believe in the old Nordic Gods again. And yes, they’re down to help, but only if he does something about the horrendous Johan (Marilyn Manson). Johan isn’t too pleased with being told what to do, so he blows up the bar with everyone inside.

This explosion scrambles something in Odin’s mind. He stumbles out of the bar talking gibberish, strips down naked, and is making absolutely no sense. In fact, at some point, he tells Cordelia that “a monkey sh*t in my pants”. The Old God isn’t doing so well, so it’s off to the psych ward with him. At least he’ll likely reunite with Demeter now!

Lastly, there is some progress on Laura Moon’s (Emily Browning) visit to Purgatory. Her card color hasn’t been called yet, and she’s still walking about confused, irritated, and a little nostalgic about her time with Mad Sweeney (Pablo Schreiber). I think she…loves him? That’s strange to say, but I think she’s realizing it now that she has all this time to think.

Laura finds herself pulled out of Purgatory after a graveyard maintenance man, Gilbert (Martin Roach), begins cleaning up Sweeney’s blood and the mess around it. He steps on Laura’s potion, which touches the blood and Laura’s ashes, and voila, she’s back to life just like that.

It’s a bit frightening for her because this is the first time in a long time that she’s actually alive. She can feel, she can taste, she can smell. But there’s no time to think about that because she’s determined to set out on her new mission: bringing Sweeney back to life. At least that’s what it looks like she’s going to do after she finds his lucky coin in the crematorium and hitches a ride to Illinois with his ashes in tow.

American Gods was quite a trip this week. There’s a lot of story developing for each and every one of the characters, which is an improvement over what it was like last season. I feel as if we’re really starting to understand each character’s journey and how it connects to the overall story.

I’m eager to see how things tie in together and if all roads will eventually lead to one place.

Grade: B-

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