American Gods review, Episode 309: “The Lake Effect”

American Gods is officially one episode away from its season 3 finale, and yet we still have so many questions about how they’re going to wrap this season up. I’ve said this time and time again, but these recent episodes episodes have thus far been far better than what we got in the last season. It’s great to see the show finally find its way.

The penultimate episode of season 3 is a turning point for more than one character. I’ll get into the nuances in a bit, but this season has done a marvelous job of fleshing out each character’s journey. It’s why I’m so invested in how it all wraps up. There is so much at stake here.

Caution: SPOILERS follow below.

Laura’s target

Laura Moon (Emily Browning) is finally in possession of Odin’s (Ian McShane) spear: Gugnir, the only weapon that can actually take his life. Laura’s hatred of Odin/Wednesday has increased ten-fold over the last two seasons, and she’s ready for the kill.

Of course, using the weapon of a god isn’t a simple thing, and Laura has Doyle (Iwan Rheon) helping her out; he offers the gold coin to Laura for luck. Prior to that, Laura’s attempts to throw the spear are fruitless, but once she holds it within her hand, the weapon finds its target dead-center.

Next stop? Killing Wednesday. But not before she solicits Doyle for a one-night stand, if just to feel something one last time before she potentially starts the last day of her life. She is quick to change her mind when she realizes this is her go-to method, and I’m so glad American Gods went that route for her.

We’ve seen Laura resort to sex to avoid her feelings one too many times, and however messed up she may be, she deserves to keep her dignity if she so chooses.

Lakeside’s missing kids

Shadow made a last-minute decision to head to Jacksonville last week, to dig deeper into the case of Marguerite’s (Lela Loren) “missing” son Sandy (Alexander Bargis). I say “missing” because up until now, Marguerite has been saying that he ran away to his father’s home in Jacksonville. But as Shadow learns during his trip, Sandy never showed up there. And the mystery gets murkier when Shadow returns to Lakeside to find out that Derek (Spencer Macpherson) hanged himself. Conveniently enough, Alison’s (Andi Hubick) coat is in Derek’s closet, implying he killed himself out of guilt for killing Alison. But Shadow is unconvinced, and keeps investigating.

I admit I wasn’t sure where they were going with the whole Lakeside story, but this episode definitely paid off all the buildup. Shadow experiences a handful of very vivid, frightening dreams/visions during his investigation, which is something that’s been happening to him throughout the season.

Shadow eventually finds himself on the frozen lake as the pieces of the mystery come together. If you recall, Lakeside had a strange tradition we learned about at the start of the season that involves the townspeople guessing when a car sitting out in the middle of the frozen lake would fall through the cracking ice.

Well, that strange tradition comes full circle when Shadow falls into the water and notices all the cars piled at the bottom. We expected that, but what we did not expect is to see the bodies of all the missing Lakeside children inside the cars.

Plot twist!

That is not the only curveball “The Lake Effect” throws us. Shadow goes unconscious under the water, and when he comes to, he realizes he is with Anne-Marie (Julia Sweeney), who supposedly rescued him from drowning. What a sweet old lady, right?

WRONG. It turns out that Anne-Marie has been sacrificing children all this time as an offering to the Norse gods, and uses the car tradition to hide their bodies. I knew there was something up with the old lady from the minute we met her, but I did not anticipate this twist at all.

During her confession, Chad (Eric Johnson) shows up and tries to shoot her, but the bullets do no harm. What does do harm is Shadow’s knife, which takes her down in a blaze of fire and blood. I wasn’t here for those demonic sounds coming out of Anne-Marie, but it was certainly horrific.

Mr. Wednesday’s fate

This episode was leading up to the face-off between Laura and Wednesday. But before I get to their reunion, I must backtrack to discuss Wednesday’s meeting with Mr. World, where they try to hash out this whole New Gods vs Old Gods debate. Taking along Czernobog (Peter Stormare), Wednesday attempts to come to some solution with Mr. World, who is once again played by Crispin Glover.

Side note (and major SPOILERS): In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods novel, Mr. World is eventually revealed to be the Norse god Loki. They haven’t given us many hints of that, but I’d be on the lookout for this reveal.

In any case, Mr. World and Wednesday are unable to come to an agreement (or so it appears). Just as Wednesday steps out, he finds Laura aiming Gugnir right at him. With the gold coin in her possession, Laura throws the spear right at Odin’s chest, and we go into slow motion.

Czernobog attempts to attack Laura but Doyle shows up and rescues her and she hands him the gold coin. He disappears, although we don’t know where he went. Stay tuned for the finale to find out?

But that isn’t the most pressing question we have: Is Wednesday actually dead? Even if he is, I have a sneaking suspicion this is all part of some master plan he’s concocted. He didn’t really flinch when he saw Laura nor when the spear was coming towards him. If we’ve learned anything about Wednesday, it’s that he’s always thinking several moves ahead. Surely he has something up his sleeve!

And as for Technical Boy (Bruce Langley), he’s escaped the clutches of the robotic face cage Mr. World had him locked in, thanks to his self-conscience taking the form of Bilquis (Yetide Badaki). And now, he only has one goal in mind: find out what Artifact One is.

Seriously, though, what is it?

American Gods is setting itself up for what promises to be one heck of a season finale. I don’t think I’ve been this excited for an episode of this series since the first season, and I must say it feels wonderful! There has been so much character and plot development this time around, and it’s paid off in a huge way.

And again, there’s that question: Is Wednesday actually dead?

I think not.

Grade: B

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