Yes, if you’ve seen the episode, that just happened. If you haven’t and don’t want to read the spoilers then the best advice is to stop reading since things just heated up once again. Seriously, did anyone expect anything different with Wednesday? Just to get it out of the way, Laura Moon appears to have satisfied her deal with Mr. World, who was adamant when speaking to Wednesday that the old gods had a choice, fade away quietly or be hunted down one by one. The fact that Czernobog was there makes it all the more likely to think that open war will come during the finale or a final reveal that will make everything come to a sudden head. The death of Odin/Wednesday is bound to incite the war in a manner that will make the new gods remember that the old gods are anything but weak and that what’s been built up can also be destroyed. Then there’s the idea that Technical Boy might actually get what he wants by finding the Shard, or Artifact 1, which he believes will fix what is wrong with him. On top of that, Shadow has finally discovered Hinzelmann’s secret, the fact that she takes a sacrifice of one child every so often to keep the town of Lakeside prosperous and thriving. Upon being found out, Hinzelmann might well have killed both Shadow and the sheriff if Shadow hadn’t acted and killed Hinzelmann instead. But of course, that leaves the question of what’s bound to happen to Lakeside now that its self-appointed mayor and protector is no longer there. Oh yes, things are heating up.
With only one episode left to go in the season, this is one heck of a way to lead into the finale, especially with the apparent death of Wednesday looming over the issue of war between the old gods and the new. One has to wonder just why Odin was so despondent after so long, however, since whether it was the loss of Demeter, Tyr’s betrayal or Johann’s demise that made him this way is hard to say. At this time it almost feels as though the old god is simply too tired, or has another motive that a lot of people who watch the show might not know anything about. Wednesday/Odin is a crafty one after all and has proven this time and time again over the course of the show. The animosity that is seen to exist between Mr. World and Wednesday is strong, there’s no doubt about that, but it feels as though fans are going to be given a humongous ‘gotcha’ by the end of the series, as those who have read the book should know. The fact that we see Huginn and Muninn, Odin’s ravens, appear outside of Shadow’s window at the end of the episode is a good indication that things aren’t quite done yet. On top of that, Shadow’s demeanor makes it obvious that despite his misgivings he’s about to step into the fray once again. His time in Lakeside is over as he’s seen packing, and there’s not much reason to stay since he’s still the outsider, the individual that has essentially derailed the town’s best-kept secret, which is also its darkest.
The show has felt a bit anticlimactic for a while now if one is to be honest since there’s a great deal of exposition that builds up the story, but not quite enough payoff at times. Those that love a good story and are happy to see the action but don’t always need it are likely those that have enjoyed American Gods since season 1 given that it’s provided a good bit of mythology, no matter how reworked it’s been to fit with the story. The long game that Wednesday has been playing is one that a lot of people might have been confused by, but a little research into the existence of Odin and many might realize that while he is many things to some folks, he is many other things to those that understand that his nature is a shifting thing that offers wisdom in one hand and trickery in the other, poetry on one end and war on the other. Odin is a rather complicated deity by design, as are many of those within any given pantheon as they are reflections of humanity that are given the many different attributes of those telling the story in order to make them more interesting. One explanation of why humans see gods as we do is that the gods are unknowable given that they don’t think, act, or even believe as humans do, making them enigmas to the same humans that worship them. If there’s anything that Neil Gaiman managed to convey with his story, it was that humans don’t understand gods any more than the gods understand humans.
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