American Gods Episode 6 Review

Hey guys, welcome back to the channel, and we're gonna talk about tonight's episode of American Gods. It's episode 6, entitled, I believe, A Murder of the Gods. And guys, I thought this episode was good. Um, it, um, how, how these episodes are moving along. I just felt this week's episode, it, uh, moved along at a, at a good pace, but we kind of just jumped from place to place. I didn't feel like one story got any specific type of footing, so I kind of just felt like it, uh, kind of did like how we discussed earlier, how the books are doing, just not in a hurry to really get any place. Not in a hurry to advance the story, uh, not sure where we're going. It just seems like we're kind of going in this circular, uh, you know, pattern. But, you know, as I understand it, this is how Neil Gaiman writes the book American Gods. And I was entertained. I thought the episode was good. But what we open up with, uh, you know, what appeared to be a border crossing And we know in this day and age, immigration has been a big topic. It was one of the big topics of our political campaigns, the election. And we touched on that in this episode, but even before that, as I understand it, The book American Gods, you know, it's basically a story about immigrants. Neil Gaiman, the author, he immigrated from Europe, and a lot of this story has to do with things he experienced, you know, in America being an immigrant. And although the book has been updated, you know, over the, you know, over the last decade or so, you know, with the adaption of the TV show and things like that, things have, you know, changed to make it a little bit more relevant. Uh, you know, it's still pretty much, uh, you know, was relevant, you know, uh, when the book was originally written with the issues of immigration and, um, you know, the things that, uh, you know, Neil Gaiman, uh, as an immigrant, you know, witness. And, um, you know, we get in the opening scene, we get these what appears to be Mexican immigrants and they're trying to, uh, cross perhaps it's the Rio Grande and one of the lead people who are trying to migrate illegally across the border, one of the main characters is letting them know basically, hey, that if these rivers rise too high and you can't swim, don't come. You know, but of course, you know, they understand the stakes are high. You know, that's the opportunity to make it across the border to America. And so we get, uh, immigrants who are taking a chance anyway. They're taking a risk anyway. And, uh, you know, we get to see, uh, one who doesn't make it, but he's mysteriously rescued by this, uh, angelic figure that looks like Mexican Jesus. And, uh, you know, it's kind of, uh, uh, interesting as we look back at some episodes. We had older Mr. Wednesday, and he was speaking about how the faiths in many types of Jesus have produced many types of Jesus. We know this story is about the belief of humans, and through their belief systems, they're actually creating these gods, you know, giving the gods this power, the power to live. And so, uh, one of the immigrants who's drowning is actually rescued by, uh, you know, what appears to be the Mexican version of Jesus. And he's performing miracles, he's walking on water. And things like that. And, you know, of course these immigrants is kind of, you know, symbolic of what we've seen, you know, with all the other various deities being brought with their people to America. And we get the immigrants in Mexico and they're bringing Mexican Jesus with them across the border. But then we get what appears to be, uh, I imagine they're like Border Patrol operatives of some sort. And, uh, I don't know if they're like, uh, you know, obviously they must be like, um, oh, you know, volunteer Border Patrol people of some sort because they just start firing on these, um, uh, these immigrants. And, uh, You know, we get this scene where Mexican Jesus, he basically sacrificed himself. He dies for this family so that they may live and continue on. So it's the, again, the Jesus story being fulfilled, him sacrificing himself for humankind, these particular group of humans. Through the Mexican belief system in the concept of Jesus. So very interesting, all very interesting. And like I was saying, Mr. Wednesday did tell us that there were many types of Jesus, uh, and we know that through religion and various things, a lot of people have their concept and idea of what Jesus looks like, uh, you know, what Jesus is like, and, uh you know, in, uh, you know, various retellings of Jesus, whether he appear, uh, thousands of years later in the Americas and what have you. But, uh, you know, we get to skip on to what's going on with Shadow, what's going on with Mr. Wednesday. And Shadow's still pretty much, um, in, in, uh, this type of disbelief from what happened in the police station with all the police stations being killed by the old deities. Well, I'm sorry, the new deities rather. But you know, it's very interesting because he's been wounded by this nature god, this tree god. And we get this kind of description, explanation of this tree god, uh, that, you know, we— a lot of us trying to figure out what happened last, uh, you know, week. Shadow's wounded and some type of fragment or remnant of this, uh, uh, old deity, this old god that's trapped in him. But if I understood it correctly, what Mr. Wednesday was saying about this particular deity is that it was, uh, you know, in a sense older than they were, and some type of, uh, you know, uh, uh, the deity or being that maybe pre-existed for them, if I understood it correctly. But, uh, you know, my thoughts on this deity was, uh, I think pretty much, you know, on the money, because, uh, I was thinking, I said, there's no way that this deity is, you know, is on, uh, either of, either of their sides, that it's kind of doing its own thing and has its own interests. And that's exactly what was happening. But we kind of get again disbelief situation between Shadow and what's going on. And, you know, him finally starting to come to terms with, you know, all this is real, with especially what happened with Laura Moon, his wife, her coming back from the dead. So, you know, at this point, you know, it's really getting hard for Shadow not to just believe everything and face reality. And, um, with, you know, with Shadow, one thing I kind of liked about the acting and the progression of, uh, American Gods with these discoveries and various things, and sometimes I notice on a lot of these type of, uh, uh, fantasy/science fiction shows and things like that, that people very quickly to terms with whatever, uh, fantastical things they're dealing with. You know, if they, you know, whether they discover aliens or deities or ghosts or whatever, uh, usually they come to terms with it quick. And I imagine that's so they can move the story along, so, you know, we're not spending, um, you know, a large amount of time on, you know, them emotionally, psychologically dealing with the issue at hand. But I kind of just like how they've done the show with Shadow, how he comes to terms, how his psychologically he kind of just goes into this, this, you know, this, the state of disbelief or shock, or— and I would imagine psychologically something like that could really happen to a person, you know, that they, if they are confronted with you know, such an incredible, uh, uh, you know, such an incredible situation like this that, uh, it could be overwhelming to them to the point where they would just withdraw. Uh, so some people deal with it that way, whereas we see some people who kind of go into a panic. But one thing for sure— excuse me— I don't think in a situation like this I don't think in a situation like this you would have, uh, a normal reaction like I've seen in some of these science fiction fantasy shows where people quickly adapt and move on. Um, so Mr. Wednesday is moving along and we get to what's happening, uh, with, uh, an old deity and friend of his, Vulcan. And, um, excuse me, Vulcan is, you know, as we understand it, he was kind of like the blacksmith of the gods. He made various, uh, weapons for the gods that they can wield and battle and various things. He's a really good craftsman, and I believe he lived in a volcano and he was able to extract and use fire. And that's become, um, you know, quite important to the story tonight because we kind of see that Vulcan is still wielding fire. He's still relevant because he's found a way to use gunpowder, fire weapons, in order to, um, you know, stay relevant through use of guns and gunpowder, that type of fire, that link to it. Uh, he's basically, uh, able to still be worshiped in a way. He's still— there's sacrifices directly are still being made to him. And we get the— that happens with workers with the Vulcan Company that's making this ammunition through use of fire and heat, how, you know, their accidental deaths, or so-called accidental deaths, are settled through the insurance companies. And it's explained, you know, by Mr. Wednesday that basically Uh, it's almost like a willing sacrifice. And of course, uh, these, uh, sacrifices feed Vulcan. And Vulcan's kind of, uh, leading this, uh, town. It's also— it's actually called, I believe, Vulcan, uh, Virginia. This Vulcan was a Virginia. It may have been Virginia, but the town of Vulcan And it's basically a town full of people who are pretty much devoted to Vulcan. You know, it's a gun-carrying, gun-toting society. And I found that very interesting because they're kind of dressed militant. They almost look like these militia groups in America. They look like these, um, kind of like these neo-Nazi groups, how they're dressed. And, um, you know, there are people who, you know, reminds you of when you see these militia groups who are trying to uphold their, uh, you know, their, uh, their amendment rights to bear arms and things like that, and to the point they're willing to, uh, die for those rights or fight for those rights in a violent way comes to it. And I found that all very interesting too because cause, you know, going back to Neil Gaiman being an immigrant from Europe, uh, what's interesting about that is, um, you know, Europe is a place where you can't carry guns openly. You know, it's many laws, um, where, uh, you know, people in society don't carry guns, where even like the cops have to get special permission to carry guns. And, uh, as an immigrant to the United States I imagine that for Neil Gaiman to see a lot of, you know, open carry weapons, a lot of, uh, you know, weapons in general being able to be used and wielded by, uh, you know, average citizens, uh, that this must have been quite, um, you know, a, a, a culture shock, uh, for him coming from a country where, uh, you know, people, you know, don't carry guns and didn't have the right to bear arms and things like that. And I have several friends from Europe and I've had some discussions with them regarding the right to bear arms and weapons in the United States and various things like that. And I found that I've gotten different point of views from them. I've actually gotten some people who feel, you know, pretty much like, you know, basically that we live in, carrying guns creates more violence, that it doesn't, you know, deter crime like we think, but it increases crime, various things like that. You know, whereas I've had other friends from Europe who said that they didn't think it was a good idea that They should be able to carry guns because the criminals still had guns, you know, and they were still in danger if they were confronted or faced with someone who had weapons and they didn't. So I got both of those conversations coming from people from Europe under those type systems, and I just found that all very interesting. And I just found this episode, you know, to speak to two very or several interesting politics of our day, from immigration to gun laws. And we get a little bit of racism in there again because as they're visiting Vulcan and Vulcan has pretty much promised their protection there, Shadow Moon, there seems to be this kind of racist overtone with Shadow Moon being there. They're talking about hanging again a lot. Uh, you know, with him being black, that keeps coming up. And, um, you know, uh, basically, uh, just the, the feel of this community— it— all of the people were white people in these militant, uh, uh, uniforms that looks like the Nazis or something, you know. And it just had this overtone of, you know, this kind of white supremacist, white militia group type feel to it. And again, I think that's, you know, going back to how Neil Gaiman wrote the book American Gods, which is, you know, dealing a lot with just the culture of America, whether that be racism in America, the politics, the political landscape of America, and how Neil Gaiman saw it through his eyes. And like I said earlier, the book has kind of, it kind of did go through a slight change to make it even more pertinent to where we at today, but I don't think it had to do a lot of changes in that. Um, you know, I think he kind of hit pretty much close to it when he first wrote the book. But, um, you know, we got with Vulcan, we basically got, um, uh, Vulcan doing what Mr. Wednesday initially thought he would do, which is join him. And Mr. Wednesday convinces him to make him a weapon worthy of a god. And convince him to go off into this war. I believe it's Wisconsin they're headed again, uh, to fight this war, part of, uh, America, you know, which is the spirit of the story. And, uh, uh, so Vulcan agrees. We get this magnificent weapon that Vulcan's created, but, you know, Mr. Wednesday You know, although he, uh, you know, well, he did say he knew Vulcan, so he was able to, you know, quickly figure out that Vulcan had basically sold him out, told the New Gods and that, um, you know, that, uh, he was to stay kind of neutral in this, which, you know, I It was just something too easy going on with Vulcan, him being so accepting of, uh, what was going on with him going off to war and wanting to fight the, uh, the new guys, you know, especially with him being in such a, uh, a good situation because Vulcan was still pretty much getting his warship, you know, he, he, he was still relevant. But you can tell, and I found this very interesting, you could tell he had been rebranded. And, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's kind of funny because all through the show, all through this episode, they're showing him wearing the jackets with the, you know, with the letter V, these corporate logos and symbols. And you just, you just see it's a very corporate, uh, uh, uh, um, uh, you know, set up a very, you know, very corporate, uh, you know, platform, how they're operating. And that, and that just went back to last week's episode about how the new guys wanted to rebrand, uh, the old guys and bring them up to speed that they didn't really want this war. And Vulcan's reaping the benefits, you know, of it, you know. But, you know, the way what I'm getting from Mr. Wednesday or Odin is He's doing this thing, but it's kind of like a synthetic, if you will, way to get worship and blessings, you know, these indirect ways. These— and I just found that all very, you know, very entertaining, very interesting. I'd explain it, but, you know, basically, you know, Vulcan has sold him out. And, you know, Mr. Wednesday shows us just how good he is. As a warrior god, he takes that god-killing weapon Vulcan crafted for him and, uh, basically slays him and then curses, uh, you know, his operation and the, uh, and, and what the New Gods have done, you know, to set up, you know, their operation with Vulcan and various things like that. And, uh, uh, yeah, I just thought, I just thought that was great how that. And, uh, of course, Shadows, he's just really, you know, he's, uh, uh, you know, in shock still, and he can't believe all this happened. But you can kind of tell Shadow is coming around, and he's becoming very accepting, you know. Now he sees, you know, you know, what is happening and what is going on, uh, very much more clear. But, you know, we also got Laura Moon, we got Laura and the leprechaun Uh, they're kind of setting out, uh, on this entourage travel with the, uh, you know, with the, um, the person who got his new, um, idea. I believe his name is something like that. And, uh, I, I thought Celine had the Djinn, but apparently what the Djinn had been doing is replacing people's new lives and kind of moving on. So Celine wants to find the Djinn because He has this connection with the djinn. You know, apparently, uh, you know, him and the djinn connected, uh, at a level, you know, that he feels that there's something there. So Saleem wants to find the djinn, and he gets mixed up with the leprechaun and Lara, you know, uh, who's come back looking for Shadow, but it's too late, you know, as we got to see Mr. Wednesday and Shadow had already left. And the leprechaun, uh, you know, he's just a really funny character when he says dead wife You know, that just is, it's just hilarious to me every time he says that. But they get this entourage going and, and they're trying to, uh, track down Shadow. Uh, Selene's trying to find the Djinn with the help of the leprechaun. So they're like this traveling entourage now, and we get this, uh, very entertaining, uh, travels with them. And, and I think that they're going to be quite interesting to watch. I think all— they all work well together, and I was entertained watching them, you know, watching them all. Of course, the leprechauns— he's sticking with, uh, close to Laura now. He's not going to go anyplace because of course Laura has his lucky coin. But, uh, he kind of comes up with this story I haven't heard before about how he can get her to be resurrected. Pretty, uh, suspicious and doubtful of that because That's something that hasn't been discussed before in the story. But in addition to that, I remember Mr. Wednesday speaking about how people who are dead tend to stay dead. So I don't know how Mr. Wednesday doesn't have a way to bring Laura back, or he's not aware of it, but the leprechaun is. And Mr. Wednesday clearly stated he was an idiot, so I don't think the leprechaun know more than Mr. Wednesday, unless the leprechaun is telling the truth and Mr. Wednesday is not revealing the truth, or vice versa. Because of course, you know, at this point Mr. Wednesday has a lot of vested interest in keeping Shadow by his side for whatever plan or reason he has set for Shadow. And, uh, he's— it's clear that he needs Shadow, and it's clear that he's been quite concerned about Shadow trying to reconnect with Laura Moon. But, you know, anyway, guys, it's only 2 episodes remaining. I like this episode. I, you know, it wasn't as profound as last week and some of the others, but it was entertaining. I don't know how far along it moved the story. Because I don't really know what progress Mr. Wednesday is really making. Uh, he, he does have, uh, uh, Zernobog with him. You know, Zernobog has agreed to, you know, come under not the best conditions for Shadow. And, uh, uh, I thought he may have Vulcan. I was thinking that might turn out well. Didn't happen. So, uh, you know, I mean I'm not sure how this is going to end up going, but I was entertained. Uh, like this week's episode. Um, and, uh, you know, guys, let me know what you thought of this week's episode. Did you like it better than the others? And, uh, you know, are you looking forward to, uh, what the finale is? You know, what we're gonna get, you know, in the finale? I have no idea what we're gonna get because it's kind of hard to, uh, you know, track the story. But, um, anyway guys, uh, if you like content like this, don't forget to like, subscribe, and until next time, take care.