AMERICAN GODS (S2E8) “Moon Shadow”: There’s Nothing Final About This Finale

As a film critic, I am writing this piece under the behemoth that is Avengers: Endgame, the only thing that seems to be on people’s minds these days. (Yup! You can’t even escape it in an American Gods recap!) Don’t worry, this is still about American Gods, I just wanted to mention the Marvel films because I think they’re really good at serialization.

The MCU makes it a point of telling one complete story with each film, while adding to a larger overarching plot that they can lead up to. Captain America can defeat Red Skull and save the day, but we still know the tesseract will make a comeback later. The Avengers saved Sokovia, but how will the rest of the world react to the destruction left in their path? This catharsis followed by a desire to know what happens next is just good storytelling.

We need the catharsis of a beginning and an end of a story to help us feel as though the hours we’ve devoted to a show, book, or movie have been worth it. I’m not sure if that reward is present in the season finale of American Gods, but lets see if we can uncover it together.

The Set Ups

I’m excited for Season 3. There were enough good episodes in this shaky season to assure me that when this show is good, it’s good. I’m excited to see more of Wednesday’s troubled side, such as when he recalled his life with his son, Thor. I want more Mr. Nancy, because watching Orlando Jones is always a treat. And I want to see just what Bilquis is up to, because she spent the entire season scheming and looking mysterious.

But in a season where Shadow seemed to be getting more and more fed up with Wednesday’s tricks and lies, shouldn’t there have been some confrontation in the finale? Shouldn’t, since Wednesday seemed to be so ready for war in the previous few episodes, he and Mr. World have had some sort of skirmish? I suppose not. This episode seems so focused on setting up the next season, that it forgets to end the one it’s in.

Wednesday sneaks off at the beginning of the episode, Shadow is on the run, Technical Boy has been resurrected and Laura makes off with Mad Sweeney’s body. All of these things happen, but they have no results, no pay off for us to enjoy.

What Do We Get?

Maybe I’m just spoiled and I wanted the episodes to be as good as they’ve been recently. But I don’t think season-finale-closure is too much to ask for. Still, this episode did have moments that made the season feel like it had a progression. Salim and The Jinn finally kissing (YAYYY) was a fist pumping moment for me. My only regret is that, while the season spent so much time jumping around between characters every episode, their relationship had been given more attention.

But the real highlight of the episode was, oddly enough, Mr. World. I say “oddly enough” because I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by Mr. World in this show. I respect the whispered dialogue to show his power to a degree, but the performance seemed tedious to me. But in this Twilight Zone-esque intro, Crispin Glover‘s Mr. World delivers a monologue about fear against the backdrop of Orson Welles infamous radio performance of War of the Worlds.

He ends the monologue by sitting in the director’s chair, alluding to his vice-like grip on the media with Technical Boy and New Media on his side. He influences the news and people, proving that fear is the motivator behind the American way of life. It’s out of nowhere, and it’s frankly nothing we’ve seen on the show before, Mr. World dressing us, but I loved it. It’s weird, it’s meta, and it works.

American Gods will be back for a Season 3 (we might expect another year and a half gap) and, unless my stance on the show turns sour during that waiting period, I’ll be there. There’s a lot of story to unpack, and the show seems to be just vamping up. Thanks for sticking around this season, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the finale and this season as a whole in the comments! This is Patrick Crossen, signing off of American Gods Season 2 for the last time. See ya next time, God Squad.

What did you think of the season finale? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!