AMERICAN GODS (S2E7) “Treasure Of The Son”: The Proverbial Fan

With only one episode left in the season, American Gods has to create some tension amongst its cast of characters. Relationships will need to be tested, boundaries pushed, and we’ll need to see just where loyalties lie. In this week’s episode, “The Treasure of the Sun” the Gaiman-adapted show delivered perfectly.

I’m decidedly in on season 3 of this show (is it mostly because I just wan Salim and the Jinn to have their happily ever after? YEP) but to really get me jazzed for another romp through the word of the gods, I need some consequences, and I need them soon. Luckily, this episode gave me what I needed to go into the season finale next week with the right amount of apprehension and excitement. Things get a little heated, so I’m gonna tell you right now that if you haven’t seen the episode yet, there are spoilers ahead. I’ll give you a moment to watch the episode.

Read? Alrighty, let’s get into it.

In Case You Missed It

Guess where we still are? That’s right, Cairo! Mr. Ibis is still playing host to our band of rogues, and everyone seems to have a lot on their mind. Salim stands by the Jinn out of love, Shadow is put in charge of Wednesday’s spear, and Bilquis continues to find what power she can by coaxing lustful reactions out of those who will listen to her speak.

But the spotlight isn’t focused on any of these characters. It’s trained on Mad Sweeney,  the angry leprechaun who is still pining after his lucky coin that Laura has a tight hold on. In true American Gods fashion, we’re treated to flashbacks of ancient Ireland, and are given story after story of Mad Sweeney, showing just how he came to be who he is.

After last week’s fantastic Thor episode, I’m thrilled to see that we’re given another insightful look at one of the show’s main characters. While before we were shown Wednesday’s soft side, this week we got to see what makes Mad Sweeney so…mad.

Poor Sweeney

We’ve heard Sweeney rant again and again about how much he hates Wednesday. There’s always been this tension between the two characters that made one wonder why Sweeney was continuing to serve Odin, or how long it would take before he’d finally had enough. But in some brilliantly acted scenes by Pablo Tell Schreiber, American Gods relays that Sweeney is a man without a past. His memory has been stripped away and has only recently begun to return to him.

This is a fascinating dynamic for a character in this show specifically. While Bilquis, Wednesday and the other gods seem to revel in their past, fondly recalling the days when people worshiped and sacrificed to them regularly, Sweeney has no memory of who he was before. It’s been left in the country that he came from, lost in time. The flashbacks in the show continue to alter as Sweeney slowly regains his memory, each portrayed with exciting cinematography and a controlled color scheme that makes the flashbacks feel like ancient footage. As though this is how film would have looked if it had been around back then.

But when Sweeney finally remembers who he was and all that he’s lost, he wants his revenge on the man that he blames for his troubles. Wednesday, the puppet-master, is to blame for his bad luck and hardship. In one of the first major deaths of the show, Sweeney is killed by Shadow in the leprechaun’s effort to kill Wednesday.

Now What?

This is an exciting place to leave off and sets up what should be a thrilling conclusion to season 2. Just before his death, Sweeney told Shadow that Wednesday was responsible for the death of Laura. The episode cut to black before we could see Shadow’s real reaction to this, but we can assume he’s not going to just forget about that.

And also…Shadow just killed Mad Sweeney. Sure Shadow’s taken out his share of baddies for Wednesday before, but will the killing of Mad Sweeney have a lasting affect on Shadow? How will the other gods react? And if Sweeney is dead, will his coin continue to give life to Laura? Wednesday said that the “proverbial shit” was about to hit the “proverbial fan” and I, for once, believe him. I don’t know about you, but I intend to find out what this all means next week, so I’ll see you all then.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Is Mad Sweeney really gone? How will Shadow react to Wednesday killing his wife? Let me know in the comments below!