American Gods Review: Conscience of the King (Season 3 Episode 6)
Relationships usually don’t end well on American Gods. With love in the air on American Gods Season 3 Episode 6, “Conscience of the King,” the show gets our hopes up that maybe this time things will be different.
As hinted at on the last episode, it turns out Wednesday does genuinely love Demeter. The show introduces the history of their relationship through a flashback set during the Revolutionary War.
Blythe Danner gives a divine performance on this episode that’s equally acerbic and heartbreaking, showing just why Demeter can get under Wednesday’s skin. The show picked the right actress to go toe-to-toe with Ian McShane.
While their banter is amusing, their story is ultimately a tragic one that does a lot to make Wednesday sympathetic. Although abandoning Demeter after their child died was a selfish act, it’s also a very human one.
Wednesday rarely reveals anything about himself other than his greed. Learning more about his regrets is a chance for the audience to see him as something more than a one-dimensional villain.
Hearts break right alongside Wednesday’s when Demeter chooses not to go with him. The mix of the barley blowing in the wind as a thunderstorm rolls in is a beautiful visual representation of the characters parting and Wednesday mourning his lost love.
It’s “like father, like son,” on this episode because Shadow also seems to be falling in love.
Shadow quickly pushing Laura aside when Marguerite shows up makes for an awkward but cute moment. I love that instead of being offended Laura puts in a good word for him. Who said you can’t be friends with your formerly dead ex-wife?
Shadow and Marguerite’s chemistry has quietly grown throughout the season, and it’s rewarding to see it pay off on this episode. Her walking in on him, while he dances around shirtless to cheesy music, feels straight out of a rom-com.
Considering American Gods usually relies on dark humor, it’s a nice change.
Shadow has not been lucky in love, or any area of life really, so it’s easy to root for this new couple. Alas, Shadow’s life is not a rom-com, and we’ve learned he can never get too comfortable.
Sam Black Crow (Devery Jacobs) showing up and being revealed as Marguerite’s half-sister heightens the tension and puts the episode back on a familiar dark track we’re used to. The foray into romance is fun, but it makes sense to turn the focus back onto the town’s mystery by revealing Marguerite’s older son also went missing several years ago.
Allison’s disappearance is intriguing, but this revelation increases the viewer’s interest in the town’s mystery since we’ve gotten to know Marguerite and care about her.
It seems like the show is also setting up something big with Technical Boy, who continues to suffer from glitches that a computer diagnoses as being the result of having emotions. While Technical Boy’s argument that he can’t have emotions is humorous, the storyline lets us see the character in a more vulnerable state than ever before.
The New Gods are usually much colder and more restrained compared to their Old God counterparts. A New God getting in touch with his emotions, whether he likes it or not, is an interesting twist. It also allows Bruce Langley to show off his range as an actor instead of only getting to play a wise-cracking nuisance.
After telling off Mr. World (Danny Trejo), it’s unclear what Technical Boy’s next steps are, but that uncertainty makes him the most interesting New God to watch.
This season continues to show characters on a journey of self-discovery, including the characters you’d least expect. Although “Conscience of the King,” doesn’t significantly move the plot forward, it’s worth watching for the character development.
Additional Thoughts:
- SHARD, the New Gods’ project for world domination, is still an afterthought in this season. Seeing Mr. World change faces once again feels like a cheap gimmick to distract us from this fact.
- Shadow refusing to help Laura kill Wednesday is not surprising, but their conversation did a great job illustrating just how much both of these characters have changed since Season 1.
- Was the commercial Salim saw a harbinger that we might see Media return in this season? Or just Mr. World toying with them?
- The fact I almost didn’t recognize Chad means the actor Eric Johnson is doing a great job showing how much the missing person case has taken a toll on the character. He’s definitely not the happy-go-lucky cop we first met.
What did you think of this episode of American Gods? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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American Gods airs Sundays at 8/7c on STARZ.
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Breeze Riley
Breeze Riley is a pop culture enthusiast who decided to turn her love of watching too much TV into a hobby writing about it. Although she's a convention-going sci-fi and fantasy nerd, she's just as likely to be watching an off-beat comedy or period drama. She is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic.