Up until now, weve watched Mr. Wednesday gather his Old God allies in preparation for a battle.
For one, this sequence is entirely animated, all ice and pale grey skin.
For a god, to be forgotten is to die.
Credit: Jan Thijs/Starz
Back in the present, Shadow and his dead wife finally get to have their heart-to-heart.
He confronts her about Robbie; she apologizes.
They briefly kiss, and for a moment, she can feel her heart beat in her chest again.
Like you being dead?
Turns out that someone sent footage of their little Chicago bank robbery to the local police.
And its not the kind of local good Samaritan who spotted a license plate and called the cops.
Its almost like someone very powerful wants Mr. Wednesday locked up.
Thats right: Media doesnt just come in the form of Lucy Ricardo.
She even speaks in references to Bowies lyrics.
(I caught references to Oh You Pretty Things and Starman.)
What times we live in.
Shes there to scold Technical Boy for attacking Shadow.
Tasked with asking a few questions, you hang a black man from a tree, she tells him.
Its clear that the two of them have a unique relationship, one thats almost symbiotic.
(She even uses his own technology to meet and speak with him.)
After all, what use is media without technology?
Wednesday was suffocating, Media tells Technical Boy.
The spark was smoldering.
And then you came along, putting out fire with gasoline.
He still doesnt see Wednesday as a legitimate threat, telling her, Wednesdays collecting monsters!
Which is actually a pretty apt comparison.
Instead, Mad Sweeney walks through her door, demanding his coin back.
Or, more specifically, he tells her, Give me my fing coin, dead wife.
Which is one hell of a badass line.
He offers her every other coin he has, but she still refuses.
He says, fine: Hell just wait until shes done decomposing.
She plays dead, hes arrested, and its just more proof that wow, Mad Sweeney hasreallybad luck.
Back at the police station, a helpful little spider picks the lock on Shadow and Wednesdays handcuffs.
(Thanks, Anansi!)
But hes not afraid of the cops… Hes afraid of whatevers coming to get them.
And before long, Shadow learns why he should be afraid, too.
Theres a commotion upstairs, and suddenly, Marilyn Monroe floats into the interrogation room.
No, literally: Shefloatsinto the interrogation room.
If Andersons Bowie was calm and collected, her Marilyn is all breathy voice and giggly charm.
Shes all glammed up in fullSeven-Year Itchcostume, and Marilyn Monroe has never looked so sinister.
Dont believe what they say about an accidental overdose, she purrs.
But Marilyn is just the opening act.
Youre a person, he says.
Everything about all of them.
(As evidenced by the monologue where he waxes philosophic about salsa.)
He can change his face to suit his needs, and he deals in information about everyone and everything.
Im sorry for lynching you, he says, smirking.
Hanging a dark-skinned man was in very poor taste.
Mr. World even offers to let Shadow beat up Technical Boy in retaliation, but he declines.
Its then that the New Gods get down to business.
Theyre aware that Wednesday is conspiring against them, looking for relevance in this new, modern world.
Rather than take him on, they want to help him.
Wouldnt you like an upgrade?
A brand-new, lemon-scented you?
Isnt that what he wants?
For his name to be known and remembered around the world?
Mr. World leaves to let Mr. Wednesday think it over, but Technical Boy is furious.
Theyre just going toleave?
They have the upper hand; why not take advantage of it?
To shut him up, Media blows him a kiss and knocks out his teeth.
And with that, theyre gone.
Did that just happen?
Its still happening, Wednesday replies.
(Theyve also got a giant wood monster thing on their side, so theres that.)
