In Review: American Gods (S3 – Ep7) Fire and Ice

Synopsis: In ‘Fire and Ice’ Shadow grows closer with Marguerite and uncovers the surprising truth behind a local crime spree. Wednesday makes his own shocking discovery with deadly consequences. Laura and Salim negotiate with the enemy of their enemy as Bilquis follows her new path.

The Story

When a body drops in the middle of the road from out of nowhere. Mr. Wednesday is compelled to investigate as he knows a Berserker is on the loose and does not have good intentions. Further complicating matters is the fact that Wednesday finally tells Cordelia who he is. Which sees her going to Shadow Moon for advice. Of course, Shadow Moon is happy to give Cordelia advice and support but does not want anything to do with Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Laura has her meeting with Mr. World who is willing to help her kill Wednesday. Seeing Laura is in danger of compromising herself. Salim agrees to step in and help her broker a deal, which will protect her from any fallout.

Meanwhile, Bilquis has an epiphany, which leads her to a dance club or a party of some type where she finds an older lady called Eugenia. It turns out that Eugenia was the midwife when Shadow Moon was born. While talking with her Bilquis learns that Shadow Moon has a twin and she must find him or her in order to begin to fulfill her new role in things.

The  Acting

Ricky Whittle gets a fair bit to do in this episode as Shadow Moon. The conversation he has with Cordelia when he is trying to help her is pretty telling. It is pretty clear that Shadow Moon is beginning to figure out that his path in life is nothing to do with the war between the gods. Though I don’t think he is consciously aware of it as of yet. I also loved the scene he has with Ian McShane in which Wednesday tries to talk him into traveling with him again.

Yetide Badaki puts in another great performance as Bilquis whose new purpose looks like it could be a gamer changer for the series. Though she doesn’t get a massive amount of dialogue. What little she does get isn’t really wasted. That said Badaki doesn’t really need dialogue to sell a scene. She has such a strong presence. Her scene with Sharon Hope who plays Eugenia is a huge plot twist and ties Bilquis’s storyline a lot more closely to Shadow Moon. This is really interesting given that I hear that Bilquis only had two chapters in the book.

Overall

‘Fire and Ice’ pretty solid episode that moves the plot forward and throws in an interesting development with regards to what Shadow Moon’s actual purpose might be. The build-up to this reveal where Bilquis starts to dance a specific rhythm that connects her with Eugenia is nicely done. I really enjoyed the colours and the swirly movements of the dresses that the other dancers wore.

Overall, I can’t wait to see where this revelation about Shadow Moon goes and how it gets played out, but I suspect it might be awhile before we see anything concrete.

Check out our review of episode six here.