Welcome to the Legion!
American Gods Episode 104 Recap and Review - 'Git Gone'

American Gods Season 1 2017

American Gods Episode 104 Recap and Review – ‘Git Gone’

The fourth episode of American Gods explores who Laura Moon was before she died, and who she is now as a walking, talking dead wife. Last week’s episode ends with Laura surprising Shadow in his motel room where we expected a conversation to happen. The show pumps the breaks on that a bit to first tell you who and what Laura Moon was when she was alive. Afterward, maybe then you might understand where she’s coming from when she finally does get to explain herself to Shadow. Maybe. Hopefully.

The main thing “Git Gone” wants you to know about Laura Moon is that she doesn’t care what anyone thinks. Emily Browning, who took over showrunner Michael Green’s Twitter account Sunday night, says that Laura has no filter and no self awareness. She also admits that Laura Moon can be a bit of a “dick.”

Laura Moon is such an apathetic character while she was alive that she may have actually suffered from manic depression (undiagnosed) with thoughts of suicide. Have you ever seen the movie Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst? Laura is the equivalent of Kirsten Dunst’s character if you want to get a good idea of what sort of depression we’re dealing with. If you haven’t seen the movie…picture of a barren field of f*cks that has been covered in salt. That’s Laura when she was alive….

“Git Gone” has its fun bits, but it also has some dark ones. First, we see how Laura and Shadow first meet. Laura is a card dealer at a casino, and Shadow is a playful and confident trickster trying to rip off said casino. This was a fun little meet. Shadow’s personality, in this moment, strongly resembles Mr. Wednesday’s tricksy ways. But he still has a lot to learn. He’s playful, flirty, slick, cocky, but way over his head. Laura, who is pretty good at her job, notices Shadow switching out his chips.

Laura, who is pretty good at her job, also hates her job. Instead of immediately calling security, she warns Shadow of the upgraded security systems in place. “There’s a camera there, camera there, camera there, camera there. That old lady in the terrapin sweatshirt behind you is not a grandma.” The once confident Shadow suddenly finds himself in a predicament where he knows nothing, and everyone sees him. While his little excursion at the casino was a monetary bust, Laura’s attitude toward him caught his eye. Let’s just say that he didn’t go home empty handed.

American Gods Episode 104 Recap and Review - 'Git Gone'

American Gods Season 1 2017

For all its fun, the episode dips into some dark subject matter. Laura is not a happy person. Metaphorically speaking, she is a woman with half a heart. She doesn’t care about anything, and therefore doesn’t put in a 100-percent towards anything. She drags on through her day-to-day, breaking up her routine by climbing into her hot tub, dropping the cover over her head, and filling what little air space left with bug spray. She saves herself before suffocating because, again, she seems about as half-hearted in this endeavor as she is with everything else in her life. The same can be said about Shadow coming into her life.

In some TV shows and movies, finding the love of your life seems to be the cure-all for people suffering from depression. American Gods realistically says, “No, that’s not how any of this works.” Shadow’s presence temporarily relieves Laura’s misery, but she in no way improves as a person. Four years pass since their first meeting: they get married, they have barbecues with friends, both of them have jobs…. On the outside, they look like a happy couple. As the montage progresses, we see that Laura is becoming increasingly aware of her own unhappiness.

The bandage that had temporarily relieved Laura’s emptiness had peeled itself off, and to fill it again she needed distract herself with something. Shadow can’t comprehend this new (to him) part of Laura’s personality until she states it with a matter of fact precision: “I think maybe I resent not being happy. Not resent you, just resent.” Laura doesn’t want to rob the casino, she tells him. “I think I have to.”

So yes. In some weird way, Laura thinks that robbing the casino would save her from succumbing from her overwhelming sense of apathy again. This also explains her behavior for later cheating on Shadow with Robbie (Dane Cook). He was there to fill a need, nothing more. She loves Shadow, but she very much has her own interests that need tending.

American Gods Episode 104 Recap and Review - 'Git Gone'

American Gods Season 1 2017

It’s almost quite fitting that Laura is finally “alive” after she becomes a walking, talking corpse. After her confrontation with Anubis and his “You believed in nothing, and therefore you will spend an eternity in nothing” speech, she becomes this zombie with a purpose. Shadow is a literal beacon of light in her now monochromatic world. Her step changes, and she becomes single-minded in getting her “puppy” back. Leave it to actually dying to realize all the good things you had in life.

Shadow is the reason why she’s alive again, and she will stop at nothing to be by his side once more.

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

  • There are a lot of great scenes in this episode. One of them involves a fight scene in which she discovers her new strength against the faceless men that had lynched Shadow. You DO NOT want to piss off a woman who can split you in half with one swift kick to the nuts.
  • The second best scene is when she has an important conversation with her former best friend Audrey. American Gods takes this moment of horror and brings a form of familiarity to it. Only the best of friends tell you what you have to hear to go back to being civil with one another, and this is what goes down between Audrey and Laura. What makes the scene all the more memorable is that Laura is more or less trapped on Audrey’s toilet while she’s expelling the embalming fluid from her still rotting corpse.
  • “Oh f*ck your feelings. I don’t care about your feelings.” Audrey tells Laura as she sews Laura’s arm back on. Such a great interaction between these two.
  • This week’s theme song is titled “Queen Of The Bored,” written by American Gods composer Brian Reitzell, sung by the leading lady of Garbage, Shirley Manson. It perfectly sums up Laura while she was alive.

About author View all posts

Christina E. Janke

Christina is the co-host of “Intro to Geek” on Shauncastic and Editor-in-Chief at Agents of Geek. Her love of all things Mass Effect knows no bounds. She also carries an obsession with comic books, video games, and quirky television shows. Her heroes are Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Gail Simone. She hopes to be just like them when she grows up.

1 CommentLeave a comment

  • Where is Jesus…? When all the gods come and they make tv series on all the gods…
    Why don’t they make on the Lord Jesus Christ…?