American gods episode 7: Review - A prayer for Mad Sweeney!

It’s strange to think that Emily Browning might just become the breakout star of American Gods, but here we are. You’d expect someone like Ricky Whittle to blow up, or perhaps Corbin Bernsen will get that career renaissance I spoke about last week. Maybe Omid Abtahi will translate the beatific charm of Salim into a big career, or Chris Obi will become a household name after displaying both calculated menace, kindness, and comic timing, usually in the same scene. And yet, Emily Browning, who played the lead in several huge-budget movies, is poised to make a career leap with performances like her most recent in A Prayer For Mad Sweeney.

The tale of Essie McGowan (Emily Browning playing a second role) is a familiar one to a whole lot of Americans. Essie, in love with son of the lord of the manor where she works, is given a sweet gift and a promise of marriage. That gift is mistakenly believed to be stolen, and Essie’s spineless beau gives the answer his mother wants to hear, and not the true answer. Essie is sentenced to transportation for theft, to be brought to America to fill out one of thirteen new colonies and provide indentured service. Clever Essie trades her body for a return trip to England, and upon arrival back in London, the accused thief decides to become an actual thief. All the while, Essie makes sure to leave little gifts to the fae folk, milk and bread, the best of what she’s able to steal, earn, or is given.

Leprechauns might be capricious, but they can be generous with folks to ply their favor, and Essie has done her best to remember and honor the old ways, and she’s got a friend in Mad Sweeney.

Interspersed with Essie’s tale are modern moments involving Sweeney and Laura. They’re traveling to Wisconsin, stopping to see a giant white buffalo statue and to allow Salim to pray. The episode cuts between Laura and Essie in some very clever ways, and it’s interesting to see how Essie’s travels and mischief match up with Laura’s current travels and mischief, given how both of them tend to be pretty upfront about how they steal. Laura’s walking up to an ice cream man and confessing that she always wanted to steal an ice cream truck was hilarious, as was how Sweeney covered for the theft by giving the guy a black eye. It’s clear that while the hair might be different, Laura is definitely Essie’s great-great granddaughter in terms of spirit and fire.

Maria Melnik has done a stellar job in making Essie a conqueror, not a victim. Certainly, she’s faced hardships in her life, both in Britain and in the United States, but at every turn, she’s able to use charm, wit, and beauty to get her out of trouble by taking advantage of both her pretty face and her place in society. There’s a certain indomitability that Browning brings to life via her actions; the voice-over from Mr. Jacquel reinforces these things, adding to the tale without being too overwhelming. The interactions between Sweeney and Essie are adorable, too; it’s still Mad Sweeney, but he’s a lot less acerbic than he would become later on, and his rough charm would definitely win over a girl like Essie.

It’s no wonder then, why Sweeney has taken a shine to Laura Moon. The moments where Sweeney shows up to speak to Essie, be they in jail or on her front porch as an old woman, are heartbreakingly beautiful. The affection that he clearly has for Essie, who brings him to America and empowers him via her gifts, is obvious in these scenes, and it makes more sense now why Sweeney would be so fond of Laura herself; he’s reminded of her ancestor, and the many tokens and gifts she left for him will now be returned to her, via Sweeney’s decision to bring Laura back to life via putting the coin back in her chest after wrecking their stolen ice cream truck.

In its way, Sweeney and Laura’s relationship is growing into something very sweet. Adam Kane underscores that subtle change in things by focusing not so much on Laura’s response to being resurrected again, but Sweeney’s response to her as communicated by the way Pablo Schreiber looks at her. It’s as if in that moment, he can see Essie in Laura, and that’s the reason why he brought her back to life. The fact that he gives Laura life in the scene before he takes Essie’s life makes Essie’s final moments on Earth all the sweeter. Essie never forgot her leprechaun benefactor, even if her grandchildren weren’t interested in tales of the old country; Mad Sweeney hasn’t forgotten her, either. He took care of her during her life, and now he’s taking care of her later generations.

The episode ends up being much more touching than I ever could have expected, and it adds a new colour to the relationship between Mad Sweeney and Laura Moon. Perhaps that shared history that Laura doesn’t know about explains why Sweeney behaves the way he does around 'Dead Wife'.

Maybe that’s an example of what Sweeney means when he says he’s like the wind, doing good and ill based on his whims. He’ll certainly do some ill again, probably at Wednesday’s bidding, but he’s done some good here, keeping an eye on the late Laura Moon and assisting her in returning to life and her husband.

US Correspondent Ron Hogan thinks that American Gods has made great use of Jacquel’s storytelling tendencies. It’s a great framing device for the self-contained origin stories of the gods, both old and new.