| “ | I take 'em from the Hoard. You just have to hold it in your mind and you can take whatever you want from it. The sun's treasure. You can keep whatever's precious to you. | ” |
–Mad Sweeney to Shadow | ||
"Treasure of the Sun" is the seventh episode of the second season of American Gods and the fifteenth of the overall series. It debuts on April 21, 2019.
Summary[]
In Cairo, Mr. Wednesday entrusts Shadow with the Gungnir spear. Mad Sweeney recalls his journey through the ages as he awaits his promised battle. Once again, he warns Shadow about Wednesday. Meanwhile, Laura receives sage advice from Mama-ji.
Plot[]
Shadow Moon walks down a road to an underpass under a railroad bridge where he finds Mad Sweeney passed out and missing a shoe. He wakes Sweeney up and asks if he's a troll or a leprechaun. Sweeney admits his memory is faulty. The cops had called Ibis and Jacquel Funeral Parlor to report a "dead wino under a bridge" and offered Shadow $20 to pick him up. Sweeney tells Shadow he owes him $20. Sweeney plucks some of the "sun's treasure" out of his hoard and throws them at Shadow before rolling himself a cigarette. He complains about Laura taking his coin and his luck with her. He hallucinates that ants are crawling over his hands and begins to panic. Shadow calms him down and gives him $20 to tell him where Laura went. Sweeney explains that he last saw her in New Orleans and thought Laura would be in Cairo. Sweeney warns Shadow that he is walking in the gallows ground with a rope around his neck and a raven on each shoulder waiting to peck out his eyes.
At the funeral home greenhouse, Mr. Wednesday admires the speedy growth of Yggdrasil. He asks Mr. Ibis and the Jinn if they are ready for war. Ibis and the Jinn reassure Wednesday that Jacquel, other ifrits, Mama-ji, Czernobog, Bast, and Nancy will all come when he calls, however, it is still unknown which side Bilquis will be on. Shadow enters and informs them of Sweeney's poor condition. Wednesday dismisses Jinn and Ibis before pulling out the broken Gungnir and laying the two pieces on a table. He apologizes to the tree and cuts off a branch. He recites a charm over the branch and the broken spear as the spear repairs itself. He tosses the fixed spear to Shadow and tells him to guard it as if it were Wednesday.
Mama-ji collects money from a table at a Motel America diner in Hermitage, Tennessee. She approaches Laura at the counter drinking coffee and threatens to call the health department on her. Laura warns her that she can rip people's limbs off. Mama-ji explains that she is not just Kali-ma, the nurturer, but also Smashana Kali, the destroyer. She reveals her godlike form on fire with four arms, one holding a sword and another holding Laura's decapitated head. Mama-ji asks for respect and offers to help her with direction or cream and sugar. Laura explains to her about the potion she received from Baron Samedi that requires two drops of love-infused blood. Mama-ji questions why Laura wants to take the potion in the first place and tells her she has the power to destroy within her. Later in Nashville, Laura hitchhikes toward Shadow's glow and a van stops to pick her up.
Sweeney arrives at the funeral home where a wife, a mother, and a daughter are grieving outside. They appear as banshees to him. Salim opens the door to Sweeney and he stumbles inside, asking if Salim sees the banshees too. Salim offers to make him tea but Sweeney pushes him aside and makes his way to the chapel where Bilquis is giving a sermon on the sacrament of communion. She speaks of ingesting the divine and the sacredness of offering flesh before reading from Song of Songs, seducing her congregation as she reads about tasting their "fruit."
After the service, Bilquis approaches Sweeney and explains that she is adapting. She asks him about his origins, having heard stories of who he once was. Sweeney claims to not remember but Bilquis asks for his confession. Sweeney remembers a girl who told him his fortune: he would "be undone and abandoned west of the sunrise, and that a dead woman's bauble would seal [his] fate." The Gray Monks came and started changing their stories and turning them into green men. He remembers a story that St. Moling, or a swineherd, or one of his cooks killed Sweeney. Bilquis denies both the fortune and his death and reminds him that he had a wife.
Sweeney awakens alone in the darkened and empty chapel. He enters the Preparation room and finds Wednesday digging through the fridge. He tells Wednesday that he is quitting because he has done what Wednesday told him to and now that Laura has his coin, he no longer owes Wednesday. Wednesday has no sympathy for Sweeney and criticizes him for not trying harder to get the coin from Laura. Wednesday warns him that he made Sweeney into who he is and Sweeney still needs to finish the job of getting rid of Laura before Wednesday will grant him his battle.
Laura continues traveling toward Shadow.
Sweeney wanders outside the funeral home, drinking Ibis' homebrew. He sees the grieving women outside and tells them he knows they are banshees. He punches the empty bottle in his hand, breaking it and causing his hand to bleed with ants. He flashes back to a time after he had gone mad and was eating ants for food. His wife, Eorann, and daughter, Moira, arrive to bring him food and a blanket. He asks his wife what happened to the yellow dress she wore on their wedding day. She explains how they lost the dress, the castle, the lands, and the war because he abandoned their allies, the Gray Monks, on the field and Bishop Ronan cursed him. Sweeney does not think of the Gray Monks as allies and becomes enraged, causing Eorann to take Moira away.
Salim joins Sweeney on the porch and explains he is there because the Jinn owes Wednesday. Sweeney points out the grieving women as banshees but Salim does not believe him. Sweeney tries to warn Salim about Wednesday and tells him he does not have to stay but Salim replies that Sweeney must not know what love feels like. Sweeney remembers when he had a kingdom and loved his pregnant wife. She tried to convince him to change with the world and side with the Gray Monks but Sweeney believed they were destroying their lands by building churches and are "poison." Sweeney explains to Salim that after fighting with his wife, he found Bishop Ronan and threw his prayer book into a lake before spearing one of his priests. Ronan cursed him to madness and death by a spear. During the Battle of Mag Rath, Sweeney heard the banshees and fearing death, he walked away from everything and went mad. Bilquis tells him that is not the version he told her. Sweeney awakens alone on the porch.
In the bathroom, Sweeney splashes water on his face. He heads to Shadow's room, where Shadow is taking care of Wednesday's spear. Sweeney warns Shadow to keep Laura away from Wednesday and that Shadow will one day fall out of Wednesday's favor. Shadow signed on as Wednesday's bodyguard and will have to hold Wednesday's vigil when he dies. He reminds Shadow of the coin trick by disappearing Shadow's silver dollar into his hoard. He points out the banshees are warning that death is coming and makes Shadow promise "when the time comes don't get in the fucking way" before returning Shadow's coin. Sweeney reminds him the gods aren't heroes and leaves.
Sweeney enters Ibis' study and grabs another bottle of alcohol from Ibis' stash as the banshees continue to haunt him. Ibis is busy writing Sweeney's earliest story, the story of Lugh of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Lugh was a god-king who saved his people from the Fomorian monsters who were led by his grandfather, the one-eyed Balor. Lugh was skilled with a spear and used it to stab Balor in the eye before beheading him. Sweeney protests, saying he did not want to kill Balor but Ibis reminds him that Balor tried to kill all of his grandchildren because a prophecy said he would die by a grandson. Sweeney protests again, saying he did not kill Balor, instead remembering he killed Grimnir. Sweeney gives Ibis the $20 Shadow gave him. He tells Ibis he was going to spend it on whiskey or a "ride outta this place" but instead is giving it in payment for all of Ibis' beer he drank. Ibis shows concern that Sweeney is not thinking of tomorrow.
A van pulls over in front of a sign for historic Cairo and Laura gets out.
In the greenhouse, Wednesday has a meal laid out for Salim, the Jinn, Bilquis, and Ibis. He offers a toast to the mourning women for leaving their leftovers, however both Ibis and Salim explain they do not do toasts. Wednesday talks of his battle preparations with Yggdrasil having grown and Gungnir being repaired. He offers a compact at their "last supper" to either war or the end of the world. Sweeney interrupts their meal, asking if they can hear the banshees and again telling Wednesday he no longer owes him. He walks over to where Shadow is sitting with Gungnir and tells him to honor his promise and not get in the way. Shadow refuses to give Sweeney the spear while Wednesday has everyone else clear out of the room. Sweeney will not let go of the spear so Shadow headbutts him in the face. They start fighting with Shadow getting the upper hand. Sweeney asks Shadow if he can feel Wednesday's poison and reveals that he caused Laura's death at Wednesday's bidding and that Sweeney also slept with Laura. Shadow demands Wednesday to tell him the truth, turning his back on Sweeney. Sweeney picks up the spear and charges at Wednesday. Shadow catches the spear and spins it away from Wednesday, impaling Sweeney on it instead. He apologizes to Sweeney as Sweeney tells him he still owes him a coin. Wednesday tells Sweeney he would have given him a battle. Sweeney replies that Wednesday has always been his battle as he grabs the spear and sends it to his hoard, turning it into gold coins. He flips Wednesday off before he collapses on the ground and bleeds out, remembering that he used to be a king.
Cast[]
Main Cast[]
|
Guest Starring[]
Co-starring[] |
Gallery[]
Video[]
Notes and trivia[]
- This is another Mad Sweeney-centric episode covering 6,000-7,000 years of his life[1][2][3]
- During Bilquis's sermon, she reads from Song of Songs 4:10-16.
- New Media makes a brief appearance in the Motel America diner scene disguised as a man on the TV before Mama-ji turns it off.