American Gods Season 2, Episode 6 recap: What happened to Thor?

After a couple of confusing and drab episodes, American Gods waits until the season is almost over to put some much-needed focus on the All-Father and the almighty Thor.

A lot can happen in 100 years but to a God, it probably feels like yesterday. American Gods Season 2, Episode 6, titled “Doner the Great,” is split in half between past and present, laying the bulk of the story on Ian McShane’s shoulders as we go back in time to the 1930s when he ran a burlesque show as Al Grimnir.

The Gods are constantly searching for ways they can get worship, and what better way than to be up on stage surrounded by cheering fans. The show was where lots of Gods worked, including Mr. Nancy, Thor who goes by the name Donar (Derek Theler), and Columbia, Donar’s girlfriend and the personification of the pre-liberated United States (Laura Bell Bundy).

Donar does typical strongman duties, including throwing his famous hammer around, and Columbia does a type of striptease show. Mr. Nancy yells at people backstage to pick up their shoes. You know, classic Godly duties.

The jacket of Lou Reed

In the present time, Wednesday and Shadow travel to another underground power line, this one with a mall built over it, to get his spear fixed by the dwarf Dvalin (Jeremy Raymond). Unfortunately, the dwarves, like everyone else, are weakened from lack of believers but can be juiced up with a powerful artifact, the most powerful item in the store, Lou Reed’s leather jacket.

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Disgusted with the idea of spending money on dwarves, Wednesday and Shadow pull off a con, giving Shadow a chance to resurrect his Andy Haddock alias from “Head Full Of Snow”, and they give the jacket to Dvalin who is then able to fix the spear with his rune magic.

During the con, Wednesday lets slip how much Shadow reminds him of his son Donar, said like a man grieving from a great loss. Upon Shadow’s prying, Wednesday confirms his son’s death, and despite being a well-known name in America (thanks to Marvel), suffered a death no God can come back from.

Strongman

Back in pre-WWII Chicago, Wednesday gets a proposal by some American-based Nazis to sponsor Donar in a wrestling match, to be the face of American muscle and open Donar up to more worshippers. With Wednesday’s encouragement, Donar accepts the sponsorship, only to discover they want him to throw the match when competing against a German, giving the illusion that the strongest German is better than the strongest American.

Upset with becoming a human puppet, he and Columbia make a plan to leave for California, but they make the big mistake of waiting to leave until after the show’s over. Classic mistake.

Why do they have to wait? Since when do Gods and Goddesses need to put their affairs in order?

Technical Boy, the old version that used cradle phones instead of iPhones, approaches Columbia while she’s in the middle of packing and invites her to become the face of the war movement. She declines the offer but changes her mind when Wednesday lies and says Donar left with the Nazis, though all she had to do was walk outside her room and spend five minutes looking for Donar to know the man was lying.

They live behind a stage, separated by a very narrow hallway and I doubt Donar was the kind of man to be out and about socially. Why didn’t she just look for him before believing anything the one-eyed prick said?

Father and son have a tragic confrontation upon her departure, ending in Donar leaving his father crying in the street beside his broken spear, revealing Donar and the hammer Mjolnir as the ones who broke Gungnir. However, years later, Donar commits suicide in a hotel room, a death no God can come back from.

Mr. World nonsense

There was more to this episode, but nothing worth heavy detail. Mr. World appeared for about four minutes to preach some more overly figurative world domination speeches in that raspy voice of his, while his associate lists the different Gods they’ve secretly been killing off. He calls Media and has her harness more internet power to increase their broadcast system, allowing them to be notified when Gungnir is mended.

The next episode of American Gods will air Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on Starz, but most people are probably going to be too busy preparing their Game of Thrones watch parties to remember. DVR it.