Episode four of Starz’s American Gods season one begins on the crowded floor of the Egyptian-themed 26th Dynasty casino. Laura (Emily Browning) is a blackjack dealer who’s disappointed to find out a machine will now be shuffling the cards for her. She heads home after her shift’s over and is greeted by her cat who was apparently watching cartoons. After letting him/her out, she cooks dinner and then fights off a pesky fly with Git Gone, the episode’s title and the name of the bug spray.
Laura takes the bug spray out to the outdoor hot tub, climbs in, replaces the cover, and sprays the Git Gone. She breathes it in and then frantically pushes open the spa cover, caught up in a coughing fit as she sucks in fresh air.
At work the following day, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) shows up at her empty blackjack table and checks out the security cameras. They make small talk, he cheats, and Laura catches him. When he tries to distract her, she warns him not to cheat again. Laura describes what they’ll do to him when he’s caught and suggests he finish up his hand and hit the road. Shadow just stares at her for a while and then does as she said.
Shadow approaches Laura in the parking lot after her shift and admits he was waiting for her. She describes her first impression of this handsome stranger, revealing she thought he was a dick and asks if it’s his first time trying to cheat at a casino. He wonders if she’ll be his inside man since she’s a looker and no one would suspect her. He’ll split the take 50/50 and when she declines, he offers her a drink instead. She’d rather go home and he says, “Then take me the f*ck home,” which she does.
They’re barely in the door at Laura’s place when the make-out session begins. Clothes are tossed off and they move to the couch, but then Laura starts slapping him, not particularly hard, across the face. Mini slapfest over, they have sex with the cat sitting within arm’s reach.
Shadow’s still there when Laura wakes up the next morning. He’s helped himself to coffee and is shuffling cards while sitting at her breakfast table. He does a card trick and she’s impressed. Shadow volunteers to teach Laura how to do the trick after telling her if he had her skills he’d really clean-up.
Days go by and Laura and Shadow grow closer, and the cat appears to approve of this relationship. They’re getting to know each other when Laura asks if he believes in the afterlife. Shadow admits he’s not sure, but reveals his grandmother did. Laura claims to know for sure that when you die, you rot. She doesn’t believe in anything, although her parents were religious.
As Laura and Shadow talk about God, Santa Claus, and all things that aren’t real while lying in bed, we’re treated to scenes from their wedding.
Shadow, Laura, Robbie (Dane Cook), and Audrey (Betty Gilpin) hang out, BBQ, and relax. Robbie wants Shadow to join him at his gym for Krav Maga, but Shadow’s more of a boxer. Robbie offers him a job.
Days go by, life continues, and Laura seems less and less enthusiastic about the world in general. She gazes at the hot tub and then asks Shadow to pick up bug spray when he goes to the store.
One morning she wakes Shadow from a sound sleep to tell him she thinks she needs to rob the casino. He believes this is a desperate move and doesn’t understand why she’s not happy, even though he’s happy. She confirms she loves him but thinks she’ll only be happy if she robs the casino. Shadow’s confused and hurt, explaining he could live in a box and be happy as long as they were together. Laura doesn’t think that way and needs something more. She thinks Shadow’s too good for her, and after eight years at the casino she’s ready to make her move. She has come up with the perfect plan, promising he’ll never get caught.
Of course, that means Shadow gets caught. Laura visits him in jail and can’t figure out what went wrong. Laura’s sure the plan was perfect so someone must have squealed on them. Shadow’s been offered a deal – they would each get three years – but he’s refusing to take it because he won’t let Laura go to prison. Laura knows it’s all her fault, but Shadow takes the blame and will serve the six-year sentence as long as he knows she’ll be waiting for him when he gets out. Laura promises she will.
Shadow calls Laura from jail whenever he can, and after a while she begins to let it go to the answering machine.
One day she returns from work to find her beloved cat dead on the kitchen floor and calls Robbie to take care of his body. She’s drowning her sorrow in wine and accepts a hug from Robbie when he offers one. One thing leads to another and they kiss, with Robbie apologizing before even more kissing (and other things) takes place.
The next night Robbie returns for more, but Laura says it was a one-night stand. She claims she’s waiting for Shadow but then lets Robbie in anyway.
Next, we’re treated to Shadow’s phone call from prison days before he’s supposed to be released. Episode one showed the call from Shadow’s point of view, but this episode’s all about Laura so we see her answer the phone, surrounded by balloons and with the “Welcome Home” banner hanging nearby. While they were talking about how much they missed each other and exchanging I love yous, Robbie was on their bed naked.
Robbie and Laura are driving down the road at night when he reveals he’s willing to leave Audrey. Laura doesn’t want that to happen, and she says she loves Shadow. Robbie isn’t buying it, countering by explaining Laura doesn’t love Shadow the way Shadow loves her. Laura wants Robbie to remember their time together as a sweet memory or a naughty little secret, and he shouldn’t read too much into their time together. Laura says it has to end, but she’s sending their relationship off with one final blowjob. Robbie’s distracted, they crash, and both wind up dead.
Laura stands over the crash site and looks down at the wrecked car. The next second she’s somewhere she’s never been before facing Anubis (Chris Obi). Laura stops him before he can take her heart to weigh it against a feather, saying she’s lived her life – good and bad – and it’s not light as a feather. Anubis turns to leave and she asks where she’s going as she spots a bottle of Git Gone.
Because in life she believed in nothing, she will go to nothing; it’ll just be darkness. Laura refuses and says she wants to go back. Anubis explains she’s already in the ground and she doesn’t have a say in any of this. Laura doesn’t accept this ending and although Anubis says she will go into the darkness and be forgotten, she responds with a “f*ck you” and soars off into night sky just as he’s lifting the lid on darkness.
On Earth, Laura digs her way out of her grave and looks down at her autopsy scars. It begins raining as she leaves the cemetery and makes her way toward the road. She stops short when she sees figures looking at Shadow Moon, surrounded by swirling lights, hanging from the tree. She attacks Techno Boy’s minions, easily ripping them apart. She leaps through the air and grabs onto the rope, snapping it so that Shadow falls to the ground. She then returns to ripping up the remainder of the minions. Their blood rains down on her and Shadow. When he manages to get to his feet, he sees the bodies but doesn’t see Laura.
Soaked in blood and carrying her right arm, Laura walks down the center of the road until she reaches her house. She takes a shower and then hides as Shadow enters the house.
Over at Audrey and Robbie’s house, Laura sews her arm back on while her insides gurgle like crazy. She thumbs through a scrapbook welcoming Shadow home and then Audrey appears. Audrey freaks out when Laura says hi, screaming and grabbing the phone before slamming her bathroom door shut. Laura tries to calm her down, easily breaking through the door. (Dead Laura has super strength.) Audrey stands in the bathtub screaming as Laura poops out the embalming fluid. “It’s coming out of every hole I’ve got. It’s very disgusting so please turn around,” says Laura.
Audrey turns around while asking if Laura knows she’s dead. Laura thinks she’s something else now and says she’s not haunting Audrey on purpose. She explains she just needed craft supplies to sew on her arm. Audrey asks about the last thing she remembers before she died, and it’s obvious Laura remembers what she was doing to Robbie. Laura asks if Robbie is still dead and Audrey says she hasn’t seen him since he died. Laura wonders if everyone knows what was in her mouth when she died, and Audrey confirms everyone who attended the funeral knows. Laura wants to know if Shadow is aware of what she was doing when they crashed, and Audrey admits he does and that she tried to screw Shadow on his dead wife’s grave. She also admits Robbie was buried with his penis in his anus.
Audrey sews Laura’s arm on while they continue to talk about Laura and Robbie’s affair. Audrey can’t believe her best friend screwed her husband, and Laura says the big lie she told was that she could wait for Shadow.
Audrey agrees to give Laura a lift while Laura reads her own obituary. She’s pissed she had a “shitty obituary” and Audrey says it summed up her shitty life. Audrey asks what good will come from Laura stalking Shadow now, wondering if they will have a zombie baby or a zombie dog. (Through Laura’s eyes we see how she’s tracking Shadow. He’s a bright golden beam of light that reaches into the sky while the rest of the world looks grey.) Audrey laughs when Laura calls Shadow the love of her life.
Audrey’s forced to slam on her brakes and come to an abrupt stop when Anubis, accompanied by another man and a dog, appears in front of them on the road. Laura’s taken to a funeral home (her arm is once again detached) and she lies on the slab. They place pins for the shoulder bones and threads to hold the muscles in place. Her skin is painted and Anubis explains they need to tend to her flesh, but can’t help lighten her heart. “Your heavy heart sank you like a stone right back where you last left off to let you live the life interrupted,” explains Anubis. He asks if it was love and Laura replies, “It wasn’t, but I suppose it is now.”
Anubis adds, “When you are done, I will complete my task and deliver you unto darkness.”
Being dead means Laura’s bothered by flies so she hangs a fly strip to keep away the pests. She dresses, does her makeup, and waits in Shadow’s hotel room for her husband to come back. When he opens the door, she sees him surrounded by ethereal light.
More on American Gods:
– American Gods Season 1 Episode 1 The Bone Orchard Recap
– American Gods Season 1 Episode 2 The Secret of Spoon Recap
– American Gods Season 1 Episode 3 Head Full of Snow Recap
– American Gods Season 1 Episode 5 Lemon Scented You Recap
