American Gods: The Treasure of the Sun Books Included

April 21, 2019 1:18 AM - Season 2, Episode 7

Mad Sweeney is pursued by banshees.

Several different variations of Sweeney's back history are explored. Laura is given advice by Mama Ji. Sweeney confesses to Shadow about both his own role and Wednesday's in Laura's demise.

posted by miss-lapin (10 comments total)

Well well, so Mad Sweeney was actually Lugh of the Long Arms/Hands, champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann. I did not see that coming.
posted by homunculus at 7:26 PM on April 21, 2019 [3 favorites]

I loved this episode because Pablo Schreiber is awesome and they gave him an exit episode worthy of him. The explanation of Sweeney's madness and many evolutions of his identity were great. Pablo's performance really did credit to Mad Sweeney's many layers.

I got to admit I'm confused about Mama Ji's advice to Laura. I have one suspicion about it but I'm curious what others think.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:56 AM on April 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sweeny's $20 ticket from the novel always confused me - I wasn't sure that anything that fragile could have survived the trials & tribulations he faced over thousands of years. This was certainly more... satisfying in that regard. Pablo played that very very well.

And, well, Wednesday does have a way with sons, mmm?

I also want to see how Laura comes to terms with the power of the Sun King. Particularily now that both the battle at the house on the rock has been removed from the story as written and the spear we are to believe has been stowed away out of this realm.
posted by mce at 11:58 AM on April 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

To be fair, there are a lot of awful stories about how gods and goddesses deal with their offspring. It's a fairly common theme that if your parent is a God, you're probably gonna have a seriously difficult life.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:41 PM on April 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I think I thought somehow they would let him live further, because the actor was so great. I thought they would reckon with Sweeney loving Laura in a different way. I thought Laura would have to reckon with Sweeney.

Honestly I found it really devastating.
posted by corb at 8:59 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was concerned they were going to do a Laura/Sweeney romance because they are fan favorites so I'm honestly relieved they killed off his character, but gave him a fitting final episode.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:25 PM on April 27, 2019 [1 favorite]

This was my favorite episode of this season. Pablo Schreiber was awesome in this role. I've read that they expanded the role beyond what they'd originally intended because Pablo and Emily Brown were so amazing together.

I kind of with they'd run the show later in the summer so this episode would've been on around Lughnasadh (August 1st.) That could've been a hoot.
posted by homunculus at 1:15 PM on April 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

So I spent some time in the rabbit hole of Mad Sweeney while I was mourning his death: the legend of the king is "Buile Shuibhne" or "The Madness of Sweeney" which is really fucking fascinating.
posted by corb at 1:33 PM on April 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

I kind of with wish they'd run the show later in the summer so this episode would've been on around Lughnasadh

FFS.

Lughnasadh is months away, but Beltane is tomorrow if anyone in the UK wants to get their Celt on.
posted by homunculus at 1:55 PM on April 29, 2019

Here are some video renditions of Sweeney's travails:

The tale of Mad Sweeney played out as part of the Galway Early Music Festival on the 29th of May 2010.

The Tale of Mad Sweeney (Part 1)

The Tale Of Mad Sweeney (Part 2)

Project made for Mrs P. Amiot's creative workshop in University of Perpignan Via Domitia. Audiovisual rewriting of the Frenzy of Sweeney the medieval Gaelic poem ('Buile Suibhne')

Buile Suibhne: The tale of the King Bird
posted by homunculus at 3:00 PM on April 29, 2019