WARNING: The following contains spoilers for American Gods Season 3, Episode 6, “Conscience of the King,” which aired Sunday on Starz.
Last week saw many characters of American Gods reunite with each other, and this week properly had Shadow Moon reconnect with his formerly dead ex-wife, Laura Moon. While this interaction put Shadow in a difficult position with Laura requesting information about Mr. Wednesday so she could kill him, this wasn't the only ghost haunting Shadow in Season 3, Episode 6, "Conscience of the King."
Shadow has begun to develop feelings for his Lakeside neighbor Marguerite Olsen, despite them having a more than rocky start. She seems to reciprocate these feelings, inviting him over to dinner with her sister. This seems innocent enough; however, as Shadow arrives with wine, he learns that Marguerite's sister is Sam Black Crow.
Sam was first introduced back in Season 2, Episode 3, "Munin." After hustling a gas clerk out of $20, Sam still gave Shadow a lift to Mr. Ibis' funeral parlor. They were not on bad terms; however, with Shadow on the run from the law, seeing an unexpected, familiar face in Lakeside is risky to say the least. He is going by Mike here, not Shadow, and he's constructed a whole new backstory to stay under the radar, so Sam could easily blow his cover.
Thankfully, Sam is quick to catch on and plays along with Shadow's charade as Mike. Dinner seems to go swimmingly, and Shadow even walks Sam to the car, where she admits she had a good feeling about Shadow and knew they'd met again. While she's friendly towards Shadow, she also warns him not to hurt her sister.
While Shadow is able to keep his past a secret, Sam reveals more about Marguerite's backstory, talking about how her oldest son, Sandy, disappeared into thin air. While Marguerite hopes that he is in Florida, Sam doubts this. The two were like twins, and she knows he would've responded to her messages if he was actually in Florida.
Twice in one episode Shadow's cover could've been blown by Laura or Sam, and he's lucky both women played along, keeping him in Marguerite's good graces. However, with tensions still high between Old and New Gods, Shadow better be careful, especially now that he's making human connections in the small town of Lakeside.
Based on the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, American Gods stars Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Bruce Langley, Yetide Badaki, Ian McShane, Omid Abtahi and Ashley Reyes. The series airs Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on Starz.