Line #21 Recap/AmericanGodsS1E7APrayerForMadSweeney


1	'''Season 1, Episode 7'''
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3	!A Prayer for Mad Sweeney
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5	Laura, Mad Sweeney, and Salim continue their trip to meet Jesus. Meanwhile, Mr. Ibis recalls the story of Essie [=McGowan=], an Irish thief who revered leprechauns.
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7	!!Tropes
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9	* ActingForTwo: Emily Browning plays both Laura and Essie [=MacGowan=]. Fionnula Flanagan plays both Essie's grandma and Essie in her old age.
10	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Mad Sweeney manages a tiny smile when Laura starts impatiently honking the ice-cream truck horn at him.
11	* AdaptationalNameChange: From Essie Tregowan in the novel, to Essie Macgowan to reflect the shift from Cornwall to Ireland in her origins.
12	* AffablyEvil: While Laura and Mad Sweeney are talking to the ice cream truck driver about how they're going to steal his truck, they're very polite about it, even letting Mad Sweeney be the one to knock him out instead of [[SuperStrength Laura]], to avoid killing him.
13	* ADayInTheLimelight: This episode focuses on Sweeney and how he came to America. Emily Browning is the only other main cast member to appear in the episode, and she spends half of her screentime playing Essie instead of Laura.
14	* BilingualBonus: When Sweeney's confronted with the choice of either leaving Laura's corpse behind or reviving her with his coin again, he starts ranting in Old Irish. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/americangods/comments/6gliam/what_does_mad_sweeney_yell_in_the_road_in_episode/ (Opinion is divided on what exactly he says, but the basic gist seems to be wondering why this keeps happening to him, he's suffered enough, and an emphatic declaration that he's NOT evil. "I'm not.")]]
15	* DirtyCoward:
16	** Essie's first lover allowed her to be convicted of theft and sentenced to [[TheExile transportation]], rather than publicly admit that he gave her a necklace as a promise of marriage.
17	** Sweeney seems to consider himself this due to him deserting on the eve of battle because he had a vision that he would die in that battle.
18	* EarnYourHappyEnding: After a tumultuous early life, Essie manages to find a wealthy husband who loves her and whom she loves, settles down and starts a family, lives to a fairly content old age and dies in peace.
19	* [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Granddaughter]]: Essie in her old age is identical to her grandmother, except for her hairdo.
20	* IndenturedServitude: Essie was sentenced to become one in the Colonies, twice. Mad Sweeney is one for Wednesday as punishment for his past refusal to fight in a war.
21	* MarryTheNanny: Essie is hired as a wet nurse for the child of a wealthy man whose wife died in childbirth. Eventually she seduces him and they get married.
22	* PetTheDog:
23	** Laura tells Salim where he can find the Jinn, partially to annoy Sweeney, but also because she seems to be genuinely charmed by his kindness.
24	** Sweeney chooses to revive Laura, rather than take back the Golden Sun coin.
25	* SignificantDoubleCasting: Laura and Essie are both played by Emily Browning. The latter worshiped Mad Sweeney, the former hates his guts.
26	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Essie turned to theft after she was wrongly convicted and nearly executed for thievery.
27	* UngratefulBastard: The first thing Laura does after Sweeney revives her is to punch him in the face. Played with, as she is unaware that she had died and that he revived her, and he's still got his hand on her chest.
28	* WhamLine: "Tell him. Tell him it's done." And with that line, it's revealed that ''Mad Sweeney'' deliberately caused the car crash that killed Laura and Robbie -- on Wednesday's orders.

Context Recap / AmericanGodsS1E7APrayerForMadSweeney