Loki, S1 finale - July 14

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Now what about ‘Loki’ S1 finale?

It works. It is clichéd, predictable, and what else have you, but it is delivered well enough, and yes, the final villain…

The final villain, He Who Remains, (or what else have you), is an original character; for once, MCU stopped giving pre-existing names to original characters, as they did in AoS and in ‘Runaways’, (especially the first two seasons); now, they are actually creating their own characters, and-

…And yes, the actor for this role has been a star of the ‘Lovecraft Country’, or whatever the show had been called, is playing – did play – the good ol’ He-Who. I confess that I was never a big fan of LC; Mr. Lovecraft himself had been a controversial person both in life and in death, while his literary creations are something else…and LC played fast and loose with them; for example, shaggoths of the Lovecraft mythos are not variant hellhounds, but are something much more formidable, regardless of what the show would have you believe.

The racial angle of LC…that was something else. There are people on the Internet, especially on YouTube, that accuse Disney, MCU, and etc. of being ‘woke’; LC had been much more so, and not in a good way. When done right, as in Tom Holland’s ‘Spider-Man’ films, progressive values can work, and without people even realizing that they’re there; when done wrong, as in the ‘Dark Phoenix-2019’ film, they can backfire spectacularly, and LC, it can be noted, was cancelled, with or without regrets. Cough. Where were we?

Ah yes, the S1 finale episode, FATA. Fata-morgana or the mirage. Sylvie loves Loki – the titular one – but sends him back to TVA…only it is a different TVA or something, so he has to start anew…or maybe it is the same TVA just with something different: when one messes with time and space, some things are just liable to be changed, for better or for worse, yes. What next?

A shout-out to the now finished TV series called ‘Primeval’, done by Impossible Pictures, which themselves were reabsorbed into BBC. Now that is a pity, but what I want to point out here, is that they too – I’m talking once more about ‘Primeval’ here – had a reality change between S1 and S2, a relatively small one, from Claudia to Jenny, but still. It did play a role. Here, in the ‘Loki’ S1 finale, we have something similar with Mobius and B-15. Interesting.

Oh, and judge RR, who is actually a Rebecca something that starts with a T, is not a villain, but has just left TVA for her own journey. How wonderful. A journey can be either a blessing or a curse, as the Flying Dutchman has demonstrated, (the actual legend, not the PoC element), and so did the Wandering Jew, (which is an even older story, and one that is probably not very appropriate for our times, nor is it very politically correct at all). My point here is that Loki – the titular Loki – might end up running all over the multiverse for a very long time, before he can reunite with Sylvie – or else he might lose her, and himself, for good. Only time will tell.

Moreover, yes, the multiverse is here at last. Officially too – huzzah, hooray! Disney & Marvel plan to celebrate it with ‘What If?’, it looks like, but we have already discussed this upcoming show before, and anything else would be nothing else but speculation. The S1 of ‘Loki’ in itself was a mixed bag, and not entirely all good, but it worked long enough for the season to reach its’ conclusion, (not that it had long to go, with just 6 episodes, and this is what it did.

…And yes, I am aware that the official reaction to that fact had been rather lackluster, at least for today, but that is a discussion for another time. For now, though, this is it, see you all soon!

Black Widow - July 12

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Black Widow’ film, which was released last Friday, (July 9, 2021), after about a year’s worth of delay.

The ‘Black Widow’ movie works. The characters are relatable, the plot is understandable, and the visuals are really good. Admittedly, the movie never goes ‘full woke’, but it still works; it is also politically detached, but fewer people are complaining about that.

Let us elaborate. No, ‘Black Widow’ does not go into the subjugation of women by men fully, though girl power is clearly the motto of the movie; male characters are shoved to the sidelines, or are outright evil, as they are in case of general Dreykov.

Again, let me elaborate: ‘Dreykov’, however you want to spell it, is not a Russian surname; Romanova, Belova, Shostakoff, Vostokoff are, however mangled by their adaptation to English. More importantly, while at least some part of the ‘Black Widow’ takes place in Russia, (because ‘Black Widow’, no duh), there’s little of that ‘Russian ethnic flavor’ that you could’ve expected this movie to have; aside from the occasional accent, (done for fun as much as for authenticity), and some throwaway location titles, the action of the ‘Black Widow’ could’ve taken place almost anywhere else, and in fact in part it does – in Budapest, which is a Hungarian city, not a Russian one. That is an important difference, you know!

…Am I griping? Perhaps. The fact is that the ‘Black Widow’ movie is also generic, by MCU standards; there’s the entire gender issue – some of the movie critics are complaining that Disney/MCU didn’t take it far enough, but the thing is that the ‘Black Widow’ movie isn’t controversial, there isn’t anything really controversial about it, that’s a big part of its’ appeal, (that, and the pleasant visual aesthetics), but it is also its’ main flaw – some of the people are upset about everything and anything – real life sucks, remember? – though many more of them would rather watch the ‘Black Widow’ – or any other movie, really – just to escape reality, for however little a time period. I know that I did. What next?

A brief mention of Marvel’s ‘What If?’ series, which arrive on August 2021. Even in the trailers, this series is already a spectacle, but if you dig just a bit deeper, you will recover the same lack of controversy that marks the ‘Black Widow’. There are plenty of Marvel characters that will be appearing in the ‘What If?’ episodes, but none of them belong to AoS, (aside from Brock Rumlow, but he was not a part of AoS at all). Clearly, Marvel is done with S.H.I.E.L.D. …that puts the ‘Black Widow’ in an odd position. Just like WV, ‘Sam & Bucky’, and ‘Loki’, ‘Black Widow’ is a transition story, one where the titular…well, title, passes from Nat onto Yelena, but to complete the circle, Yelena has to become an assassin for… S.H.I.E.L.D. Or an agent, technically speaking, but there is no S.H.I.E.L.D. in MCU anymore. AoS was supposed to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. back to glory after the events in ‘The Winter Soldier’ film, but due to a bunch of RL factors, that never happened.

…Ok, within the game terms it did, but in RL? Once AoS ended, Disney/MCU put S.H.I.E.L.D. under the rug and does not appear to be bringing it back anytime soon; rather, it is S.W.O.R.D. that is trying to fill-in the gap, but judging by how it didn’t appear beyond WV, MCU hasn’t quite worked-out all of its’ kinks with that plotline yet either.

…It would be nice to talk about the flaws of WV, and how that show flourished despite them, but I won’t; getting back to ‘Black Widow’, we got another shot of contessa Val…this time recruiting Yelena…or rather, she has already done that, and is sending her after Hawkeye in the mid-credits series. The story has come full circle, again. Natasha got involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. over Barton the Hawkeye, and Yelena might get involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the (new) Avengers over Hawkeye…either Barton or Kate Bishop, who will star in the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’ series. How will the absence of S.H.I.E.L.D. affect these series, (after all, Barton was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. just as Natasha was), remains to be seen.

And getting back to ‘What If?’, now that we’re talking about the various MCU series once more, the other thing that is noticeable about the (admittedly current) character roster is that there’re no Defenders, or X-Men, or anyone else that wasn’t a part of MCU, (up to Phase 4, anyways). By now Disney & MCU own them, of course, but apparently it isn’t a full ownership or something, and so the duo in question would rather keep them in a drawer somewhere rather than on… small screens and start yet another ruckus – the old one with Sony isn’t all that forgotten, it seems; the world of ‘Venom’ and cohorts stands apart from MCU, as do some other series, for example ‘Helstrom’.

…Here is a shout-out to MCU’s Ghost Rider, whose show died before it was born. Played by Gabriel Luna in AoS, it was supposed to be his first hurrah; instead, MCU’s Ghost Rider joined its’ Deathlok in being a one-hit wonder; at least Grant Ward lasted for three whole seasons… where were we?

…With a very good movie in the character of ‘Black Widow’, (or whatever). It may not be controversial, (even the Taskmaster does not really push the envelope, not yet, anyhow), but it is still fun to watch and easy to enjoy – and that is really what Disney, (MCU or otherwise), is aiming for.

Well, this is it for now – see you all soon!

Loki, 'Journey into Mystery' - July 8

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, just ask the poor people in Florida, whose condominium has collapsed, to say nothing of the entire COVID-19 hoopla that is still continuing, and is in its’ 3^rd year by now; before long, I suspect, people will start fighting each other en masse for being pro or contra vaccination, to say nothing of anything going on above the personal level. What next?

Well, ‘Loki’ s1, (or the entire series, actually), has come to its penultimate episode, and just as I have written last week, (or thereabouts), it seems to be continuing the fine tradition of AoS in treating character deaths’… in an inconsistent manner. Agent Mobius is apparently fine and dandy, even though he and Loki have appeared to have parted ways for good on one hand, while the ‘Classical Loki’ is definitely dead, having been eaten by Alioth, which is yet another example of ‘MCU utilizing obscure Marvel trivia to great success’, I’m certain.

Listen – I enjoyed watching the ‘Classical Loki’ prance on screen, I really did, but you have to admit, that as a character who appeared only in last week’s episode’s post-credit scene and who hadn’t lasted for a full week’s episode, I’m just wasn’t invested into him as much as I had into agent M, who’s been with the audience from the show’s start. Not unlike AoS, ‘Loki’ is playing favorites in the question who lives and who dies, and that rather rankles.

On the other hand, Loki and Sylvie have reunited…wait. The duo has been apart for less than one episode…but then again, they were together for about two episodes and a bit, so, again, it is somewhat hard to take their relationship seriously… wait again. Sylvie might be her own character and not a variant Loki? You do not say!

…Before we try to generate some excitement about those two, a brief word about the ‘alligator Loki’, and it is: ‘What?’ Even the professional commenters on the MCU shows (and beyond) were stumped by it, and the closest they could come up with was ‘There was a frog Thor in the comics, why not an alligator Loki?’

Because common sense, I suppose – as a Norse god, Loki does not get associated with crocs or gators very often, (not to mention that the entire Thor/Frog combo was something of a gag originally, I suspect). The pagan god who is associated with crocodiles is the Egyptian god Sobek, who is a part of the Marvel canon, actually, but who hasn’t appeared in MCU so far…this might be his surrogate or something. (Also, was I the only one, who found MCU's Alioth to be depicted rather similarly to the cosmic serpent Apep from the 'Gods of Egypt' film from the early 2010s? I hope that this wasn't intential, because that film was bad, think of Rick Riordan's 'The Kane Chronicles' trilogy written for adults, and quite badly too - but I digress).

Listen again: the show’s title is ‘Loki’, and the show is about Loki, after all – the one that had appeared in MCU movies and etc. from the start. The ‘kid Loki’ is his past. The ‘classical Loki’ had been his future but now Loki is making a new one, with Sylvie, (at least for now). The ‘boastful Loki’ is the opposite of the titular one, hence why they are the most different – physically – from each other. The ‘alligator Loki’ is the outsider, thrown in here for variety, the ‘president Loki’ is the evil – ok, eviller – twin of the titular character, and hence why he must be defeated. I am certain that the psychologists can define all of this ‘headology’ much more professionally than I can, and so they probably will, after the show is over, in various YouTube videos, but that is their call. Is there anything left for us in the ‘Journey into Mystery’?

No, not really. For all of its’ window dressing, ‘Loki’ is a very simple, baseline show, actually – it’s a ‘hero’s journey’ cliché, in which a young man ventures forth, and finds everything that he needs to become a man, including love and a family. Yes, Sylvie can argue that the same can be said about a woman – fair enough. She and Loki have found each other and so Sylvie’s quest against the space god-lizards have progressed much quicker than it had before, so there! …Anything else?

Well, the ‘Black Widow’ film will be officially available tomorrow, so we will discuss it then, or maybe even next week. Marvel’s ‘What If?’ TV series will arrive only in August, so, again, we will have to discuss that then. The last week’s episode of ‘Loki’ was padding, because of the S1’s plot simplicity: if the god of chaos got only a 5-episode S1, it would simply be sad.

Therefore, for now, this is it. See you all soon!