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’ 3rd 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!
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