Loki | 14
Show Notes:
After picking up the Tesseract in “Avengers: Endgame,” Loki finds himself before the Time Variance Authority. Loki was released on Disney plus on June 9th, 2021 and Shy is back. We are talking about why we loved the show, casting and representation, and attempt to speculate about season 2.
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The Show: Pop Culture Makes Me Jealous
The Host: Julia Washington
Episode Sponsor: Hues by Juls
Transcript:
Julia: Hey friends, this is pop culture makes me jealous. And I'm your host, Julia. And on today's show, we're talking about Loki. And guess what? Shy's back.
This episode is brought to you by. Hues by Juls. Hues by Juls offers custom artwork and original prints specializing in watercolor. Focusing on the human form and different shades of skin. If you're looking for that perfect gift for a birthday or have a special memory you'd like to commemorate visit Hues by Juls on Instagram, or find the Etsy shop of the same name that's Hues H U E S by Juls J U L S.
After picking up the Tesseract and Avengers and game Loki finds himself before the time variance authority also known as the TVA. This show was released on Disney plus on June 9th, 2021. Other names of note in this show, Owen Wilson, GuGu Mbotha Raw. In a June 8th review of the show, Nick Allen for Roger ebert dot com says, "In a different timeline, Loki would've made for an excellent Christopher Nolan movie, but in the timeline that you and I share, it's an exciting and genuinely inspired addition to the Marvel storytelling. One that spins off and rockets its complicated villain into original territory with the help of time-travel."
And then Shirley Lee again with the Atlantic writes by placing a fan favorite character in an unfamiliar world, populated with unrecognizable characters and then promptly introducing him to an existential crisis. Loki challenges Marvel's tried and true formula of lighthearted action. Plus air tight continuity."
Alright Shy, we've got to recap the show first for people who haven't seen it yet, because you know, first of all, why not? And secondly, they're spoilers. So you've been warned. After stealing the Tesseract during Avengers end game and alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious time variants authority, a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors, the timeline. They give Loki a choice face being erased from existence for being a time variant or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat.
So I honestly, I really couldn't find a bad review of Loki anywhere. And like I probably spent a solid day digging online, trying to find something that wasn't positive. I failed and I didn't want to get too dark into it. You know what I mean? Cause like sometimes you get, as there's after the 10th tab on Google, I'm not really going to go any further than that. So overall the show is received with open arms. Hmm. So we're friends for friends. Let's kind of expand a little bit more on Loki. He was captured by the TVA, as we mentioned, and is deemed a variant.
So he's not the original, he's like a deviation of the timeline that helps people understand who haven't seen it. Over the course of the show. We learned that the TVA is a little more. Then just the sacred keepers of the timeline. They hire agents who are tasked with hunting down variants to stop them from deviating the timeline even more. It's very dystopian. So first impressions of the show let's get into it. We kind of touched a little bit in Black Widow, but let's really get into it. Now.
Shy: I feel like this was a really. Interesting official kickoff to the next phase of Marvel. Um, it definitely hinted at it in Wanda Vision. But this like the first five minutes we talked about multi versus timelines, time variances, nexus events. Like we, we got all of that in like the first 15 minutes of. The first episode. So I definitely think like it's like buckle your seat belts. We're in for a wild ride. Like you knew going into it, like this is going to be some crazy ass shit and surely enough by the end of it. Yeah. What the fuck this? Where are we going with this? Like, what is happening next?
Julia: At the end of every episode, the credits would come on and then I would be like the fuck. And my son would just be like, mom, it's fine. We'll get answers next week. I'm like, I need answers now. They just did that to us for an hour and left it. No, I need more.
Shy: It was like Wanda Vision all over again with the. Uh, what was the sign on? The one division shows at the end of it?
Julia: Oh, stay tuned.
Shy: Stay tuned. Yeah. And you're like, no, but at least we got like almost a full hour, almost every episode of Loki this time. So a little bit more.
Julia: Yeah. And, um, we talked about this a little bit in Black Widow recording about how, you know, This felt Marvel's big on their TV shows feeling cinematic, and this felt the most cinematic out of all of them in the way that it was shot the costumes. Um, just all of it. It was so. Detailed in ways that I was just like, I, it was very impressive to me how detailed they would get in a lot of the scenes, especially when they had to like incorporate CGI and stuff .In Assembled. I know you said you hadn't watched it yet, but in assembled they would do that slide where it was like, here's what it looks like to you as the viewer of the final product. And then they'd sort of slide it back to show like, oh, this is what the screen starts. And I don't know. Maybe I'm just used to CGI stuff. Oh, yeah. It makes sense. It's C G I.
Shy: Was it more CGI than you thought or less?
Julia: It was more than I thought.
Shy: Hmm.
Julia: Yeah.
Shy: Well, that's good. Cause you can't really tell like uncanny valley type cGI.
Julia: They were really thoughtful and detailed about the show. Like I got the sense from what, you know, from watching it, you're like, this is somebody's baby clearly, but then when you watch Assembled, it was like, you hear how dedicated every person was in their task. And it really shows in the final product. And that makes such a huge difference. But Marvel is really great at cultivating, and curating a good end product.
Shy: It was the same director for all the episodes. Wasn't it?
Julia: Uh, yes, I believe so.
Shy: So yeah, I feel like when they do something like that, that you really do feel that cohesiveness of like the full storyline, when the same director sticks with it. Like, I do appreciate what other people, like, I know that was it like Mandalorian, that there's been a bunch of different directors and you can appreciate different viewpoints, but when there's like a big. Storyline like this. I do like the one person carrying it, basically food, the whole thing.
Julia: And it is a really big storyline because it's not as simple. I don't think that Loki could have been tasked with for different directors because of how secretive Marvel can be. I think that they needed to have the same person at the helm every single episode in order to get that message. And to tell that story properly. So let's talk about, we kind of talked a little bit about the structure already and, you know, plots and stuff, but there's only six episodes and they're all really close to an hour in length.
And I'm going to be honest, some of like the subtle techniques that existed that, like, by the end of the episode, I was just like, I need more, like, I feel like you didn't give me enough because some shows some of the episodes ended with huge cliff hangers and like I mentioned, I'd lose my shit, but I kind of want to talk about the cast and the characters, Tom Hiddleston, as we mentioned.
Shy: Very sexy.
Julia: Yes.
Shy: He really is.
Julia: And, and like I said, I wasn't necessarily a big Tom Hiddleston person until he got his own series and you could see him in a different light. Which does that make me a fair weather fan? I don't know. Maybe.
Shy: It's like, you never thought what's his name? Adam. Scott. Oh yeah. He until Fleabag and then you're like, holy shit.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah, because you're already a sociopath. That's crazy. Um, and so then you have like, Tom, so Tom Hiddleston, as Loki, as we all know, and he's. In this particular iteration in the MCU. I think that I really liked seeing him play this Loki. But then Owen Wilson is in it and he plays Moebius and I will talk about him in a second and then the TVA agent, but she was called something specific.
Um, her name was, you know, the called her runs Leona. Yeah. She was like a high ranking. Person, like she has a very specific type of
Shy: She's a judge.Judge.
Julia: Thank you, judge. Gugu Mbotha Raw, who by the way, mixed girl representation. Cause she's, she's, she's she's mixed. So good job Disney.
Shy: I always enjoy her.
Julia: Yeah. She said that's Mobius his boss. She plays Mobius as boss. And so clearly she's like clearly top management and then you have, so Sophie DiMartino who plays Sylvie, who is a variant Loki variant. Sorry. Oopsie.
We already, warned you.
It was supposed to
Shy: be surprised.
Julia: It's too late. We warned you earlier. There's going to be spoilers. And then I'm I'm I've I listened to how to say this actress's name, actor's name multiple times. And I'm just like, I'm still going to fuck it up. It up. So I apologize. Wound me Masako. She plays a Hunter B-15.
Shy: She's great in that. She was great in Lovecraft Country, too.
Julia: So Lovecraft Country's in my queue. I still haven't watched it yet because I feel like I have to emotionally prepare to see it.
Shy: It's also got, can I say it?
Julia: Yeah.
Shy: Uh, Jonathan majors, who plays, he, who is at the end of the world or whatever his name was in this AKA king, the conqueror.
Julia: I love him.
Shy: He was so good. Okay. Let's let's go back and talk. Loki first.
Julia: We'll go through everybody else, but also just Richard E. Grant for anybody. Who's a Richard E. Grant fan. Like that was very exciting for me to see him show up.
Shy: So exciting. I adore him. He's such a powerhouse. He's just so great.
Julia: He really is. So the cast is stacked and I always think that a lot on the show about the shows that we come on here to review, but like this would literally is like flawless in terms of like, these people are big powerhouses. So, dive in. Tell me, tell me, okay.
Shy: So Tom Hiddleston. So at first, when walking into the show, I was like, oh man, we had such great character development for Loki within Thor 2 and Thor 3 and in a Infinity War, like, oh, we're going to lose all of that. And to a point we kind of did. It was nice to be able to see Loki, watch the true timeline and see the character development. Cause I feel like it, you got a lot of character development within like the two 50 minutes and watching his eyes watching himself, like it was, it was such a great performance from him.
Like the emotion in his eyes. Heart-wrenching especially the part where I used and that got snapped. And you realize how much he came to love Thor and how, um, the kind of life that he could have led had he not, you know, variated from the timeline, um, was kind of amazing. And, uh, so I was, I was sad to lose that character development, but I think they did a great job of explaining to, to Loki what he was supposed to be.
And that helped out a lot. So
Julia: I thought Owen Wilson was surprised.
Shy: Yeah, and I didn't take him seriously, but he was really good on this.
Julia: He was really good. I mean, he was Owen Wilson in it, but he did such a great job because he didn't bring, he brought the right amount of comedy to it. It wasn't like one of his bronchi movies and he had, he's done like non raunchy stuff too.
But like wedding Crashers is always what is on TV. Like I swear they re they show it on cable, like every fucking weekend. So like, that's the Owen Wilson that's constantly running through my mind as Wedding Crashers. So to see him play Mobius and he is clearly a bad-ass in his field, he knows what he's doing, but he's also a little bit of a rebel because he takes chances and risks that they don't really want him to take.
Um, I found him to be a really good fit for this character and then playing the character in a way that makes you very empathetic in unsuspecting ways or unexpected ways.
Shy: And he didn't say wow, once. And everyone was waiting for the wow drop and I'm like, yeah, they're going to give it to us. They, they held out on a lot of stuff. They didn't give him a fricking jet-ski, which hopefully makes it's appearance in season two. And he didn't say, wow.
Julia: In assembled. I thought it was really interesting because he, because, you know, Tom, Mendelson's done Shakespeare, this very extensive resume beyond the screen that's really impressive as an actor. And so they're having this little conversation and I actually really liked the way they did assembled for Loki because it's Tom Hiddleston sort of telling the story and the evolution of the show coming to light. And I really, really liked the way they did that.
Shy: I need to watch it.
Julia: But he makes a reference about like, you know, oh, have you ever done Shakespeare? And Owen Wilson's like, I literally have never had a CoStar who would assume that I've ever had the opportunity to be in Shakespeare
Shy: That's adorable.
Julia: And so then he says, I'm sorry, I'm giving something away. I apologize. I'm only apologizing to Shy cause she hasn't seen it yet. The rest of you listeners, I'm not worried about you should go watch all these things already before you listen to the show.
Um, he asks him. Shakespeare play would you do if you would, if you, if you had the opportunity and he says, um, Two Gentlemen of Verona and I was like, Owen Wilson, I think I like you I'm going to like him, but, you know, do you think the cast was appropriately cast? I mean, obviously I already said, I, I think it was, but.
Shy: Yes, I do.
Julia: I don't think there was any weaknesses anywhere. I think they solidly did a stellar job. Even down to the, sorry again, all the spoilers down to all the Loki variants that you see towards the end of the series. Like it was just so, and they all had their own individualistic individualism, but you could still tell it was a Loki .
Shy: Yeah.
Julia: Let's talk representation.
Shy: Okay.
Julia: Already gave a shout out to my mixed girl, GuGu hey girl. Hey, we love you. Um,
Shy: Officer the one whose mind gets swept. She's mixed race too.
Julia: Is she?
Shy: I'm pretty sure I've seen her in a lot of stuff. I can't remember her name right now, but I've seen her in a ton of stuff and I'm pretty sure she's like mixed race.
Julia: Oh, I love that.
Shy: So you get two.
Julia: Thank you, Disney hair flip. Okay. But also the internet kind of lost its shit with Loki, like subtly, not so subtly confirmed his bisexuality. And when, so when Loki and Sylvie were getting to know each other better, Loki makes the statement. It's almost feels like a one-off comment, but it's not.
And so, so I'm to set up the scene for the listeners. This scene, it's in episode three, Sylvia and Loki are on a train. They're trying to whatever solve whatever problem they have in they begin sharing stories. Cause they're getting to know each other better, right? Because we don't know that who Sylvie is until we get to this point.
And so the topic, you know, the natural topics of getting to know you come up and then the conversation of course, which is to love because that's what we do as humans, when we're trying to get to know each other, like oh, ever been in love and blah, blah, blah, and all these things. So after. I think it's after she says, you know, she talks about how she's like dating a mailman back home and it's long distance, all these things.
I wasn't sure if that was like real or she was joking, but she asks him, "How about you? You're a prince must've been, would be princesses or perhaps another prince." And then Loki replies, "A bit of both. I suspect the same as you. But nothing ever." And then.dot dot. And she says, "Real love is mischief" and he says, "Love is, um, something I'm going to have to have another drink to talk about."
And so, like, I'm not even kidding within like hours of them releasing this episode, the like the, I had to like get off the internet because it was like, I can't have any spoilers. I need to figure, I need to see how this unfolds itself. But Loki's bisexuality. I understand it's already part of the comics.
Like that's something that we already knew based on the comics is what I'm gleaning through my research on the internet. But like the MCU, as we know it through Disney, hasn't really told us that on screen until now. So the director, Kate Heron, and an Entertainment Tonight interview said, this, "Because marvelous secretive about their other projects. For me, I was like, I'm telling low-key story. It's part of who they are. And I just want to acknowledge it. It's cannon in the comics. And if we can make it cannon in the films, that would be amazing. When I came on board, I was like, if there's a way to do this, it would mean a lot to me. And I'm sure a lot of people, but it was very welcomed. And I think we're all very proud of how we did that."
So she goes on to acknowledge later that there really isn't any deeper exploration in the series about his sexuality, but hopes that this opens the door for deeper exploration. I have to admit the first time I watched it. I did miss that line really quickly, where he was like, maybe a little bit of both.
I had to go back after, like, after watching it and then getting on the. And seeing the internet talk about it. It's like, okay, I'm going to go back and watch the episode because I clearly missed something. But I see. But after we watched it, it was like, the scene is so incredibly powerful. And so I feel like they made a really good move in the right direction for bringing, you know, making this cannon in the films. But then also like, he's, he dies in Infinity War. So like, how are they going to continue to explore? Oh, I guess season two.
Shy: Season two. And it's part of the TVA. You never know if he's going to pop up in a movie who knows Dr. Strange.
Julia: I would love it if he popped up and Dr. Strange, I didn't know. I'm thinking about okay. Anyway, so, but I love, like, I love how he is just so like casual and confident about it. And there's no like fear behind this acknowledgement or at least that was my takeaway. I don't know.
Shy: I feel like Asguardians are a little bit above us on earth as far as their sexuality, so yeah. It's not a big deal there perhaps. Hopefully.
Julia: Right. And I also kind of love how he and Sylvie sort of developed this sort of like.
Shy: Some people are really weirded out about it. It's like they were comparing it to siblings, but I don't consider it part of siblings. Like they. We're totally different people.
Like, yeah, there was one, I mean, they're both Loki but they're completely different people.
Julia: And I just, I kind of equated it as confirming. He's a narcissist .
Shy: That true. If he's going to fall in love with anybody, it's going to be another Loki that made a lot of sense to me.
Julia: That's literally what I said to my son. I said, of course, he's going to fall in love with a version of himself. Like why wouldn't he he's in love with himself. That makes perfect sense. But we had had a conversation. I can't remember at which point. Which Marvel conversation it took place during, but you know, just kind of bringing more representation for LGBTQ and express the, the wish for the next generation. I feel like Loki I feel like they did that by opening the door with Loki .
Shy: And some characters going to kick that door down hopefully soon.
Julia: Hopefully sooner than later, because I need Disney not to shy away. I mean, they don't shy away from stuff as much, but they.
Shy: I feel like sexuality is one thing that they do shy away from maybe a bit more than anything else.
Julia: Yes, exactly. Because I was very proud of them for handling Falcon, winter soldier, the way that they did the subtle line that we get. I'm always going to think. Could we have done? We, cause I was part of the development team. No, I wasn't. Could there have been more, you know, it sounds like the director feels like she is and she should be proud of the way that they handled it.
I think they did a good job with that said it's 20, 21. Should there have been a little bit more development or a little bit more of a push to be more about it, but I don't know if Disney is ready for that.
Shy: Hopefully. Soon, we'll see something .
Julia: At the end of episode six. Yeah, we were doing, did you want, did you want to talk about any more of the characters? Did you have any other characters before I move us on?
Shy: Uh, I would like to talk a little bit about. Richard E. Grants Loki variant a little bit, but.
Julia: Yes, he was so good.
Shy: Okay. Well, first of all, it's Richard E. Grant. He's going to be good in anything he does. He's amazing. But just the, the heartache that you felt for him, because, because like Loki already is what? 1500 years old.
Julia: Yeah.
Shy: So for his version of Loki to be so old, it makes you really wonder how long he was on that planet all by himself. And then one was like, I want to see my brother. And then he got swooped up, which is. Awful. And just his last glorious purpose moment at the very end, making a entire image of Asgard from memory to distract Eliath which was like an amazing move.
I watched it, that scene like a couple of times. And every time he made me cry. It was great.
Julia: And it was so beautifully done. I mean, just the detail that they got into, like, as he's, you know, using his magic to build this, you know, replica, I was just like, holy shit. That's like so much detail. So for people listening and haven't seen it, you know, the time Huntsman with a variant, they do this thing called pruning. Which at first you're like, what's the shit is pruning. Cause you don't see it right away. And what pruning is is they have this device that they turn on and they touch you with it and you disintegrate and that's all you think that they've disintegrated and that they're like the shit. Well, my God, they're dead. Like at least that's how I felt. And then you find out is episode five. We find out that if they actually go somewhere else, when they get pruned?
Shy: Uh, at the end of episode four, you find out, because Loki it gets pruned and you're like, oh my God, this show's over. And then they show him and then the void.
Julia: Yes. And then, you know, this big cloud that takes formation of beast, like creatures, gobbles, and swallows things up. It has a name. Um, and so then it becomes this mission of cuz Sylvie's mission is to take down the timekeepers or the yeah. The timekeepers. And so she re they realized that the time keepers are on the other side of this massive it's a cloud. Right?
Shy: Well, Eliath is like a monster. Yeah.
Julia: But it's like, Yeah. It's like a monster cloud situation. Yeah. Very creepy, very scary. And absolutely 100% would be running the other way. Um, and Sylvia's power is enchantment. Which that's a big thing throughout the entire, um, first season. So we can say first season because it is coming back for a second season and I really liked that they gave her the ability to enchant people. I thought that was a really good difference between the two Loki type characters, because Loki is kind of magical.
Shy: There is a comic character named the Enchantress, which I believe that they kind of like melded the two characters together for this one.
Julia: Oh yeah. I think that's, I, they confirmed that and assembled.
Shy: Oh man, I need to watch it.
Julia: Shy. Do you need me to come over and babysit so you can watch it.
Shy: You want to work for me for like an hour so I can sit and watch it.
Julia: Oh, I dunno. I don't know how to do your job. So I can't
Shy: Did they confirm in assembled the reason why Sylvie was considered a variant.
Julia: No.
Shy: So you know why then? Right?
Julia: Tell me.
Shy: Cause she was, cause she was happy because she was a happy Loki and she was well adjusted and she knew she was adopted and was like, okay with it. Because Loki has to be this tortured soul in order to be a Loki the fact that she was well adjusted and happy being who she was, was the reason why she was pruned or taken away.
Julia: That makes me so upset.
Shy: Isn't it awful?
Julia: Why, why can't you just let women be happy, Marvel. God damn it. That makes me, yeah.
Shy: I know when I realized that I was like, that sucks. That was, that was the reason. Taken back. Cause she was a happy Loki and you can't have a happy Loki they have to be all tortured.
Julia: Why do they still have to slight women? You know what I mean? They've done so much progress for the plight of the female narrative. And here they are just like, let's take a little girl who was happy and prune her. Rude.
Shy: I mean, and it kind of makes you understand why she took the actions she did at the end.
Julia: Yes.
Shy: Even though, you know, what it was going to, I mean, we know the future movies that are coming out, so we knew the way that it was going to go with the multi-verse being released. So maybe if she had been allowed to be a happy person, she wouldn't have had to do that.
Julia: Right. You know, what I thought was really fascinating. Moebius has convinced that they've all been created from nothing to do this job. And then you find out they're all just variants. Duh. Like why didn't I put that together? That makes perfect sense because you need a force, you need an army. You're not going to create that shit out of thin air.
You're going to take the already existing wiped their minds and train them to be your soldiers. Duh. It's very dystopian. Had to work the day, the last episode came out. So I had to stay off the internet, which is really hard to do because my job. And so when I like ordered takeaway and I was like child, we were watching this, I don't care what you're in the middle of playing.
We have to watch this cuz I need to get on the internet. And so, you know, they're like, don't worry the way it ends, the way it ends. And they're like, don't worry. It's back for season two.
How long is season two going to be now you left us with so many questions. So what do you think let's speculate about season two? What do you want to see in season two? Let's start there.
Shy: I would like for them to go back to the void and do more with kid Loki and alligator Loki. Cause I just thought they were cool. They were fun. Um, well, obviously Loki in the wrong TVA, so we need to figure out how to get them to the right TVA. Um, I, I feel like I can't even guess what's going to happen in the next season. Obviously, Ramona is like on her own mission to figure out like what's going on and in the comics, Ramona and king have like a romance rivalry type situation.
So we know we're going to see more of her. I just, with everything else that's going on with the multiple. And all the other movies that are coming out, like by the time Loki 2 comes out, I have no idea. Like, I feel like they did an excellent job within even just the first episode of showing like, oh, you know, how crazy and big all of the things that happened in Infinity War and End Game, what happened where, well, that was like pittance compared to what is happening.
Oh, he's got like, okay. Also I really wish that they had Eugene Cornetto in the movie or in the show a lot more because I love him. He's really, really funny. And the fact that he was like, oh yeah, I'll use Infinity gems. I've got like eight of them. And they mean nothing. They mean nothing now. And nothing matters.
Everything that happened before is going to be turned on its head. And I feel like I, I have, I have no fucking idea what, where we're going with this, what's going to be happening. So I'm excited to see. I just like, I feel like trying to figure. The future at this point, like literally anything can happen.
Julia: Yeah. I loved that. They had, so the time, whatever the little clock thing was called, I forget like
Shy: Miss Minutes.
Julia: Miss Minutes, thank you. Yes. Yes. And she's so friendly and chipper, but she's going to fucking cut. You don't turn your back on her. And I loved that she, that they had an actress that had like a Southern.
Shy: Drawl?
Julia: Yes. Okay. Go with that one. And then I love how very mid-century modern, everything felt at the TVA. It, because there's just in the sixties. So many of these sort of like spy types of dystopian things came out and I felt like. Those sets were very reminiscent of that, like era and genre and, and I just love mid century modern, anything. I mean, it was very brown, mid-century modern. Um, but I think that was the point was to be that brown and orange and, you know, kind of
Shy: Very bueracratic red tape. Place that you don't really want to hang out at?
Julia: Yeah. It really felt like if so, yes. It's comics, like, you know, comic whatever, but it really felt like this could have been, you know, some sort of George Orwell or some sort of other literary dystopian thing, because just how much control the TVA.
Has or and tries to keep on the timeline, to keep things in order. And you know, at the end, when they show up and they finally find the guy behind the curtain, very Wizard of Oz-esq and I, for those of you listening, I used air quotes for the guy behind the curtain. Um, I'm very curious about cause he was very cautionary. Like I'm not even bad. Like his whole mojo was like, I'm not even bad compared to what's what you could potentially unleash. Like if you get rid of me, you're unleashing this whole thing and you've no idea how bad it's going to get. Like I'm protecting you from this. So that makes me nervous because I'm not really into like government controlling shit. Especially our free will. What cause he kind of aloof, he didn't allude. He very clearly said that other versions of him still exist. Oh yeah. And he's keeping them at bay. So I'm like, are we going to get all of the versions of him or are we just going to get like the worst one? Like, are you going to Dole them out slowly? Like .
Shy: Well, it's already been confirmed that Jonathan Majors is going to be an Ant Man at the next and Tim Quanta mania movie. Okay. I don't know if it's been confirmed as king, the conquer, but that's what the speculation has been, that he's going to became the conquer so that when he showed up at the end of Loki myself, I was like, oh my God.
Oh my God, we're already getting king. Like, I didn't think the people had thought that he was going to be in it, but. As we've learned from the Wanda vision speculation with the Mufesta thing, I was like, whatever, if he shows up, he shows up if he doesn't, he doesn't. And then when he did, but then you realize it's not king the conquer is he who remains. It was like a variant of king, the conquer. And he even says like, have come by many names conquer. And everyone's like, oh, I feel like he kind of gave him the opportunity to see in a lot of different ways as a lot different variants Jonathon Majors, I feel like is one of those people that could definitely pull off the multifaceted personalities of the different variants. So I'm excited to see what's going to happen.
Julia: He's So talented at first, I was like, I don't know how I feel about you getting into this character, but then when he started sort of Mon monologuing and stuff, I was like, Oh. Oh, oh, okay. Okay. Okay. We got this. You got it. Okay, good, good, good. I'm terrified now thanks.
Shy: Yeah.
Julia: Do you think we'll get any cameos in season two? Like I was surprised we didn't. Really you like, even in the scene where he like grabs the test, test, test Jesus
Shy: Tesseract.
Julia: Thank you.
Shy: You're welcome.
Julia: I can only say I can only say it if I'm reading it out loud. Um, cause even in that scene we don't really see anybody or anything. We just sort of like.
Shy: So we got a lady. sith cameo, which I thought was great. Um, and then we did kind of at a crim, uh, Chris Hemsworth cameo with the Throg
Julia: Oh, that's right. he was, yeah, I forgot.
Shy: I mean, that wasn't really a, it would be dope to see a cameo from anybody, honestly, but like I said, like, I don't, I don't know where the hell we're going to be in season two. So I guess wait to find out. I guess. I don't know.
Julia: Yeah. Listen, I'm not really a fan of that whole wait and find out shit either because they were releasing stuff. So not quickly. I feel like it was every year we got a Marvel film of some kind.
Shy: I get usually like two Marvel films. Well, yeah, I guess like usually, but, and we've had, we've been spoiled lately after having like the nothing for the past year. I mean, We're in the middle of July and we've already had Wanda Vision and winter soldier, Falcon and winter soldier and Loki and Black Widow. And.
coming out. And Shang Chi about to come out and the Eternals are about to come out. Like we have a lot of stuff that's like 20, 21 is going to be lit from.
Julia: Yeah. And there's like three or four movies coming out next year too.
Shy: And we still have the Hawkeye show, and What If coming out for the TV shows this year is still too.
Julia: I am so excited for Wakanda forever.
Shy: I don't, I don't know how they're gonna do it and I don't want to know. And it makes me sad. Just to think about it.
Julia: I'm sorry I brought it up, but I saw like it in the listing, in that trailer, they released not too long ago. And I was like, okay, well, I'm excited because I feel like. Firstly now that we no longer have Chadwick Boseman, may he rest in peace, and we love you and miss you every day. I wish now in hindsight, we had more black Panther because he's, you know, he, we meet him in winter soldier. He, you know, there's the black Panther movie. And then he also is obviously like all of them is an End Game and Infinity War.
But I feel like now that there's only been one solid Black Panther movie and lots of cameos of him, it would have been nice to have had a little bit more of him before the second one came out. But I don't know.
Shy: There is going to be, he's going to be in a, What If.
Julia: Oh he is?
Shy: That was like the last thing he recorded as, as Black Panther. I mean, he's the, What If I think is what if Black Panther was Star Lord?
Julia: Got it.
Shy: So we'll see him in that.
Julia: Okay.
Shy: Oh, I think there's a Guardians, the Guardians Holiday Specials going to be coming out this year too. I think it's going to be this Christmas.
Julia: Guardians the Galaxy has the best soundtrack, so good. Doesn't Kurt Russell play his dad in the second one. That's what I thought they really do like the Russell's don't they ?
Shy: They do. Well, Kurt Russell has been a big Disney person, his whole life. So.
Julia: That's true Swiss Family Robinson.
Shy: Do you, uh, do you know that my father-in-law was in a Disney movie with Kurt Russell.
Julia: Stop really?
Shy: Lonely place?
Julia: Have we had this conversation?
Shy: I don't know.
Julia: You told me about the Sharon Tate movie.
Shy: Oh, yeah. With Nathan's grandpa, father. Yeah.
Julia: That's I think that's why.
Shy: Yeah, my father-in-law was in Follow Me Boys with Kurt Russell,
Julia: Russell. That's kind of, that's fun. Thought. I love that.
Well, we can't speculate on season two cause.
Shy: We cannot like, literally there's like no possible way to other than like maybe we'll see more. TVA's more, maybe we'll.
Julia: Creepy miss minutes is going to pop up somewhere.
Shy: Yeah. I was going to say like, maybe we'll get a little bit more of Ms. Minutes to figure out what her whole story is. Obviously she knew way more than she let on. Cause she was with he who remains.
Julia: So every time run Slayer was like, I need everything, blah, blah, blah, or whatever it was, how she would say. Everything, you know, like this is everything and you just knew it wasn't because of the way she said it. Oh man.
Shy: Cara strong's really great with the voice acting.
Julia: I do love again, another female lead Sylvie who is dressed for battle and not to be sexualized so I can, you know, appreciate Disney for that. We need more of that.
Shy: We did have a \question though. The TVA removes all glamour, then how come you didn't see Loki as a frost giant? Why didn't you see him as a frost giant?
Julia: That's a really good question.
Shy: Maybe I just was thinking too much about it, but. But then you wouldn't get Tom Huddleston's face on your screen. Who doesn't want that?
Julia: He's just so stinking, cute.
Shy: He re he's very, i, I feel like he's kind of in the same category as Benedict Cumberbatch. You weither find him incredibly sexy or you're like, nah, he doesn't do it for me, but he, he does it for me.
Julia: I love Benedict Cumberbatch and I have a friend. We call him Benny Batch that's how we were friends as Benny Batch but I guess his fan base is called Cumberbitches.
Shy: I don't. I think he heard that and he hates it.
Julia: He does cause he was on the Graham Norton show and Graham Norton was like, what is this? I hear? And they had a conversation about it and he was like, I'm not a fan of it. I'm not saying the name. And so he really is when he got married, they just literally, why do I know this shit?
They just did a simple announcement in the newspaper. Like how you would, how marriage announcements have been for, you know, centuries. It was just very basic simple. And I was like, I love how down to earth he is. It makes me happy, but also he played Sherlock Holmes and I love anything that has Arthur, Arthur, Conan Doyle sort of stamp on. So. That's probably why I love Robert Downey Jr. Because he also played Sherlock Holmes. And even though I, you know, he's kind of a interesting guy, um,
Shy: Henry Cavill. Did you watch do watch Enola yeah.
Julia: I'm excited for season two.
Shy: Yeah. I know. I heard that they were going to make a sequel and I'm very stoked for that because yeah. I just love Henry Cavill. Once Henry Cavill becomes a part of the MCU. Because it's going to happen at some point I know in my heart then, then I'll undoubtedly have like that my favorite character, because I've been a fan of his since the count of Monte Cristo. Look, you remember that movie? Like I sat up. In the theater is watching that movie and he came on screen and I sat up and I went, who is that?
And that was before like the muscles and any of that stuff. Like he was just like baby face. And I've loved him since then. So Henry Cavill, if you're seeing that, I mean, I'm happily married, but I'm just saying I loved you even way back then.
Julia: I love his nose. I think his nose is just adorable.
No. I mean, there's whole his face, but you know, his nose has a lot of character and I love that. You know, it's just got a little and he's got a nice that solid, you know, cut cheese with that jaw. I'm happy about it.
Shy: One thing I do like about all of these Marvel shows so far is that there's never been like a clear cut villain.
Julia: Yes.
Shy: You know what I mean? Like all of the. Good guys and bad guys have been very nuanced and like have had both sides. Like the only person I want to say, that's been like out and out, bad guy has been like Hayworth in Wanda Vision because you're like, why is, yeah. So, but I do appreciate that.
Julia: It's a Testament to, to how complicated humanity really is. You know, it's not cut and dry for so long. We were given stories about, you know, it's very clear, good bad. You know, good versus evil and it's not, it's not always that simple. And then there was that period of like the antihero movie. So then it's like the bad guy is the hero. So, but the way that they were going about it was sort of glamorizing being a bad guy.
If I'm saying this from trying to, if I'm conveying this the right way. And I think within the last 10 years, that sort of. Nuance of humanity and the all sides. Like we all have the capability of doing misguided things. I think that element of storytelling is getting better.
Shy: Are you surprised with how it ended or, I mean, if you didn't know that there was going to be multi versus release,
Julia: I knew there was going to be multi versus released and I was surprised with the way it ended, but I also have the attention span of a goldfish. So.
Shy: I thought the twist of having. Not just the twist, but like him ending up in the wrong TVA and having Moebius not know who he was, that hurt my heart.
Julia: Yeah. I
Shy: I was like no. They're like BFFs and all of a sudden he doesn't even know who he is.
Julia: That I would agree with you on that. Because when that happened, I was like the fuck. And then, you know, it was, uh, I'm kind of slow on the uptick over here. Um, because you go, you grow to love the relationship so much, and he's such an advocate for that particular Loki variant to the entire show, to the point where they even he's when his Mobius gets pruned sorry, guys ruined it for you. Um, so when they're all in the God, my brain is broken. You know, when they get pruned in they're all in the.
Shy: In the void.
Julia: In the void, when they're all in the void, he even saves them. Then, you know, he's like the man to the rescue and he's such an unlikely hero cause its Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson. There was a little bit of a, like a, like I know maybe it's just Marvel glasses, but there was a point where I was like, Owen Wilson, have you been kind of sexy all this time and I'm just now seeing it?
Shy: I, I don't think so, but he's just not my type.
Julia: Maybe it's just because, you know, we've not had human contact for so long. Not that I want human contact all the time, but you now it's like, you know, you start seeing things differently. We were just like, I was telling somebody earlier today, When the world shut down, I was like, I'm preparing for this for my entire life. I am so happy to have an excuse, to never see anybody again. I will happily stay in my house. Good, no socializing. And then about three or four months ago, I was like, I need to hang out with people. I need to socialize. I need to, I need to actively like do something and, and now I'm finding that I love it. Three years ago. I loved it to an extent, not every weekend and I would get burnt out. And now I'm just like, I need humans to be in near ish vicinity, not so near that. You're going to give me the Delta virus variant, but nearish enough, or at least, you know, let's do face covers. I don't know. Yes.
Shy: No man is an island, I think that kind of really, it, it did a good job of. You need people in your life.
Julia: I also kind of loved that. It was like all at the end, all these Loki variants were coming together to support each other. It kind of felt like, uh, you know, you, you inside your. Yes, you need external support, but also like you have an army within yourself to support you, to get you through. I don't know if anybody else has got that takeaway, but that made me feel good.
Shy: No, I did. And especially at the end when Loki was like, I don't think I can do this until he's like, you can't. I know you can. And they like had more power than they realized. I think they, they wouldn't have discovered that if they weren't together.
Julia: Yeah. I agree. How are I just phase four, you know?
Shy: Yeah.
Julia: What are you going to do to us? Phase four? We're so nervous.
Shy: I am nervous too. I'm like, okay. I thought that my heart was ripped out of my chest and Infinity War already. Like, I don't really know what else. Oh yeah. I'm nervous. I am, but I think it's because I love these characters so much and it's a. One thing that they've done so far really well is the passing of the mantle to the new characters and like introducing all of the new or vendors that are going to be coming out.
And I, and I'm hoping that I'm going to love them as much as I love the original. We'll see.
Julia: Yeah, well, it's totally. So Tom Hiddleston and assembled, I'm sorry. I keep bringing it up and ruining it for you. Okay. He made a comment about how he was 29 when he was cast to play Loki for the first time. And now he's 40.
And so it's such a huge part of who he is and his career obviously, but when you put it in that frame, so for me, I was like, holy buckets, like. It's a good chunk of my twenties and a good chunk of my thirties that this has been present in my life. Like that's it, we've had a 10 year relationship and with Iron Man that was '08 so we've had a 13 year relationship with Iron Man. That's that's kinda, that's big.
Shy: That's like getting pretty serious.
Julia: Yeah. Yeah. Put a ring on it at this point. If that's your thing. I don't know. Some people don't want that, but you know, it's, that's, that's huge. And so, oh, the other, oh my God. And so I know I talked about Black Widow, higher rewatched, um, Iron Man to kind of prepare for, to remind myself about Natasha and.
So in the first one, you know, he's got that weird makeshift thing, that's killing him and he's got to get a new one or whatever. And so he replaces it and.
Shy: His arc reactor.
Julia: Yeah. And Pepper's like, don't you want to keep this as like, I'm not sentimental. And then she, I had forgotten that she had put it in a casing for him and said proof that Tony stark has a heart. So when I rewatched End Game.
Shy: Oh, you forgot that it was.
Julia: It's like, damn it, Marvel. Good job. Cause that's like, that's like, again, 13 years ago, call back that I wouldn't have registered because of the millions of movies they've given us since then. And then I got more sad.
Yeah. Any last thoughts that you want to share with them?
Shy: I feel like I'm going to remember. I took a lot of notes. Um, when I first started watching Loki and then I actually rewatched the entire series today while I was working, I'm like working and watching at the same time. I'm like trying to like do both.
Um, and then it was funny because my first, my very first note about Loki was king. The conquer is a timekeeper question, and then I crossed it out and I wrote nope. And then at the end of it had to cross it out and be like, Nope, he is the time keeper technically kind of like a variant of kane the conquerer because it was a, it was a guess at first, just based on like things that I was hearing. And then it kind of came through and I thought it was funny. I was like, no, he's not, obviously there's actual timekeepers. Oh shit. Nope. They're robots.
Julia: Yeah.
Shy: It was very much a wizard of Oz. Move on their behalf.
Julia: And I think they did it well because they look like robots when you first see them. But then the confirmation, when she like be heads, one of them, you're just like, yeah. Okay. Like it could have gone either way. Like it could have been like, oh, that's real or that's a robot. Anyway,
Shy: I fell like I'm going to remember something later. I always do. I should talk about this.
Julia: Cause you know, what's crazy right now is trying to figure out how to reincorporate going to the movie theater because we did it literally every weekend pre pandemic.
And then now it's like, like we, I had to re. Refunded and bought new tickets to in the Heights four times before I finally was like, this isn't going to happen. I'm just going to have to rent it on the TV because there was just things on the calendar that kept getting in the way of me being able to actually attend .That. I was just like, this was never my life before. Like I, oh, I never refunded tickets because I didn't have to like, I, it, we made the time. So figuring out how to put the movie theater back into my rotation of life has been really interesting.
Shy: Hmm. I can see that. I just feel like, like there's been something going on every weekend because everything was put on hold for so long. So now that things are kind of opening back up, if you're vaccinated, like I feel more comfortable with going out. So I got that. Like where we're going to go to the movies like twice next week.
Julia: Well, I am so glad that you are here or were here. I have been here that you came back, that you're showing up again. Lord helped me.
Shy: I'm just everywhere, everywhere.
Julia: I appreciate it. All episodes of Loki season one are available on Disney plus obviously to subscribers. So if you haven't done that yet, I think it's worth it. I think there's enough content on there that they're doing now that makes it worth it. As always you can find us on Instagram at pop culture makes me jealous.
And until next time, thanks for tuning in y'all.
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