The 'Loki' Cast And Crew Explain How It's Perfectly Natural For A Loki To Love A Loki
You've got to learn to love yourself before you can love someone else. And sometimes, you'll meet an alternate-reality version of yourself and fall in love with both yourself and them because they're you. In Loki, now available to stream on Disney+, we're told that it could break reality when two variants of the same person form a romantic relationship. I mean, sure, it's taboo, but this is 2021, people. Live and let live and let Loki love Loki. That's the general philosophy that the show's cast and crew seem to espouse.
Here's what they have to say about the latest developments in Loki's self-love life.
Showrunner Michael Waldron on Loki as a Love Story
Our full review of Loki, Episode 4, "The Nexus Event," delves further into what went down on the show this week, but if you've been keeping up with it (spoilers here, so be forewarned), you'll know that love is in the air. Who knew this show involving the multiverse and space lizards — or wonky androids posing as them — was going to be a love story? Showrunner Michael Waldron, that's who. In a new feature on Marvel.com, he lays it all out:
"That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story. We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy? But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story."
Director Kate Herron on Loki's Best Match
Is that a spark of cosmic romance I smell or did someone just forget to turn off the gas stove? Loki's cooking with bacon grease, everybody. The guy's getting in touch with his feminine side and it turns out the best match for him might just be his female self, the goddess of mischief, Sylvie (Sophia di Martino). Director Kate Herron agrees:
"Who's a better match for Loki than himself? The whole show is about identity. It's about him, and he is on a very different path, and he is on a different journey. He sees things in Sylvie that he is like, 'Oh, I've been there. I know what you feel.' But she's like, 'Well, I don't feel that way.' And I think that was the kind of fun thing about it. She is him, but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences. So just from an identity perspective, it was interesting to dig into that."
Tom Hiddleston on Loki's Relationship with Himself
At one point in "The Nexus Event," Loki confesses that he craves attention because he is a narcissist and is scared of being alone. This comes while he's imprisoned in a time loop where the "Revenge of the Sif," so to speak, plays out over and over. Jaimie Alexander returns in a literal walk-on (and walk-off, and walk-on again) role and it's like the "Dormammu, I've come to bargain!" scene from Dr. Strange all over again.
Sif tells Loki he deserves to be alone and always will be, but since she's just a reconstructed memory, he's essentially talking to himself, telling himself he's a horrible person. Star Tom Hiddleston elaborates on the character's self-loathing and connection with Sylvie:
"I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy. Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way. Also, Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. That's interesting, too. I'm really excited to see what people make of it."
Watch Loki on Disney+ and save yourself some money on books of love advice. That's my takeaway from all this, and no, I haven't been brainwashed by a mercenary multinational conglomerate and neither have you. But if you don't watch the show, you might get pruned from the Sacred Timeline of watercooler discussion.