Minute Forty-Three: From One Gentle Touch to Two Excited Townies

Joining us on the show to discuss Thor’s appetite, mug smashing, and excitable townies is Austin Tichenor, creator of The Shakespeareance, co-artistic director of The Reduced Shakespeare Company and producer & host of the Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast.

In the forty-third mug-smashing minute of Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film Thor...

• Loki’s moment with Odin after Odin collapses is incredibly touching. He clearly loves his father and is shocked by his collapse, despite being left in the middle of this fight.
• It’s also at least a bit of a relief to see that Odin is breathing, so we know he’s alive.
• But what did the guards hear? As we find out, they were in earshot just on the other side of the doors. Do they tell their partners all about what they heard at work each evening? Write notorious memoirs down the road?
• Too bad there wasn’t a chance for some mug smashing in this scene.

We return to Midgard for Isabela’s Diner and some mug smashing.

• Our tour of Puente Antiguo gives us a bit more insight into this corner of the town. But still, over 2000 people live here? Hrm...
• There’s something magical about small town diners, but they can be gambles.
• The fish out of water comedy is great in this scene with Thor’s dopey alien in America bit.
• Kat Dennings’ lines about Pop Tarts and Thor’s eating is great. So are the cuts showing Thor eat. It’s ridiculous and absurd and so perfect because of it.
• Branagh handles comedy well even though he doesn’t do comedy that often. Much Ado About Nothing and Dead Again both have great comedic bits.
• Again, we have more to complain about with Thor’s wig and eyebrows.
• Jane, Darcy, and Erik feel like the Midgard versions of the Warriors Three.
• Erik is a great character to help ground Thor’s mythology and history in Nordic cultures.
• The mug smashing moment. Seriously. One of the greatest moments in the MCU? It has to be. They even repeated the mug smashing in the Loki tv show.
• The mug smashing feels like a great celebratory joy for how great the coffee was but it scares off a customer and forces Isabela and Melinda her employee to clean up the mess.
• Thor’s royal mindset is so funny here, but his sincerity with Jane afterward and promise to not smash any more is full of honesty.
• We dig into the traditions of smashing dishes.
• And Isabela shows up so we get to play the IMDb game with Adriana Barraza. But why was she given so little to do here?
• There’s a truck that drives by. It’s Stan the Man’s truck with no bed!
• Pete and Jake enter and start talking with Izzy about the day they just had at the crater.
• The local rustics is very much Shakespearean. Pete and Jake fit very much in that model.

It’s a fun minute that still feels full of Shakespearean elements. Plus mug smashing. Tune in!

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