Minute Thirty-Six: From Empty Bed in a County Hospital to Chained Hammer in an Impact Crater

We’re digging deep into the movie as well as the impact crater in the thirty-sixth minute of Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 film Thor...

• Before we get back to Mjølnir’s impact crater, we return to the County Hospital.
• Even the god’s-eye view shots that Branagh uses in this film end up as dutch angles. They’re so great!
• Jane really wants to find Thor specifically for the science. He’s evidence. He can tell her all about what it was like in that event. They really focus on Jane and her science in this film. And it works well.
• Thor is hot, and for a lot of people that’s why they’d return to him but we talk about how there’s an entirely possible reaction from Jane that it’s really all about science here. Even if he wasn’t hot but was gross with a beard down to his knees, she’d likely want to talk to him.
• Erik really seems to be getting a better sense of what’s really going on. He’s a scientist also, but brings the older wisdom.
• But is Erik starting to get a sense that this person may be somebody from his storybook tales?
• At least Erik is trying to keep everyone alive.
• Darcy is fine tracking him down, but apparently ready to tase him again. But why does she cock her taser like a gun? They don’t work that way.

First she forces Darcy to drive into an atmospheric disturbance, then hit Thor, and now back into Thor. Jane clearly shouldn’t drive.

• Jane backs up, and even though we can see Thor walking through the side windows, Jane apparently can’t and backs into him.
• To be fair, she’s rather worked up so maybe isn’t paying attention that well.
• But if Thor had his powers, would he dent the Pinzgauer? It’s a lot of mass... would it at least push Thor back a bit or knock him over?
• In the script, this is when he finally realizes where he was.
• Oh – and Dawn the admissions nurse makes an appearance in the script again. It’s so much better than her earlier moment. Too bad we get the bad spelling/slow typer version of Dawn instead of this scripted version.

Meanwhile, back at Mjølnir’s Impact Crater...

• Apparently, JMS told everyone in the area and they told all their friends because there are now several dozen people at the impact crater and they’re having a great time. One unnamed guy – we’ll call him Grilling Townie – has his popup tent and is busy grilling hot dogs. That means it’s a serious party!
• But where the heck is he set up? We never see him again.
• Billy Swan’s “I Can Help” plays throughout this scene. We dig in a bit on him and his career, including his daughters Planet and Sierra.
• We talk about Pete played by Matt Battaglia and Jake, aka Drunk Townie, played by Joel McCrary. They ham it up quite a bit as they try pulling Mjølnir from its spot but it won’t budge.
• And this is, of course, free entertainment, so it’s obviously something all these townies want to be at.
• But there’s a bicycle there. That’s one heck of a bike ride to get here!
• And did we mention everybody is dressed for winter weather, even though this takes place on June 1st according to the MCU’s official timeline?
• Regardless, the townies finally come up with a plan to pull Mjølnir free with a chain wrapped around a hitch in the back of a pickup truck. But whose truck could it be?
• And did we mention how much Matthew loves JMS’s Babylon 5? And he’s still out here watching what’s going on.

Jane, Erik, and Darcy find Thor and the rural New Mexicans try to free Mjølnir at the Impact Crater. So much to talk about! Tune in!

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• Script Transcript
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