Why Loki’s Redemption Was Caused By Violence (And Not Talking)

[banglabhai420]

In Loki episode 4, "The Nexus Event," he finally achieved redemption–but, surprisingly, it was through violence, not conversation and talking. Early in the episode, Loki and Sylvie were rescued from the pending annihilation of Lamentis-1 when their touching hands caused a Nexus Event that enabled the TVA to track them down and yank them through a Time Door. Naturally, the God of Mischief kept up a steady stream of indignant protests the entire way back to TVA headquarters. It's been a recurring theme of both the show and Loki's life, him trying to talk his way out of potentially fatal situations.

But Loki was quickly hit with a punishment that, for once, he didn't know how to handle. He was unceremoniously dumped into a "memory prison," essentially a time loop playing out one of a prisoner's worst memories. In Loki's case, it was a memory of Sif storming toward him after he'd cut her hair off, beating him up, then delivering a cutting remark about Loki being alone forever. As it was just a memory and thus something he'd already experienced, Loki might have just shrugged it off. But after an untold number of times repeating the loop, Loki was broken and, for the first time, sincerely apologized to Sif. It wasn't therapy that helped him find redemption, like Bucky Barnes, or an act of heroism, like Natasha Romanoff, or a talk with his daughter, like Scott Lang, but good old-fashioned violence delivered by Sif.

Normally, one would think experiencing repeated violence would be the exact wrong way to go about achieving an emotional breakthrough and the path to redemption, especially violence experienced against oneself. In Loki's case, however, brute violence was arguably the only thing that could have achieved it. The God of Mischief has always avoided accountability and self-awareness by manipulating the situation through his words or dodging through trickery; give Loki enough time and he can talk someone into and out of anything, including himself. As Frigga told him in Thor: The Dark World, "Always so perceptive about everyone but yourself." For the first time, in Loki episode 4, he faced a punishment he couldn't talk his way out of; even a god can't reason with a fist or a knee to the groin.

Being unable to escape Sif's beating meant Loki was open and vulnerable to Sif's brutal assessment of him on the heels of it: "You deserve to be alone and you always will be." Any other time, Loki would be in a position to not only be ready with a witty retort, but also to quickly reassure himself that she wasn't right about him and that she was just overreacting to a harmless prank. In fact, Loki claims that after he cut Lady Sif's hair in real life, "I remember exactly what I did after that. I went and had a nice, hot bath, and a glass of wine, and I never thought about it again." That's not entirely true, as it had clearly been buried deep in his consciousness, but, as with so many things in his past, he was able to talk himself into believing he didn't feel bad for what he'd done.

For Loki, hours of physical pain made him unable to dodge the emotional pain, and for once in his life, he had to face a truth he couldn't avoid, not even from himself: it had been a cruel prank he'd pulled and Sif didn't deserve it. More, it finally made him lay bare at memory-loop Sif's feet his reason for always craving attention in the worst possible way: "It's because I'm scared of being alone." Finally, after a millennium, Loki finally admitted the truth to another person, but more importantly, to himself. If he'd been left to merely talk in Loki episode 4, he never would have gotten to that point. Violence was the only thing that could strip his defenses. Hopefully, the final two episodes of Loki continue the show's fascinating deconstruction of who he really is.

[Silent Watcher]

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