S1.E07: What If... Thor Were an Only Child?

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Thor, who never learned to be a good hero, throws an out-of-control intergalactic party on Earth.

Dropping Wednesday, September 22, 2021.

[tkc]

That was silly fun, and it was awesome to get all the voice cameos — from Jeff Goldblum to Taika Waititi to Cobie Smulders, Natalie Portman and more!

As for the ending, I’m thinking that Vision with the Infinity Stones is going to help Thor grow up in an awful hurry!

PS: Were Vision and his Ultron-bots coming from another universe, and is this the setup for all the universes we’ve seen so far coming together?

Edited September 22, 2021 by tkc

[phalange]

The Thor vs. Captain Marvel fights were awesome. I love that every time one of them got knocked into another country, the country's name was written over it, like you would see in classic cartoons or something. Thor knocking over Stonehenge and "fixing" the Leaning Tower of Pisa was great.

Apparently Thor showing up on Earth means an open invitation for the entire galaxy. Everyone was there. Nebula, Rocket, Drax, Yondu, Mantis, Howard the Duck. And of course, Loki, his brother from another mother. 

Even the Watcher was not expecting Ultron!Vision to show up with all the Infinity Stones. I'm assuming Ultron!Vision is from another universe since the events of this episode take place long before AOU and he somehow made his way to this one but the Watcher didn't realize that was possible. Also, the Watcher is becoming increasingly visible. 

[Spartan Girl]

FINALLY! A fun episode where the female characters didn’t get completely screwed over!!!! I must be dreaming!

Yeah there’s that cliffhanger ending which is obviously leading to a crossover of the multiverse but I can live with that!

Chris and Natalie were great reprising their voices. I love that even when he’s a drunk buffoon Thor can still flirt like a pro. Can’t blame Jane for getting all gooey for being told her eyes were like dying stars. Whew.

Jotun Loki!!!! That was amazing!

Also the Captain Marvel vs Thor fight was everything I dreamed it would be. I so wish we could have had that in the movies.

And of course the only way to stop Party Thor? Calling Mommy Frigga on him. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[cambridgeguy]

Ah, nothing says dickish like messing with famous landmarks.  It's a sign of how things have changed when in the 80s it meant Superman was evil while here it's just a sign of immaturity.

And geez Maria, overkill much?  While I appreciate her not waiting on calling Carol maybe lay off the nukes.

 

[arc]

I thought to myself "this is so stupid" multiple times during this episode. But I meant that in a good way.

Well, except for Maria Hill wanting to nuke a Dakota.

Gotta say, Frank Grillo did not sound like Rumlow even though he plays Rumlow in the live action MCU. Everyone else was on point, even Alexandra Daniels as a replacement for Brie Larson. (caveat that I don't know the Thor-specific characters very well.)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

34 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

And geez Maria, overkill much?  While I appreciate her not waiting on calling Carol maybe lay off the nukes.

"We never get to fire the nukes." *grumble*

So in this universe, Loki not growing up beside Thor meant the latter never really learns to be responsible on his own? Because Frigga seemed aware of her son's laziness since she was giving him a list of Do's and Don'ts before she left, so it's fitting that only she could get him to stop fooling around and clean up the mess he and his friends made.

I was wondering if they'd accidentally destroy the planet, since Jane was talking about a previous incident where one of his parties ended in oblivion somewhere. But this was probably the most light hearted episode they've done, even moreso than the Captain Carter one. Except for Ultron!Vision showing up, although I wonder how he collected all of the Infinity Stones. Even if he's from another universe/timeline, it seems like that would have caused some ripples.

[Sakura12]

This was probably the most fun episode so far, even with the ending with Infinity Stone Vision. 

I loved the Thor vs Captain Marvel fight. And Maria a little too much on let's just destroy everything. How is that better then what Thor and his space buddies were doing? 

Frost Giant Loki was great to see. As well as Jane calling Thor's mom on him. I'm glad most stayed to help him clean up, even Captain Marvel got him more info on Midgard. 

Since all the Space heroes and villians are buddies in this universe they have to at least put up a good fight with Infinity Stone Vision, right?

[paigow]

Did some of these animators work on Shrek? Thor looked a lot like Charming

[Cobalt Stargazer]

21 minutes ago, Sakura12 said:

Since all the Space heroes and villians are buddies in this universe they have to at least put up a good fight with Infinity Stone Vision, right?

Somebody on Facebook said that it's Hank Pym's fault that Ultron!Vision has all the stones. Makes sense. 🤣

[Enigma X]

I loved this episode. Yeah, there were parts that grated but overall it is among my favorites. I have not been enjoying the series as much as I hoped, so that is saying a lot coming from me.

[paigow]

Captain Marvel has a lot of free time to kill Ultron since her Skrull buddies are not enslaved / oppressed in this universe.

[peace355]

After the last few darker episodes, this was nice change of pace, a lot of fun.

 

[tv echo]

Finally, an episode that was not dark and depressing (although it ended on an ominous cliffhanger)...

If nothing else, the What If series highlights which MCU actors have distinctive voices. For example, Chris Hemsworth has a really distinctive voice.  So does Kat Dennings. 

Once again, I'm wondering why the animated versions look nothing like the MCU actors who play them in the movies.

I liked the friendship between Thor and Prince Loki of Jotunheim.

I also liked that Thor and Captain Marvel started out fighting and ended up friends.

I did wonder if calling Captain Marvel a "party pooper" was some meta shade at Brie Larson's criticized portrayal of that character.

I agree that Agent Hill's willingness to nuke Party Thor was a massive overreaction.

Why, why, why include Howard the Duck? 

Returning talent: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Kat Dennings, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Jeff Goldblum, Frank Grillo, Taika Waititi, Karen Gillan, Jamie Alexander, Clancy Brown and Seth Green.

Sound-alikes:  Alexandra Daniels (as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel), Josette Eales (as Frigga), Fred Tatasciore (as Volstagg and Drax), David Chen (as Hogun) and Max Mittelman (as Fandral).

Edited September 22, 2021 by tv echo

[Spartan Girl]

17 minutes ago, tv echo said:

I did wonder if calling Captain Marvel a "party pooper" was some meta shade at Brie Larson's criticized portrayal of that character.

Or was it shade at the dudebro culture that keeps crapping at her?

Now I REALLY need an episode of her kicking Loki’s ass.

And it makes sense that Jotun Prince Loki is less megalomaniacal. He has his own throne, he doesn’t need to compensate.

[Racj82]

50 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Or was it shade at the dudebro culture that keeps crapping at her?

Maybe it was a joke and didn't mean anything?

4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

FINALLY! A fun episode where the female characters didn’t get completely screwed over!!!! I must be dreaming!

Or it was just characters getting a chance to let loose and have fun since both genders have suffered in certain aspects of these stories.

1 hour ago, tv echo said:

Why, why, why include Howard the Duck?

He's part of the cosmic universe? It's also easy to get Seth Green in a booth to record some lines.

[AnimeMania]

I was really interested to see if Captain Marvel would be able to get up after Thor put Mjolnir on her chest. Unfortunately I didn't find out the answer.

[thuganomics85]

So, after a string of more downer episodes, they make sure to follow things up with "Thor throws the universe's best party on Midguard" episode.  Smart!  While I still enjoyed the previous ones, it really was just fun watching this episode cut lose and bring on plenty of silliness and laughs.

Thought Chris Hemsworth did a great job here.  Granted, I always enjoyed him as Thor; even in the weaker films; but I definitely think he excels at comedy especially, and I'm glad he was able to bring that same energy with his voice work as well.  Really enjoyed Natalie Portman as Jane too.

Jotun Loki was a neat concept: especially since he and Thor are apparently buds in this universe.  And while I'm sure their voice work was filmed separately, Tom Hiddelston and Hemsworth really do have a natural rapport with one another that makes their characters such a joy when they are together.

Cameo galore!  Darcy (although she was more than a cameo, really)!  Howard the Duck!  The Grandmaster!  Korg!  Sif!  Topaz!  Drax!  Nebula!  Freaking Surtur showing up and accidentally destroying the Statue of Liberty!  Best party ever!

All this time I thought Nick Fury was someone to never cross, but apparently he's just holding back what would be a true threat: Maria Hill!  I'm... actually a little scared over what S.H.I.E.L.D. would look like with her in charge.  Apparently nukes are not off the table with her!

Episode also decided to indulge in the Thor vs. Captain Marvel fantasy brawl I see!  If the fight was based on a point system, I think Carol won, but I'm not surprised it ended with Thor getting the final blow by simply dropping Mjolnir on her.  Great fight though!

Things still ended on a dark note with Ultron somehow getting possession of the Infinity Stones this time.  Even The Watcher didn't seem to expect that.

Edited September 22, 2021 by thuganomics85

[Diapason Untuned]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Things still ended on a dark note with Ultron somehow getting possession of the Infinity Stones this time.  Even The Watcher didn't seem to expect that.

The Watcher was vibing so hard he wasn't paying attention. 😂

[tkc]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I was really interested to see if Captain Marvel would be able to get up after Thor put Mjolnir on her chest. Unfortunately I didn't find out the answer.

Is Mjolnir enchanted in this universe? In the prime universe, Odin places the enchantment on Mjolnir in response to Thor's attack on Jotunheim, which probably didn't happen here.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

19 minutes ago, tkc said:

Is Mjolnir enchanted in this universe? In the prime universe, Odin places the enchantment on Mjolnir in response to Thor's attack on Jotunheim, which probably didn't happen here.

Enchanted enough that he kinda-sorta had the power of flight, since he spent time flying through the air while he was fighting with Carol, but I don't know if that includes being the only one who could wield the hammer. Though I do wonder what Frigga did when she found out he'd actually been partying instead of studying. She seemed unamused when Mjolnir came flying back decorated like he'd been at Mardi Gras.

[Chicago Redshirt]

5 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Or was it shade at the dudebro culture that keeps crapping at her?

I think it was shade at the dudebros. Thor telling Carol to smile more was another example of it.

I was scared that eventually the Thor/Carol fight would turn into a flirty, shippy thing. Thank Odin it didn't.

[Zonk]

Ah come on. They couldn't leave it with a happy ending, could they?

First time in awhile that pretty much everybody seemed to be in character.

Darcy marrying Howard the duck? Perfection!

[arc]

I’ve watched Thor: Ragnarok and Loki and yet it wasn’t till this episode that I realized Heimdall is Asgard’s Chief O’Brien.

[swanpride]

First of all: I was groaning towards the end. I just knew that there would be a completely pointless "dark" twist...and this one didn't even make ANY sense. At least have nebula giving Thanos an infinity stone she managed to steal during the party or anything which can be somewhat be related to the actual story at hand. Which, for the record, didn't need a dark ending at all. 

Second: I don't think that they nailed Carol. I was missing her little smiles (no, that is not a "she should smile more" moment, that is a feature of her character which was just lacking in the show), I was missing her dry humour, it is like they put anti-SJW version of her on screen instead of the version which actually exists in the movies. 

Third: In terms of female representation, this was a mixed bag. I am pretty sure that Jane cares about more in a man than just his looks, I am pretty sure than neither Maria Hill nor Carol would be that fast with the notion of dropping a nuke anywhere (especially not one shot from American to Russian territory...I mean, really?????), and while it was nice that the women were allowed to solve the problem in the end, there is no way that Heimdal didn't see what was going on. 

I guess I would be more forgiving if there had been some amazing episodes beforehand but frankly, the show is shockingly formulaic. Even when they do an off the wall episode, you can see the boxes getting ticked. Get as many characters as possible in, no matter if it makes sense - check. Make some referential jokes - check. Have some sort of doom and gloom ending - check. 

[xaxat]

This episode was a total homage to the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. The fight choreography between Thor and Captain Marvel, the monument gags (especially Stonehenge) and the score sounded straight from Carl Stalling.

I liked it.

[Chicago Redshirt]

36 minutes ago, arc said:

I’ve watched Thor: Ragnarok and Loki and yet it wasn’t till this episode that I realized Heimdall is Asgard’s Chief O’Brien.

Except Chief O'Brien is unquestionably good at his job. Heimdall seems like he gets fooled/beaten more than he succeeds.

[Morrigan2575]

Mostly entertaining a few things that bugged but nothing of importance.

[tkc]

1 hour ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

Except Chief O'Brien is unquestionably good at his job. Heimdall seems like he gets fooled/beaten more than he succeeds.

True, I've never heard Heimdall say he had to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.

Wait -- is that from the wrong franchise?

[Spartan Girl]

2 hours ago, swanpride said:

In terms of female representation, this was a mixed bag. I am pretty sure that Jane cares about more in a man than just his looks, I am pretty sure than neither Maria Hill nor Carol would be that fast with the notion of dropping a nuke anywhere (especially not one shot from American to Russian territory...I mean, really?????), and while it was nice that the women were allowed to solve the problem in the end, there is no way that Heimdal didn't see what was going on. 

Yeah, I think I set the bar so low for this show that anything not involving fridging and depressing stuff got a pass from me. This episode was still a lot of fun, but on the whole, the series has been a letdown.

[Racj82]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

think it was shade at the dudebros. Thor telling Carol to smile more was another example of it.

It was a line with a payoff. Captain Marvel did smile but it was at the expense of Thor.

CM was giving me sister from Ferris Bueller vibe. All the way down to finally helping Thor get away with his lies like the sister did.

[Racj82]

4 hours ago, swanpride said:

First of all: I was groaning towards the end. I just knew that there would be a completely pointless "dark" twist...and this one didn't even make ANY sense. At least have nebula giving Thanos an infinity stone she managed to steal during the party or anything which can be somewhat be related to the actual story at hand. Which, for the record, didn't need a dark ending at all. 

Second: I don't think that they nailed Carol. I was missing her little smiles (no, that is not a "she should smile more" moment, that is a feature of her character which was just lacking in the show), I was missing her dry humour, it is like they put anti-SJW version of her on screen instead of the version which actually exists in the movies. 

Third: In terms of female representation, this was a mixed bag. I am pretty sure that Jane cares about more in a man than just his looks, I am pretty sure than neither Maria Hill nor Carol would be that fast with the notion of dropping a nuke anywhere (especially not one shot from American to Russian territory...I mean, really?????), and while it was nice that the women were allowed to solve the problem in the end, there is no way that Heimdal didn't see what was going on. 

I guess I would be more forgiving if there had been some amazing episodes beforehand but frankly, the show is shockingly formulaic. Even when they do an off the wall episode, you can see the boxes getting ticked. Get as many characters as possible in, no matter if it makes sense - check. Make some referential jokes - check. Have some sort of doom and gloom ending - check. 

This was purely, I'm on a mission Carol. That Carol doesn't crack jokes while she's working. I also think they wanted Carol and Thir to both be operating in the exact opposite ways only to have at least a truce and understanding at the end.

Carol also had some dry jokes like calling Thor Whitesnake and saying come bro to him while kicking his ass.

I get tired of the over analyzing women in media. Personal opinion. I just like to view them as characters. Not by their gender. I was glad to see Jane be a little silly herself. Darcy is always silly. 

Carol and Hill were kind of like the authority figures raining on the parade but they still felt like themselves.

I just had fun with it.

Edited September 23, 2021 by Racj82

[Guest]

5 hours ago, swanpride said:

Third: In terms of female representation, this was a mixed bag. I am pretty sure that Jane cares about more in a man than just his looks, I am pretty sure than neither Maria Hill nor Carol would be that fast with the notion of dropping a nuke anywhere (especially not one shot from American to Russian territory...I mean, really?????), and while it was nice that the women were allowed to solve the problem in the end, there is no way that Heimdal didn't see what was going on. 

I agree. It was much better than what we’ve been getting but felt shallow and fell back on tropes. This wasn’t the Jane who called Thor out on his dude bro ways of demanding “another”.

43 minutes ago, Racj82 said:

I get tired of the over analyzing women in media. Personal opinion. I just like to view them as characters. Not by their gender. I was glad to see Jane be a little silly herself. Darcy is always silly. 

I don’t think it’s overanalyzing when it’s women discussing how other women are portrayed. I am viewing them just as characters. As characters that don’t represent me or most women I know. Characters who fall well short of what is possible. 

I’m absolutely not asking you to care about the discussion or change how you view them but I am asking that you respect my and others desire to have the discussion. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Guest

[Spartan Girl]

2 minutes ago, Dani said:

I agree. It was much better than what we’ve been getting but felt shallow and fell back on tropes. This wasn’t the Jane who called Thor out on his dude bro ways of demanding “another”.

Yup. However, I didn’t think it was completely OOC that she was still drawn to this version of Thor. Remember in the movie she thought he was crazy but still got all swoony when he kissed her hand like a prince etc. I got a similar vibe with this romance; she couldn’t help liking him because for all his dudebro arrogance and clueless destructiveness she could sense he was sincere. And I liked him showing up at the trailer with flowers.

Man, I can’t wait for Love and Thunder.

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Yup. However, I didn’t think it was completely OOC that she was still drawn to this version of Thor. Remember in the movie she thought he was crazy but still got all swoony when he kissed her hand like a prince etc. I got a similar vibe with this romance; she couldn’t help liking him because for all his dudebro arrogance and clueless destructiveness she could sense he was sincere. And I liked him showing up at the trailer with flowers.

Man, I can’t wait for Love and Thunder.

I absolutely agree. My biggest issue with her was in the scenes where they were apart. I thought she was too passive and starry eyed in those moments. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

I think part of the difference is that in first meeting him in Thor, Jane saw him as a rando crazy person who just happened to look like her ex sorta. Here, she saw him for who he is: a charismatic, smooth talking alien that she was more or less making first contact with, and who appreciated her for her genius. 

Also, it seems to me that Jane and Thor totally did it in this What If? whereas one can choose to believe that they had a chaste romance in the MCU. And I think that the first opportunity for them to have had sex would have been off-screen between Thor 2 and the "mutual dumping" referred to in Thor Ragnarok. 

[Racj82]

2 hours ago, Dani said:

I agree. It was much better than what we’ve been getting but felt shallow and fell back on tropes. This wasn’t the Jane who called Thor out on his dude bro ways of demanding “another”.

I don’t think it’s overanalyzing when it’s women discussing how other women are portrayed. I am viewing them just as characters. As characters that don’t represent me or most women I know. Characters who fall well short of what is possible. 

I’m absolutely not asking you to care about the discussion or change how you view them but I am asking that you respect my and others desire to have the discussion. 

I guess that's why I phrased it as my opinion. My statement was my opinion. Not an attack on anyone else. I don't watch things that way. Even things that reflect me. But, that's just me. Everyone can feel free to do what they like. Part of the reason why I am like that is because I think it would be beneficial for characters to be treated just like that. Characters. Not write to a specific gender or race. It's like Ripley in Alien. She wasn't written as a woman. That was a man first but things didn't change writing wise when Weaver got that part. I wonder if the dude would gotten in his undies in the end. But, that I do not know.

Even when I was young I was like that. I didn't watch A League of their Own (one of my favorite movies ever) and think this is for girls. I don't go at it too hard for any shortcomings it might have towards certain characters. I just enjoyed the characters as they were. I've grown to appreciate it in different ways over the years. 

I just hope for well written characters that makes sense. Everything here made sense for me in terms of how these characters were operating in this time line. That's all I kind of ask for. There is so much room for women in cinema to be more thoughtfully written, fleshed out and presented. I just try not to break down everything I watch with that in the back of my head. Again, that's just me.

Talking about Jane and Thor in this episode. I took them as totally in that high school he/she is so dreamy infatuation type of deal. Obviously, you can be that way as adults but I viewed this episode as a sort of "parents are out of town, let's throw a rager" type stories. Thor and Jane played into that. Jane was a little starry eyed and into the dreamboat but Thor was also like the hunky jock that has the looks and says the right things bit is lacking in substance. 

I think one constant in most timelines is that Thor is the dreamboat of the galaxy.

[swanpride]

It's not just that Jane was too starry eyed, in the movies she was physically attracted to Thor, but she was also mostly interested in him because of what she could learn from him. And she actually acted mostly then flustered when he showed respect towards her. That is a long shot apart from "okay, let's the guy distract me from my goal and get a tattoo with him". Because Jane simply isn't as easily distracted. She could be dying and would still mostly care about the science of the thing which is used to have a look at her condition. 

[Zuleikha]

That is a long shot apart from "okay, let's the guy distract me from my goal and get a tattoo with him".

What goal? She initially thought he was a threat to destroy Earth. That did not seem to be the case at that point in time. There was nothing for her to focus on and no reason for her not to have fun with the dreamboat alien. 

When she did have a reason to worry about things, she was focused and smart. She saved the day by figuring out how to reach Heimdall and Frigga.

[swanpride]

...except that she know about the destroyed planet. I would be more suspicious with this kind of knowledge. 

[Zuleikha]

Even Gary was fine

[benteen]

This episode was great fun.  I like how they decided to embrace the batshit crazy in this episode the way Legends of Tomorrow would have.  It's fun to do that once and a while and Marvel has with WandaVision and Loki as well.

It was great to hear such a large amount of returning MCU alum, with Hemsworth and Portman being the standouts.  The Marvel vs Thor fight was an awesome big-time comic book throw down, something we haven't quite seen on this level yet in the MCU.  I like how neither character held it against the other in the end and departed on good terms.

The ending was interesting and it's definitely noticeable when someone like The Watcher is taken by surprise.  For a moment I thought it was going to be Galactus who showed up.

[tv echo]

Party Thor: "Oh! There you are! All the way down there. So tiny! I almost stood on you. How are you?"
Jane: "I'm Dr. Jane Foster of Earth."

“First Contact” Official Clip | Marvel Studios’ What If…? | Disney+
Marvel Entertainment   Sep 22, 2021

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by tv echo

[Enigma X]

Honestly, I think every character in almost every What If...? episode has acted in a hurried fashion of what we would have known them to behave to quickly further the plot. This has been one of my sour points (of many) all season. I still think this one was fun. Maybe, I only like it because I did not really care for the outcome of the three that came before it.

[Sandman]

Well, I did sort of say I wanted a lighter tone...

On 9/22/2021 at 8:49 AM, paigow said:

... Thor looked a lot like Charming

I wondered if the animation style for this one was consciously sunnier, more ... cartoon-esque? Fairytale-ish? It looked to me like a more overtly Disney-like style (which is a little funny, considering that the Disney now owns the whole works). Anyway, it suited the tone of the episode, which I've already started calling "Thor: Ragamuffin" in my head.

I'd like to think the high turnout among the original cast as voice actors had something to do with how much fun this episode would have been to play in. (But everyone was still more in character than in Thor: Ragnarok. Sorry, Mr. Waititi. Still glad you could be part of this! /OT)

[Dandesun]

I related hard to Frigga who put her husband down for a long nap, told her son to do his homework and then went for a wine weekend with her sister.

I don't have a husband or a son... but I do have sisters and the wine weekend... yeah. That's more a daily thing, but still.

This was obviously just a lark but after all of the murderdeath, I appreciated it. I loved the Carol vs Thor knock down drag out. I loved that Carol said no one knew what Stonehenge was for but it was seriously uncool to knock it over. I loved the shriek Thor let out when his hammer came back draped with beads, underwear and graffiti. Jotun!Loki was a hoot. I loved that Jane kind of let things get out of hand a little bit but was the one to get to Heimdall and Frigga when it became more than obvious that Thor wasn't going to slow down for anything less.

It was a fun episode. Was Infinity!Vision/Ultron necessary? Not really. Would this universe result in 'Ultron, we would have words with thee?' Probably not. And it turns into a gigantic 'Exactly HOW did Ultron/Vision actually happen in this universe?' which is the kind of question I don't want to be asking after a super fun and silly episode.

[swanpride]

To say something positive about the episode...I REALLY appreciated Thor telling Jane that he liked that she was smart, and good looking too. Because usually it is said the other way around. But it would have been good if the line had come earlier in the episode instead of the very end, because that would explain Jane's behaviour a little bit better. 

[Dandesun]

51 minutes ago, swanpride said:

To say something positive about the episode...I REALLY appreciated Thor telling Jane that he liked that she was smart, and good looking too. Because usually it is said the other way around. But it would have been good if the line had come earlier in the episode instead of the very end, because that would explain Jane's behaviour a little bit better. 

Well, he did call her a genius shortly after meeting her. And she got all flustered over it, which I found pretty spot on. Especially for a woman with several PhDs who was right about an alien invasion and got ignored by everyone.

[tennisgurl]

After so many massive downers, this fun time romp was a real breath of fresh air...at least until Ultron Vision showed up, which was so out of nowhere that even the Watcher was shocked. Speaking of the Watcher, he is getting even more and more easy to see, he has gone from only an outline in the background to be fully shaded almost in the foreground over the worse of the show, which is definitely leading to something...

I guess having Loki around turning into snakes on him and whatnot did actually make Thor a bit more focused, because without him he's a party dude full time, although he is still as much of a badass as ever. Like I said, after so many depressing episodes with tons of heroes dying and most of them either ending on a downer or a very bittersweet note, I loved just having a fun cartoony episode with Thor throwing an enormous party all over earth with every alien in the cosmos. So many cameos! Mantis, Loki as a Frost Giant, Darcy (or should I say Mrs. the Duck) marrying Howard the Duck, Surtur, Korg, the Gamemaster, just about every alien we have seen showed up at some point, it was hilarious. 

SHIELD trying to drop a nuke on Thor seems like just a tiny bit of an overstatement, Maria was more ready to go to war with a bunch of aliens having a big frat party than Nick Fury was when Loki invaded the earth in Avengers. Like, holy shit you guys, this is not the way you handle a first contact situation. The rest of the humans seemed to be having fun, take a chill pill before pressing the big red button over a game of beer pong. Nice seeing Carol and that we finally get the Thor vs Carol smackdown, and while Carol technically won, Thor got one over on her with the hammer. I especially loved the countries they got smacked into all having names on their maps like in a cartoon, and everyone literally pointing and laughing at Carol when Thor called her a party pooper. And that Carol still helped Thor with his "cultural exchange" cover story when his mom showed up. No one can make the universes scariest aliens run faster then Frigga!

Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman did really good voice work, this show has really reminded me how much I liked them as a couple in the first Thor movie. The relationship ended up getting rather tossed out after it was such a big part of the disappointing sequel, but I always thought that was unfortunate, its not like it was just the romance that made that movie less than great. I would have least liked more closure for them than an offscreen breakup played as a joke if they decided that they didn't work long term as a couple.

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, swanpride said:

To say something positive about the episode...I REALLY appreciated Thor telling Jane that he liked that she was smart, and good looking too. Because usually it is said the other way around. But it would have been good if the line had come earlier in the episode instead of the very end, because that would explain Jane's behaviour a little bit better. 

He’s always appreciated Jane’s smarts. He was bragging about her accomplishments at the Ultron party.