Your-humble-lokius-enthusiast - My Passive Aggressive Decision Is This Page.

After some thinking, a conversation with my sister-in-law with a psych degree, and a couple of sessions with my godsend of a therapist, I think I've finally put my finger on the thing about Mobius that Loki (and a lot of the fandom tbh) so quickly latched onto like a man dying of thirst at the first sign of water:

Unconditional positive regard.

This concept is at the core of client-centered psychology and basically is a stance that a therapist will take in relation to their client, where they simply accept and support their client as a person, regardless of what they do or say.

My therapist uses this framework with me, and when the Loki series came out, I immediately saw Mobius and was like "holy crap, this man has the exact same energy as Sami what???" And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why until I was talking about it with my sister-in-law and she mentioned unconditional positive regard. And then it clicked.

Mobius radiates unconditional positive regard from the minute he meets Loki in episode 1, and arguably even from the first time we even see him onscreen. He approaches everyone he interacts with using a basic framework of "I see you and care about you as a person, and nothing you do or say can change that," so we immediately get the impression that this man is soft, kind, and shaped like a friend. However, it's most obvious and pointed in his interactions with Loki.

While yes, Mobius' primary objective in episode 1 is to interrogate Loki, it's important to note that it's not an interrogation where Mobius is trying to find proof of guilt for a crime like we'd see in a typical detective procedural. Rather, Mobius is trying to see if this variant of Loki is self aware enough to be able to help him in his hunt for Sylvie. It's fundamentally a test to find out Loki's current place in his emotional and psychological development. It is not maliciously intended, and it is not designed to harm Loki. On the contrary, the intent is clearly to help Loki begin to come to terms with the reality of who he is and the choices he has made.

In fact, the whole time this is happening, Mobius very purposefully strives to foster an environment where Loki knows that A.) Mobius sees him. Truly sees and knows him. B.) Despite knowing what Loki is and what he's done, Mobius loves him and regards him positively, and C.) nothing Loki can do or say will change that positive regard.

Loki, however, is super not used to receiving unconditional positive regard. He has no idea how to respond to it. He feels like it's a trick, like there's another shoe just waiting to drop. I related to him hardcore in this scene because that's exactly how I felt when my therapist presented me with unconditional positive regard for the first time. It's confusing and strange and difficult to believe at first. Especially because it sets the stage for honest self reflection and personal growth that can be incredibly painful.

Loki is not a perfectly innocent person. He has done a lot of really bad things and hurt a lot of people in his life. He has a lot of very deep seated trauma that has informed these actions, but he still made those choices and he needs to take responsibility for them. This is not a fun process. Mobius knows this is actually a really awful, sucky process. But he also knows that change and growth requires two things: acknowledgement that a change needs to be made and the expectation that change can and will occur when properly cultivated. Mobius clearly laying out the reality of Loki's actions and who he is in the Sacred Timeline is the first part of that equation, and his unflappable, unconditional positive regard towards Loki as a person despite knowing that reality cultivates an environment for the second part to flourish.

"By definition, it is essential in any helping relationship to have an anticipation for change. In the counseling relationship, that anticipation presents as Hope—an optimism that something good and positive will develop to bring about constructive change in the client's personality. Thus, unconditional positive regard means that the therapist has and shows overall acceptance of the client by setting aside their own personal opinions and biases. The main factor in unconditional positive regard is the ability to isolate behaviors from the person who displays them." (source)

Mobius is not Loki's therapist, but he does take on a therapeutic role in Loki's life. He shows Loki that he is fully aware of all of Loki's faults and mistakes. He's seen them over and over again and knows them by heart because it's his job. And in the face of all of that he looks at Loki and says that he doesn't see him as a villain. That he likes him anyway and believes that Loki has the potential to help him and what he believes is the cause of good. (Yes the TVA is corrupt, but neither of them know that at this point, and the fact that both Mobius and Loki believe this to be the side of good to varying degrees is important here)

Mobius maintains this regard throughout the series and his subsequent interactions with Loki and when talking about Loki to Ravonna and others, and it's a big part of why Loki so quickly trusts and feels comfortable around Mobius. I know some people say it's unrealistic how fast it was, but it made a lot of sense just based on my experience. I mean, after one (1) session with my therapist, I was 100% ride or die for him, and it was kind of absurd. But the feeling of being seen like that is so potent when you're starved for it, that extreme reactions to it make a lot of sense. And if anyone's starved for unconditional positive regard, it's Loki.

Mobius is only human though, and he's not perfect at this. Over the course of the series, it's clear that Mobius has emotionally invested a lot in his Loki, and he struggles to maintain a professional distance, though he usually is able to keep his head enough to give Loki that positive regard he needs. The only time we see this regard slip is in episode 4 when Mobius is feeling betrayed and jealous. In these moments, Mobius is unable to step back from his feelings enough to get into a headspace where he can separate Loki's actions from who he is. He calls Loki an asshole and a bad friend, and it comes from a place of hurt and jealousy. It's also what drives Loki into a defensive mode we haven't seen since episode 1. He's no longer receiving that unconditional positive regard from Mobius and he feels betrayed. He worries that maybe it was all an act in the first place and Mobius never really cared for him at all. For the first time, Loki feels like Mobius doesn't see the best in him anymore and it hurts.

Mobius' unconditional positive regard was genuine, though, and this is reinforced in the subsequent scenes where we see him act on his instinctual desire to assume the best of Loki and investigate his claims. We see it again when he returns to Loki and he reaffirms both his desire to trust Loki and his belief that Loki can be "whoever, whatever he wants to be, even someone good." At this point, Loki is able to accept it and no longer pushes back against Mobius' belief in Loki's goodness and that he "has within himself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior." He's grown and begun to see himself in a more realistic and positive light and it's a direct result of the time Mobius has spent cultivating that relationship based on unconditional positive regard.

That's why their relationship feels so comfortable and satisfying. Unconditional positive regard isn't only a therapy principle. It's something everyone craves in a relationship. To be seen as you are, flaws and mistakes and quirks and all is terrifying and mortifying, but when that person then just smiles and says I love you anyway because you are not your mistakes and you are not your flaws and nothing you can ever do or say can change how I feel about you, the relief and joy and comfort is more than worth the discomfort. So I think the idea that Mobius can look at someone as deeply flawed, broken, and jaded as Loki and love him exactly as he is right there and then, eyes wide open and smiling, believing that beneath it all Loki has the potential to be good, gives us hope that someone could do the same for us. I know that's what Lokius does for me, at least. Mobius represents to me the ideal of unconditional positive regard, and having an image of what that looks like in the character of Mobius gives us the opportunity to apply it to ourselves when we may not get it elsewhere in our lives. And I, for one, think that's very sexy of him.

I might be over my agent mobius phase. My brain after 2 seconds:

I was listening to a Kate Herron interview earlier where she was saying that, to her, the payoff for the Lamentis nexus event was Loki and Sylvie joining forces to enchant Alioth, and besides the fact that this makes no goddamn sense, it just reinforces the fact no one in this show ever talked to anyone about anything (exaggerating obv, but the miscommunication issues are very obvious at this point). You would think that for such a major plot point, someone would have thought to ask the people who wrote it "Hey, what does this mean?"

And I'm wondering if maybe she was just trying to be diplomatic and reaching for some explanation that made some sense, instead of outright admitting that, you know what, it was simply bad writing.

Because it just was. There is absolutely no payoff to a scene that ends up being pivotal to the trajectory of the next three episodes.

Okay, you've stranded them on Lamentis. You need them to get back to the TVA to meet the Time Keepers and end up in the Void. By the rules previously established in the show, the TVA can't detect you in an apocalypse because nothing you do matters (flimsy reasoning, but let's roll with that). So, something big needs to happen to make them know where they are and keep the plot rolling.

The lazy option? Make them hold hands and pretend it's a seismic event that the TVA (which has existed for an uncountable amount of time) has never seen before. It has to mean something, right? It could bring the whole place down.

Joke's on us, it doesn't mean anything because it was just a plot device.

Let's try something else to see how the plot changes: the two embodiments of chaos don't just give up. They join forces and somehow manage to find a spaceship that can take them out of there (if that civilization was advanced enough to build an ark, surely they'd traveled to space before). It's broken? No problem, they are both powerful sorcerers, surely they can fix it. It can serve as a team building exercise. Their survival is not enough to create a nexus event? Okay, have them find an abandoned child that pleads with them to take them away from certain death. You remind the audience of both their childhood trauma (scared little boy / i was just a child), make them look heroic, make the TVA look even more like bastards when they eventually show up and prune the child.

Mission accomplished. You end up in the same place as you did without the touch. They're captured. The only difference? No one wonders about the nexus event. Let's assume the next steps are the same (you can have B-15 help them escape, shining more of a spotlight on her character, giving Sylvie a person to bond with that isn't a Loki).

They end up in the Void. As cringy as it may be, you've decided that these two adults will behave like awkward teenagers around each other. They don't know how they feel. They can't talk about it. No one has defined it for them, so they can't use that as an easy shortcut. Your audience is given no direction about what way their relationship is supposed to be headed. All interpretations are valid at this point, because your characters don't have the emotional maturity to talk about their feelings.

But you desperately wanted them to have a romance in the few hours they've known each other. It's edgy, it's clever, it's a metaphor. Sylvie kisses Loki to distract him. Your audience is confused. Where did that come from?

You have nothing.

Okay, go back. Have them touch and look into each other's eyes while the world ends. It's romantic. It's so powerful that it creates a branch these ageless beings in the TVA have never seen before. They must find out what it was, so they can't prune the variants on sight.

What new element have you added to your story? Absolutely nothing, except that godforsaken, insane interrogation scene. Someone needs to articulate how your two protagonists feel about each other. Because they are awkward teenagers and can't process their emotions themselves.

Someone needs to put it into words, make it real, make it a possibility for the audience watching at home.

So he says it. He literally speaks it into existence. (Your composer watches the scene. She writes an angsty tune and names it after the ship name, confirming very loudly that this scene has romantic connotations. Oops?)

So, what have you done? You have, by definition, made this relationship revolve around three people. You have forcefully inserted another person into that "edgy" relationship you've concocted and based your entire story on. Your love story simply does not exist if it's not a three people relationship.

Nothing works without that interrogation scene.

Is the relationship you are basing your entire story on healthy, beautiful, profound? It doesn't matter, because the relationship doesn't even exist without someone speaking it into existence. You give so much power to that character. You let them drive the story you want to tell. You have that character plant the thought in the couple's heads. Not just once, but twice.

And what do you rely on to make this story have meaning? That tried and trusted trope of a classic love triangle, where person A has feelings for person B, but for their own convoluted reasons, don't believe that person A can't love them back and they perceive any relationship with person C to be more valid.

You don't acknowledge it, because... you're in love with your own ideas? You think you've created something extremely edgy and thought provoking? While almost everyone that has access to the internet and a little bit of imagination can create stories so profound and original they'd literally blow your mind?

But the end result is the same.

The relationship cannot exist if an outsider doesn't acknowledge it. There are three people in it, always.

Not your intention? Tough luck, because the people directing, scoring and acting in the scene you based your love story on are all reading behind the lines and delivering an entirely different story.

But it's a fatherly relationship you say. You wrote it that way, right? Right?

If not boyfriends then why so much chemistry.

I need a moment 🤚