Here’s the thing about this scene: Thor either still believes Loki cares about Odin’s good opinion or Odin’s opinion is still the most important thing to Thor. Thor has no understanding of who Loki is, and Loki realizes this and corrects Thor, for all the good it does anyone. Thor follows through on his word (of course) and tells “Odin” of Loki’s deeds, for all the good it does anything but Thor’s sense of honor.
Here’s the thing about tricks: Earlier Thor said that Loki had his mother’s tricks but Thor had her trust. What does Thor think of magic? Not much, if he dismisses it as “tricks.” And yet, all he says to Loki about Frigga, his mother who was killed as she fought to protect Thor’s mortal girlfriend, is that Loki had her tricks. Thor basically insults Frigga’s memory. Didn’t Thor know how Frigga died? Yet “tricks” is how he frames Frigga’s relationship to Loki, who does not know how Frigga died. “Tricks” is what he sees when he considers them together.
When I look, I see that Loki also protected Thor’s mortal girlfriend. Was that trickery? Loki saw Thor in danger and went to his aid. What that trickery? Loki did use a trick when he triggered the dark matter grenade. He got close enough to Kurse to stab him so he could set off the grenade. That took a lot of courage. The stab wound couldn’t kill Kurse, who was essentially invincible until he burned out. The only option was getting Kurse out of the picture. Thor didn’t have a plan to do that. All Thor had was hitting, which didn’t work, and thunder. If Kurse had beaten Thor down, then used his grip of molten death, how could Thor have resisted? Loki’s trick probably saved Thor’s life. But Thor can’t openly acknowledge that. Maybe it doesn’t fit into his world view or self-image.
Instead, Thor got into his (belated) guardian mode. He called Loki a fool and chastised him for not following his orders. Sure, I’ll acknowledge this as “bro” talk, the deflection of emotion into fake hostility. After all, a real man can’t express deep love and gratitude. Eww. And look how well Loki responded to Thor’s approach, joking around, trying to spare Thor any more pain. Ha-ha, I’m a fool. Telling Thor he’s sorry. Thor meanwhile still apparently believed he needed to protect his brother, the same way he needed to protect his mother. He failed on both counts, but let’s just forget that Thor doesn’t clear the bar he set for himself. Thor certainly forgets it. That’s what makes Thor so special. He has no gift for introspection. He has no ability to understand others’ points of view. He’s the designated hero and that means never having to sincerely say you’re sorry, or even consider saying it.
Poor Thor. It was obviously his grief that caused him to project his values onto his brother yet again, in the process putting down both his mother’s and his brother’s worth. All the rest went unsaid, because eww emotions and noble man pain. Finally, as he renounces the throne because it’s what he wants to do, as he goes off to be with his lady love, I guess we are supposed to feel sorry for him for all he’s lost.
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