Jul I Valhal - Running Gags

Running Gags

The series has many running gags that it employs, including:

• Loki's disguises:

Loki often disguises himself (very poorly) as a human of a distinct career in order to enter Ragnhild's house. His disguises include: a television repairman, a delivery boy (who also does plumbing), and a cabby. Another source of humour is that Tove is always the one who encounters Loki in his disguises, and she is never suspicious of his strange behaviour or bad costumes. For example: when Loki disguised himself as a delivery boy so he could get the Fenris wolf, Fenris was not there at the time, so he simply stood in the kitchen staring at Tove until she mentioned that the faucet was broken. Loki then claimed that he was also there for that, saying he has two jobs. Instead of thinking that Loki was acting suspicious, Tove thought it was wonderfully convenient. Additionally, Tove never seems to recognize him, even though his disguises are rarely ever more than a hat or a suit

• Loki in the modern world:

Loki encounters several modern developments, and his favourites seem to be processed foods. The humour of many scenes comes from such circumstances as: Loki finds Jonas' cola in the dolmen, is initially shocked by the release of carbonation when he opens the lid, then tentatively tastes it and, deciding that he likes it, quaffs the entire bottle; Loki tries to give off the appearance of fixing a television set by merely holding up the power cord and looking at it; Loki tries to give off the appearance of fixing a sink by looking at the pipes and randomly banging around; and Loki eats out of a jar of nutella (or perhaps peanut butter) using only his fingers while Jonas and Sofie are trying to explain their plan for stopping Ragnarok to him

• The wood basket:

When Tove first meets Asbjørn, he puts a basket of chopped wood down by her work station. Tove, unhappy with this location, moves it to the hearth in front of the fireplace as soon as Asbjørn is out of the room. It then becomes a running gag to have one or the other notice that the wood basket is not where they want it to be, and move it (either to Tove's workstation or to the hearth). One time, Tove was wandering around while brushing her teeth, and caught Asbjørn in the act of moving the basket to her work station, because he thought she was in bed. After they fall in love, however, Asbjørn concedes that Tove's place for it by the hearth makes more sense, and he puts it there

• Emma interrupting:

When Tove and Asbjørn begin to act amorous towards each other, Emma will usually walk in and ask about something (often quite non sequitur), prompting Tove and Asbjørn to immediately stop being affectionate and try to act casual, even though they come off as being nervous instead

• Mr. Tong interrupting:

Mr. Tong (Tove's boss) is constantly calling Tove, presumably because she is important to the company and he needs to discuss business-related topics with her. He also has a tendency to call whenever Tove is discussing something important with somebody else (like Sofie), or when Tove is acting affectionate towards Asbjørn (and vice-versa).

• Emma finding Jonas' things

Jonas has a tendency to bring back magical "souvenirs" from his travels to the other worlds, including one of Idun's apples and Thor's hammer, Mjolnir. After he gets home, he usually hides his new souvenir in an odd place, like in the couch or cupboard, where Emma promptly finds it and (unaware of its magical properties) uses it in some comical way. Sofie then either scolds Jonas or makes him return it