Something about this scene really struck me. In this scene, why does Loki deny Frigga? The correct answer is obviously ‘yes.’ It’s obvious he wants to say ‘yes.’ There’s no spiteful pleasure or sarcastic glee in his face when he says it, so he’s not enjoying it. So why does he say no?
Because the way this conversation has been set up, admitting that Frigga is his mother consequently means he admits he was lying (or at least, recants) his denial that Odin is his father. He can’t have one without the other. By yoking the two together in this way, Frigga is basically holding her motherhood of Loki hostage on the condition of Loki admitting that Odin has parental authority over him and that is something Loki will not – can not – do.I’m certain that the equivocation (if not the cruelty inherent in it) was deliberate on Frigga’s part. Frigga has always played the role of peacemaker in this family – she did in the first movie and she’s doing it again here. She asked the question in that way precisely because she wants to force Loki to admit that Odin is his father. She’s angling to get Odin and Loki to reconcile – whether as part of a campaign to get Loki’s sentence reduced, part of a campaign to get Loki’s services available once more to the crown, or simply aiming to reduce the conflict in their household (or possibly all three.)
But to Loki, Odin is not only the man who put him here, but the liar and the hypocrite who fucked up his life in ways beyond counting. Frigga wants him to submit to Odin’s authority not only as a king, but as a parent, meaning that Odin not only has the right to sentence him legally but also to chastise him emotionally and Loki simply can not stand that, not now. So he denies Frigga – even though it is obviously hard and painful for him to do so – because it would hurt him more to have Odin as father than it would help him to have Frigga as mother.
Loki said what he did not to be cruel and spiteful to Frigga, but because he was backed into a corner. Which is kind of the story of his life lately, really.
Loki is the Philosopher King 