Loki
It's more sacred timeline madness as Loki meets and maybe falls in love with an variant version of himself. Let's get to it.
"Lamentis"
Sylvie: "What exactly makes a Loki a Loki?"
Loki: "Independence. Authority. Style."
Loki and the female variant are brought back to the TVA but before they can face judgement, they escape to the worst apocalypse programmed into her stolen TemPad. They are on Lamentis-1, a moon that is going to be destroyed by a planet. And their TemPad is drained of battery. As the variants search Lamentis-1 for a way to juice up their TemPad they start to learn more about each other. The female variant discloses her name is Sylvie and they seemingly start to realize that there may be no way off this moon, especially when the TemPad is damaged.
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| This is fine. |
This episode of "Loki" and maybe this entire first season as a whole, is an example of why six episode seasons can be super tricky. Character development has to be rushed sometimes based on the storyline. There has to be relationship dynamics that are implied because there isn't enough time to really show them and that is some of what is happening in "Loki." It happens when it comes to the relationship between Loki and Mobius (more of that in the next episode) and definitely happens when it comes to the development of the relationship between Sylvie and Loki while they are stranded on the moon of Lamentis-1.
I don't think that this episode of "Loki" is bad necessarily. But it does feel like it is running in place a little and that is not great, particularly when you're midway through a pretty short first season. I have to give props to Sophi Di Martino who plays Sylvie. She and Tom Hiddleston have amazing chemistry and the show really leans into that to speed this relationship along. It's great seeing how these two characters who are so similar in many ways, are also very, very different. Di Martino doesn't just do a Loki impression which is great. Sylvie may be a Loki variant but from the moment we start to spend more time with her, it's clear that she is her own person.
There are small things in this episode that I really enjoy. The cold open with Sylvie enchanting Hunter C-20 to learn more about the Time Keepers which foreshadows the reveal that every one who works for the TVA are variants themselves that have been mindwiped. The sobering revelation that no matter what money and influence will always trump everything, evidenced by people buying their way onto the escape train leaving the poors to just die. The fireworks display in Loki's palm was a nice touch as was the low-key Loki bisexual reveal, that is even lit by the colors of the bisexual flag. Though, if Marvel really wants these reveals to be impactful then I'm going to need to see Loki practicing his bisexuality.
Overall though, this episode is slow and kind of... boring? Like I said in my last post, "Loki" is a series that is really focused on conversations and for me, in this episode, those conversations aren't engaging enough to feel like they are necessary which makes the episode really drag. There isn't nearly enough action and the cliffhanger is just kind of meh. You know that Loki and Sylvie aren't going to be destroyed on Lamentis, so there are zero sense of stakes.
Grade: B-
"The Nexus Event"
Sylvie: "Do you think what makes a Loki is the fact that we're destined to lose?"
Loki: "No. We may lose, sometimes painfully, but we don't die. We survive."
Sylvie and Loki form a romantic connection which results in a "nexus event." This alerts the TVA to where they are and they arrive just in time to save the variants from certain death on Lamentis. Mobius has Loki imprisoned in a time loop but while he's there he has a lot of bad feelings starting when Renslayer tells him that Hunter C-20 is dead. After being enchanted by Sylvie, Hunter B-15 takes her back to the Roxx-Mart and she learns the truth. That she is a variant as well. Loki gets Mobius on his side, but his fateful meeting with the Timekeepers doesn't go as he planned.
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| So many Lokis |
Remember when we talked about how the show was sort of relying on the chemistry of the actors to sell relationships developing rather than actually you know show these relationships developing. The best example of this is the relationship between Mobius and Loki. I really wish we had seen more of their relationship develop. Let's say that "Loki" had been 8 episodes instead of 6. We could have seen Loki and Mobius go on a couple of TVA missions together before Loki betrayed him and it definitely would have sold this whole friend storyline they are pushing here. Luckily, Tom Hiddleston can have chemistry with literally anyone so it's not like this glaring misstep. And give credit where it's due, Owen Wilson kills it. This is probably his strongest episode of the series, but I still wish there had been more.
One thing I'm not buying? The love story between Loki and Sylvie. First off, it's weird. Loki is falling in love with himself basically. Now, if that was the angle that the show was going to take, I could get on board. Loki is nothing if not narcissistic, which Mobius brings up, but that is not what is happening here. Loki genuinely loves Sylvie and we are expected to believe that she loves him back and y'all, I just don't see it. I love comics and sci-fi and all this and I'm willing to suspend disbelief a lot, but I can't do it. I can't suspend disbelief here. So, that sort of brings the episode down a little bit for me.
The time loop of Loki continually being hit in the groin by Sif over and over again is kind of a head scratcher. It's funny for sure and it's great to see Jamie Alexander back again as Sif, but what else are we really getting out of this? I don't feel like we are getting anything new here so it's odd that these scenes take up so much real estate.
We finally get our first look at the Time Keepers and it's pretty obvious that they are robots. Like, how does no one else not immediately look at them and think, "oh yeah, those are robots. 100%." We at least get a nice action sequence with Sylvie, B-15 and Loki battling Renslayer and her TVA agents. And there is a great post credits scene where after being pruned Loki wakes up with more Loki variants standing over him including Kid Loki, an alligator Loki and a "classic" Loki.
Grade: C+
Next up, Loki wraps up his first season with more variants and the person behind all of this.
What do you guys think? I know lots of people loved "Loki" so I'm ready to hear all about why I'm wrong about these episodes in the comments.
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