Loki S01E03-04 Review: Lady Loki

Marvel's Loki, Season 1, Episodes 3-4

Yeah, this probably should've gone up half a month ago. Sorry, I just really didn't have the time to watch and review things in a timely manner, it seems. Two episodes this time, and two more hopefully in this week. 

Episode 3: Lamentis

This is going to be a bit of a shorter review mostly because I really don't have a whole ton to say about these two episodes compared to the first one. These are just very, very solid episodes that do what they need to do very competently. "Lamentis", on its core, basically has a single premise: sell the character of Lady Loki (or rather, 'Sylvie') to the audience. That's it. 

After the action prologue where Sylvie's timestream-bombing attack ended up essentially fizzling out, the entire episode basically has Loki and Sylvie wander around the doomed planet of Lamentis that they have found themselves in, trying their best to work through clenched teeth while also learning things about each other. And ultimately, that's it. We don't really even get a conclusion to their escape from the doomed planet, not until the first act of the next episode. And that storyline, if we're being honest, isn't even something particularly interesting. 

So the main appeal of this episode is the hard sell of making Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie character work as an audience. Not merely as another version of Loki, but also as her own unique character and as someone the audience can root for. I feel like this is very, very important for the show moving forwards, because sometimes these superhero shows underestimate just how important it is to spend a huge amount of time on a single character as a spotlight to make the audience care about them. It is vitally important if you want them to be increased from just a supporting character to a main character. 

And that's all this episode does. Sure, there's the expected bit of two versions of Lokis fighting each other, and then fighting alongside each other while trading barbs back and forth. With two lesser actors this would feel overwrought or eye-rolling, but Hiddleston and Di Martino have such great charisma and chemistry together that every single scene of them arguing about tactics to approach some random old lady and then mocking each other like siblings when the other Loki's methods fail; or the soft moment of vulnerability on the train where they discuss about how differently life fucked them over... it's pretty neat. There's a lot of great analyses that could be make about just how differently Loki and Sylvie turned out, and yet how they both share a fair amount of core values. We've got a nice nod to Loki's mother Frigga (arguably that storyline is the only good thing about Thor: The Dark World) and the two Lokis share a bit of a nice moment reminiscing about her -- especially since Sylvie never actually knew Frigga all that much. I did definitely appreciate that out of all the things that the show could've done to make two Lokis open to each other, it is this already-established vulnerability for MCU Loki.

There's an action scene, yes, a pretty excellent action scene on the train. And the shot of the Lokis running around the destroyed, doomed town (since when can Loki Force-lift an entire building?) is pretty cool. The comic book geek part of me really did like the little discussion of magical powers and Sylvie being described as an expert in enchanting. Otherwise, though, the focus is still definitely on the characterization and the dynamic between the characters -- there really wasn't any sort of suspense that the Lokis would die randomly because of a backwater planet apocalypse in the third episode of a six-episode season, and by all rights this episode should've felt like a filler episode. But it doesn't! There are lots of great moments here. The love-is-a-dagger speech, the little fireworks thing, Sylvie's little magical anger tantrum after the TemPad's destruction... Again, without repeating myself and re-emphasizing how great the writing and acting in this show is, I'm really not sure what to say here other than that I really did enjoy this episode. 

There is the TVA sub-plot going on in the background, of course, which is... it's competently done. I'm not going to dismiss the great plot-economy juggling that the show-writers are doing, because everything they're doing is memorable and distinct to the audience. Like the opening little enchantment thing that Sylvie does to Hunter C-20 to hammer it home to the audience that the TVA agents are actually memory-wiped Variants. And that the Time Keepers are not so benevolent after all (something that, honestly, is a bit too obvious even from the get-go). Mobius and Renslayer are also relatively competent for what little they got in this episode. But I can't lie, that storyline really feels like a distraction to all the fun acting between the two Lokis, and it's impressive that this show has basically flipped around which sub-plot ends up feeling more engaging.

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Episode 4: The Nexus Event

This episode opens up with a pretty interesting flashback of little Sylvie being put through the same harrowing thing that adult Loki was put through in episode one, except it's so, so much worse when it's not an angry, snarking god of mischief but a scared little girl who, from what the flashback implies, has her 'variance point' or whatever being that she really wants to play 'protect Asgard'. It's interesting that the previous episode and this one implies that the TVA allowed Sylvie to basically grow up to at least some point in her childhood (at least to the point that Odin apparently revealed to her that she's adopted) and that it's not just her gender that makes her an anomaly? Considering how violent Sylvie is shown to be in these episodes, it's interesting that she apparently started off as a 'good' Loki. 

But other than that, the first act of this episode felt like it really belonged as the final act of the previous episode. Now I watched episodes 3 and 4 in basically the same day, so it didn't bother me that much until I sat down to write the review... but the huge cliffhanger in episode three that 'oh no a planet is coming and the shuttle is destroyed' really wasn't that huge of a cliffhanger, and I felt like the stronger climax definitely would've been the Loki/Sylvie moment that caused the titular 'nexus event'. That said, maybe they really did want every single Loki/Sylvie moment in that episode in? And I do appreciate that, because the dynamic between the two Loki variants is easily and surprisingly the best part of the show. 

...and, yes, this episode basically confirms that they're taking it in a romantic way. I actually kind of read it like the two of them being like long-lost siblings in episode 3, but this one definitely hammers in the romantic subplot. There's a masturbation joke to be made there somewhere? Or, if we're being less crass, a self-love metaphor? It's kind of weird, but so is everything revolving around meeting an alternate-universe variant of oneself. 

Again, the opening act is pretty... pretty great, mostly because Loki and Sylvie play off each other very well. I can see a version of this show with less appropriate casting where just any one of those two appealed to me a bit less and the show ends up feeling like it's twiddling its thumbs like... like a bad season of a CW show or something. But here they strike a great balance, and at this point I really did feel like I'm rooting for the Lokis. 

It's interesting that the two Lokis basically falling in love with each other as Lamentis is destroyed by an apocalypse counts as a gigantic nexus event, and somehow the TVA decides to arrest them in the nick of time instead of letting them be killed by the planet-busting wave of dust. Or not pruning them at the spot. 

And then the rest of the episode... well, I'm not going to say it's not interesting, because it's still fun. It's tense as all heck, too! But it's just that... neither Mobius, Renslayer nor B-15 are as interesting as Loki and Sylvie. And the audience already knows that the TVA is a huge pile of lies, so the show does feel like it's just twiddling its thumbs while the TVA characters go through their requisitely believable character developments to the revelations that the two Lokis toss at them. It's serviceable, for sure, but not the most interesting thing out there. I mean, yes, Mobius and Loki are pretty fun together. We get a completely random but extremely welcome cameo from Lady Sif (who's been absent from the MCU since like, the first season of Agents of SHIELD!). But ultimately, it's just pretty much what we expected. There's a great moment of Loki pretending to not care that Sylvie got pruned, but it's clear to us and Mobius that he truly does.

At the very least, though, putting Mobius as our main POV character in the TVA is a smart move. We get a bunch of neat scenes as he slowly realizes that Loki maybe isn't swindling him, and that there's a fair amount of weird inconsistencies with how the TVA operates, and how Renslayer quickly handwaves C-20 as having died off-screen... there are a couple of pretty neurotic scenes where it's obvious that both Mobius and Renslayer are testing the waters, with both TVA agents testing to see how much the other is hiding from them. 

Ultimately we get a huge confrontation, which leads to Mobius being pruned mid-rant by Judge Renslayer, and then our two Lokis are brought before the three Time-Keepers. B-15 frees the Lokis from their bonds because she struck a deal with Sylvie beforehand... and hey, when the Lokis attack the three giant CGI aliens, turns out that the Time Keepers are androids. While they share a bit of a tender moment, Loki gets pruned by Renslayer... though the show at least ensures the audience through a post-credits scene that Loki's definitely not dead, waking up in some bizarre post-apocalyptic world met by three more variants of himself. 

And... and I'm honestly feeling like I'm just in it for the ride, you know? None of these moments are particularly shocking to me, not the way that the show probably intended it to, at least. The TVA storyline and Mobius realizing he's been duped basically happens as everyone expected it to, and the Time Keepers... I probably would've cared about them if they had even a glimmer of a presence before this episode outside of being enigmatically referred to by TVA agents. Honestly, I was even surprised they existed at all! It's not knocking this episode at all, though, because it's still a fun ride, but if we're being honest it's surprising how much more I care about the Loki and Sylvie character moments than the huge 'main story'. Still, it's been an enjoyable ride so far for sure. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• As usual, any sort of potential spoiler-heavy Easter Eggs regarding Ravonna and the Time Keepers' comic book counterparts will not be listed until the end of the show. 
• Episode 3:
• Loki does the "another!" method of slamming his empty drink glass to the ground, as memorably done by Thor in Thor, and later on by Volstagg in The Dark World. 
• While her character concept is more akin to Lady Loki from the comics; Sylvie's name, as well as the constant references to her brand of magic being enchantment, is a reference to another Thor villain, the Enchantress -- specifically, the second Enchantress, whose real name is Sylvie Lushton. 
• Sylvie's outfit is essentially the same one that Loki wears in Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok, and just like that movie, Sylvie utilizes her horned tiara as a weapon. 
• The specific look of the tiara with one horn snapped off homages Kid Loki's look at the end of the Loki: Agent of Asgard run. 
• Loki mentions how Frigga taught him a trick to turn someone into a frog; in Thor: Ragnarok, Loki and Thor recalls an incident where Loki does exactly that. It's also a reference to 'Throg' from the comics.
• Lamentis is a minor planet in Kree territory featured in the comic run Annihilation. 
• Episode 4:
• Mobius name-drops 'Kree', 'Titans' and 'vampires' as other things the TVA had encountered before. While the MCU has shown us the former two, vampires haven't shown up yet in the MCU. That Blade show coming up soon would probably change that, though!
• Lady Sif makes a return -- the idea of Loki cutting off Sif's hair is actually something that stems from actual Nordic mythology. In that story, Loki cuts off Lady Sif's golden locks in order to spite Thor, and as punishment Loki has to go to seek the help of the dwarves to restore Sif's hair. 
• Renslayer's code in the flashback is "A-23". In the comics, Renslayer first appeared in the original run of The Avengers issue 23. 
• While the black-skinned Loki and alligator (?!) Loki are original to the show, the two others are 'classic' or 'old' Loki and 'kid' Loki. Old Loki is how Loki looked in the Golden and Silver Age of comic books, right down to the costume. Kid Loki is most often associated with the version of Loki from Agent of Asgard onwards, where he's trying to find a brand-new path independent of being tied to the title of 'god of mischief'.