Just when I think I can't love this show more, it proves me wring. While the previous episode was more about character development, this one moves the plot forward at an alarming and fun rate. I was blown away.
The episode starts with a flashback. We see Sylvie in Asgard as a child. Asgard looks the same as Loki's and Thor's Asgard to me. It is just the first time we see it from behind. Sylvie is sitting on the floor and plays with her toys. She is playing at Ragnarok I think. A Valkyrie defeating a dragon and saving Asgard. Then we see Ravonna Renslayer who is a minuteman here, showing up to arrest her and reset the timeline. Sylvie is just a young little Loki girl who seems to have done nothing wrong. Apart from being a girl and being good. But she gets arrested and her timeline gets pruned. It is shocking. She is just a young and innocent child and Renslayer is merciless. Sylvie goes through all of the intake process that Loki went through. Only now it seems just terrifying from her point of view. But when she is brought in front of a judge she bites Renslayer to free herself, steals a TemPad and escapes. She maybe a small child, but she is resilient. Although it almost looks like Renslayer let her get away. I can now better understand Sylvie's deep hatred of the TVA, just not Sylvie herself.
Then we switch to Renslayer in present time. We see her going to meet the Time-Keepers. And who would have thought, the space lizard are actually real. We see the silhouette of the three of them with glowing red eyes. Which is surprising because I was sure that there was some trick, some hocks behind it all. Maybe another Loki at the top. If the minutemen are stole variants and not created by the Time-Keepers, surely the timekeepers themselves aren't real. But they are apparently.
Then we are back at the TVA. I've got to say that the picture of the face on the wall looks suspiciously similar to that of Kang the Conqueror. Mobius is there when Renslayer leaves the chamber of the Time-Keepers and is eager for news. She is furious. She tells him that the Time-Keepers are blaming her. It is only a miracle that prevented Sylvie from reaching the Tim-Keepers and she got away as did Loki. It is all on her and she blames Mobius. Mobius throws us back to episode 2 as he wants to speak to Huntress C-20 about both Lokis. He has to find out what she meant when she said that it is real and what she did with Sylvie. Then Renslayer admits that C-20 is dead. She says that she had her mind scrambled but they both know it is a lie. But Renslayer still trusts Mobius to find both Lokis.
Then we switch to both Lokis who are still stuck on Lamentis. In the previous episode we saw Sylvie leaving Loki after they lost their last chance to survive this apocalypse. Now Loki finds her. She's sitting on a rock looking into the distance. In the frame that was in the trailers and everyone thought she was Black Widow with the Avengers: Infinity War haircut. Loki apologizes to her, I mean he did get them both killed. Sylvie says that the universe wants to break free to break the Scared Timeline, that's why she was born the Goddess of Mischief. But she was taken when she was young and her entire reality was erased. She tells Loki her escape story and how she found a way to survive. The TVA can't find them there in an apocalypse so they are doomed.
As they are sitting and chatting bigger fragments of the planet start falling. Sylvie notes that they don't have much time left. Then they get into a very philosophical debate. What makes SLoki a Loki? She wonders if it is the fact that they are destined to loss. Loki thinks differently, they may loss, but they survive. Loki tells her that she survived, the way she handled the TVA is amazing, she is amazing. She puts her hand on his and she looks touched. And that causes a spike in the Timeline. Mobius and B-15 notice it immediately on the monitors. Looks like nexus events can happen during apocalypses under the right circumstances.
Loki and Sylvie face death. An extremely large rock causes shock waves and the ground stands to rise and Loki and Sylvie prepare to meet their end together. The branch the TVA sees is unbelievable. Sylvie and Loki do survive, they are taken by the TVA. Loki goes with Mobius. Loki is insulted that he doesn't have as much security as Sylvie. That is funny. Mobius calls Loki an ass and a bad friend and it looks like the bad friend part really gets to him. Mobius let's Loki have one last say and Loki says that the TVA is lying to him and Mobius doesn't care, he thinks that Loki is lying yet again.
Mobius has his guards throw Loki into a portal. This portal isn't golden like the usual, but red. He is surprised to find himself on Asgard again. The Sif shows up. Jaimie Alexander shows up to reprise her role as Lady Sif. It's not just a cameo, rumor has it that she will appear in Thor 4 as well. Sif is furious, she has some of her hair in her hand. It is actually a story from Norse Mythology, Loki cutting off Sif's hair while she's sleeping. Here she comes back to curse him, kick him in the groin and punch him. Loki remembers that after this incident he went to relax and never thought about it again, but he doesn’t get to go on. This is a time loop, he is trapped inside of this memory. Loki tries to talk to Sif, but it doesn't work. He is trapped getting kicked and having Sif saying the painful words he fears most, endlessly.
Then we switch to Mobius and Renslayer. Mobius really wants to interrogate Sylvie, but Renslayer isn't having that. Apparently, Mobius needs to find out what caused the nexus event. I guess it's not usual to find a nexus event at the end of the world. As Mobius walks he runs into B-15 and other guards, guarding Sylvie's room. He complains to her and he also mentions that amongst the people they have arrested they had vampires! Vampires! In the MCU. Blade is coming in fast. B-15 seems a bit disturbed. Something is not right there.
Then we are back with Loki in his cell. Loki is breaking. In one of his speeches he almost gets to Sif, she seems like she is feeling his words. For once she doesn't hit him, she just confirms his greatest fears by saying "you are alone, and you always will be." Which is sort of true. Then Mobius shows up and takes him to the interrogation room. Mobius wants to know what caused the nexus events and Loki isn't telling him. Although you can tell from all of the insults he has to say about Sylvie that he really likes her. Loki freaks out when he realizes that he is about to return to the time loop cell. Loki makes up some lie about him and Sylvie being partners for a long time. But Mobius wins, he lies that he pruned Sylvie and Loki reacts. He is shocked. He says good riddance, but he has tears in his eyes. He told a lie and he got one in return. The great game of chess between Loki and Mobius.
But Mobius figures it out. Loki's and Sylvie's feelings towards each other caused the nexus event, two people who are one, who are also narcissistic that fell in love with each other. Mobius reveals that Sylvie is alive and Loki seems relived. I guess he is not so great at hiding his feelings. Mobius breaks Loki by teasing him about Sylvie and Loki breaks and tells him the truth. That everyone who works at the TVA are variants. Even though Mobius says that he doesn't believe Loki, we can see that Loki's words hit him right where it hurts. He knows it is the truth, but he doesn't want to admit it even to himself. Loki knows this, so he tells him that he is lying to himself. Mobius simply throws Loki back into the time cell, but he doesn't look happy.
Then we switch to Hunter B-15. She also doesn't look happy. In fact, she seems like she is having some unpleasant internal debate. She looks at a TVA propaganda sign that says "did you get them all? Verify through deletion" and she turns on her pruning stick. But you know she isn't going to prune anyone. She's smarter than that. She wants answers. She goes into the room in which Sylvie is kept, she's a hunter, the minutemen listen to her. Sylvie doesn't look her best, she has impressive dark circles under her eyes. But B-15 isn't there to prune her. She turns off her stick and create a time portal. She invites Sylvie to follow her and Sylvie does. Sylvie is all about rule breaking including helping other members of the TVA break them.
Mobius is into some rule breaking himself. He is in Renslayer's office and they sign off the paper to close the case. They have a friendly drink together. Renslayer is trying to be friendly asking him if he could go anywhere and any place in the timeline where would he go, but Mobius is caught up in the case. Why Renslayer didn't let him interrogate Sylvie. She lets him know that the Time-Keepers want him there when they will prune Loki and Sylvie. It's a nice distraction and Mobius isn't buying it. He starts questioning Renslayer about C-20. A different line of attack, but a simpler one as well. She knows that he is suspicious so she feeds him another lie, that she cares about him too much to let him face a threat like Sylvie. But he knows that she is lying. She gives him a nice speech about friendship, but she acts a bit weird at the end. Especially when she compares their friendship to the Sacred Timeline. He asks her where she will put her trophy, Sylvie's blade. She finds a spot and when she has her back turned, Mobius switches his TemPad with hers. He doesn't trust her at all at this point. He has been spending too much time with Lokis. Then he leaves, which makes his behavior seem very suspicious. Renslayer looks super suspicious when she watches him leave. Both Renslayer and Mobius just don't know how to behave, they are both terrible at lying to each other.
Then we switch to Sylvie and B-15, they are in the apocalypse on Roxxcart. Sylvie thinks that B-15 wants to fight her, but she doesn't she wants the truth, just like Mobius. Sylvie tells her that what she saw was a glimpse of the life she had before the TVA. Sylvie explains that the Time-Keepers didn't create her, they stole her, they are both variants. B-15 asks Sylvie to show her, so she does. And B-15 has a look of bliss on her face. She says with tears in her eyes that she looked happy. She just had her entire belief system turned on its head. She asks Sylvie what now, and we don't know if even Sylvie knows.
Then it's back to another suspicious person, Mobius. He pulls out Renslayer's TemPad and searches. He finds confirmation that C-20 is indeed dead. Then we see a video of what caused her to be deceased. She tells her interrogators that what she saw was real, she is a variant and so is everyone in the TVA and she wants to end it. It was a mistake to admit it. A mistake that cost her life. We see Renslayer stopping the recording, just so we don't have any doubt that she is in on it.
Mobius goes to the only person who know that can help him, Loki. Mobius interrupts Loki's glum chatter. He asks Loki if he cares about Sylvie which of course Loki denies. Then Mobius says that the nexus event that they created can help them bring the whole place down. Looks like Mobius and Loki are now a team again. Mobius has to trust the word of two Lokis that Sylvie didn't implant the memories in C-15 mind. But Loki says he can trust him, because he is his friend. How touching. Now it is Loki's turn to trust Mobius. But first Mobius tells him that he can be whoever he wants to be, even a good person. Just in case no one told him this. It puts a smile on Loki's face and mine. The plan to bring down the TVA is on.
And it lasts two seconds. As soon as they leave the cell Renslayer is there with her minutemen. She has noticed that he took her TemPad and she knows it wasn't accidently like he said. When Renslayer refuses to answer Mobius' questions he knows he is about to get pruned. She can't look him in the eye. He answers her question from before, if he could go anywhere, he would simply go back to where he is really from, from before the TVA took him. Maybe he had a jet-ski. That's a nice comeback to her. But, despite their friendship she commands her minutemen to prune him. She looks pained, but Loki looks absolutely shocked, terrified and on the verge of tears. The expression on his face as he is being lead to the elevator is top notch acting, it just show so much pain and regret. He just lost basically the only friend he ever had.
But Renslayer isn't done. She reached Sylvie's room and sees that Sylvie is all wet. She's been out. She asks the guards who was there and they say B-15, now she puts on a call on B-15, to be captured and pruned. Sylvie looks very pleased with herself. Both Sylvie and Loki are being lead to the same elevator. Finally they meet again. Inside the elevator Sylvie asks Renslayer what was her nexus event and Renslayer says she doesn't remember. She says it with an evil smile. It looks like it does hurt Sylvie. Whatever destroyed her life is so insignificant that it's not even memorable.
Loki and Sylvie are brought in front of the Time-Keepers. They are real, apparently. Obviously, they are very snobbish and pretentious. Loki's famous words are that he lost count of the amount of times he has been killed so he is not afraid. He is right. He has almost died a lot of times. They say that he is no threat to them, but Sylvie isn't buying it. She tells them that they are scared. They say she is a cosmic disappointment. Ouch. This is an insulting contest.
Just as Loki and Sylvie are about to be deleted B-15 arrives and takes off both Loki's collars. I guess that was her and Sylvie's plan. It is a good plan. Sylvie is great at making plans. B-15 also throws Sylvie her sword when she tell Renslayer the TVA motto. Renslayer is enraged. The minutemen take out B-15 pretty easily but Loki and Sylvie fight against them all. It is a really good fight. Especially Sylvie vs. Renslayer. They are both excellent fighters. But Sylvie is better and she wins. Loki and Sylvie are the last one standing. The Time-Keeper says that Sylvie is their child as well. When he suggests that they can talk she throws her swords and beheads him. Only when the head falls we find out it is actually a robot's head. An animatronics. Someone is controlling them from afar. Another level of lying in the TVA. The other two robots simply laugh and turn off. Sylvie and Loki are shocked. Considering all of the lies in the TVA it is surprising that they are shocked. The TVA is just one big lie.
But the question remains, who created the TVA? Sylvie didn't think there is another layer to it all. When Loki turns to Sylvie she begs him not to give her another pep talk. But he goes for an emotional speech. But Loki likes Sylvie so much that he is speechless. He just has fragments of words. His excuse is that it is new to him. Talking about his feelings. He puts his arms around her, but then shockingly Renslayer prunes him. Sylvie should have killed her and not just punched her. I'm not sure who was more shocked, me or Sylvie, but Sylvie looked plenty of shocked. Then she went super angry and managed to bring Renslayer to surrender quickly. But Sylvie doesn't want to kill Renslayer, she wants the truth. All of it and everything.
If you can't believe the show killed its lead character than you are right. There is a post credit scene. Loki is really hard to kill. He wakes up somewhere new, not the TVA. He asks if he is dead and a voice answers him, that he is not dead yet. But Loki will die if he won't come with the voice. Loki half gets up and meets four other Lokis. The voice belongs to Richard E. Grant who plays classic Loki and wears an outfit that looks like a terrible cosplay, Jack Veal plays kid Loki, Deobia Oparei plays Boastful Loki and there is a alligator Loki. It looks like the dumpster of all of the Loki variants. But somehow Loki survived, yet again.
First of all the acting in this episode blew me away. Tom Hiddleston just keeps blowing me away. The way that he portrays his feeling is just brilliant. You can see every emotion clearly written on his face. He was just brilliant. Second best to him is actually Wunmi Mosaku as hunter B-15 is also brilliant. When she saw her memories as a human it was a blissful torture. She really stands out. I know that Owen Wilson is a great actor, but not like this. I've never seen him do drama so well. He brings his A game and it shows. He does a fantastic job without a single wow. Sophia Di Martino is also good, but I mostly like how Loki looks at her, then actually her. Although she does do confidence really well as well vulnerability. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just ok. I don't really like her acting on this show. But all in all it's the Tom Hiddleston Loki show.
So much happened in this episode. We found out that the Time-Keeper are real only to find out that they are android by the end. Loki and Sylvie almost died on Lamentis they were saved and Loki got pruned, but apparently, he is still alive. And Mobius learned that he is a variant, everyone in the TVA are. But he got pruned as well. Nothing is what it appears to be and I love it. This show is crazy, brilliant and fantastic.
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