The Short Take:
This third episode decelerates for a thoroughly enjoyable character study, yet still drops crucial crumbs that thicken the TVA/Timekeeper plot. Sophia Di Martino enchants in a career-launching (American) debut. Minor complaints about the dizzying action sequence at the end.
[SPOILERS. There are just going to be lots of spoilers for the rest of the season. So jump off this moving train while you still can!]
The Long Take:
I didn’t think any duo on this show could rival Loki and Mobius. Nevertheless, I am astonished at how quickly this week’s frenemy escapade between Loki and the fugitive variant Sylvie won me over. Their dialogue, unsurprisingly, is witty, and both actors play off each other well. Loki shouting, “You are so weird!” as they both run for their lives was adorable and emblematic of the chemistry that frothed over like a mug of Asgardian ale — bubbly, sloppy, sometimes fruity and sometimes bitter. And I always thirsted for another round.
In the spirit of Loki’s awkward attempts at a grandiose metaphor, I’m going to run with this and say that this episode feels like we’re sitting down for a drink, and doing so at the right moment. I’ve only listened to part of two podcasts so far — Vanity Fair’s Still Watching and The Ringer-verse — and briefly scrolled through Twitter to take the temperature of the room. Vanity Fair’s Joanna Robinson bristled at the fact that redditors keep calling the episode “filler,” and The Ringer-verse podcast kind of complained about this episode being a little anticlimactic, mostly because the dueling Lokis run around in circles and the episode ends abruptly before they’ve actually accomplished anything. I can understand how the pacing of last week’s episode may have falsely indicated a linear ramping up. And Mobius doesn’t appear in this episode at all, which can feel like putting the larger story on hold.
But the first two episodes primed us for this kind of “we’re trapped here but let’s learn about each other while we try to get out” situation. They established that Loki variants are out there, and suggested that it would be interesting to compare them in a way that deepens the character we already know. Good Lokis, bad Lokis, superior Lokis, and so on. So, for me, sitting with two Lokis while the world around them prepares for its end is a decadent reward rather than a befuddling setback.
It was exhilarating to discover how Loki and Sylvie have diverged. I found Sylvie’s combative and disciplined persona very endearing. Loki accuses her of lacking “guile” and calls her out for trying to punch her way out of every situation, and yet fails miserably when trying to soften up the woman protecting her homestead. He blows their cover on the train by getting drunk and leading a crowd in Asgardian song. (A quick aside to appreciate Tom Hiddleston’s singing. Yes, please. I could listen to those dulcet Scandinavian tones all day.) The drinking song’s lyrics, though, highlight what Loki and Sylvie share: a loneliness and outcast status that transcends contextual variation. In storm-blackened mountains I wander alone. Sylvie says she knew about being adopted from the start in a way that implies it wasn’t a big deal, but clearly her past has still damaged her in some way. She definitely has some Doctor Who weary time traveler warrior vibes going on, reminding me specifically of David Tennant’s 10th doctor.
This comparison is an enormous compliment to Sophia Di Martino, by the way. I’ve been mulling over just why I liked her so much so quickly, and I think it’s because she’s blunt and unimpressed with Loki (“plans have multiple steps!”) for good reason. The delivery of her exasperated lines instantly make me believe that she’s more competent. And all this is while she still maintains a considerable mystique. While Loki blabbers on about his childhood, musings on the meaning of love, and his love of a figgy port, she still keeps her cards close to the vest. But not in a brooding, cagey, unsympathetic way. It’s just leverage. The charisma and presence Di Martino conjures here is…I hate to say it…enchanting. (Sigh. I need help.) And who else would you rather spend the end of the world with than a better version of yourself?
I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that this episode is huge for LGBTQ+ fans, confirming the history of Loki as gender fluid and bisexual in the comics. Looking at Twitter, most of the posts are people feeling seen and acknowledged by Marvel. And that’s just the kind of warm and fuzzy reaction I love to see. To draw another Who parallel: if Sylvie radiates some battle worn time lord energy, Loki is definitely vibing back with some Captain Jack Harkness charm.
Once we step outside the bounds of big personalities, repartee, variant comparisons, fascinating conversations, and Tom Hiddleston’s baritone crooning, though, the episode starts to get a little hazier. I’m especially conflicted about the action sequence at the end. The continuous tracking shots were aesthetically interesting in a Children of Men meets Bladerunner sort of way, but a lot of the shots felt noticeably green screeny. Sylvie and Loki running and ducking and turning every which way as they went seemed incoherent, as if it were driven by style rather than substance or purpose. I didn’t quite know why I was watching them dart this way or that at any given moment.
And the end of the episode was less of a cliffhanger and more of a….”well what now?” moment. Will some deus ex machina event pluck them from this apocalyptic nexus event, or will Loki reveal that he just conjured the image of a broken tempad once Sylvie breaks her silence and gives him some information? I’m not into either option, especially in the wake of Loki’s shock when he learns that the Time keepers didn’t create the TVA agents but rather wiped the memories of variants. The tone with which he reacts to that new information makes me think that he’s on Sylvie’s side now. I’m fairly disappointed we won’t get to see them hijack that luxury ark to safety.
My latest thought on what’s going on, especially in relation to the next Dr. Strange film is that the multiverse time war that Miss Minutes regales us with in episode 1 has actually YET TO HAPPEN in the current MCU timeline (circa Endgame). Joanna Robinson (Since I’m referencing her a second time now, I’ll recommend her podcast Still Watching; her takes often align with mine and she’s great at theorizing) makes a really astute observation that the margarita memory Sylvie had to recreate to pump the captured hunter for information came from “hundreds of years ago.” I know the TVA seems to operate outside of time, but this implies that they’re far into the future because the margarita scene feels very much of our world and our time. Could this show eventually lead to a big team-up (Wanda, Dr. Strange, Loki and Sylvie, etc.) to try to fight the time keepers and actively prevent the sacred timeline from ever forming?