LOKI Episode 4 Review

Hannah gets a feeling that we’re not in Kansas anymore…

Tom Hiddleston once said of the idea of Loki developing a love interest in the Loki series, that for Loki ‘to love someone else, first he needs to learn to love himself’. Now, I don’t know if the TV series was already underway at this point, or whether Michael Waldron watched this interview and was ‘inspired’, but what I do know is that both of them were laughing maniacally at some point during the process.

We find Loki and Sylvie where we left them, stranded on Lamentis-1, after a revealing heart-to-heart, the two of them touch. I’m going to pause at this moment and talk about what we’ve learnt about Sylvie. It was finally shown that she is in fact a Loki variant, having been snatched from Asgard at a young age by none other than Ravonna Renslayer herself. This explains her overall disdain for the TVA and goes some way towards explaining her motivations beyond ‘Loki’s gonna Lok’ (Although I think it’s fair to assume at this point that all versions of Loki dislike the idea of a sacred timeline, because… well, of course they do).

Anyway, their touch conveniently starts a sexy nexus (A sexus?) event which enables the TVA agents to locate and arrest them. I know this was probably discussed in a conversation we didn’t see, but seeing as they were trapped in an apocalyptic event, why not just let them be wiped out? I would assume it’s fairly common knowledge from previous interactions with Loki variants that they are not particularly vulnerable to interrogation, so there’s hardly a need to bring them in… but whatever.

This is really where the episode gets interesting, we finally see the television that Disney+ and Marvel are best known for; quick, action packed segments with natural storytelling. We see how clever they can both be, and nobody starts a villain’s monologue. The huge revelation that the TVA agents are variants themselves has some payoff with Hunter B-15 and Mobius rebelling against the TVA and Ravonna (Who knew all along, obviously. I have had ‘Agatha all along’ stuck in my head since this episode aired. Pro move, Disney).

At this point, Mobius is introduced to the sparky end of a ret-cannon, but presumably isn’t dead because this is Marvel, and nobody ever dies. Also, he is a variant, so there’s probably like a hundred more Mobius’ where he came from. Maybe even one less Owen Wilsony than this one, perhaps Ravonna did us a favour? Anyway, Loki and Sylvie are taken to the chambers of the Timekeepers, and after a brief scuffle they are revealed to be robots. Presumably from Disney’s new line of ‘It’s a Small World’ animatronics. I mean, if you didn’t see this Wizard of Oz-esque twist coming, shame on you. It’s been pretty clear from the outset that something was amiss with the supposedly ancient race of time wizards, I’m actually astounded that it wasn’t a red herring.

Anyway, Loki is just about to declare his undying love for Sylvie (I assume) when Ravonna obliterates him. Wouldn’t it be cool if he was actually dead? The rest of the show is about Sylvie rising to power and being the best version of Loki… This time though, Marvel don’t even bother waiting until the next episode to show us that Loki is unharmed, instead having the first mid-credits scene for this show, in which we are introduced to four other Loki Variants as the Avengers tower crumbles in the background. Admittedly, I only noticed the Avengers tower on the second watch through, the first was spent fawning over Alligator Loki….

Loki is streaming now on Disney+

Preferring the company of fictional characters to living, breathing people; it should come as no surprise that Hannah is a connoisseur of all things geek. Whilst their body resides in the capital of Wales, their heart resides in Middle-Earth and their mind remains firmly lodged in the memory of that embarrassing thing they did when they were eight.