by Conan Simmons – June 30, 2021 – 5:20 am
The mystery deepens.
Trapped on the dying planet of Lamentis-1, Loki and Lady Loki have a special moment together just as the world is in its final destruction. This allows the Time Variance Authority to track them and capture them. It might seem weird that the TVA would save them given that their purpose is to stop the Loki variants but there was an odd moment during the climactic action of last episode where a large tower was about to crush Loki when all of a sudden it propped back up. Could it be that Loki stole an Infinity Time Stone amongst the many the TVA clerks were using as paperweights or is there someone behind the scenes pulling the strings? The villain Kang is known to have such power.
A flashback at the beginning of the episode fills in some backstory on Lady Loki showing how Ravonna Renslayer apprehended her in Asgard and how Lady Loki, a.k.a. Sylvie, escaped from the TVA.
With the Lokis in custody secrets begin coming to light. Hunter B-15 quietly struggles with the effects of Sylvie’s enchantment that was used on her in episode 2. Aware of what’s happening to her, she takes it upon herself to interrogate Sylvie privately.
In another room, Loki desperately informs Mobius of a dangerous lie which causes Mobius to be irritated with a hunch about the demise of TVA agent C-20 of which Ravonna Renslayer informed him.
As the characters struggle to differentiate lies from truths it all leads up to a fateful meeting with the Time Keepers.
This really is the best episode yet of the series and will be very tough for later episodes to top. The characters are really fleshed out without giving away too much of the mystery at the center of the show. All the cast gets their moment to shine from Tom Hiddleston’s pompous Loki who is humbled by Lady Sif, played by Jamie Alexander in a humorous cameo, Owen Wilson’s almost Columbo like detective Mobius M. Mobius, Wunmi Mosaku’s understated performance as Hunter B-15 suggesting there is far more going on than what she allows others to see, to Sophia Di Martino’s enchanting Sylvie who may or may not be a very big piece of the mysterious puzzle.
The real star of this episode is Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer. Playing her as a congenial judge for the TVA she gets the chance here to really develop the character into a more menacing figure. Whether or not Renslayer is involved with the mystery or how much she may be a part of it is for later episodes to reveal. From what Mobius uncovers she may be just a pawn, just keep in mind a previous episode when she briefly mentioned to Mobius that she has another asset in the field.
‘Loki’ really hits its stride making it the best of the new Marvel shows streaming on Disney+. While ‘WandaVision’ and ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ have their merits ‘Loki’ goes further in focusing on the characters. If you like science fiction and fantasy, even if you are tired of superheroes, give ‘Loki’ a chance. The mischievous little scamp may just impress you.