While the MCU is still comfortably in the green when it comes to its solo, cinematic, outings (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 was, at least), the overarching Multiverse Saga is somewhat floundering no matter what universe you’re from. Yes, I’ve mentioned all this before in previous Loki reviews, but it genuinely does feel like that his sophomore season is the tipping point that the entire story is hinging on and so any notable happenings are sure to garner extra attention.
Definitely classed as a “noticable happening” is the events that closed out the fourth episode that saw all of reality come a cropper thanks to the Temporal Loom finally overloading due to the influx of new timelines and leaving us with quite a few questions to mull over. The most pressing is, obviously, if reality is kaput, what the hell is going to happen in the last two episodes?
Allow directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead to engage in yet more of their time-bending head fuckery in order to further prove that reality – and the MCU in general – isn’t what it used to be…
After all of reality is seemingly extinguished, Loki finds that he has somehow survived and is now standing in a TVA that is emptier than the God of Mischief’s Christmas card list, but before he can process what has occured, his unfortunate (and painful) habit of time slipping begins again. However, after temporally doubling back a bit on himself, he suddenly finds himself leaping to various places on the scattered and branched timeline to meet with the original versions of those that was with him at the TVA before everything went kablooey.
One minute he’s with Casey’s original form, Frank, as he attempts to escape 1962 Alcatraz, the next he’s in 2022 Ohio, chatting to the jetski salesman whose variant eventually becomes Agent Mobius and it’s the same with Hunter B-15 (now a doctor) and Sylvie, who has returned to her life working in a 70s Macdonalds. However, not one of his friends has any memories of what has transpired except for Sylvie, who once again flatly refuses to help any more, citing the temporal fuckery the TVA has caused since its inception. However, Loki finally makes some headway when he encounters Ouroboros’ original identity in Pasadena 1994. As scientist turned struggling science fiction writer, Dr. A. Doug, he finally offers some much needed insight and hints that Loki’s time slippage may not be as random as it first appeared as hes only visiting the people whom he was sharing the room with when time fell down and went boom.
As Loki attempts to harvest his buddies in a multiversal attempt to “get the band back together” and possibly restart the TVA, there’s still the gradual unravelling of time itself to worry about.
The aptly titled Science/Fiction has some pretty big shoes to fill. After all, the fifth episode of the first series hurled us headlong into the space at the end of time and asked us to process alligator Lokis, cloud monsters and Richard E. Grant in green tights in a way that turned the entire universe on its head – and while this episode falls some way short of equalling that feat, it’s still a wonderfully twisty, turvy romp that simultaneously gives its characters a little more breathing space among the chaos.
First up, in a season full of rampant time hopping, this spate of particular chronal japery is a bit more focused that what we’ve previously seen as it’s an excuse to finally spend some time with the origins of our supporting cast, all the while getting them to spread their wings. While some are admittedly sidelined a little (Casey and Hunter B-15’s treatment is a little surface level), we not only get to spend more one on one time with Ke Huy Quan’s endlessly upbeat Ouroboros, but more importantly, Owen Wilson’s Mobius finally gets to be more than just the exuberant sidekick role this season seems to have lumped him with. Simply put, we finally get to find out what all that jetski stuff was about and even though it was fairly easy to discern what his past was the moment we found out the TVA was all staffed by mindwiped variants, it’s still an utter joy to see him in his natural habitat as he struggles to sell his beloved aquatic, leisure vehicle and dotes on his kids. Owen Wilson has always been at his best the more amiable he’s allowed to be and this season, with all of its rushing around, hasn’t really given him the space to shine quite the way he once did.
Similarly getting a very welcome moment to breathe is O.B., whose shift from endlessly tinkering, TVA gadget man to permanently enthralled pulp writer is something of an inspired choice as his insight into the differences between science being the what and how of a problem and fiction being the why, proves to be quite a poignant storytelling devise as the directors use it as a love letter for sci-fi literature. Also feeling an little bit underused of late has been Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie, which is weird considering that she once was central to the entire show. However, even she gets a valuable moment despite the fact that her entire arc this season is just wanting to be left alone while she flips burgers or serves fries whilst having absolutely no desire to involve herself in all this travel jumping shite when she draws out Lokis deep seated motives for trying to rebuild the TVA. It seems like out God of Mischief has gotten a taste for friendship and wants to preserve it, even in the face of the unraveling of reality, and this revelation is yet another brick in the ever changing motives of one of Marvel’s most malleable characters.
However, all this warmth and outpouring is merely a set up for yet another rug pulling ending as all the various timelines start to give way in the face of reality’s collapse. Yep, those still smarting from the unforgettable ending of Avengers: Infinity War may find that this episode triggers some unpleasantly familiar memories as everyone starts to unravel into strings of quantum spaghetti. In fact, the sequence where Sylvie’s spot in the timeline collapses while she chills in a recond shop to the strains of Oh Sweet Nuthin’ by The Velvet Underground, may be the most striking scene of the entire season.
While some of the time hopping shenanigans feel a little bit overly convenient at times, it all fits under the pulpy umbrella that Benson and Moorehead have opened this season and with yet another ending that throws everything we know up into the air, literally anything can still conceivably happen with only one episode to go.
However, while this has been a fun ride thus far, wherever Loki finally ends keenly feels more important than ever…
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