“Loki” Episode 3 Recap and Review: Love Isn’t a Stranger- It’s a Shiny Dagger

By Rob LoAlbo

Photos courtesy Marvel Studios

So you’ve been asking for more action and less talk in your Loki episodes. Good for you! You’ve invested a lot of time and trust in these characters, buying into their varied premises on variants, Nexus events, and reset charges- you deserve a reward! As such, you’ve asked the Marvel and Disney gods for some good old-fashioned ass kicking. You deserve it!

Well, you asked for it, you got it. 

Like Disney cramming the action down our throats why Mickey screams, “This is what you want?!? I’ll give you what you want!!!” we are forced to choke it down, now realizing that it’s not what we want. Or is it better than we think?

Spoilers ahead!

For an episode that’s seemingly no killer and all filler (Hello? Plot development?), we sure have a lot of murder. Picking up on the other side of the Roxxcart portal, Sylvie (who finally, and officially, reveals her name here) steps out into the TVA to take it down. (It’s a place she apparently hasn’t been before as evidenced by her surprise that enchanting doesn’t work here.) Forced to fight her way to the Time-Keepers, she's a badass with a baton, disintegrating targets at will, and packs a mean sidekick. Having enchanted Hunter C-20 into giving her info on an exact location and the obstacles along the way, she’s got it all planned out. It’s our Loki though, that she didn’t take into consideration. He tries stopping her and reasoning with her, maybe even to the point of joining her, but she’s a loner, Dottie: a rebel.

Lesson #1 - Last week’s timeline bomb was just a distraction so Sylvie could kill the Time-Keepers. That’s one thing we learn. (Are you keeping track? I knew you were.)

With a flick of the wrist, Loki opens a portal, dropping them to an apocalypse event on Lamentis-1, with a looming moon about to crash into them, along with a lot of love lament. Rock,meet hard place, and the two Lokis (don’t call her that) are forced to work together to get themselves off this purple-people-eating planet. Leaning heavily into Dr. Who territory (and that Sophia DiMartino closely resembles the current 13th doctor Jodie Whitiaker makes it all the more uncanny), our old problems of conflict now have new problems of survival, so the two attempt to get off this rock before the moon collapses on them. Loki needs Sylvie to charge the TemPad, and Sylvie needs Loki who has the TemPad, and we need longer episodes than this one.

Lesson #2 - Sylvie’s powers pretty much begin and end at enchantment, with Loki being much more developed in having (according to Marvel.com) ahem...- “astral projection, shape-shifting, hypnosis, molecular rearrangement, energy blasts, levitating, conjuration, cryokinesis, telekinesis and teleportation.” Does that then make her Enchantress? Shrug

What starts off as a tricky and mean-spirited pissing contest of fisticuffs and sharp tongues develops into mutual embarrassment as they have their asses handed to them by a left-behind inhabitant with a power shotgun (she likes brute force, he prefers lying, we like physical comedy), then to admiration of how each complements the others’ powers, with a side of gentle mannerly banter:

Loki: “Um, uh, look I can’t go backwards on a train.” 

Sylvie: “Well, I never sit with my back to a door.

Loki: “What? There are doors on both sides.”

Sylvie: “Oh, just sit down.”

There’s some real intimacy when they start talking about their “shared” mother and we are reminded, once again, just how great an actor Hiddleston is. That he gets us to feel deeply for this murderous, duplicitous, yet fully three-dimensional character with just a few flicks of the hair, some darting eyes, and the right amount of pauses before delivering a heavy line about how much Frigga meant to him, or philosophizing on the nature of love, is truly moving. (I’m not crying, you’re crying.) And our hearts melt when Hiddleston gives a beautifully engaging metaphor as to how love is a dagger, showing how much Loki has been hurt by love before. (Sniff…shut up!)

Lesson #3 - It’s not plot related but still a huge step for the Marvel Universe: Loki comes out. We finally have an openly bi-sexual character in the MCU, instead of just on the Ragnarok cutting room floor. (Look up info on Valkyrie for that tidbit.)

But things never rest easy for our anti-heroes. When each relaxes in his or her own way, Sylvie cat-naps and Loki carouses. Letting his guard down during an Asgardian drinking song, his hedonistic ways get the better of them and a reckoning for his misbehavior is at hand. Where Wanda struggled with grief, and Sam struggled with racial identity, Loki is all about consequence and ownership of one’s actions. It’s a curious arc to travel, something we haven’t seen with this character: we’ve usually just laughed off his shenanigans, but here they have real weight. He gets them thrown off the train Butch and Sundance style, breaking the TemPad, and dooming the duo. Unless they can make it to that rocket in time.

Lesson #4 - (You are keeping up, aren’t you?) Enchantment works by creating a fantasy out of the person’s memories. So that opening scene with D-20 in the bar? A memory. Which means that the TVA didn’t create its employees: they wiped variants clean and started fresh. There are remnants of themselves left behind that they aren’t aware of. (Was Mobius an aquatics instructor?) Which means that someone has been lying to the TVA employees!

The episode ends with a thrilling almost three minute “one-shot” chase through a crumbling Blade Runner nightmare landscape as Sylvie and Loki, like the only lovers left alive, make a mad dash to the rocket, only to have it destroyed by a huge moon chunk at the last second. End scene. Just like that, too.

Now, my point in listing these four lessons is to show that the list ends at just four. There’s not a lot else we learn in the episode (other than how much we miss Owen Wilson). Where the previous two episodes were all exposition and setup, this one is all character and relationship building. Upon first viewing, it was a major complaint in our household with not a lot of love thrown the episode’s way. We got almost nothing. Or did we?

Upon second viewing, now that I knew what to expect, I was enchanted by the two leads’ charms, charisma, and chemistry. On first go around, I was frustrated by the lack of reveals and the short run time; now I find myself able to catch my breath from learning TVA rules and leaning back to enjoy the rich characters, their backstories, and especially, their growth. It’s always a great risk when script time and dialogue is sacrificed away from plot advancement and donated in the name of character depth. I’m reminded of how fond we are of them, only wishing for more time with them (hence my initial frustration). Yes, the series clock is ticking, but maybe we could just stop and smell an occasional flower or watch some tiny fireworks while doomsday approaches.

So is this what we wanted? Sort of. But it sure is what we enjoyed.

Next week: Love is trying to get a healthy balance of exposition, plot development, and character growth.

Star City Rating: (First viewing - 2 ½) Second viewing - 4 out of 5