According to series director Kate Herron, the first episode of Loki was intended to be a prologue, with The Variant serving as the start of the series proper. This is incredibly evident as the show unfolds - the second and third episodes offer far more action and further development of conflict, and the stakes become very real for Loki. Come the fourth and fifth entries to the series, the character of Sylvie is given depth, further shaping the dynamic between Loki and she. Mobius M. Mobius is at the height of his condescension to our waylaid Gods of Mischief, and Mobius’s aggression towards Loki reaches a most frustrating peak. Renslayer, as well, becomes a bit more complicated, as she seems to truly care for her relationship to Mobius; however, it only takes the slightest breach in trust for her to outright betray him, and propel the story towards its action-packed end.
The fourth episode, entitled The Nexus Event, focuses on the rescue of Sylvie and Loki from Lamentis-1, and the exploration of the concepts presented by the episode’s title. In it we learn that a “Nexus Event” is created after a variant performs an action that deviates from the Sacred Timeline, and the sudden and rapid blossoming of romance between two variants of the same person creates a big one. Big enough, in fact, that an otherwise perplexed TVA was able to dial into the Lokis location to rescue them just ahead of their destruction.
The Nexus Event also provides a flashback to young Sylvie as she’s removed from her original timeline by a younger Revonna Renslayer who - at this time - serves as a member of the TVA’s goon squad. Cut to Sylvie’s “trial” at the TVA, and the youthful variant is able to duck her captors and swipe a TemPad, which she then uses to escape and subsequently raise herself in hiding. This scene serves a twofold purpose: it deepens the sense of villainy surrounding the TVA, moving them further from the gray zone of morality into the authoritarian black. Second, it illustrates that Sylvie - from our point of view during the time of her apprehension - has said and done nothing to warrant such a violation of her existence. It fills me with absolute dread to think of anyone - much less a child - being suddenly and forcefully removed from the comfort and stability of their safe space. Watching Renslayer and her Minutement effectively kidnap Sylvie from Asgard is nothing short of sickening, and serves to deepen our understanding of the TVA as villainous.
It’s easy to feel like this fourth episode has us mired in filler, but writer Eric Martin (Rick and Morty, Heels) manages to flourish within confinement. Whereas some episodes of Loki have taken place throughout various points in spacetime, I’ve found that the most expository portions of the show take place within the TVA headquarters, as is the case with The Nexus Event. Returning from our opening flashback, both Loki and Sylvie are once again bound and powerless within TVA custody, held in separate interrogation cells. Instead of regurgitating previous exposition and running in place, The Nexus Event quenches us with alternating sips of action and espionage, interspersed with moments of solid emotional affect. Not only do we get to see Mobius begin to question the TVA and Rennslayer, but we also get a glimpse at some of the more nefarious means of interrogation to which their prisoners are subjected. The “time-loop” Loki is confined to is one such example. In it, Loki is repeatedly accosted by Lady Sif, an attack spurred by one of Loki’s less than honorable past deeds. Not only is Loki physically assaulted ad nauseam, but emotionally as well, with Sif admonishing that Loki will be alone forever. At the same time, Hunter B-15 engages Sylvie in her interrogation cell alone. Still reeling from her previous enchantment - wherein some of her past memories were unlocked - Hunter B-15 urges Sylvie to once again enchant her and take her back to that place where “she looked happy.” Now, with Mobius having seen physical proof of the TVA’s misdeeds with a stolen TemPad, it doesn’t take any time for Rennslayer to confront both Mobius and Loki, an altercation that leads to Mobius's demise.
First off, the concept of a time-loop prison cell is terrifying. How many of us lay awake at night, either too embarrassed by or filled with regret for our mistakes? Being forced to relive any one of those moments once would be a nightmare, but being forced to relive them again and again? That truly would be hell. While it serves to demonstrate the evil nature of the TVA, it does little in terms of advancing the character of Loki, and it’s here the episode does stagnate. Loki has already been brought to his knees - sometimes quite literally - by the TVA’s condescension and cruelty, and has only just begun to grow again as a character. It’s unnecessary to see him tormented so at this point.
Second to that, the apparent death of Mobius at the hands of Revanna Renslayer is unexpected and sudden, and it indicates most vehemently that the TVA plays for keeps. Whether or not Renslayer’s actions were motivated primarily by her feelings of betrayal or fear of the Time Keeper’s wrath is not yet clear, but we do know that Loki is short his one and only hype man.
The end of The Nexus Event comes in swift and on wings tinged green by The Wizard of Oz. Renslayer has delivered Sylvie and Loki to the Time Keeper’s throne room, flanked by Minutemen. There the Time Keepers three loom above a tiered dias, robed and enormous. As the towering figures admonish our anti-heroes, and for all of their grandeur, there is something about their mannerisms that is halting and stilted. Naturally, this is the moment that B-15 chooses for her own renunciation, freeing the captive variants and restoring their blades. In classic Batman and Robin back to back, the Lokis make short work of their aggressors and - in a stunning instant - Sylvie heaves her blade towards the centermost Timekeeper, decapitating him to expose a snarl of wirework, sparks, and circuitry. It’s quite clear at this point that there is certainly someone behind the proverbial curtain.
Now, having bested Renslayer in combat and revealing a ruse of cosmic implications, Loki and Sylvie are barely given a moment’s reprieve before our Loki is unceremoniously “pruned” from existence by an enraged Renslayer. It takes no time for Sylvie to again subdue the judge, and the episode ends with Judge Renslayer insisting that she wishes to aid Sylvie in exposing who is behind the fraudulent Time-Keepers.
The Nexus Event’s ending leaves us with shocks and surprises, especially with two of our principle characters having been erased. It’s also the first episode to deliver a mid-credits scene which, by this point, was not only welcome, but granted us the biggest shock of all: Loki doesn’t just wake up in an overcast dimension outside of time, - he does so surrounded by multiple variants of himself, with one such variant none other than the classic Jack Kirby designed Loki, portrayed by the magnificent performer Richard E. Grant!
Journey into Mystery is the penultimate and appropriately titled fifth episode of Loki. With only two episodes left to bring our story to a close and having now entered a territory wholly uncharted, my mind was agape with possibility for the season’s end. Immediately picking up the thread of the mid-credits scene of The Nexus Event, our Loki is at once on guard but full of wonder. It’s here, too, that we find out just what happens to all of these variant people and places throughout time that are pruned by the TVA.
Waking up within the Void - the location outside of time wherein all of the TVA’s pruned variants and locations are materialized - Loki finds he’s surrounded by further variations of himself, whose chief concern is to avoid certain death within the violet maw of a tempestuous, glowing skull beast called Alioth. This development struck me as funny, in that even in the face of such hopelessness, all Lokis are compelled by a unifying drive for survival and - ironically, unavoidable war with themselves. Even as the newfound Lokis take our Main Man into their ranks, they’re ousted by a warring faction of Lokis, each one dead set on being king of a realm devoid of substance or meaning. It represented a clear, microcosmic view of a Loki on the whole, and a very clever play by episode writer Tom Kauffman (Ikea Heights).
Meanwhile, Sylvie has bested Judge Renslayer and coerced her into revealing the location of the TVA’s creator. For all of the judge’s talk of wanting to know for herself the truth of the TVA and who is behind the false Time Keepers, she wastes no time in trying to regain the upper-hand and arrest Sylvie. Renslayer’s Minutemen corner Sylvie within the TVA courtroom, leaving her now outnumbered and outmatched. True to Loki fashion, Sylvie exits the stage on her own terms, pruning herself from the TVA’s plane of existence and teleporting herself to the Void. Once inside the bleak and jumbled wasteland of the TVA’s dumping ground, Sylvie is met by our old friend Mobius M. Mobius, and the two are able to retrieve our Loki.
Hands down the best part of Journey into Mystery is Classic Loki. Actor Richard E. Grant’s portrayal of the gold and green Loki is nothing short of magical, and a wonderful homage to artist Jack Kirby. His variant survived Thanos by creating an illusion so deceptive that it fooled even the Mad Titan, and he was free to live out his days in self-imposed exile. It wasn’t until he began to miss his brother, Thor, that he returned to civilization and was forthwith apprehended by the TVA. The lament that this Loki feels is so evident in Grant’s performance that it is impossible to deny the injustice done upon him.
It’s interesting to note here that a Loki’s act of self-reflection and choice are enough to implicate them to the TVA. This further implies that a Loki is truly destined to cause only “pain and suffering,” and that the removal of agency in this is at the direct behest of the TVA. This further implies that Sylvie, too, was on a track to avoid the sinister pitfalls of her variants - a suggestion demonstrated by young Sylvie’s propensity for heroism in her playroom, moments before she was abducted by the TVA. This makes it perfectly clear, now and forever, that the actions of the TVA and the alleged Time Keepers are morally bankrupt and devoid of benevolence.
If there is any justice in this multiverse, though, it was delivered to Classic Loki at the end of Journey into Mystery. Using his uniquely honed ability to cast the most convincing illusions, he baits Alioth by creating an immaculate and true to scale Asgardian cityscape. With the nebulous amethystine beast beguiled by Classic Loki, Sylvie is able to enchant the creature with the aid of our Loki, revealing a doorway beyond time. As the beast bears down upon him, Classic Loki laughs maniacally. “Glorious Purpose,” he declares to the cosmos! Sacrificing his own being after a lifetime of exile, Classic Loki has won - he’s died having achieved a feat that no known Loki has yet accomplished.
With Alioth subdued, Loki and Sylvie stand alone before the place beyond the Void, a backdrop of all time and space kaleidoscoping lavender, green, and gold.
This is it.
A mansion of the Infinite looms on high, at the top of a pathway shrouded in shadows cast by whirling stars. Hand in hand, the two approach their ultimate destiny with grim resolve. What could they possibly find there?
I’m a sucker for a cool color palette, so Journey into Mystery essentially had me from the jump. The series kept its bizarre amalgam of the surreal and dystopian, but with the playfulness that prevents it from becoming too moribund. Everyone in this episode is brilliant, in particular the variant Lokis - Boastful Loki, Kid Loki, and even Alligator Loki. The crown jewel of the lot is of course Richard E. Grant, who holds an air of both mischief as well as authority. He lends an authenticity to the role of Loki that harkens back to the Golden Age from which he sprung, and I absolutely love it. I’m very interested to see how the character of Revonna Rynslayer develops too, because she seems to vacillate between blind submission to the TVA and a desire for “free will.” I’m most curious, of course, to see who - or what - could possibly exist in the mansion that now stands before Sylvie and Loki. What sort of person behind the curtain could be so manipulative and diabolical?
The answer is something we’ve all sought within our lifetimes, one way or another - this go around, though, I can’t help but feel like we’d be better off not knowing.