This fucking show. So much of what happened in this episode I didn't see coming. And whilst I do have a theory on things we may see in the finale, I’m still not 100% sure of where this story is ultimately going to go, aside from Sylvie getting a new outfit and becoming the fully fledged Enchantress, and that maybe Loki is the final boss waiting in that castle.
When we realised that pruning doesn’t mean death and that everything which is pruned gets transported somewhere, I did have a theory as to why, and it being linked to a notion that wiping huge amounts of matter out of existence just isn’t possible without some Aladdin’s lamp type shit like the Infinity gauntlet to wish it away. And that’s exactly what the case was according to Gugu Renslayer, who clearly knew all along that pruning did not mean death. I didn’t think that Loki would touch on this, because Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D had already dealt with the concept of matter not being able to be destroyed, only transferred - and we know how Kevin Feige hates that show. But, it’s the case here. Everything pruned is sent to the void, a place beyond time where things that created nexus events can’t grow and can’t branch anything.The Void is pretty much the MCU’s equivalent of the phantom zone from Superman, which just so happens to look like the world in The Last of Us. Initially I thought ‘This has to be a place that the MCU will use again’, because how will a void existing outside of time not be a useful place to throw some misbehaving bitches? But I guess this depends on how the Loki show ends.
The void also happens to have some giant cloud monster that eats stuff. So if the rough living in the void doesn’t kill you, then the death cloud will. The death cloud is called Alioth, but we could also just call it COVID, and call The Void 2020.
Based on what we can deduce from episode 5, there is only one Void. Which means everybody who got pruned ends up in it. But whether the show will acknowledge the status of everybody who got pruned remains to be seen. We got the status of the one character that we cared about, Mobius - and that’s probably all anybody cares about. Fuck Hunter C-20. But given that we’ve seen several Minutemen and Hunters get pruned, it raises a question for me of what must be going through their minds when they awaken in the Void. Loki was greeted by Loki who explained everything. Mobius was already told the TVA was a lie prior to being pruned, and he’s smart enough to figure shit out and put things together. And Sylvie was told by Gugu Renslayer that pruning just transfers you somewhere. So I do wonder if the Minutemen who were pruned will play some small role in the finale. In fact, I wonder if there will be any form of rescue effort for everybody who was pruned.
Loki is the only show we’ve gotten thus far which has not mentioned the blip or shown any form of event which seems to have been affected by it. But there’s still a potential narrative of displacement. Episode 5 shows us that there are mainly Loki in the void, and of course the two main characters who are central to the story end up there. But we obviously know there have to be other people there too.My bet is that the TVA won’t be completely burned to the ground. And that either Mobius or Loki, or both will head it up, repurpose it, and run it differently. And that there will be an effort to rescue everybody from The Void, or turn it into a more hospitable place for those who unfairly sent there. Although how to govern The Void sounds like a bureaucratic and political nightmare.
We’re in the Endgame now y’all. And a question is still who the hell is behind the TVA? The most popular fan theory is Kang the Conqueror. Some are comparing him to being the Mephisto of Loki, after the wild goose chase that occurred in WandaVision. I get why, because we’ve had nothing concrete to confirm his hand in ANYTHING. Only things which could be deemed nods. But the different that makes the appearance of Kang far more plausible than Mephisto, is that Kang has been confirmed to be appearing in the MCU, has already been cast and has already been billed as the main villain in the third Ant-Man movie, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, a story which will inevitably deal with time. BUT. Kang still may not be the main villain of Loki. And I’mma tell you why. Whilst Kang being behind the TVA would make sense to those of us who know of the character and all of the aforementioned; it wouldn’t make sense to anybody that doesn’t know the character, unless the show does a stand up job of contextualising him and his motives in one episode. There also hasn’t been anything solid or tangible enough that we could say is a definitive piece of confirmation that Kang is the final boss waiting in that castle at the end of time.
But the BIGGEST reason as to why I don’t think the final boss in Loki is Kang is Marvel Studios’ track record. Going off of the Marvel Studios shows and movies we’ve gotten thus far, the main villain is usually always a character who has had a presence all along - and we know Marvel Studios loves a formula. This show is also about Loki and him growing and changing into a better person. Him walking into a castle and beating up Kang would be so meaningless. There’d be a payoff for fans on the Kang train at him actually turning up in this thing, but there’d be no character payoff for Loki or Sylvie for that matter. How would Loki facing off with Kang serve his growth of character? We have to remember that whilst the TVA is a key part of this story, it’s not the sole focus of it. The narrative endgame isn’t just to find who is behind the TVA, but to have Loki discover his glorious purpose. So for this reason, I’m putting chips on the table that the main villain is either a Loki variant or Miss Minutes.
Yes. The little orange holographic bitch.
But seriously. A Loki variant would make sense, because it’s the one thing that would throw Loki and Sylvie off the most. Making them question everything they thought they knew about themselves and the other Loki variants, but most importantly each other. This entire episode was like Loki meeting his ghosts of Christmas past and future, both of whom help him. A past variant of himself hands him a weapon. A future variant of himself teaches him the power of magic. In keeping with the theme of time, past, present and future, who better to be the final boss waiting for Loki at the end of time other than Loki. After all, this entire show has been centred on Loki variants.
And going back to the Marvel Studios formula, the big bads that we’ve gotten in shows and films thus far have all been somebody who is a manifestation of the hero had they gone down a completely different path. Which is why I feel even more strongly that Loki will be waiting for Loki in that castle and not Kang.
The more I think about things the show has addressed, the more I convince myself Loki is the final boss. The fact that the TVA seems hellbent on snatching Loki from the timelines. Sif telling Loki that he will always be alone. Mobius breaking it down that Loki only exists to make others become heroes; a possible nod to an evil Loki prompting our Loki to become a hero himself. Us being introduced to so many different Loki variants in this episode. The setup of how powerful the magic of a Loki can be - something which came to a head with Richard E. Loki, but something we’ve seen throughout the show. That the TVA even went as far as pruning a damn Loki-gator!? The TVA was clearly always serving the benefits of one person, but we thought it was a case of keeping one timeline, and that anybody and anyone could be snatched for any old reason in order to maintain it. But it seems that one purpose of the TVA has always been to specifically hunt Loki. Mobius has even quipped that it’s all he seems to do and that Loki are the most hunted variants at the TVA. The show initially tried to fake us out and set up that the villain was a Loki variant, just for it to be Sylvie and for us to realise she’s not a villain. But what if the villain still legitimately is a Loki variant? Mobius used a Loki to track another Loki variant. A variant who then discovers how to track who could be behind all this mess...another Loki variant. Possibly an OG Loki. Maybe even married evil variants of Loki and Sylvie.I could be completely off. It’s easy to convince yourself of anything. Although as of now, I’m sold on my Loki as the final boss theory.
But we will absolutely get a nod to Kang, or some ‘I’m sorry Loki, but the main Time Keeper is in another castle’ type bullshit. Because I don’t think a Loki variant is behind everything, and that there is definitely somebody else pulling the strings. But he will be who Loki and Sylvie will have to face down in the castle.
A common thing WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was that certain moments during the wrap up episodes felt a little cheap in typical Marvel fashion. But nothing about this episode felt that way to me. So many big strides and swings were made in this episode, and everything tied together so beautifully to such a point where I’d say this episode might be up there as one of the MCU’s best moments. From front to back, this episode was fucking fantastic.The ONLY negative thing I have to say about this episode is that it highlighted that maybe we should have gotten an extra episode or two.
Loki and Mobius. Loki and Sylvie. Whilst I’m sold on these pairings and their closeness because of how well it was played and set up, I do feel that giving us an extra episode showing us more of the growing bond between Loki and Mobius, and another episode fleshing out more of Loki and Sylvie burgeoning romance would have made a couple of the moments in this episode hit that much harder. Loki and Mobius hugging, and Loki calling him his friend made my eyes water as it was. But I wanted to be a full on mess and have a breakdown.
Whilst we were all sold on Loki and Mobius from the start, they didn’t spend THAT much time together. This is me being a fussy bitch. But these are two things the show handled with brevity that I would have liked more time being spent on. Especially when you consider the time frame of the story, with all of what happened over the past 3 episodes happening within the space of mere days. Maybe even the same damn day.
Romance is the one thing (amongst others) that the MCU hasn’t done a great job of outside of Tony and Pepper. Wanda and Vision’s whole love story felt rushed and came out of nowhere, and was only given weight and credence in WandaVision. I never gave a damn about Steve and Peggy. Natasha and Bruce was dumb. T’Challa and Nakia was...whatever. Loki and Sylvie met each other for 30 minutes and already they’re falling in love!? Loki falling in love with a variant of themselves is so damn Loki. But I wish we had more time for this to really marinate, and to allow us as the audience to genuinely fall in love with Sylvie. I feel that fans were ready to ship Loki and Sylvie from the jump out of how much they love Loki, more than liking Sylvie and thinking she’s a great match. I guess things balanced out in the end though. Because I highly suspect that those who weren’t sold on Sylvie prior are probably digging the character as a result of this episode, where she’s not only a badass, but shows a softness and vulnerability which makes her far more endearing, and we see that she really does care about Loki a great deal.
But I do wish Marvel Studios didn’t always expedite love stories and romances. It’s possible for somebody to fall in love quickly. Gays get some good Griondr dick and swear they in love. Lesbians go on one date and are claiming wifey. Ariana Grande knew that SNL guy 5 minutes and was talkin’ ‘bout marriage. A slow burn romance over a couple of episodes would’ve been nice. But I do like that even Loki gets to fall in love and have a bit of a romance. Fuck knows how it’s gonna end though. One thing is for sure though. Sylvie is getting a new outfit.
But the strength of the writing of these characters and the performances is what sells these relationships regardless, even with such a short amount of time dedicated to them. And this is no more evident than with Richard E. Loki. This dude is in one episode for all of 15 minutes, and yet you end up falling for the guy, just for him to make the ultimate sacrifice at the end of the episode and for it to punch you in the gut when it happens. This could well be a sign of what to expect in the finale. I get this horrible feeling that we’re gonna lose somebody, and that it could be our Loki.
Everything about this show and also the last two Marvel shows seems to be setting up this idea of legacy and mantles being passed on. The Scarlet Witch being an entity. Captain America not being one sole person, but an ideology and a set of values. Loki having countless variants. And we could even throw Black Widow into the mix. Because the Black Widow we know isn’t the only Widow. Then we look at Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Marvels (aka Captain Marvel 2), She-Hulk, Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania bringing in Scott Lang’s daughter who will finally suit up. This whole notion of legacy seems to be a bit of a cornerstone of phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Tom Hiddleston is so damn good in this show. And given that news is abound that there’ll be a second of Loki, I really hope this Loki we’ve grown to adore doesn’t die. But I wouldn’t rule it out.
I’m mentally and emotionally preparing myself right-the-fuck now.
Loki has gone from strength to strength, every episode. So whilst I’m confident about the finale, I’m also a little apprehensive. Not only because we’ve gotten two Marvel shows where the finale’s devolved what were great shows into typical MCU showdowns, spectacles for the sake of spectacles, and some slight narrative and tonal undoing's of what the shows had been building towards - but because episode 4 was so fucking grand in scale and so damn cinematic that I can’t imagine what episode 5 is going to have to do to top it. The scale and the stakes of the last 5 minutes of this episode were fucking incredible. The score. The VFX. Everything. It was movie level. Even coming off of a show like The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which had a couple of ‘Shit, this is movie level’ set pieces. The last 5 minutes of episode 5 blew The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s opening sky mission scene out of the water. And the VFX and cinematography absolutely shat on the mess that was the WandaVision finale. Everything about this episode was off the charts, and the sign it was gonna send our wigs into the void shoulda been that cool ass opening shot with the camera turning and shots transitioning from location to location.Run this show some awards for production, score and cinematography.
I’ve already planned to buy myself some Ben’s cookies for the finale and to order in a pizza for the weekend of the week of the finale. Comfort eating ‘bout to fill my own personal void of no more Loki episodes.Glorious depression.
📒 My episode notes
- Give Natalie Holt a fucking Grammy or something.
- When Richard E. Loki remade Asgard, my wig got sucked into the Bifrost.
- Mobius pizza truck also had a hula girl on the dash. Just as the funnel cake van did in WandaVision.
- Daisy in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D also had a hula girl in her van. What is this!?
- Gugu Renslayer and Miss Minutes can go fuck themselves.
- Natalie Holt 'bout to be BOOKED.