#and redemption for Sylvie

[art-ro-vert]

Took me 11 hours, so reblogs are welcomed 😅

Backstory: my favorite head canon is that after Loki is gone Sylvie and Mobius become close. She notices how deeply Mobius grieves and feels responsible for what happened, so she tries to be there for him so he does not feel so alone.

Mobius is having a severe panic attack, he uses the time door to Sylvie, cuz she is the only one who knows how extremely bad he is taking the loss 🥲

❓So, do we feel bad for Mobius or for Sylvie’s wasted dinner? 😅

[here-on-occasion]

loki and sylvie are a particularly interesting dynamic to me coz someone could be like "they're the same" and i'm like no you don't get it, but someone else could be like "they're different" and i'm like no you don't get it

[musclesandhammering]

I know this is such an unpopular opinion but like…….. X-5 needs to be a part of the team. He’s such an asshole and a little shit and all he rly wanted was freedom, and I know if he wasn’t hiding information from them, he and Loki would get along so well.

[seiya-starsniper]

My baby is literally the tree of yggdrasil, the god of stories, the most powerful being in the whole damn MCU and you're telling me he doesn't get VISITATION RIGHTS??????

[alyceinwonderland777]

"Hey Lord, you know I'm trying." 💔

I don't know what you think, but in the second season of "Loki" I would love to see Ravonna redeem herself and do everything to give Sylvie back the life she and TVA prevented her from living.

Ravonna is a beautiful character and I hope that, in addition to redeeming her, Marvel will delve into who she was before TVA captured her and gave her the identity of Ravonna Renslayer.

The only thing we know about her is that her real name is Rebecca Tourminet and that she was the principal of a high school.

[purplehalnw]

That whole ending with Loki holding all of the timelines together for eternity... I read another post where someone said that ending didn't feel right because Loki didn't cause any of this shit, he shouldn't be the one who has to sacrifice himself to solve these problems that aren't even his fault.

And yeah honestly they should've had He Who Remains be forced to hold these timelines together as punishment or something or maybe have Mobius or any one of the TVA workers do this as a way to make up for all the horrible shit they did.

But nope we get this ending that's supposed to be "tragic" and serve as a form of "redemption" but doesn't because the writers have made it very clear that they have no understanding of Loki's character or how to write a decent story in general.

Edit: I see y'all mentioning Sylvie and I think I must've purged my memory of her when writing this post. Hell yeah she should be the one fixing this shit considering it was her recklessness that started it in the first place. But no I guess Loki lOvEs her now even though she's been nothing but an asshole for this entire fucking show.

[lokiondisneyplus]

Loki season two seemed like a conclusion to an engaging character arc of one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) original villains. It capped a redemption arc where the titular character finally achieved what he’s been looking for all this time, but with a twist. At PaleyFest 2024, attendees watched a screening of the season finale followed by a panel featuring the cast and creatives. Stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, and executive producer and writer Eric Martin and executive producers and directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead looked back at the Disney+ series.

Many anecdotes where shared including the previously reported stories of Di Martino’s special Sylvie costume that allowed easy access for feeding and pumping while filming season one. The actress used the same costume the next season because she had recently given birth again. Di Martino also retold the origins of her character working at McDonald’s in season two. When producers asked where she saw Sylvie next, she responded about fancying a burger.

Hiddleston then talked about which characters he studied while developing Loki. It’s no surprise that he drew inspiration from some well known villains including Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber from Die Hard, Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Batman, and James Mason’s Phillip Vanddamm from North by Northwest. Much like Loki, all there were focused on control and revenge. 

In the season finale, Loki realizes what he must do in order to save his friends. Hiddleston also shared how he got into the right mindset to film his awe inspiring scene where he finds his Glorious Purpose. He went back and watched the God of Mischief’s journey throughout the MCU.

“The experience of watching it reminded me that these are not just scenes I played, but they are all chapters of my own life. It reminded me of the friendships I made and the experiences I had in different parts of the world. I was filled with such gratitude for the whole of it, for the journey.” Hiddleston continued, “I realized that in this moment, Loki is redefining his Glorious Purpose and he’s discovered it because he’s found friends that he loves and wants to care for. Loki is doing it for his friends and the people he loves. And I thought to myself, well, Tom. Do it for your friends and the people you love.”

We’ve already heard of costume designer, Christine Wada, and her magic with Sylvie’s outfit. Hiddleston discussed Wada’s approach to the final God Loki look we see in the finale. 

“It would be distinctly different from everything that had come before. All the other costumes in the MCU are elaborate and armored and detailed with embellishment almost as an expression of who he wants to project in the world. This is more humble and almost monastic. Yes, in a way he’s a king finally ascending the throne. Perhaps he’s more like a monk at the end of time. Something monastic and humble about it.”

During Loki’s moment of self sacrifice to repair the Loom, we see him grasping the various thread-like timelines and weaving them together. It’s as if he is turning these “burdens” and wrapping himself with them. Moorhead shared some insight into the scene itself.

“Loki is learning the importance of the connection between people so it’s a visual metaphor of course for the things that are most important to him, which is connection to the people at the TVA, his friends and all that. Something he didn’t have coming into season one… He’s becoming the Loom by the end of it and so we should have him physically start to become the Loom when he gets into this very humble looking God Loki.”

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Analyzing Loki's Love Interests (Canon and Foreshadowed and Not-So-Canon)

As always, spoilers for Loki, a multitude of comics, and the MCU. I'm focusing on primarily canon love interests and implied to potentially become canon love interests, with one glaring exception because I think they deserve to be included here.

Women Love Interests

Amora: leads Loki on and then betrays him (Where Mischief Lies)

Lorelei: betrays Loki in Agent of Asgard at least twice (and she's made appearances as Loki's love interest in other comics, too, but none that I've read). It should also probably be noted that Amora and Lorelei are sisters and both have also dated Thor in other comics.

Wanda: brief but a bit of a lead-on in Scarlet Witch 8. I wouldn't say she betrayed him, though.

Leah: they're children, mostly, so there's not explicitly romantic scenes. But Kid Loki is the reincarnation of his previous self, and Leah is a clone of Hela (which makes things weird, since Hela is inconsistently acknowledged to be Loki's daughter in the comics). Leah essentially betrays him, too. (Journey into Mystery)

Sylvie: Of course, she betrays Loki at the end of season one. On the one hand, it may be worse, because unlike all but Lorelei (of the comics I know), she led him on to the point of actually kissing him. Now, I will concede that she doesn't actually lead him on throughout the show (by my definition at least), so in this, she's certainly better than Amora or Leah. I think a few times she tried letting him down gently. But if you only look at the point of betrayal, I believe she and Lorelei are the only ones who kissed him, though Amora may have, too.

Men Love Interests

Theo: The only canon male love interest on the list; trusts Loki, believes he's better than the stories say, sympathizes with him and his feelings of being outcasted. He's courageous and determined and snarky, but with Loki he's ultimately soft.

Mobius: He knows Loki, from an academic standpoint, probably better than anyone. And then he gets to know Loki off paper, so to speak, and it rewrites everything he thought he understood, about this specific person, about himself, about reality itself. But his compassion remains, his kindness remains, and he directs it toward Loki when he needs it most. And he discovers he believes in Loki, and his potential, and his ability to dismantle everything everyone expects of him, at a moment when Loki's not even sure he believes in himself. And the trailer for season two means one of two things: One, if the Mobius from the finale is not our Mobius, then Mobius very quickly moves heaven and earth (or rather, alternate timelines) to get to his Loki. Or two, if the Mobius from the finale is a memory-wiped Mobius, then even when he doesn't know Loki, he's still determined to help him. (Or Loki was able to restore his memories, but even in the finale we can still see this care Mobius takes with a frightened stranger.)

Thor: I think the way Thor feels for Loki is clear (whether you interpret it as brotherly alone or romantic). In Ragnarok, you have his line "I thought the world of you." And you have the many times in the comics Thor claims him as his own. "You are my brother, and I love you." In Original Sin, it's so interesting to hear their language very subtly cause a conflict between them. When referring to Angela, Thor always says "our sister" and Loki always says "your sister." To the point that Thor actually calls him out on it once, though I don't think Loki really addresses it. And I think Loki's wording is an attempt more to distance himself from Odin and all the shit he caused, and now Freyja, too, after the betrayal of the All-Mother in securing Old Loki's promised future at the cost of Loki's penance and redemption. And then you have that moment in King Thor, my favorite comic panel, when the Necrosword is swallowing them in darkness and in the very last moment they reach for each other. Because Thor will never give up on Loki. And, try as he might, Loki cannot hate Thor. Not permanently.

I feel like Loki's writers, when they give him these women lovers, almost do it to spite him. They think this is the only type of woman to catch Loki's attention and that haha, Loki's been outmatched by a girl (if misogynist) or diva (if they worship the ground this woman walks on). This idea that the only interesting or believable romantic subplot for Loki is with a woman who will ultimately turn on him. Once again, in all aspects of his narrative, Loki's stuck doing the same thing over and over again. Except this seems like the one thing all writers are willing to let him keep up the cycle, and be seemingly okay with upholding the cycle.

In the case of canon, an argument could be made about this kind of woman (and all of these women are very different except in that they betray him eventually) being Loki's type. There's a rather sick sense of irony in being aware of the narrative, yet being so attracted to a certain quality that he keeps sowing the seeds of his own destruction even in knowing how it's going to end.

Of course, like I've said, this doesn't mean Loki can't love a woman. This doesn't mean I don't want Loki to ever have a girlfriend. I just want Loki to have a love interest for once who isn't going to hurt him before the novel or issue or season ends. I don't even care what gender they are. I just want him to be loved. Because he keeps insisting that he isn't and that he's incapable of it. And I'm tired of that story. And I think he might be, too.

[mysticcollectionbee]

Loki Season 2 Ep. 1 Thoughts:

(Heavy Spoilers)

Ok so I have a lot of thoughts and are basically all over the place so I'm gonna be putting in them in somewhat chronological order (Unlike Loki's current situation hehe)

They really HAD to put more of Loki's heartbreak over Mobius not recognizing him? Loki creators probably: "I know we're gonna bring the duo back but let's make 'em suffer just a bit more in the beginning".

I know others have covered this but also want to spread this headcanon/theory: Even though past Mobius doesn't know Loki ,and probably got his memory erased afterwards, It's still an interesting theory that maybe his interactions with Loki then might have somehow stuck with him and made him want to look into Loki a bit later.

Miss Minutes is with Ravonna right? I feel likeMinutes is probably the only tool/weapon that might give the former judge some leverage.

Casey! Casey not just being a comedic guy but actually a massive help is really nice. He (Present Casey) immediately saw Loki in pain/trouble and decided to help him without much question.

So...X-5 and D-90 weren't what I was expecting, they're kinda switched actually from what I was expecting. I thought X-5 would be a friend to Mobius and kinda con-artist and D-90 was a massive jerk who would side with Ravonna...But hey, I'm all for D-90's redemption.

New Judge is great. Screw Ravonna!...Where's Ravonna?

Apparently she was in on HWR's plan from the beginning...Guess she is a big bad after all. Also, why was she so great to HWR? Like in the comics they were couple but things seem to have taken a different turn in the MCU.

Look, I get it if you don't ship Lokius but...You have to admit was really nice to see Loki get some support from Mobius (And B-15, don't forget her stopping Ass-5) and then Mobius trying to calm/ground Loki while the poor dude is really going through it. AND even later, Loki and Mobius trying to make the other calm down and not to worry about their problems.

IF you do ship Lokius. We're either getting fed well or being clowned upon. Either way, let me just enjoy these two for a bit.

Why has no one talked about the weird fact that O.B.'s memory doesn't seem to have been erased but Mobius' has? Also, is O.B. like a TVA secret? Why the hell is no one in the TVA visiting him! How is he able to keep track of time in the TVA?!

Ok so that guidebook O.B. made, Loki still has it right? Like in a trailer clip he is flipping through an orange book, that's the guidebook right?

I love how Mobius is still thinking about whether he'll lose his skin or not till the very last minute lol. We know he's always was gonna pick saving Loki no matter what, but you'd totally still be worried about the skin thing.

I think Loki was pruned by either Future Sylvie or Future Loki. I think Future Loki and Sylvie came up with a plan to make sure Present Loki got pruned and survived. Also...Sylvie growing out her hair to have 50/50 hair colors is making me more of Bi idiot than usual.

While I enjoy the comparison to the Sam/Bucky roll to Lokius I think there is a key difference: FaTWS played this for comedy while this was played for relief that the characters are ok. And Sam immediately told bucky to get off while Loki probably just thought Mobius's suit was too heavy. (Yes, I'm wearing clown makeup, what about it.)

Finally, And I know how controversial this is: I don't think Loki is looking for Sylvie for romantic reason (OR more accurately, not the sole reason). She is literally about to be hunted down and probably killed and was the last one to see what happened in the Citadel. Even if he did feel betrayed by her, he still would probably want to save her.

[lokiinmediasideblog]

One thing I've noticed abt Marvel iterations of Loki is that he has a toxic masculinity problem, but it's only when he's on the evil side of the scale. There are good guy characters who have toxic masculinity because the writers don't see it for what it is or they intend it to be a deliberate flaw in an otherwise good person, but with Loki his ability to respect women seem to be aligned with his general sense of morality. He calls Black Widow a gendered slur and underestimates her for being an emotional woman, but when he's abducted by TVA and has his redemption through watching a video he never disrespects women again and treats Sylvie decently even when she's openly antagonistic toward him. Same with the comics. Old Loki used to treat women like complete garbage, but his reincarnation made him suddenly drink respect women juice even toward ladies who are antagonistic to him or treat him unfairly, like the AllMother, whose authority he respects even while they openly blackmail him. I think it's interesting to see how Loki's dynamics with women are a measure of his current character.

On comics!Loki pre-reincarnation:

There's also the shift that he has more allies/acquaintances who are women now.

Before he had more women as acquaintances/allies, there was pretty much just Amora and Lorelei to a lesser extent. Him and Amora have an interesting dynamic in that he was the only man in Asgard on whom her wiles and enchantments didn't work (in the disparaging "not man enough" typical bs of earlier Marvel).

To me, Loki gave internalized repressed/closeted vibes back then. And Thor is an ideal that he can't reach and is constantly defeated by (And it's why I extremely dislike "Asgard is a socially progressive utopia and not a very toxic patriarchy" retcons). Asgard's cyclical nature is a metaphor for generational divides and cycles of abuse.

I (personally) interpret Loki's reincarnation as a last-ditch effort to escape his oppressive environment and Loki has to constantly fight an uphill battle to not get dragged back into it because everyone's trying to put him back in his former role or box. And as Ikol, they've managed to discover more about themselves, become a better person, and are doing somewhat better (still very traumatized tho).

On MCU!Loki:

I think it's a mix of Loki being the dark horse of the MCU (can't have the such a popular character saying those terrible things), Loki playing up his villain role to be taken more seriously, and things that were ok to show in 2012 are not okay anymore (and I remember a lot of criticism for that scene back then while a lot of people laughed about getting that past censors).

For example, Peter Parker is casually homophobic in the Sam Raimi movies. Tony Stark makes transphobic jokes in Iron Man (And that movie is an example of islamophobic white saviorism). And queue my annoyance with early 2010s badly written think-piece's fixation on Loki as a "character you should not like. you impressionable teen girl! you're going to get into abusive relationships!" when those exist...

Seriously, I'd be significantly less of a Loki fandom-wanker if it weren't for my exposure to the beginnings of "liking evil characters leads to DV irl" 2010s thinking in fandom and its over-focus on Loki.

Past the Doylist explanations, Loki's instances of toxic masculinity could be characterized as Loki playing up his villainy to seem more threatening. The two instances, he is trying to get a rise out of his opponent (e.g. Threatening to harm Jane to get Thor to fight him, calling Natasha a mewling quim). Outside his short villain career, he doesn't have such incidents (and I was surprised to see that he risked his life for Jane in T:TDW ).

[youlackconviction]

The second season of the Loki show was just as terrible as the first season. (Spoilers ahead)

Loki says he attacked New York because he was angry and having a bad day. Which is so wrong and insulting to his character. Maybe he was joking, but instead of that, couldn't they just address the fact that he was under the influence of the mind-stone? Or the fact that he was tortured by Thanos? They don't even talk about his Jotun heritage. I hated it so much.

Also, it is never explained how Loki gets the time-slipping powers. Apparently, Sylvie kicking him through the door at the end of time in previous season gives him that power here. But that's just a fan-theory. It's never explained in show how he got those new powers. And Sylvie or Ravonna don't get those powers despite going from end of time to other places too. It's a plot-hole ridden mess. (Also instead of giving Loki completely ooc powers, couldn't they just focus more on his powers which were already shown in the movies? Or powers which he has in the comics?)

And okay, I am glad that Loki is saving everyone. He has always been heroic, so it's not a surprise that he sacrificed his freedom to spend an eternity in loneliness just to protect the timelines. But what I do have a problem with is, that his primary motivation for saving the timelines comes from wanting to protect TVA. He only cares about his 'friends' over there. He comes across as a fascist in the show and that's disgusting and ooc. I would have preferred if his motivation was to save everyone in the prime timeline, especially Thor. But that's not the case here.

Also, why does he need preachings from Sylvie and Mobius about what he should be doing? He should have come to his own conclusion about wanting to protect the timelines and freewill. Why did he need to talk with Mobius and Sylvie to realise that? It's as if he literally did not care about freewill and only changed his mind when Sylvie talked him out of it.

And he needed centuries of time to understand how time worked and how the machine made by O.B. worked. Loki is a genius in the comics. He shouldn't need so much time to understand something. The show keeps trying to make him dumb.

His friendship with B-15 was non-existent since they almost never talked. They needed more interactions. Ravonna and Miss Minutes were written so terribly, and their plotline was just ignored in the end. And don't even get me started on that Brad guy. What was even the point of his character?? And Loki torturing him (despite having gone through torture himself) was horrible and ooc to watch.

Also, TVA people kill thousands of timelines and an uncountable number of people. Yet they get redemption. But poor Loki gets villainized.

Sorry for the rant. I hate that show so much. The only good thing they did was toning down the Sylki romance, then again there wasn't any romance there to begin with lol, since she always just hated him. And Loki's friendship with Mobius was downright disgusting. I hated all of it.

i've not managed to bring myself to watch that shitshow yet. i still plan to but not with any hope of enjoyment.

thought others might appreciate your summary - thank you for providing it! you are doing valuable work, probably saving others from the torture.

[themountainsays]

It looks like the writers at Loki decided to undo all the romance, prune sylki from the timeline, srly if you don't watch season 1 you can't even tell they had something going on once. More surprising is that Loki doesn't care at all when Sylvie kissed him like, 3 days ago. He just forgot.

And I think that's bad writing because... as Brandon Sanderson puts it, stories make promises, for example, "this will be a love story", "this will be a coming of age story", "this is going to be a vampire story". If you set up a story as a vampire story but then only focus on the werewolves, even if most of it is good, it's inevitably going to feel like nothing is happening and there was no story, because in the first two or three chapters, you sold your story as a vampire story, even if you thought you were writing a werewolf story, and the readers will think they're reading a vampire story in which it just takes ages for the vampire part to actually start, and then it never arrives, and they didn't even enjoy the werewolf story because it felt like useless filler taking up the space meant to be for vampires. And it just feels like nothing ever happens.

In this case, Sylki is vampires and the temporal loom plotline is werewolf. Not only is it uninteresting, but it also just feels like the writers did a 180 and decided to take the show on a completely different direction out of nowhere. And if you're going to not fulfill your narrative promises, then you need to deliver something BETTER than what you promised - and Loki did that! In the first season. It set it up as a story about Loki playing cat and mouse with another Loki, which is cool and interesting, but then, Loki and the other Loki fell in love! Add drama, add character, add emotion and growth, and THEN it becomes even better, to the point you forget you ever wanted Loki trying to arrest another Loki in the first place.

But this season does the complete opposite. The temporal loom has no character, no personality, no emotion and no growth. The characters in the crew are either underdeveloped, have underdeveloped relationships with each other, or both. So when the writers want us to believe Loki's true motivation is to keep his friends close because he discovered the power of friendship, we don't buy it. I could buy Loki and Sylvie loving each other if the writers put a little bit more effort. I can buy Loki and Mobius being... coworkers who get along and work well together, they may even be friends if they talked about their feelings a bit more. The rest? I can barely remember their names or any significant conversation they had with Loki that wasn't about saving a soulless, empty, narratively useless temporal loom. This show became less about Loki and his loved ones, and more about a machine they need to fix. That's all everyone does all the time. And the one time Loki talks about his feelings... I'm not even gonna say it's ridiculous that he says he wants his friends, or that he suddenly cares about the TVA, "savings things", order or what have you, as if he hadn't tried to destroy New York like 2 weeks ago. Because ANYTHING he could have said would have been ridiculous. Be it love, friendship, redemption, duty, basic decency, power, ego or anything else, had NOT been set up at all during this season. The only thing they had going on, maybe, is some love for Sylvie as a leftover from last season, and even then it'd be shaky because Loki and Sylvie haven't shared an atom of affection at all since this season started, and even THAT would feel forced at this point.

I'm really disappointed in this season, I really loved the first one, I loved sylki and the sylki fandom, I'll still watch the last episode, but I'm pretty sad this is what we get in the end. A non-ending to an abandoned story about Loki, Sylvie, free will, chaos and identity, forever without conclussion, with only a storyline about a broken machine to call a continuation, a Loki whose only ACTUAL motivation is "Save the TVA or everything gets destroyed", but says he's only doing this for the power of friendship... without forming any friendships along the way.

What I would have done instead would be to amp up the character tension - remember that storyline about Loki chasing around another Loki? Bring it back. Make Loki and Sylvie "enemiss", with an obvious sexual tension, maybe, or make him desperately look for her as a villanous outcast on the run, just give some texture, some meat, anything at all to their relationship. And give Loki an actual motivation. Erase the temporal loom storyline. Keep He Who Remains as the main antagonistic force. Make it opposing him something... optional. Something Loki is either choosing to do or choosing not to, because if it's something he HAS to do or else the world ends, he necessarily would need to potpone any real desires of his, and that's not an interesting story. Whether he fights HWR or not, it has to be because it connects to something he actually, really wants. Because this show isn't fooling anyone. Loki doesn't care about the power of friendship. He just has to "save the TVA or everything gets destroyed". If he was only in it because he wanted friends, he would have actually befriended someone along the way, and not just pulled around coworkers to help him fix a broken end-of-the-world machine they had to help fix anyway.

[musclesandhammering]

Me: Loki’s had such a sad life, he deserves to be loved.

Person: That’s ok, he’s got Sylvie now 🥹✨💕

Me: 😒🙄

Other Person: That’s ok, he’s got Mobius now 🥹✨💕

Me: 😒🙄

Person 3: That’s ok, he’s got a new family now 🥹

Me: 🥹🥹🥹

[twh-news]

Tom Hiddleston Gave Us Clarity For His Comments About Concluding Loki's Journey, And Addressed Whether He'd Return To The MCU

Major spoilers for the Season 2 finale of Loki, “Glorious Purpose” lie ahead.

Viewers were graced with a truly wacky and emotional Loki Season 2 finale last week. The installment proved not only saw the titular character not only save his friends at the Time Variance Authority but also obtain that glorious purpose he’d long been searching for. Tom Hiddleston – the man who has brilliantly brought this character to life – recently made headlines when he said he viewed the episode as the conclusion of his journey as the character. However, he provided CinemaBlend with some clarity on those comments while addressing whether he’d be open to returning for upcoming Marvel movies or shows.

During the final moments of the finale, the former Asgardian mischief-maker managed to save all of reality by destroying the Time Loom at the TVA and revitalizing the dying timeline branches. With that, he took his place as the God of Stories at the End of Time, where he’ll now watch over all the various branches. Such a development feels like a fitting conclusion, so one can understand why Tom Hiddleston would refer to it as such. However, when I spoke to the actor, he wanted to set the record straight on that:

Well, yes, I suppose what I meant… Perhaps what I should clarify is that I feel very satisfied with the finale of Season 2, because it seems to contain echoes and resonances of the entire journey. It's almost like a piece of music, where in that last episode, you hear strains of, you know, whether it's in lines of dialogue, we are circling the same themes that I've always circled with Loki. But he's a character who is engaged with ideas of belonging, ideas of identity, ideas of purpose. That's who he was at the very foot at the beginning in the first Thor film, wondering where he belonged, which family he belonged to, wondering what his role was in all of this. Thor was destined to be king of Asgard. And who am I? Who is Loki? And I've been asking that question the whole way. Like, who does Loki think he is? Who's he think he is, and who is he really? And then through the series, in Season 1 and Season 2, I think the confrontation with Mobius and the mirror of Sylvie is another excavation, we go deeper into those ideas.

This is a very interesting take and one that is completely understandable. His sentiments on ending his journey were more based on the sheer feeling of satisfaction he feels over his character’s current position. I feel the same way, especially given the points the actor so eloquently mentioned during our conversation. The show (which is available for Disney+ subscribers) does indeed maintain the themes of identity and self-worth that have been synonymous with the antihero since his introduction in 2011’s Thor. So if this is his swan song, that’s surely one heck of a way to go out.

With that being said, there are still MCU productions on the docket that could serve as prime places for the character to return. (Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars come to mind, immediately.) Tom Hiddleston went on to tell me that he appreciates the “poetic” nature of the 2023 TV schedule entry's Season 2 finale, yet it sounds like he can’t say for sure that he won’t reprise his famous role again at some point:

So the end of this was just, it felt like a poetic redemption like the end of a piece of music, but I don't know if it's… I mean, I've made the mistake before of saying goodbye and saying goodbye to this great team at Marvel. And it's been emotional, and we swap notes and [they’re] saying, ‘Look, we'll love you. You’re always part of the family. Come see us anytime.’ And then the phone rings a year later. So I'm keeping an open heart and an open mind.

It’s definitely true that this isn’t the first time fans have been under the impression that the former Tesseract wielder has reached the end of the road. He was meant to be killed off in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, and it seemed almost certain he was done after his death at Thanos’ hands in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. So in short, you really can’t keep a good Loki down, and I’m eager to see whether Tom Hiddleston dons those golden horns again one day.

[shiningshenanigans]

Thoughts on Loki S2E3!

Henceforth and forevermore, Loki and Mobius shall be known as “The Wizard Gentleman and His Butler”

This whole episode had such an interesting vibe. I loved the way they utilized the film/storytelling styles of the time period, with all the melodramatic acting and ragtime score. But, it was also just so different, it took me out of the story at times. I really like it when the show feels grand and ethereal and sci-fi-ish. Still feel like we’re missing some of that this season, but the tonal shifts were a cool storytelling tool nonetheless.

We don’t talk about Mobius and Ravonna enough. Their relationship fascinates me. I love how patient he is with her, how much he genuinely wants her back on his side. The parallels between them and Loki/Sylvie seem very intentional this season. (Ps. I may or may not have a theory that they were married on the timeline, and one or both of their nexus events involved Ravonna leaving him for a Kang Variant. Has anyone theorized about this before and I’m just completely late to the game, or…? Guess we’ll find out soon enough?)

I don’t know how much more of Loki and Sylvie fighting I can take. 😭They’re struggling! They need each other! They both think the other doesn’t care about them anymore and they can’t get a moment to talk about it because the universe is melting! Please, Marvel, just LET THEM REST!!! 😭😭😭

All that said, I am SO👏PROUD👏of my girl Sylvie for starting to recognize that her bloodlust is killing her from the inside out. This is exactly the kind of growth I want for her. Her heartbroken expression when she realizes that killing Timely would make her just like He Who Remains, choosing who lives and who dies for the sake of the greater good… *chefs kiss* Sophia Di Martino knocked that WHOLE PERFORMANCE out of the park. 

Also, as much as I want her and Loki to just hug and make up, I do kind of love the fact that he’s giving her the space she needs to come to these conclusions on her own. He’s been where she is (felt what she feels, etc.). He knows that no amount of persuasion on his part is going to get through to her right now, so he’s letting her figure it out while he works behind the scenes to protect her new life. He’ll be there when she’s ready to take those next steps towards reconciliation (and he better have 10,000 snuggly tablecloths ready because sweet girl needs to be cuddled. A LOT).       

Watching Miss Minutes shift from one dated style of animation to another filled my little animator heart with so much glee. And yes, that whole scene of her coming on to Timely was delightfully terrifying. 

Poor Victor Timely did not ask for any of this when he woke up this morning. Give that man a break.

Ravonna is… awful. I’ve always disliked her. But honestly, hearing her monologue about how often she put the TVA before her own happiness, how it stole her humanity from her… I’m kind of invested in her growth now. Like, I’m starting to want redemption for her, too. Huh.    

Literally everyone in this show is on the same side. They’re all just disagreeing about what the proper course of action is. My guy Mobius’s words are really impacting me right now: “We’ve all lost our way… but someone’s got to keep track of the big picture here.” If that doesn’t ring true of our world, then I don’t know what does.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

I can’t bring myself to like the Loki series. I want to like it, and there are aspects of it that I think are really good. But overall it just doesn’t feel like the show runners understand Loki as a character.

Loki in Thor, Avengers, and The Dark World feels like a completely different character than show Loki. I feel like we as the audience are meant to laugh when Loki is captured by the TVA, rather than view that whole process as incredibly invasive and dehumanizing. And his dynamic with Mobius does get better throughout the series, but Mobius had every intent of breaking Loki down mentally so he could use him. Forgive me for not thinking that “I’m going to show you a reel of how you ruined your entire family’s lives then when you resist me I’m going to trap you in one of your worst memories, where you are repeatedly kicked in the genitals and made to feel worthless until I decide you’ve suffered enough” is a good redemption arc.

Also the handling of Sylvie as a whole is just so bad. I want to like her, I do. But the writing did her a major disservice by just telling us her trauma and expecting us to take her side. Also confirming that Loki is bi then immediately putting him with a female love interest? Oh Marvel, did Loki step a little too far outside the bounds of conventional heterosexuality for one of your heroes? Also she went on to immediately backstab him.

This is to say nothing of the fact that Loki is canonically gender-fluid in the comics and would take whatever form they wanted in the myths, yet the other Lokis outright state that they can’t imagine a female version of themself.

And the idea that Loki is so arrogant that he could only fall in love with himself is so absurd. This is the Loki of Thor and Avengers. The Loki who just found out that his entire life is a lie, that he’s part of a race of monsters, then attempted to take his own life and was instead captured by Thanos, tortured for the better part of a year, then used as a puppet to steal the Tesseract. Loki at this point has no clue who he is and hates himself for his heritage. You expect me to believe that he’s that self-absorbed? No.

For a show about Loki, he had surprisingly little character development or connection with other characters. There are a few very strong elements to the series, but I can’t convince myself that show Loki and movie Loki are the same person.