#my head's spinning lol

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

I was wondering what's your thoughts on the latest Loki episode?

Hi, anon! I’ll place my response under a cut because there's spoilers, and also because I have a lot of thoughts/questions about Loki (2021) as a show:

Tbh, I’m struggling with this show’s pacing, in general? Like, the plot has moved SO FAST, right from episode 1.

And I know that it takes a lot of finesse to handle pacing well—I won’t pretend I’m any better in my own works. Because if you go too slow, then you risk losing people’s attention. But it just feels like the overarching plot with the Time Keepers and Loki working for them, and then turning against them, could have stretched across 10 episodes or more, easily. And in doing so, it could have created stronger foundations for how Something’s Not Right with the TVA but yet it’s managed to exist for SO LONG?? etc.

Like, in the course of a single episode, we finally saw the Time Keepers, heard them speak, and then also discovered they weren’t real because oops, The Real Time Keeper didn’t have a Vision-Level Budget for their robotics despite being able to use Infinity Stones for paperweights and having a robotics wet-dream for a realm.

Questionable world-building details aside, I feel like—plot-wise—I just moved through The Matrix, The Truman Show, and The Wizard of Oz, combined, in 40 minutes?

There's just so much going on at one time, and so many characters are coming to really important, mind-boggling self-revelations so very quickly and with so little warning/impetus for those revelations. Sometimes, those revelations just don’t feel earned as a result.

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In terms of world-building, I think I got confused. I’m not entirely sure why it was Mobius who went on a massive spiel about Loki’s powerful connection to Slyvie as being narcissism? Like, idk what I think of it yet personally tbh, but Mobius is the same exact man who in episode 2 made it a point to show Loki that He Is Actually Not Himself in other universes? He was literally like “no two variants are alike” and then ran through a montage of drastically different Lokis? One of which was this huge yellow ogre that even Loki did a double-take at?

So like…is the show trying to argue that Variants are in fact the same person at the core despite cosmetic differences, or is the Loki/Sylvie relationship trying to argue that Variants in fact are their own wholly unique person who actually can’t be compared against a multiverse counterpart? Is this a self-love sort of a thing, or is it a critique on a prejudice/damaging stereotype that the TVA has regarding Variants and the larger multiverse itself?

Clearly, the TVA understands that even slight changes to circumstances can massively alter the life path, personality, memories, and appearance of an individual along with their environment. So like…idk if I want to get into the semantics of narcissism, but something just seems a bit off here. I feel like Sylvie has more in common with, like, the also-green-and-gold Rogue from X-Men than she does her own Loki counterpart, so like…idk.

There’s still two episodes left, so I’d like to watch it all the way through to see how it’s handling these questions. It’s building toward a message of some kind for Loki and Slyvie? I’m just not really sure…which message yet?

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I actually liked Mobius?? So, um, I really want him to come back?? Please???

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I think my last thought still ties into the pacing, but it just seems odd that it took from 2009 to 2017 and multiple apocalypses/near-death events within that space for Loki to even accept a hug from his adopted brother he’s known for millennia…but in the course of like a day and a half, he’s become incredibly touchy feely and open with Sylvie and ready to pour his heart out. Like, I get that this show is all about getting Loki to reflect on his damaging flaws and insecurities so that he can grow from that for once....But idk, regardless of the relationship they’re going for with Sylvie, it just seems a bit OOC for him be this aware and comfortable acting on that so quickly. I would expect Loki to be a bit more hesitant about revealing his deep emotions in this very small span of time. He can hardly even admit them to himself most days because he’s typically viewed intimacy as a threat and usually has some kind of self-hatred going on.

Maybe if we had those 10 episodes or more, these character developments (that it’s okay to make genuine connections for the sake of connection, and the peeling away of Loki’s layers of defense) would feel more natural??

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Anyway! These are just my initial thoughts, lol. I’m trying to reserve judgments about certain things because we have only part of the story at this point—I don’t know what all they might button up or how they’ll do it yet. I actually want this show to succeed because Loki is a really fascinating character. I’m just strapping in for the ride at this point because idk quite where we’re going LOL.