As the great Shakespeare once said, “What’s in a name? That which we call a Loki by any other name would smell as sweet.” Just kidding, but this week’s Loki certainly does ponder the question. The Variant, who wishes to be called Sylvie, has totally different experiences, temperament, and even powers from our Asgardian mischief maker – and yet they are cut from the same cloth.
Viewers get to see some of that cloth take shape on this week’s trip to Lamentis-1, in what amounts to a bottle episode with no other main characters involved. Safe for a brief cameo from Ravonna Renslayer and the memory-soaked fantasies of C-20, that is.
Independence, Authority, Style
We open on Sylvie and C-20 apparently being the best of friends, chatting about brain freeze. That is, until Sylvie asks how many people are guarding the Time Keepers, revealing this is all complicated illusion magic taking place in C-20’s mind. Sylvie, now armed with golden elevator knowledge, heads out to take down the Minutemen on her way to the big cheese.
Of course, our Loki is not about to let his Variant get away with it, and the two blow right past Ravonna in their zapathon. They wind up on Lamentis-1 in 2077, hours before its total destruction, still trying to outsmart or enchant once another. The MacGuffin of the episode winds up being Loki’s TemPad, which can get them back to the TVA if only they figure out how to recharge it. But where do you find a power source in the apocalypse?
While Sylvie and her Variant debate what makes a Loki a Loki, it quickly becomes apparent that attack style is not one of the ways. Our Loki prefers diplomacy and guile, while Sylvie prefers brute force. But neither one work when trying to grab a charge from one lone woman waiting for her husband at the end of the world. Instead, they get their next clue: the train station on the edge of town may lead to a power source.
Maybe Love Is Hate
This is where “Lamentis” begins to feel like something of a wild goose chase. Of course neither Loki can die on this planet“, and certainly not at the mid-point of the series. So why do we spend the whole episode on the soon-to-be-lost world? Well, we do get a sweet reminiscence from Loki about his mom, Freya, and how she taught him magic.
A humorous red herring of a philosophical conversation takes them from “love is hate” to “love is an imaginary dagger,” but the most important tidbit is that both Mischief Gods have been with their fair share of princesses and princes. Happy Pride Month!
Furthermore: despite her protests, Sylvie trusts Loki enough to fall asleep, Unfortunately, she awakens to Loki teaching the passengers Asgardian songs and the guards trying to arrest him. In the ensuing fight, Loki gets thrown off the train and the TemPad is broken. Is Loki perhaps too unprofessional in his hedonism? Whether or not that’s the case, the episode ends with the dynamic duo failing to make it onto ark before it’s destroyed. Back to square one: imminent demise.
Additional Thoughts:
- Loki’s mom taught him magic but didn’t tell him he was adopted, while Sylvie’s parents told her she was adopted but left her to learn magic on her own. Is she even Asgardian in her timeline? Do they have the same parents?
- The most important part of the episode is when Sylvie divulges that C-20 – and all the Minutemen, in fact – are Variants who lived on Earth before being plucked out of their timelines by the TVA. Learning their whole lives have been a lie is perhaps the only reason to get Loki away from the TVA for the hour.
New episodes of Loki drop Wednesdays on Disney+.