Disorienting camera angles and extremely dramatic music welcome viewers to “Journey Into Mystery,” the penultimate chapter in the Loki saga. But while tensions are running high at the TVA and the stakes seem even higher, surprisingly little actually happens in the episode.
That’s not to say it’s not an enjoyable hour of television. After all, the myriad of Lokis take care of that on their own. But given that the latest Marvel series only has 6 episodes in which to tell its story, it’s surprising that there’s so little story tell. But there’s plenty of Loki variants to meet, so let’s get to it.
Several Thousand Questions
We left off last week with Loki meeting various variants, such as Boastful Loki, Classic Loki and Kid Loki. Sylvie learns from Ravonna that their location is the Void at the end of time. And while she believes it’s part of the Time Keepers’ plan for utopia, she no longer knows who the Time Keepers even are. But despite her shaking down a still living B-20, we’ll have to wait until the finale to find out what she finds out.
Meanwhile, Loki immerses himself in learning the histories of his compatriots. Alligator Loki is perhaps the most hilarious one, but did anyone else get chills when Kid Loki confessed he killed Thor? On the other hand, Classic Loki was a standout thanks to Richard E. Grant’s spectacular performance.
Having fallen for himself has ironically made Loki less narcissistic, and he’s actually disappointed in the other Lokis for not wanting to help him stop the TVA. Being disappointed in himself is the first step to the growth and change fans adore in the God of Mischief, right?
Successful Plan of Attack
Sylvie is on a mission of her own, pruning herself to follow Loki to the Void. Romantic as that may seem, the most exciting part is that she runs right into a Mobius. Who knew everyone would meet again at the end of time? Mobius apologizes to Sylvie for hunting her down like a dog, even joining her on the journey back to the angry cloud.
Loki had the same plan, followed by the few variants who joined forced with him. Thankfully, Sylvie and Loki are soon reunited in a very sweet scene. It’s pretty impressive that one of Marvel’s top five romances is actually selfcest. While he planned to kill Alioth, Sylvie wants to enchant it to find out who’s behind the guard dog.
But first they have a very revealing heart-to-heart. “I don’t have friends. I don’t have anyone,” Sylvie says as they share a cloak. Meanwhile, Loki admits that, “I betrayed everyone who ever loved me.” But this time he won’t let her down, because, “That’s not who I am anymore.”
And so Loki distracts Alioth while Sylvie enchants. Their new friends do their part, but in the end it’s the would-be lovers who must stop the cloud together because, “We’re the same.” Though Classic Loki doesn’t make it, the green clouds part to reveal… Kang? Immortus? We just don’t know!
Additional Thoughts:
- Thor first appeared in Journey Into Mystery #83 (August 1962), so it’s only fitting that one of the Loki episodes is named after the series.
- The return of Miss Minutes made me realize just how much I missed her, and also had me wondering just how much she knows that even Ravonna doesn’t.
New episodes of Loki drop Wednesdays on Disney+.