Loki Episode 3: God of Mischief shows his vulnerable side with intimate revelations
Warning, this recap of the third episode of Loki contains spoilers! This week, we learn more about the god of Mischief from normal interactions than any of the action-packed fight scenes.
Last week's installment of Loki left off with the god of mischief and his handlers at the Time Variance Authority (TVA) chasing a hooded "Variant" who had just set off "time charges", creating an infinite number of alternate timelines in history. The prediction from last week that the criminal was an Enchantress of Marvel comic lore was proven correct today, as Loki stepped his way into a time portal after her.
Before getting into the implications of the events of the third episode, it's important to reiterate that by "bombing" the timeline, Marvel is essentially giving themselves license to do whatever the hell they want from here on out. Unless a nice resolution is found in the remaining three episodes of this series, going forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), fans may need even less prior knowledge than before to be able to enjoy the ride.
But back to the show: As Loki chases Sylvie – the name this version of Loki has given herself after years of being chased by the TVA – he tries to figure out how a variation of himself could possibly be as single-minded (and determinedly less jolly) in the pursuit of a goal. She's yet to share her true purpose, but whatever it is, it did bring her back to the TVA, even after she denied wanting part of his plan to gain power over the Time Keepers and rule the universe.
The magic that Loki had been stripped of when taken into TVA custody showed signs of returning in the last episode, and seems to have been fully restored here, as he is able to teleport again, and produce his classic double daggers for a swift blade fight with Sylvie.
However, several initial fight scenes in this episode seem like they were merely added to the plot just to prove Sylvie doesn't want interference in her plans, only to then be quickly forgotten in the rapid-fire course of events and overshadowed by her ongoing banter with Loki.
Was Sophia di Martino in better shape than Tom Hiddleston?
After enchanting TVA Minutemen to figure out the location of the Time Keepers for her own as-yet-unrevealed agenda, Sylvie finally reaches the threshold...er...golden elevators that supposedly led to their holy chambers.
However, after she and Loki have their bladed scramble and then transport themselves to evade TVA troops in pursuit, her carefully-laid plans literally collapse under her when they both fall through the portal.
Loki apparently whisked them out of danger using the TemPad device the TVA soldiers used. His save ends up being short-lived, as Sylvie points out that he managed to get them sent to a moon facing certain apocalyptic doom within hours.
Their efforts to the escape impending collapse of that timeline results in another handful of fight scenes that turn into comedic flirtations. If you think too much about Loki potentially falling in love with a female variation of himself, you'll miss the fact that Sylvie actor Sophia di Martino looks far superior to Tom Hiddleston in the fight scenes, as they tangle with beefy guards during their escape.
True, she's in a fight-ready leather outfit, while Loki still has his TVA slacks and a button-down on, but it's all the more impressive given that di Martino gave birth just four months before entering Marvel stunt training.
Hiddleston's acting wins out
Where Hiddleston really shines though is during a casual bar scene on an escape transport.
That's when Loki and Sylvie let down their guard and compare versions of their childhoods. Hiddleston allows Loki to show vulnerability, a seemingly new trait born from the shocking revelations and come-to-Odin moments that brought him to tears in previous episodes.
Di Martino's acting doesn't match up, even if Sylvie is meant to be less trusting and more mysterious. She comes across consistently as a young, churlish tomboy, instead of a variant of a god who has battled an omniscient organization for centuries.
Granted, Hiddleston has an actual decade of being Loki to be able to bring him to life, but had Marvel swapped out one or two of the endless fight scenes with more exploration of Sylvie's past, we might have been able to appreciate the character more.
Hiddleston's tenderness in capturing the love Loki's mother had for him and how it has been the reason he never crossed over from mischief into evil was an absolute win. "She's the kind of person you'd want to believe in you," Sylvie remarks, clearly touched that at least one of them had a decent upbringing.
The only tidbit possibly more fascinating than his acting was the confirmation of Loki's gender-fluidity as a god (there are two genders of the same god sitting at the table, after all), and of his pansexuality that has been long held as canon for fans. Their discussion of love, "love is mischief," and "love is an invisible dagger," brought about the topic of attraction and how Loki assumed that they both were open to love with princesses or princes or "a little bit of both".
The romantic theme was of course cut short by yet another series of action-packed scenes prior to their absolute failure to escape the moon before its imminent destruction. Does this mean that Owen Wilson's Agent Mobius is going to come to their rescue in the next episode?
That reunion will prove very tense, given that Loki seemingly abandoned their friendship in his pursuit of Sylvie. Additionally, while in the mind of her TVA victims, Sylvie also learned they were not in fact created by the Time Keeper gods, as they all believed. In fact, TVA agents had all been regular people on earth at some point, time criminal variants themselves.
What Loki will do with this information when he invariably meets up with Mobius again is anyone's guess, but we know that two characters with such rich potential for friendship won't be kept apart long in the Marvel universe.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire