Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about ‘Loki’ S2 instead. Here, in this week’s episode – ‘Science/Fiction’ – it is actually hard to figure out where to start.
Therefore, let us widen our discussion a bit. In the
2010s, there was a franchise called ‘The Librarians’, where the titular
characters saved the world from various threats utilizing their intellect,
rather than muscles, (though there was enough physical action as well). It ran
for 4 or 5 seasons, had 3 or 4 independent films, and ended on a whimper,
rather than a bang. So what?
In one of their earlier episodes, the librarians’
enemy of the season cast a spell that caused the librarians to assume that they
were living their dream life doing their dream job… Fair enough, and in ‘Science/Fiction’
Loki’s friends seem to be doing something similar: their TVA personas were
destroyed, (for a lack of a better term/idea), and they are back being
civilians – and Loki has to fix it, or else the world is doomed. Pause.
In AoS’ S4 MCU did something similar: their villain
of the season trapped them in a VR world where they were living… different
lives, and were happy, (relatively speaking), at least for a while, until a)
that world began to break down, and b) the villains began to take over the real
world, (in a manner of speaking). In the episode 2x05 of ‘Loki’, we have something
similar: Loki’s crew are out of action, and Loki has to fix the situation, just
as how Flynn had to do it in ‘The Librarians’, and Daisy with Jemma in AoS. Repetition
and recycling of plots/subjects isn’t anything new in MCU, here the main twist
is that Sylvie (who’s less out of it as the rest of TVA team was) turns the
tables on Loki, in a manner of speaking, and causes him to admit some harsh
truths about himself – something that he’s really good at avoiding of doing, in
fact. Good for the show!
What is not so good, however, is the absence of the
multiverse: what gives? ‘Loki’ and TVA were all about the multiverse; in fact,
the whole of MCU from Phase 4 onwards was supposed to be all about the multiverse,
and the TVA – as shown, however poorly, in ‘Loki’ S1 was right in the middle of
it. Now, however, Loki is almost at the end of S2, there is no sign of the
multiverse per se, and the state of the TVA itself is in flux…
…One might argue that there are various secondary
signs that the state of the TVA is affecting the multiverse in ‘Loki’ S2, but
those signs are so secondary, that
they’re easily ignored; at a glance, the world of ‘Loki’ appears in to be
existing in a vacuum/separately from the rest of MCU…which might be Disney/MCU’s
plan, given how MCU is struggling/redefining itself lately, from KK and ‘She-Hulk’
mini-series onwards. Given that it is
Disney/MCU, the odds of them trying to be subtle and failing at it are
quite good. Otherwise…
Otherwise, the script of ‘Science/Fiction’ was very
good, as was the action, and the special effects. Overall, the impact of ‘Loki’
episode 2x05 was a favorable one. If only there was actually any multiverse and
implications of the stakes for the greater MCU…
For now, though, this is it. See you all soon.
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