Loki & The Marvels - Nov 10

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Loki’ S2 finale instead – or not. How about we talk about ‘The Marvels’ movie in its’ place.

First, ‘The Marvels’ work. They work because the film is part of MCU’s current transition theme, and ‘The Marvels’ executes it on the level of AoS’ S4, which is to say, very well. ‘The Marvels’ movie has three main leads, (not counting Nick Fury), and all of them share the Marvel name. This is one of the reasons as to why MCU used all three of them together – to simplify the Marvel-ous situation, and to resolve several of the problems that had haunted this aspect of the MCU franchise.

Moreover, what did MCU do with them next? Carol Danvers, who was played by the problematic Ms. Brie Larson, (remember the commotion around the first ‘Captain Marvel’ film?), seems to have heroically sacrificed herself so that the Karee new home planet could have its’ own sun. She is off the board, at least for now.

Then, there is Ms. Photon, who is associated with S.W.O.R.D., which is not a part of MCU anymore, apparently, since there was neither hide nor hair of it since ‘WandaVision’, (WV), but that didn’t stop ‘The Marvels’: S.W.O.R.D. had a brief (re)-appearance, amounted to nothing, and now that Photon is in a parallel/alternate universe, odds are that S.W.O.R.D. will never appear in MCU ever again. (Not that the new S.A.B.E.R. was any more important to ‘The Marvels’, yeah). This way, a knot is quietly resolved in the ‘old’ MCU, and we get another shy introduction into the multiverse…

Speaking of the multiverse, what about Loki, ‘Loki’, and the TVA? This resolution was less satisfactory: Loki ended up taking over HWR’s old job, while Sylvie and agent MMM are running/not-running TVA. Pause.

In the ‘Loki’ S1 finale, Sylvie was in HWR’s old digs, doing his job, (maybe), while Loki was trying to get all of the TVA armed and armored against the new Kang, (and we got a Kang in the ‘Ant-Man 3’ movie, remember?). Well, ‘Loki’ S2 arrived, we had Sylvie back out in the wild again, we barely had any Kang in the person of Victor Timely, and the (ex)-judge RR became a mini-villain, who got sent into the Void. Agent MMM, Loki and Sylvie can attest that that is not as permanent as it might appear. Where is the multiverse, though?

Nowhere in sight, unlike ‘The Marvels’. Somehow, despite all of its’ talks about the ‘sacred timeline’ and what else have you, we never got to see any alternate timelines, aside from an occasional glimpse and all. Fair enough, but back to ‘The Marvels’?

Back at ‘The Marvels’, we got Carol Danvers safely taken off the board, (with enough wiggle room to bring her back, if needed), and Photon equally safely re-positioned in such, well, position, to introduce the multiverse, and the X-Men, into MCU if necessary. Finally, we have KK, the youngest Marvel, in a position to re-start the Avengers with Kate Bishop and a few others – but keep in mind that MCU’s Avengers are a mess since the ‘Endgame’ movie, so our heroines would need to re-start from almost a blank slate, and, in addition…

In addition, ‘The Marvels’ had no characters from the KK previous TV show at all, (aside from KK’s immediate family)? Obviously, no characters from overseas would appear, given how Pakistan has backed the Taliban in the real life to drive the U.S. from Afghanistan, but you would think that Bruno or some other Kamala’s classmates would make an appearance, however briefly – but they don’t, so the odds of the KK series having an S2 is unlikely. What else?

Ah yes, ‘The Marvels’ primary villain, Dar-Benn, whose motive was to… restore a Kree home planet, so that they would be able to live now that the Supreme Intelligence died, and their planet is dying. Hell, by dying herself, Dar-Benn was able to launch a process that caused Carol Danvers to complete the process and save the Kree. Hooray? Hooray. This makes Dar-Benn better – a better leader than Fury is, whose attempts to help the Skrulls failed epically on one hand, and on the other, no one is mentioning the events of SI either. There is no mention of Gravik, or Giyah, or Ms. Sonya, etc. Somehow, the Skrull separatists of SI transformed from MCU’s potential big bad into nothing – there’s no mention of them in the greater MCU anymore, just as there’s no sign of Marvel’s ‘InHumans’ anymore either. What else?

…Well, a ‘Mean Girl’ reboot is coming in 2024, and it might be a musical; ‘Cats-2019’ say hi from their distant past and remind people that musicals belong on stage, not on the big screen – but we digress from MCU.

If ‘The Marvels’ work overall, ‘Loki’ S2 feels more like a reset that MCU tried to do subtly, but failed – something that MCU is infamous for. We have discussed this before, (especially in AoS), so let us focus here on the fact that the final resolution has a feeling of being final – Loki’s (this Loki’s) journey is at an end; he found friends and love…and lost them, for good, it looks like. Sad, but MCU has been known to pull twists like this, and if this is so, then good luck to ‘Loki’, (and Loki), and a happy send-off to their respective stories!

…This is it for now, though. See you all soon!

Loki, Science/Fiction - Nov 3

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.

Loki, Heart - Oct 27

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and most of the time you cannot control it, as it just goes on as it has intended to, and all of your attempts to interfere in it result in cosmetic, secondary, (at best), changes – now onto ‘Loki’ S2.

Here, unfortunately, the situation isn’t any better – this week’s episode, ‘Heart of the TVA’ brings us back to the ‘Breaking Brad’ mess, where it was all about destruction; this week it is all about killing – pardon me, pruning – of the various characters. General Dox and her people – gone. Timely – gone. The ex-judge RR – gone. Even Miss Minutes and a variant Loki are gone, (temporarily or not). What gives?

No, seriously, what gives? MCU has not treated its’ characters so badly since AoS’ S2 finale, (and no, that is just a coincidence, the two shows barely interconnected at all). Back then, AoS S2 resulted in a massive killing-off of characters, (some of whom were quite interesting, and who weren’t Kara Lynn Palamas, who is another story completely), and now, ‘Loki’ S2 is doing the same thing: we barely get to know people (ok, characters), before they’re gone. The ex-judge RR and Victor Timely, for example, could have been just as important in ‘Loki’ as agent 33/Kara had been in AoS, and now, they are just gone.

…Right, some people are pointing out to me that within MCU ‘killing’ and ‘pruning’ are two different things, (however superficially similar): the show’s titular character, (as well as Sylvie and agent MMM), was pruned in S1, and it revealed that the ‘pruned’ characters (and things) go into some sort of a subspace wasteland where they stay forever, (or until a giant fog dragon eats them). To this, I reply: small consolation, not to mention it looks as if general Dox and most of her minions were killed, rather than pruned. I.e.: was it worth to introduce us to Dox and co. in the ‘Loki’ episode 2x02 only to get rid of them two episodes later? This sort of ill-treatment of characters is reminiscent of AoS at its’ worst, again.

…In addition, ‘Loki’ is all about the multiverse – or it is supposed to. The episode 2x03, ‘1893’, has kind of embraced this – at last, but now, in ‘Heart’, we’re back in the TVA proper, where various factions are fighting for its’ control, never showing openly just what are the stakes they’re fighting for. In S1, ‘Loki’ did show bits and pieces of multiverse, but in S2, the multiverse is being downplayed even more. Why? Is MCU being rebooted, some fans are wondering? To this, I respond: yes. Look, for example, at the information about ‘The Marvels’, the MCU movie coming out in Nov 2023: it features Carol, Monica and Kamala, and-

No Skrulls. The Skrulls were a big deal in the first ‘Captain Marvel’ film, and they played a minor, but an important role, in WV, in which Monica got her powers. Since then, the Skrulls virtually vanished from MCU, and SI was an immediately forgettable show. It was also an insipid show… and it introduced Ms. Sonya, who took over from Countess Val with nary a comment. Put otherwise, MCU took time and effort in building countess Val, (Ms. Ross), as a character, only to replace her with Sonya when it really mattered. SI was supposed to be a milestone in MCU’s development and progress, and instead it became a forgettable side note – another sign that MCU is rebooting itself in mid-stride, not unlike how the SW sequel trilogy did do it. Moreover, there is no sign of Skrulls in the trailers and teasers for ‘The Marvels’, which further indicates a shift in the canon. What next?

Well, it is anyone’s guess, really. People are beginning to discuss for real that MCU is rebooting itself a-la SW. Of course, this reboot cost SW plenty of fans, but that does not matter: ever since ‘The Mandalorian’ S3, SW moved in the direction of the aforementioned sequel trilogy – that is the end game, to show how the SW world of the episode VI became the world of the episode VII and beyond. The SW fans did not like the world of the SW episode VII and beyond, but Disney/SW does not care, apparently, since it is returning its’ viewers there, albeit this time by a roundabout route. Will it succeed this time is an open question. What will this ‘rebooting in mid-stride’ approach/attitude do for Disney/MCU as well is another. ‘Loki’ S2 is already suffering from this, however, and that is not a good sign, for Disney/MCU or otherwise.

Well, this is it for now, though. See you all soon!

Loki, 1893 - Oct 20

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Therefore, let us talk about the ‘Loki’ S2 instead. In this week’s episode, ’1893’, it seems that the S2 has found its’ wings at last. This episode worked.

No, really, it did. It kept alongside the main plotline of S2, and this time it even introduced the season’s main (?) antagonist – Victor Timely, yet another Kang variant that has fallen by the wayside of the council of Kangs. No, indeed – Victor, HWR, and the Kang from ‘Quantumania’ were three very different characters, but they were all Kangs, and outsider Kangs at that, it seems. Given how the show does not appear to be entirely done with HWR either, this can get interesting!

…The fact that Renslayer/Rebecca has teamed-up with Miss Minutes is also unexpected, since at the end of S1 the former has left – just left, and the latter did not appear to be too interested in working with anyone, so when exactly did they team-up? Of course, it might be an entirely different Renslayer/Rebecca from S1, as Victor is an entirely different Kang from HWR, but, still, Miss Minutes doesn’t appear to have too many variants, and-

-and ‘1893’ shows a break in the narrative from the first two episodes, as unlike them, Loki and Mobius actually get to go out of TVA, and not deal with its’ internal arcana, (I don’t care if it’s an appropriate term here, I’m using it), but rather with an external issue, (Victor Timely and everyone else who’s chasing him), and it is a variant timeline altogether, so score one for ‘Loki’ S2 here!

No, seriously, this is what ‘Loki’ is supposed to be all about – the Marvel multiverse! The titular character and his cohorts are gone out there and fix problems all over it! In addition, indeed, they did do something similar in S1…except that a Kang, the HWR one, had hijacked the agency and (in a different way) the show, making it all about him vs. Loki. Here, in S2, we have more variety, as general Dox, (who was the main antagonist in ‘Breaking Brad’), hasn’t gone away, but is rather biding time to continue destroying the multiverse, and right now Loki, Mobius, and the rest of their allies need to handle both her and VT, so another score for ‘Loki’ S2 – a more complex plot than the S1 one again!

…I’m also aware that since the real life sucks, some of the elements of the ‘Loki’ S2 plot will not go down well, given the new conflict in Middle East. But this isn’t Disney/MCU’s fault, for a change, (I hope not), so let’s cut them a break and hope that they won’t leave us hanging in the air just as ‘Loki’ S2 is beginning to get good with action and excitement balancing out all the lore and the knowledge (and the time loom). Given that it is Disney/MCU – who knows?

…In other news, the ‘PJ Masks’ franchise has released a new big bad – a reptiloid alien named Gloop and his minions. Sigh. So what? Yes, the showrunners are trying to make him a big deal, but these days the ‘PJ Masks’ franchise isn’t a big deal, so that’s the end of that… though it should be noted that Gloop seems to be falling in the previously-established ‘official new character’ category, one where he won’t just fade away, but rather continue on, meeting the rest of the established cast until the end of the season, after which either the next new character will come around, or the show itself might end, you know? So much for the ‘PJ Masks’ ‘upgrade’, it looks like! Anything else?

In fact – no. Rather, this is it for now, see you all soon!

 

Loki, Breaking Brad - Octo 15

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Now what about ‘Loki’?

Good question. In the second episode of the second season, (‘Breaking Brad’), we have general Dox, (played by Kate Dickie, apparently), destroy a large part of the multiverse. Pause.

Here’s the thing: we never saw this character in the first season off ‘Loki’, so they’re brand new, which is good, but they also may be the villain of the season, nothing more, the overall villain is Kang, or Kangs, but…

…But without the multiverse, can there be multiple Kangs? The ‘Quantumania’ movie established that the latter is true, but, again, this was before Dox destroyed a large part of the Multiverse, correct? If not, can we have some time framing here, please? In the first three-four phases of MCU, we had a good timeline where each portion of each phase goes, and how it correlates with each other; in phase 5, (ok, from the end of the phase 4 onwards), this is no longer the case. Instead, we got nothing, save for a question: what – literally – has happened to the Multiverse? Is it gone or not?

Obviously, the answer to the question has some large ripples and connotations as well: if the Multiverse is destroyed, (being destroyed), in ‘Loki’, does it mean that it is being destroyed for the rest of the MCU? And if so, was it sanctioned by Disney and the rest of the RL jazz?

No, seriously, ever since it was launched in the first season of ‘Loki’, the Multiverse was nothing but trouble in MCU. The 1^st season of ‘What If?’ went down well enough, but nothing fancy, and in its’ live-action incarnations the Multiverse was nothing but trouble. As the ‘Sequel Trilogy’ of the SW-franchise showed, Disney and its’ affiliates do not need to be too gentle to reboot themselves, and this may be what is happening here and now in MCU: the Multiverse is on its’ way out!

Speaking of SW, here is a theory as to what is going on over there: the Disney/SW franchise are quietly using its’ various films, comics, and especially TV series, to bridge the gap between the original trilogy (the 4^th-6^th movies) and the sequel trilogy (the 7^th-9^th movies). Since most people did not like the sequel trilogy, they are becoming unamused/disillusioned by Disney/SW’s current tactics and are beginning to be vocal about it. What next?

Anyone’s guess. Disney/SW’s original handling of the sequel trilogy broke the SW fandom, as we have discussed it way back when, and since then Disney/SW has done its’ best to undo this breaking, because it harms the entire franchise. However… First, you cannot please everyone, and second, the original issues – the original reasons as to why some people did not like the sequel trilogy – have never left. Disney/SW is trying to just re-sell it in a different package/wrapping, nothing more, and people are not fooled. They are not fooled and they are getting angry – and what the fallout will be this time, remains to be seen…

Back to Disney/MCU? There is not much remains to be said. Unlike the situation with SW, here things are less obvious: it has healed its’ rifts regarding AoS, (by removing it completely from itself), as well as the captain Rogers/Tony Stark rivalry, (ditto). Sadly, since ‘Kamala Khan’, the MCU branch of Disney is trying to reimagine itself for no good reason, and as a result, it suffers… without any obvious reason. The fallout from that has already manifested itself in SI; ‘Loki’ S2 so far is avoiding this fate, but this does not guarantee that it will be a smashing success either; more time – and data – is needed to make this judgement…

This is it for now. See you all soon!

Loki, S2 premiere - Oct 6

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, which is why I’ll try to talk about ‘Loki’ S2 instead, now that it’d premiered, and-

And nothing. It is not as bad as SI was, for example, but-

-But the two shows were quite different, and not just on the obvious level. Namely, SI was supposed to be MCU’s live-action version of the comic storyline – and it was not. The two ‘invasions’ were quite different, pardon the pun. ‘Loki’, on the other hand, was completely original, and it showed through the S1, period. Now, it still does that – it retains its’ originality, but…

Let us talk about villains – they are one of MCU’s greater problems. Initially, they tended to die at the end of each film; now, with the appearance of the multiverse since the premiere of Phase 4, MCU has instead nullified the value of their deaths – one can almost count on them popping up and out, one version or another, out of the multiverse whenever the people in charge of it need them to do so; the same thing goes for the ‘good guys’ too, with the same results… So, what does ‘Loki’ do?

In the S2 premiere, ‘Ouroboros’, it is not about villains, and more about problems: Loki is being affected by the time stream itself, and agent MMM and his new cohorts, (well, new to the audience), having to rescue him using new gadgets and thingamabobs to do this. Again, there is nothing wrong with lore; in fact, ‘Loki’ S2 is doing things right, developing and expanding itself within the greater MCU field; it is just that something feels missing here, or maybe it’s just the fatigue that has settled in MCU for real, since SI has aired, (come and gone) – in any case…

In any case, ‘Loki’ S2 was quite more restrained, and still is, than the first season has been; I was only able to watch it quite recently, and I am not certain that the secrecy was worth the wait. The dialogue was spiffing, and the plot is not bad, but the secrecy surrounding the S2 premiere (and onwards) was, and is, uncalled for. Of course, there’s also the fact that so far ‘Loki’ is self-contained, and there’s nothing specific to discuss about it, but, hey, this is just the first episode out of six, there’ll be more to come – just look, Sylvie is in McDonald’s’, and she’s worried that she’ll be served rat or squirrel instead! Hilarious, really! Maybe she had eaten a variant Rocket Raccoon, who knows?! What is known is that she has ended up in yet another universe, where humans are the dominant species, at least on Earth. Where the dimension that is ran by the Yetis? We want to see the Yetis, darn it!.. Just kidding, what we really want is to know as to why Biden is continuing to build Trump’s wall? Ah yes, because while the Democrats are more apologetic than the Republicans are, there is little more to them than that, sadly – but that is real life, it sucks, and it is another story.

For the moment, though, this is it. See you all soon!

Paw Patrol Movie 2 - October 4

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, while on the imaginary side of the equation, we got… what?

First, there is Ahsoka, or rather – ‘Ahsoka’ the TV series. As some people have suspected all along, at the S1 (?) finale, the titular character and her cohorts got stranded in another galaxy, away from the main scene, leaving the canon plotline free to develop however, it wants, if the setting of the SW films 7 through 9 is the endgame. Yes, Ezra, Hera and Chopper are still free to confront Thrawn, but given that this series is, or was, about Ahsoka, the fact that the Jedi knight Tano is off the main board at the moment doesn’t inspire optimism that this series will continue, (even if Ahsoka herself will). What is next?

In the SW-universe – anything can go, of course, as for us… well, ‘Loki’ S2 is almost upon us, joy, but we will discuss it when it actually starts, airing, (maybe). For now, though, there is also the ‘Paw Patrol Mighty Movie’, and I can only ask: what?

Here is the thing: while ‘PJ Masks’ went all over the place lately, as the show lost its initial successful identity and tries to acquire something new, (rather than keep the old format – that of superhero fables), ‘Paw Patrol’ hasn’t. It is the same as always: Rider and his six pups, (the core characters), go all over their world, exploring new places, solving new puzzles and obstacles, making new friends, and… that is it, really. Aside from the Humdinger people there are few real opponents for the titular characters; everyone tries to get along, (more or less), and there was little superhero-like shenanigans in the franchise.

Then came the mighty meteor story arc, where the pups acquired a meteor – or rather a meteorite from space that gave them superpowers; them, and various another people as well, and so, for a while, the pups did have other ‘real’ foes aside from the Humdinger people: a human woman named Lady Bird, and a housecat named Copycat. For a while, the paw patrol franchise did feel like a good-natured spoof of the superhero genre… and then the arc was over, and the pups moved on with their lives.

And then, in September 2023, the franchise tried to reboot itself with the mighty meteor – what gives? That arc is officially over, and frankly, the new movie feels the worse take out of the two on the bloody space rock; (we have discussed the difference between meteors, meteorites and asteroids elsewhere, remember?). Moreover, what about continuity? The first PP movie – one that introduced Liberty, (a dachshund), had fit into the main narrative quite neatly, as Liberty was installed into the main PP TV series with nary an issue; now she’s been sidelined and the franchise tried to introduce a new villain – Victoria Vance – who feels like a rebooted (and somewhat upgraded) Lady Bird variant. What gives?

…By that I mean with the PP franchise in question: previously, it worked, and better so than the PJ Masks’ one; now… maybe not so much. Ah well, that is real life for you. Did I mention that it sucks?

For now, however, this is it. See you all soon!