The Nexus Event
Episode 4 of Loki begins in Asgard with a very young Sylvie being snatched up by the TVA and, more specifically, Renslayer. Her disappearance from Asgard is swiftly answered with a timeline reset. It turns out her life was a big enough deviation from the sacred timeline, hence why she was taken. Back in the present, Renslayer and Mobius come under fire from the Time Keepers. With Sylvie and Loki still on Lamentis, they await the end of the world. As the moon smashes into this planet, a good bit of deus ex machina sees the TVA jump in and conjure a couple of portals, allowing the pair to escape and head back to TVA HQ. Once there though, Loki is forced to face the punishment of a time loop involving Sif. Specifically she repeatedly shows up and punches him in the face. However, he manages to break the loop by opening up and admitting his true feelings. This conversation soon ends though with her informing him that he’ll always be alone. Eventually Loki is brought in to talk to Mobius. He decides to cover for Sylvie, whom he eventually learns is still alive. It’s obvious Loki has grown close to her during the past episode together, and he claims their interests are aligned. Loki runs out of patience and eventually tells Mobius the truth about the TVA. He pleads with Mobius to see reason, going on to mention how everyone at the TVA are variants kidnapped from the timeline. Although he brushes it aside, it’s obvious a small part of Mobius is reeling over what he’s been told. As he sits with Renslyer, Mobius eventually takes her Tempad and decides to set out to see if she’s telling the truth. She’s not, as we soon come to learn, as Mobius’ world comes crashing down around him. Elsewhere, Sylvie takes B-15 back to Roxxcon and tells her the truth about being a variant. It’s here we learn Sylvie’s projections can only be caused through real memories. As B-15 experiences more flashes to her old life, she realizes she looked happy. Mobius decides to team up with Loki to take down the TVA. Unfortunately Renslayer figures out what he’s doing and “kills” Mobius, pruning him from this timeline. When news of B-15 breaks too, Renslayer puts out a call to bring her back, believing she’s been compromised. Loki and Sylvie are brought before the Time Keepers. B-15 shows up not long after though with a sword, ready to turn the tide of battle. Sylvie and Loki both fight against Renslayer and the goons while these Time Keepers just sit and watch from afar. If you’re wondering why, Sylvie soon cuts the head off one of these trio of throne-sitters as the truth is revealed. It turns out they’re just robots; pawns in this game as a higher authority seems to be looming. Things soon take a surprising turn though when Loki too is pruned by Renslayer, who stabs him from behind. As Sylvie grabs the stick she demands Renslayer reveal everything. During the mid-credit sequence it turns out Loki is still alive and he’s confronted by a trio of Asgardians. A bit of research confirms that these are Boastful Loki, Kid Loki, Alligator Loki and Classic Loki.
The Episode Review
After last week’s detour, Loki comes roaring out the gates for an episode full of twists and turns and fake-out shocks. Now, given Loki has survived his “pruning” it’s safer to assume so too has Mobius and the others who have succumbed to this. In essence, it’s the Weeping Angels effect of zapping someone back through time. So with that in mind, it feels a bit cheap to pull this trick twice with Mobius and Loki. It’s safe to assume both are absolutely fine. The story is okay, but with any story involving time travel it’s always going to have plot holes. The fact the TVA snatched up an innocent child from Asgard that was apparently breaching the sacred timeline does deserve a bit more fleshing out than the explanation we were given so hopefully the show circles back around to that in the coming chapters. After last week’s dull and plodding trip across Lamentis, this episode mercifully brings things back to the TVA for a tighter chapter after a convenient bit of deus ex machina. The end fight sequence here was…bad to say the least. The constant cuts were really poor and the choreography was pretty sloppy. Given the budget Marvel have to work with, that’s really disappointing. While Loki is still enjoyable, the show pales by comparison to a lot of other series tackling time travel or variations in timelines. Travelers, Legion and Doctor Who (classic and peak Modern Who) have all done a much better job than Loki thus far. This isn’t a bad show per-se, but it’s not a particularly outstanding one either. Still, there are two more chapters here so we’ll have to wait and see what this one has in store for us.
