Loki: A Tale of Two Gods

To recap a little, stealing the Tesseract during Endgame causes a variant Loki to be created, which could jeopardize the “Sacred” timeline.  Loki is captured by the Time Variance Authority (TVA) and is asked to help them track a dangerous variant who happens to be another version of himself.  By the end of episode two, we learn that variant is a female version of Loki who is trying to get to the Time Keepers, the beings who maintain the “Sacred Timeline”.  She does not consider herself a “Loki” and prefers to be called Sylvie.

As the episode begins, Loki has chased Sylvie through a portal conjured by a Temp pad, which Loki wrestles away from Sylvie, uses to make their escape and hides magically.  The Temp pad is out of power, and they end up stranded on the moon Lamentis-1 in the year 2077, just before it is about to be destroyed.  The two put aside their animosity towards each other to work together to escape the dark fate of everyone currently on that moon.

Although there were some fun fight scenes, exciting chases, Asgardian drunken singing and imminent threat of death, the purpose of this episode, I believe, was to convey information to the audience about who Sylvie is and to remind us of Loki’s back story.   There are several tender moments where the two connect with their similarities and learn each other’s historical differences.  We were only fed bits of information, like the edge pieces of a puzzle.  We can begin to put together the picture of who Sylvie is and what is causing her to seek the Time Keepers.  Her sad loneliness in not really knowing her mother the way that Loki did.  We are also given a bit more information about the TVA and the Time Keepers, which am sure will fit into the puzzle later on as well.

The episode was fun and exciting and tender at moments, but in reality, I feel it didn’t have the same “umph!” that the first two episodes had.  Nothing really seemed to happen to advance the story.  I know that we needed this information for future episodes, but it just didn’t feel like we got anywhere.  There is also a problem I see running throughout the series.  Loki, who is a god and has the strength of the gods doesn’t seem to have that strength when he is fighting mere mortals.  This was someone who was able to hold his own against Thor, who can hold his own against the Hulk, and in this episode, he is easily thrown out a window on a train.  It is a small issue and hasn’t detracted too much from how much I am enjoying the show, but it lessens the characters presence in the MCU as a supervillain / antihero.

What has become big news in this episode is the very subtle coming out of Loki as bisexual.  When asked if he has ever had a special someone male or female.  He replies “A bit of both….”.  Becoming the first LGBTQ+ main character in the MCU.  I think this was handled well, just being matter of fact with little fan faire and no big reaction.  I doubt we are going to see a same sex romance in the series, which would be the next step.  Coming out in today’s culture is still an exceedingly difficult thing to do.  It has gotten easier since I did it nearly 30 years ago.  But It still takes a lot of courage and is usually one of the most important things in a person’s life.  The acknowledgement to oneself of who you are and the release of any guilt or shame is cathartic and freeing.  If it were only as easy as Loki made it look.  Unfortunately, for a lot of people, this act is met with hostility and the fear of this keeps many people locked inside a life that is dark and depressing, with no real chance of love or self-acceptance.   I hope that Loki representing his true nature gives others the courage to live their lives honestly and that the truth they share is met with encouragement and love.