[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Loki, Season 1, Episode 3, “Lamentis.”]
Episode 3 of Loki is the shortest yet, and beyond a few massive revelations feels very much like just a chapter in this story. But it’s becoming a genuinely thrilling story to watch, largely because I have literally no idea what’s going to happen next, in the best way possible. I just know that I wanted two things from this show — wild sci-fi time travel fun with some solid character work — and so far it’s delivering.
“Lamentis” does not pick up right where things left off in Episode 2, with the revelation that the Variant being chased by Mobius was “Lady Loki” (for lack of a better term at the time), and that she has some sort of plan to destroy the Timekeepers. (The “Previously on…” doesn’t even really mention that whole bombing-the-Sacred-Timeline thing, which probably should have been our first clue that we weren’t going to see Owen Wilson this week.) Instead, things begin in… a bar? Yep, a bar, where Hunter C-20 is looking a lot more relaxed than we’re used to seeing her, wearing 21st century casual wear and enjoying frosty drinks with the character who we will learn soon prefers to be called Sylvie, thank you very much.
It’s an illusion, of course, a remarkably kind and gentle way to interrogate C-20 for details on who protects the Timekeepers and where they can be found. And it works, with Sylvie getting the information she needs just before Loki and the TVA squad arrive at Roxxmart.
After the titles flash by, though, the action catches up with the present (as much as such a concept exists on a show this timey-wimey), with Sylvie using the TemPad to teleport into TVA headquarters. Not where I was expecting she’d go, but the reasons why make sense, as she begins storming past the guards (with some very impressive martial arts work on the part of actor Sophie Di Martino and/or a stuntperson) to find the golden elevators which C-20 says are the path to finding the Timekeepers.
It’s not just Minutemen who stand in her way, though — there’s Loki, who followed her back through the portal with the goal of convincing her to work with him, and also Ravonna comes out of her office (wearing the most amazing fucking coat, seriously, look at it below, it’s glorious) to try to stop her.
Just as Ravonna comes at them with that lethal pruning stick, though, Loki swipes the TemPad off Sylvie and transports them both to… Well, we don’t know exactly where, at least right away. Instead, Loki and Sylvie duke it out in a tent on some foreign world, as the TemPad which got them there is now out of power. That’s very bad news, because this is Sylvie’s device, and it’s programmed with the kinds of apocalypses she was using to hide from the TVA, and the disaster that’s about to hit the moon of Lamentis-1 in the year 2077 is a very very bad one, with the sky literally crashing down around them.
Given the circumstances, Loki calls for a truce, and the two of them set off to search for a power source that can get them the hell outta Dodge. This leads to an awkward encounter with the one woman left behind in an abandoned settlement, who hits them both with pulses but tells them that the rest of the town is trying to get on a train that will take them to an ark — one last chance at evacuating Lamentis-1 before it collides with a planet.
Loki comes up with a plan to get them on board the train: impersonate a guard and with some help from Sylvie’s possession trick, squeeze their way on board and into a comfy carriage for the rich, one that could easily fit in the poor people waiting outside. (If you thought Snowpiercer was way too subtle about class warfare, well, Loki‘s got you covered here.) Once on board, they end up drifting into surprisingly personal conversation about their respective mothers, their respective magical abilities, and their respective differences of opinion regarding the nature of love. One very important point of agreement between them, though: when asked about whether he’s had dealings with “princesses… or a prince?” Loki replies “A bit of both. I suspect the same as you.” She agrees, and with that we have the canonical confirmation of two LGBTQ+ characters in the MCU.
The two decide to get some rest, though once again they differ on the definition — while Sylvie puts her head down for a nap, Loki unleashes his inner Thor and parties down, getting drunk and leading his fellow train passengers in an Asgardian drinking song. The party gets interrupted when one of the passengers quite rightly notices something off with the intoxicated and guard-uniform-less Loki, and guards arrive asking for their tickets, which leads to Loki getting Last Crusade-ed out the train window. Sylvie dives after him (helpfully saying “TemPad” to remind us why she might do such a wild thing).
Unfortunately, said tumble ends up breaking the TemPad beyond repair, making the situation a pretty dire one. But bless Loki, because he comes up with an idea — they hijack the ark and make sure it actually leaves the planet — and Sylvie agrees to give it a shot. As they walk, Sylvie reluctantly explains how her possession trick works: with weaker minds, she’s able to easily take control, but stronger minds require that she create a fantasy “from their memories” and use that fantasy to forge a connection with them. So what we saw at the beginning of the episode with C-20 was based on C-20’s memories from a previous life as a “regular person on Earth” (who loved margaritas), because as we learn, those working for the TVA weren’t created whole-cloth from nothing. Instead, these people are actually Variants, though those memories were from “hundreds of years” ago. Add it to the list of reasons to be very, very suspicious of what’s going on there.
Loki and Sylvie arrive at the launch site of the ark, but the area is in chaos as everyone around them faces the grim inevitability of, well, the inevitable. Their fight to reach the ark is captured in a breathless long take through the neon madness of looming doom, and unfortunately, they’re too late — the ark gets destroyed by the planet crashing down from above, and all hope is lost. Well, there is a glimmer of hope, and it’s the fact that there are three more episodes left in the season; we’re only halfway through. Again, I have no idea what will happen next, but I suspect (nay, hope) the ride will only get wilder from here.
“What Exactly Makes a Loki a Loki?”
- “Plans have multiple steps. Dressing as a guard and getting on a train is just doing a thing.” If that’s what Sylvie thinks of Loki’s plan, I hate to imagine how she’d judge my weekend plans (TV screeners and family Zoom calls, for the most part).
- In case you were wondering, the music choices for this episode, beyond Natalie Holt‘s as-always excellent score, were “Demons” by Hayley Kiyoko as the perfect soundtrack for a girls’ night out at the bar, and the aptly-named “Dark Moon” by Bonnie Guitar over the closing credits.
- Oh, and here are some of the lyrics to “Demons”: Please, forgive me, I’ve got demons in my head / Tryna eat me, tryna feed me lies until I’m dead
- Does Sylvie use her crown to stab one of the guards on the train? It seems like the answer is yes, and that is awesome.
- “Love is a dagger. It’s a weapon to be wielded from far away or up close. You can see yourself in it. It’s beautiful. Until it makes you bleed. But ultimately when you reach for it…” “It isn’t real.” While both Sylvie and Loki agree that it’s a terrible metaphor, it actually isn’t the worst one.
- I must give credit to Collider’s own Carly Lane for being the first to point out that what we learn about TVA agents in this episode strongly implies that in a past life, Mobius must indeed have ridden a jetski. Or maybe he just yearned to do so beforehand as well? The important thing is that oh man, please oh please let us see Owen Wilson on a jetski by the end of the season. Let the man know happiness, just this once!
New episodes of Loki premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
Read Next
About The Author
