This review contains spoilers for episode 5 ofLoki.
Lokiapproaches its season finale with a penultimate episode that truly sets up some big time-twisting reveals for next week and it does so with plenty of comic relief, while also continuing to develop the relationship betweenLokiand Sylvie.
This trend echoes similar plays pulled off withWandaVisionandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so expect plenty of fireworks to follow up this “Journey Into Mistery”. That mystery did bring plenty of Lokis, a mythical time villain in Alioth, and more deconstruction of the TVA’s delicate grasp on power, which could be finally coming to an end soon.
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Things start right where they left off, as we’re taken straight to the desolate void where Loki is stranded after getting pruned by Ravonna Renslayer and the entire timeline comes packed withmore comic book and MCU easter eggsthan most people could manage. Everything from a Thanos helicopter, Yellowjacket’s helmet fromAnt-Man, Frog Thor, and the Avengers tower.
Both Loki and Sylvie are quickly briefed on the nature of the void by the pack of Lokis and Renslayer, respectively, with it basically being called the end of time, a sort of purgatory before the likely demise of those getting pruned. Sylvie’s eagerness leads to her briefly trusting Renslayer until realizing she must go save Loki because if there’s one thing Ravonna knows for sure is that sending people tothe void is not an immediate death sentence.
However, that’s about it for her awareness of the whole situation as despite haver her reality unravel right before her eyes, she remains loyal to theTVA’s Orwellian purpose and themes seen throughoutLoki. Even if the TVA is a facade for something bigger Ravonna Renslayer is far too indoctrinated to pursue any other glorious purpose, she’s still a TVA soldier first and a human being second.
Meanwhile, as Loki starts catching up with Kid Loki, Old Loki, Boastful Loki, and most importantly Alligator Loki’s stories, and they let him know that it’s their innate Lokiness that allows them to even survive in the void, unlike almost everything else that gets sent there and is quickly eaten by Alioth. See, over on the other side of the void, Sylvie has her own encounter with Alioth and also a much friendlier face when she finds Mobius alive and driving to her rescue.
In Marvel Comics lore, Alioth is a trans-temporal being that deletes from existence anything that comes in touch of its cloudy might, an entity only rivaled by Kang the Konqueror when it comes to command over time. Sylvie’s reasoning is that Alioth must be guarding the real enemy and key to the TVA mystery beneath that cloud so that’s where she set her sights on.
Before Loki and Sylvie are reunited, Tom Hiddleston and his new friends have a run-in withPresident Loki and his own horned gangof brutes, though the entire sequence does bear very little consequence on the plot, aside from explaining why President Loki showed up so much in the trailer, getting rid of the now traitor Boastful Loki, and showing a brief but fun fight scene. Shortly after making a run for protagonist Loki and his friendly variants are reunited with Sylvie and Mobius to catch up with each other’s plans.
The main plot and mission for the episode then takes a backseat to allowLoki and Sylvie to enjoy their time togetheras the pair are finally forced to confront their relationship, obvious attraction to one another, ad the feelings that ruptured the sacred timeline so much. Even though they continue to smoothly deny it just to keep each other’s cool and the MCU remains quite shy in PDA terms, it still makes for a rather sweet and fitting moment as both Loki and Sylvie come to the realization that they’re all they have right now, given their past nature of betraying anyone that crossed their paths.
As the Lokis and Mobius say their goodbyes, Loki embraces his work friend to show how much he’s changed since getting snatched by the TVA, although not without Mobius vowing to burn the agency to the ground right before he leaves using the TemPad Sylvie stole from Ravonna. In the end, it’s up to protagonist Loki and Sylvie to face Alioth and execute her plan to enchant their way past the mythical cloud’s defense to find out just exactly what’s hiding behind it.
Although seemingly overpowered at first, Loki and Sylvie get a helping hand from Old Man Loki who finally finds his glorious purpose in a way that not only showcases his true power, but that also pays off the very tale that he told Loki when they met explaining how he ended up in the void. Upon realizing Old Loki’s sacrifice, the main Loki becomes aware that maybe they’re all more powerful than they’re led to believe and the MCU’s coolest couple walks holding hands towards their big discovery: an entire castle town that may just be the Chronopolis where Kang the Conqueror -like Agatha Harkness- has been sitting all along.
There are a ton of loose ends to tie in the finale, like how will Mobius' TVA raid go,and will he get his jet ski?Will Ravonna Renslayer’s allegiance bend at least a little? Can Sylvie still betray Loki in the finale? How willLokiexplain what was hiding beneath Alioth? It all leads to a rather promising final episode, one that already hints strongly at why and howLokideserves to be a multi-season affair on Disney Plus.
Regardless of that,fans should remember thatWandaVisionandThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierended up being slightly disappointing in terms of big season-ending reveals, though then again none of those two were Loki, prince of Asgard and god of mischief burdened with glorious entertainment purposes.
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