Loki: Episode 5: “Journey Into Mystery”

Loki keeps getting crazy with every episode. If we thought the previous episode topped everything for its twists and handling of the Loki-Sylvie chemistry as well as the mid-credit scene, watch this episode to see how much hilarious can hilarious be!

Watch out for some of the best moments below. Needless to say, proceed at your own risk:

Nexus Events of each of the Four Lokis:

In the initial few minutes, we see what is a kind of destroyed world with physical remains of everything, including the Stark/Avengers Tower. This is revealed to be the "Void" where everyone who is pruned from TVA was dumped.

Here are the ways each of the four Lokis got arrested by TVA and pruned them to send them to the void:

Kid Loki: Killed his brother Thor.

Alligator Loki: Ate a neighbour's cat.

Boastful Loki: Defeated Ironman and Captain America and collected all the infinity stones.

Classic Loki: Escaped from Thanos and lived a lonely life in an isolated planet for thousands of years before he felt remorse and wanted to reunite with Thor, at which time the TVA appeared and arrested him.

A Loki Swarm

Early into the episode, we get to see not just the 4 lokis that guide Loki but also many more as he wants to fight his way out of that void, return to TVA and burn it down. But to his surprise, he finds 10 variants of Loki waiting outside. Loki vs a swarm of 10 more Lokis(plus the 4 Lokis) was a hilarious moment, especially the fight in the enclosure. Loki behaves in his characteristic manner, trying to evade their in-fighting using his well-known(and some more surprises) tricks beautifully.

Alligator Loki

Special mention should be made to the alligator Loki, which no one knows how it came out to be, but it does make up for some of the funniest moments during the conversation among the 4 Lokis. The CGI was top notch as expected from Marvel Studios, but most importantly, it drives the story forward in a very funny way. At one point of time, it eats the hand of the President Loki, which might feel gory for some, but actually feels funny due to the way it was executed.

Throg: The Frog Thor

One fleeting shot reveals a frog trapped inside a glass bottle, which is found to be Thor in the form of a frog. In the comics, the story goes like this:

Simon Walterson was a professional football player until a severe knee injury ended his playing career. He found joy in his wife and the work she did for charity. Unfortunately, that all changed when his wife and unborn child died, causing him to fall into a depression.

Walterson sealed out a musical way of reaching his late wife so he could communicate with her. He finally found a witch who was able to help him talk to his wife and learn about the unborn child. Walterson wasn't able to pay the witch so she cursed him, consequently transforming him into a frog named Puddlegulp.

Puddlegup had a run-in with Thor Odinson, who had been turned into a frog by Loki. As a Frog, Thor learned about the Rat vs. Frog war and decided to aid the frogs in their battle. As Puddlegup is left alone to defend himself against the rats, a sliver of Mjolnir was left on the ground and when he picked it up he acquired the power of Thor.

Thor Odinson returned to Asgard and forced Loki to revert him to his normal form. Walterson/Puddlegup found a new purpose as Throg, leading the frogs against their enemies and even fought greater battles with the Pet Avengers.

It's unclear if the Throg in Loki is Walterson or the Thor that Loki turns into a frog, but it's an unexpected and appreciated cameo regardless. Throg is officially canon in the MCU!

Sylvie-meets-Mobius-meets-Loki-meets-Alioth

Never was a re-union more powerfully shown and engaging like this moment where Sylvie prunes herself to go to the void in an attempt to find Loki, but instead spots Mobius, and these two were found eventually by Loki. This is a family-reunion kind of sorts and their chemistry feels refreshing.

The battle that Sylvie and Loki fought together to defeat the monster called Alioth is a masterpiece in terms of planning, vfx and execution.

Laying the foundations for Kang: The Conquerer

A building with the name "Qeng" is shown in a brief shot, which is the name of the company which bought the Stark (or Avengers) Tower. This Qeng Enterprises is the one that is owned by a man named Nathaniel Richards, who turns into Kang in the comics.

A continual theme is arising within Loki that almost every major plot point has some connection to Kang, making his involvement near certain. However, if Kang truly isn't the one behind the TVA, then Marvel has either been intentionally teasing fans from the beginning or really wants people to start talking about the Ant-Man sequel.

Given the common theme of time travel in the two projects, it makes logical sense for them to link in some way.

Alongside threats like Thanos and Galactus, Kang is one of the biggest threats in Marvel Comics. With the presence of time travel and the multiverse continuing to build in the MCU, the conquering antagonist will likely serve a much bigger purpose going forward than just being the villain of Quantumania.

Arguably, there is no better villain to make the Avengers reassemble than Kang, making him the strongest candidate to oppose the team in the highly-anticipated Avengers 5.

Frankly speaking, this episode has lots of easter eggs which cannot be explained in a single post. More of them would be coming soon on Anilmation: The Stream!

The sixth and final episode of Loki is going to air on Disney+ on 14July, which promises epic action which will solve many of the questions that the viewers will have after this episode.

My Rating: 9/10

With love.. Anil

Loki Episode 4: "The Nexus Event"

This contains spoilers for the show, so scroll down at your own risk:

As I have expected, after the lull of last episode where the chemistry between Loki and Sylvie was explored(very well I would say, but little else was digged in), this episode showed off what kind of twists are awaiting us in this show and the nature of this web series.

This is probably the best episode till now with the below highlights:

Mobius and Loki:

Mobius and Loki have an engaging interaction which leads to funny moments, including a time loop, which was last seen in the "Doctor Strange" movie(2016) when Stephen Strange locked the antagonist Doramamu in a time loop and forced him to accept his deal using his iconic dialogue "Doramamu.. I have come to bargain".

Lady Sif and Loki:

After an altercation with Mobius, a stubborn Loki gets transported to his Asgard and put in a time loop. With whom you guess? The Lady Sif, who was last seen in Thor: Ragnarok. Loki gets kicked multiple times by Sif(for cutting her hair in an unseen event) due to the time loop and he could not bear it.

The Revelation of Renslayer:

As have been predicted by many over all the previous episodes, Renslayer(the judge of TVA) turned out to be quite a liar. She even pruned out Mobius after he found out the truth about all those who are working at TVA.

The Time Keepers:

We finally get to see the time keepers, but they are not what we were made to believe all this time. Their image itself has been downgraded and they do not feel like the true masters of time management anymore.

Sylvie and Loki:

Just as we wait to hear Loki express his feelings for Sylvie, we see him getting "pruned" in a shocking event. Thankfully, those who keep for Loki have hope: He isnt completely erased from existence, but just transported to another world, which was shown in the mid-credit scene.

This mid credit scene reveals something of a new world, previously unseen anywhere. This scene looks to do something similar to what the 2018 animated movie: "Spiderman: Into the spiderverse" did: Multiple versions of Spiderman in the same shot.

So you see the different versions of Loki:

1. Classic Loki(Richard E. Grant) on the right, 

2. Kid Loki(Jack Veal) at center, 

3. Boastful Loki(Deobia Oparei) on the left, 

4. Alligator version of Loki(presumably CGI) which didnt have any comic precedent. There also seemed to be an online debate of whether it is the crocodile or an alligator with the crown of horns

So, here you go, the anticipation for the final 2 episodes has been built very well and it needs to be seen how this series ends.

My rating of this episode: 9/10

Thanks,

anil