Loki has reached its penultimate episode with ‘Journey Into Mystery’. It’s also the maddest 50 minutes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
At the end of ‘The Nexus Event,’ Loki had been pruned by Ravonna Renslayer. Instead of being killed, Loki has been sent to the end of the time which is inhabited by many different Lokis. Loki Prime has to find a way to get back to the TVA.
At the TVA Sylvie discovers the Time Keepers were really androids. Sylvie holds Renslayer hostage so she can find out who really runs the TVA and save Loki Prime.
I have compared Loki to Doctor Who and Rick and Morty. I am not the only one to make these comparisons: there have been many articles and videos that have declared Loki the American Doctor Who. The showrunner, Michael Waldron worked as a writer and producer on the hit animated show. ‘Journey Into Mystery’ used ideas from both shows.
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The idea of Loki being sent to the end of time felt like it was from Doctor Who. In Series Three episode ‘Utopia’ the TARDIS took the Doctor and his companions to the end of the universe where the last remnants of humanity were building a spacecraft in desperation. There were also elements of the Series Six episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ because some Time Lords went into the void to avoid the Time War. Both these Doctor Who settings were a combination of post-apocalyptic wasteland and junkyard, and The Void in Loki can be described in the same way.
The Void was filled with ruined and decaying objects, from cars to buildings. It was the TVA’s trash heap. It made for an interesting setting. The Lokis that followed President Loki looked like they were put through a Mad Max filter.
The Rick and Morty element came from the episode being filled with different versions of Loki. The various Variants have already been shown in ‘The Variant’ and ‘Journey Into Mystery’ expanded on that. Rick and Morty had shown versions of their title characters and Loki had some fun with the alternative Lokis. There was Kid Loki (Jack Veal) who was the King of his small group of Lokis and Classic Loki (Richard E. Grant), a powerful illusionist who wore a comic book accurate costume. The most notable was Alligator Loki who was just an alligator that had a Loki helmet. It’s the type of absurdist humor that fills Rick and Morty. Alligator Loki has already gained a fanbase.
Due to the episode having numerous Lokis it allowed for some fun interactions. Characters have been warned throughout the series to never trust a Loki. President Loki betrayed other Lokis. Loki did get to have a heart-to-heart with Classic Loki. Classic Loki revealed that all he did was cause pain and misery and Loki Prime had a similar realization in the first episode. Classic Loki did get to showcase the full force of his powers in an epic way.
The other focus of the episode was the relationship between Loki Prime and Sylvie. They love each other and that was the most wonderfully Loki thing possible. The only romance Lokis can have is with themselves. Loki Prime did see Sylvie as important because she’s the only one capable of bringing down the TVA, whilst Sylvie feels she needs Loki Prime. She was willing to self-prune to save him.
Loki Prime also had a touching moment with Mobius. Mobius was the first person this version of Loki Prime was close to, so it was lovely that Loki Prime called him his friend.
‘Journey Into Mystery’ was a wonderfully insane episode because of all the crazy concepts that were introduced. It had a fair amount of character drama. The expectations for the finale are high.
