After the exciting conclusion of ‘The Variant’, the third episode of Loki sees our favorite Norse trickster team up with an alternative version of himself.
The Variant, AKA Lady Loki, AKA Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) has sent a lot of time reset charges across the points in time and she goes to TVA with the aim to kill the Time Keepers. Her plans are interrupted by Loki and the pair end up on the moon Lamentis-1 in 2077, the greatest apocalypse of all time. Loki and Sylvie have to find a way to recharge their TemPad before the moon is destroyed.
The end of ‘The Variant’ had a great cliffhanger because it looked like Sylvie had created numerous Nexus events which can lead to the destruction of reality. So ‘Lamentis’ was a left turn because it was a smaller scale episode. It focused on two characters trapped in a limited location with only their wits and skills to get out. ‘Lamentis’ was a character-focused episode on the two Lokis getting to know each other.
The episode aimed to show how the Lokis were both similar and different. Sylvie had a blunt force style: she liked to use her mind control powers and if that didn’t work just fight. Loki tried to avoid conflict so used disguises and trickery. This was showcased when the pair faced a gun-wielding woman and both failing. The pair ended up working well together when they had to infiltrate a train and during the final scene of the episode. The other difference was their objectives. Loki wanted to take over the TVA, whilst Sylvie was an anarchist: she wanted to destroy the order. She was like Rick from Rick and Morty because she hated governments and authority.
The way the Lokis were similar was they were always looking for ways to trick each other. In the episode Loki had the TemPad on his person and Sylvie was trying to find a way to get it off him. Both Lokis had an ego and due to their differences they bickered a lot, like many characters in the MCU.
When the Lokis were on the train they did have a heart-to-heart. Loki talked about how he was close to his mother and she taught him magic. Sylvie’s experience was different because she didn’t know her mother and she had to teach herself magic. However, as Loki said he revealed a lot about himself, but Sylvie didn’t reveal much about herself, so it led to the question, is she lying? The other tidbit during the train ride was Loki had been interested in men as well as women, making him the first opening LGBT character in the MCU.
Like WandaVision, Loki had a lot of mystery. The series already asked who are the Time Keepers and the origins of the multiverse. In ‘Lamentis’ Sylvie reveals information that TVA agents are variants who had past lives. This contradicts information that Mobius gave Loki because he said agents were created by the Time Keepers. Obviously someone was lying.
The reception for ‘Lamentis’ hasn’t been as positive as for the first two episodes. Some people on Twitter have said it felt like the series was padding things out. This was an issue that affected The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because that series felt like a movie stretched out from a six-hour run time. This episode of Loki was the shortest so far, it only lasted 36 minutes, excluding the credits.
The other criticism from the Twitterverse was ‘Lamentis’ was compared to a bad episode of Doctor Who. ‘Lamentis’ is far from a bad Doctor Who episode. The set up was like a Doctor Who episode because Loki was stranded on something that was about to be destroyed. Loki and Sylvie were wandering around a wasteland, the type of location Doctor Who would use to save money, and like the BBC show, Loki had some unsubtle political commentary. The relationship between Loki and Sylvie does echo the relationship between the Twelfth Doctor and Missy since they acted like frenemies who had to work together in a desperate move.
After all the world-building and intrigue of the first two episodes, ‘Lamentis’ was smaller in scope and continued with the show’s character development.
