‘The Nexus Event’ returns Loki back to its grand roots are a smaller, character-driven episode ‘Lamentis.’
Loki and Sylvie’s fate seems sealed after The Ark on Lamentis gets destroyed. However, they are able to cause a major Nexus Event and get arrested by the TVA. When in TVA custody Loki tries to prove to Mobius that everything he knows about the TVA is a lie.
Out of all the Marvel Disney+ Loki has been the most interesting. WandaVision was a personal story about someone processing their grief and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was an average Marvel movie that happened to run for six hours. Loki’s selling feature has been its mystery and had lots of reveals and twists. Because of the mystery fans of the series have developed their own theories.
An example of a Loki fan theory was regarding the identity of Sylvie. Some fans have speculated that Sylvie might not have been a female version of Loki but actually have been Enchantress. The evidence for this theory was Enchantress used Sylvie as an alias and Sylvie’s powers were different to Loki’s. This episode has disproven this theory. ‘The Nexus Event’ showed Sylvie as a child dressed in the same costume as the MCU’s Loki. The other way this episode disproved the Enchantress theory was the titular Nexus Event.
‘The Nexus Event’ does present another mystery: what is Ravonna Renslayer’s role? Ravonna has already been shown to be a powerful figure within the TVA. She is a gatekeeper to the Time Keepers because she acts as their representative to the agents. This episode showed Ravonna being the TVA agent who had arrested Sylvie as a child and she clearly knows more than she lets on. Sylvie even questions Ravonna, what was her crime that made her a Variant. This backstory shows why Sylvie hates TVA and how much she has suffered at their hands. She has been on the run since she was a child and had to learn how to survive.
Despite Ravonna’s best efforts to launch a cover-up, the appearance of Loki and Sylvie does sow seeds of doubt within the TVA. Loki has already had a friendship with Mobius which leads to Mobius investigating what happened to Hunter C-20. Hunter B-15 had been shown to be hostile to Loki, so she had an unexpected change of heart when she interacted with Sylvie. The appearance of Loki and Sylvie at the TVA could lead to the downfall of the organization.
Whilst Loki had grand art design and sets, it does feel more like it suffers from the limitations to a TV show, more so than the previous MCU Disney+ shows. A prime example of this was during the action sequence in the episode. It took place in a small room and it was staged without any real flair. It was a little disappointing for a TV show linked to one of the biggest film franchises.
On a final note, it was fun to see Jaimie Alexander reprise her role as Sif, even if it was just a cameo. It led to a bit of humor that forced Loki to have some introspection.
‘The Nexus Event’ was at its best showing the inner workings of the TVA and how it seems that the organization is facing the beginning of the end. It was also an effective episode at showing character development and big reveals.
