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disneyplusshowsKey lime or apple pie?
Reunited and it feels so good!....or not. Loki and Sylvie have always had a tempestuous relationship from the beginning and a lot of it is her running and him pursuing. The contrast in their expressions when he found her in Broxton, Oklahoma (a deep cut from the Thor comics) was a bit heartbreaking.
Mobius and Loki doing their partnership thing was as hilarious and touching as ever (that Automat dispensing only Key Lime pie is classic TVA). Mobius even cracks a little, or seems to, under Brad's repeated taunting about his real identity outside the TVA as a nobody, and we get a delicious glimpse of Avengers-era Loki murmuring "Maybe I have been biding my time....just waiting to do awful, terrible things....to you." Brad underestimates them so much he falls for Mobius's rather broad pleas for Loki not to be a villain. But, earlier there was that rather disturbing shot of the two horned shadows pinning Brad's hands to the brick wall in a crucifix position, with Loki judging the use of his earlier tricks as "spot on".... (I have to admit when I saw this in the trailers I thought it was Loki and Sylvie, because the angle made me think one of the horns was knocked off, but My Three Lokis was really neat.) Mobius is as devoted to the idea of the TVA as he was when Loki quizzed him about it in the cafeteria in S1, but his loyalty is a bit unnerving now. Who is he without his deep belief in what he does?
Another heartbreaking moment was Hunter B's devastation as Dox nearly carried out her plan of bombing all the branched timelines out of existence (a bit similar to what Sylvie was doing in S1, only she wanted to take out the Sacred Timeline itself). Sylvie made Hunter aware of her own real past life as a person outside the TVA, and Hunter is the one who says the unthinkable: "Those are all people." No longer faceless Variants or just pruning missions to be carried out. Casey, Mobius and Loki as the people of the new TVA all shared her grief and horror. (This also puts the main action squarely back in the TVA and means we probably won't see many branches of the multiverse -- although Sylvie's hideout survived). It's a surprisingly grim moment in an otherwise fairly light episode which saves most of the action and its consequences for the last act. Hunter X/Brad thought the TVA being a lie changed everything, made it all meaningless; Dox thought it changed nothing and continued with the original false (genocidal!) mission.
I saw a hint of Kingo from Eternals in Brad Wolfe -- except Kingo was hot and funny and charming and I mostly wanted to drown Brad in a bucket. Brad served as an interesting shadow parallel to Sylvie too -- he desperately wanted to get back to the Sacred Timeline and enjoy his life, after finding out Dox intended to commit murder a million times over. And at the end, we see her with the fragment of Kang's TempPad she grabbed at the end of the first season and apparently used to get to her own hideaway in Broxton....even though she says the TVA is broken and rotten and only does harm, and she may not be ready to leave quite yet, she seems a little dissatisfied with her McParadise.
In terms of the plotline, O.B.'s revelation that the blast doors are keyed to the "temporal aura" (we saw Loki's being recorded on a Polaroid-like thing in S1 when he arrived at the TVA) of the one who made it....i.e., He Who Remains....seems to indicate he will be He Who Returns pretty soon now. They don't yet know there was a Temporal War apparently in the future, not the far past as the training film said, which He Who Remains won and then made everyone forget with the noble lie of the Sacred Timeline and the Timekeepers. The recording we heard of him and Ravonna was I think timestamped from 300 years in the future, or at least that's what one screenshot looked like. Ravonna wanted to find the person who was behind the whole lie of the TVA and apparently she did, with Miss Minutes. We know the future TVA will be on the verge of being destroyed from Loki's flash-forward there, when he sees Sylvie, but Sylvie completely rejects the idea of that kind of predestination. Are different outcomes closed loops, or branches? The MCU doesn't quite seem to have figured that out yet (it wasn't clear even in Endgame). I always suck at actually figuring stuff like this out beforehand and have to have it explained to me later, but I do think that "Ouroborous" running the TVA for hundreds of years may not be a throwaway detail....
But enough of my blathering, what did other people think? Most favorite scenes? Disliked moments? Speculations? Do you like Key Lime pie?
Reunited and it feels so good!....or not. Loki and Sylvie have always had a tempestuous relationship from the beginning and a lot of it is her running and him pursuing. The contrast in their expressions when he found her in Broxton, Oklahoma (a deep cut from the Thor comics) was a bit heartbreaking.
Mobius and Loki doing their partnership thing was as hilarious and touching as ever (that Automat dispensing only Key Lime pie is classic TVA). Mobius even cracks a little, or seems to, under Brad's repeated taunting about his real identity outside the TVA as a nobody, and we get a delicious glimpse of Avengers-era Loki murmuring "Maybe I have been biding my time....just waiting to do awful, terrible things....to you." Brad underestimates them so much he falls for Mobius's rather broad pleas for Loki not to be a villain. But, earlier there was that rather disturbing shot of the two horned shadows pinning Brad's hands to the brick wall in a crucifix position, with Loki judging the use of his earlier tricks as "spot on".... (I have to admit when I saw this in the trailers I thought it was Loki and Sylvie, because the angle made me think one of the horns was knocked off, but My Three Lokis was really neat.) Mobius is as devoted to the idea of the TVA as he was when Loki quizzed him about it in the cafeteria in S1, but his loyalty is a bit unnerving now. Who is he without his deep belief in what he does?
Another heartbreaking moment was Hunter B's devastation as Dox nearly carried out her plan of bombing all the branched timelines out of existence (a bit similar to what Sylvie was doing in S1, only she wanted to take out the Sacred Timeline itself). Sylvie made Hunter aware of her own real past life as a person outside the TVA, and Hunter is the one who says the unthinkable: "Those are all people." No longer faceless Variants or just pruning missions to be carried out. Casey, Mobius and Loki as the people of the new TVA all shared her grief and horror. (This also puts the main action squarely back in the TVA and means we probably won't see many branches of the multiverse -- although Sylvie's hideout survived). It's a surprisingly grim moment in an otherwise fairly light episode which saves most of the action and its consequences for the last act. Hunter X/Brad thought the TVA being a lie changed everything, made it all meaningless; Dox thought it changed nothing and continued with the original false (genocidal!) mission.
I saw a hint of Kingo from Eternals in Brad Wolfe -- except Kingo was hot and funny and charming and I mostly wanted to drown Brad in a bucket. Brad served as an interesting shadow parallel to Sylvie too -- he desperately wanted to get back to the Sacred Timeline and enjoy his life, after finding out Dox intended to commit murder a million times over. And at the end, we see her with the fragment of Kang's TempPad she grabbed at the end of the first season and apparently used to get to her own hideaway in Broxton....even though she says the TVA is broken and rotten and only does harm, and she may not be ready to leave quite yet, she seems a little dissatisfied with her McParadise.
In terms of the plotline, O.B.'s revelation that the blast doors are keyed to the "temporal aura" (we saw Loki's being recorded on a Polaroid-like thing in S1 when he arrived at the TVA) of the one who made it....i.e., He Who Remains....seems to indicate he will be He Who Returns pretty soon now. They don't yet know there was a Temporal War apparently in the future, not the far past as the training film said, which He Who Remains won and then made everyone forget with the noble lie of the Sacred Timeline and the Timekeepers. The recording we heard of him and Ravonna was I think timestamped from 300 years in the future, or at least that's what one screenshot looked like. Ravonna wanted to find the person who was behind the whole lie of the TVA and apparently she did, with Miss Minutes. We know the future TVA will be on the verge of being destroyed from Loki's flash-forward there, when he sees Sylvie, but Sylvie completely rejects the idea of that kind of predestination. Are different outcomes closed loops, or branches? The MCU doesn't quite seem to have figured that out yet (it wasn't clear even in Endgame). I always suck at actually figuring stuff like this out beforehand and have to have it explained to me later, but I do think that "Ouroborous" running the TVA for hundreds of years may not be a throwaway detail....
But enough of my blathering, what did other people think? Most favorite scenes? Disliked moments? Speculations? Do you like Key Lime pie?
no subject
Date: 2023-10-13 06:31 pm (UTC)I'm sad they pruned so many timelines because I thought we might get to see a bunch of different lives for various characters, but I guess not? Otherwise, it was mostly enjoyable. I do like the contrast between how various members of the TVA react to learning it's all been a lie - Hunter B-15 being emotionally devastated and wanting to stop the pruning because those are people! Dox not caring at all/not seeing a difference. Hunter X-5/Brad deciding to go AWOL to have his best life on the Sacred Timeline. And Mobius, protesting too much about not wanting to know, though I do get how knowing about great alternate life would be worse than knowing about a bad one.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-13 07:19 pm (UTC)It was TVA colour scheme key lime pie! Actually I think I have eaten grocery store key lime pie (lol I know) about that colour. It looked almost like Jello.
I'm sad they pruned so many timelines because I thought we might get to see a bunch of different lives for various characters, but I guess not
Yeah, it's like when we saw the D.B. Cooper bit in the trailer for S1 and people thought that would be a whole episode, or most of one maybe. From what I remember they had practical sets for the TVA last season (the interrogation rooms, the Timekeeper vault, the caf) but it looks like they went even further for this season with the R & A basement, the blast doors, the McDonald's (that set was so big and detailed I have to think it plays a bigger part, unless Mickey D's really did just pay for it as a gigantic ad). The TVA is the focus (which makes me wonder if it might make it into the movies). I guess the set for the Victor Timely encounter that's been in every promo so far looks elaborate enough that they might spend more than five minutes there? Hah. Even then, I think everyone is the TVA version we've seen so far.
It's kinda piquant that people (me include) keep expecting the show will go more for variant selves or multiverses or branch-hopping or whatever, but the one ep I can remember from S1 that was completely non-TVA is Lamentis. I think. I think Sylvie and the little hologram briefing Mobius shows the team were the only Loki variants we got until the penultimate episode. (Alligator Loki just got his own infinite comic in a hard copy version! Play to your strengths, MCU.)
I did greatly enjoy Loki and Mobius in tuxes and Hunter B-15 in that GORGEOUS gold lame? gown. //shallow
no subject
Date: 2023-10-13 07:39 pm (UTC)https://thedirect.com/article/loki-kang-statue-tva-explained
But it seems like he actually went back in the TVA past (before the big war He Who Remains won), which is how he knew the Kang bas-relief was behind the Timekeepers mural.
It does sound like we're going to get variant Kangs I guess? Or at least Victor Timely. The post-credits scene for Quantumania showed many, many, many Kangs.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-14 10:14 am (UTC)Once I caught up I had an enjoyable time with it. Didn't buy the Loki locking out Mobius for a second. That was a hilarious "torture" device though. Very TVA.
Still enjoying OB. Cheerfully off tangents right after declaring they're all gonna die, A+. People should be getting his autograph.
I thought we would be getting a Kang variant as well, but then the timelines were pruned so would it still be overloading? Do they still need access? idk
no subject
Date: 2023-10-14 09:43 pm (UTC)I totally didn't buy Loki actually going dark either and it annoyed me, altho T (my partner) thought it was really funny. I don't know why it was so irritating....I guess it was to underline how actually dumb Brad was? Altho I thought Brad was plenty dumb before that. I HOPE that actor is not going to get a lot more screen time.
Casey fanboying OB, A++ -- they're the nerds! The ones figuring out how things actually work. MORE OB LESS BRAD KTHNX.
I guess not all the timelines got pruned? Someone guessed around 30%, someone else 50%, or "most of them." IDK. Sylvie's branch is obviously still there (for now), and the impression I got (I am v bad at plotting, lol) is that Kang is going to return at some point to get the access (he says "See you soon" to Sylvie), and then we'll get a lot of Kangs. Feige's big point in one interview was that "you thought Thanos was bad, at least you defeat Thanos once" -- with Kang if you defeat him he just sort of becomes an even bigger enemy. But still IDK, because Loki seemed to see Sylvie in the TVA after they can't get the doors open.... *hands*
no subject
Date: 2023-10-15 01:02 am (UTC)Also was amused by the handbook writer autography signing.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-15 01:07 am (UTC)Hunter B's devastation as Dox nearly carried out her plan...Hunter X/Brad thought the TVA being a lie changed everything, made it all meaningless; Dox thought it changed nothing
Yes, I was glad to see they presented various reactions to what should have been a "life" altering event. Plus Mobius' reaction of not wanting to know more.
And I very much enjoy key lime pie (but not McDonalds pies) only the real thing and not the radioactive green stuff 😉
no subject
Date: 2023-10-15 09:14 pm (UTC)I can sadly totally identify with Mobius thinking "but what if I had a great life, and I lost it, and I've just been stuck with this lie doing useless shit all this time?" How long do we know they've been there? I think in S1 Sylvie says that she had to go back in Hunter C-20's memories (I miss her, woe) hundreds of years. O.B. has been down in his toyshop about 400 years? Is there some kind of time stasis field or what?