Loki Episode 4 review: Chaos reigns in hit Marvel drama
*** WARNING: This article contains spoilers about new and past episodes of Loki ***
It seems a bit misleading to call last week’s episode of Loki as uneventful, given Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) revealing a key plot point and facing the apocalypse with Loki (Tom Hiddleston). However, narratively it gave our heroes a chance to pause and explore what makes them who they are. This week, it’s back to business, with a raft of shocking moments that change the game entirely.
First, a flashback – we see a young Sylvie being captured by the TVA, and escaping judgement by stealing the TemPad of Judge Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), back then just a regular TVA hunter. In the present, Renslayer briefs Mobius (Owen Wilson) after meeting with the Time Keepers, informing him that C-20 (Sasha Lane) died after having her mind scrambled by Sylvie. Stuck on Lamentis-1, Loki and Sylvie calmly accept their impending doom, with Loki just beginning to open up to Sylvie before being interrupted by the TVA, who apprehend them after seeing an unprecedented Nexus branch form. Sylvie is taken into questioning, while Loki is essentially tortured with a reconstructed memory of Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) rebuking him after a prank.
It’s fun to see the much-loved Thor character return after eight years, even if it is only as a memory. We also get to see the tide begin to turn with Renslayer, played with wonderful subtlety by Mbatha-Raw. We saw it coming, and you’d be forgiven for wondering why the TVA don’t just let them die on Lamentis-1, but a villain seems to be forming.
From here, a lot of things are going on. Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku), up to this point a fierce TVA enforcer, begins to ask questions after being possessed by Sylvie, implying she saw her old life too. Mobius calls a broken Loki in from his torture and lies to him, saying that Sylvie is dead and deducing that Loki is in love with her, which caused the unusual branch on Lamentis-1. Loki tells Mobius a couple of times the truth that the TVA are all brainwashed variants, but he doesn’t seem to believe it, although he has his suspicions after being told he can’t interview Sylvie.
It’s all getting a bit complicated as various characters are moving into place, but it does benefit from a strong casting. It did seem strange that actors the calibre of Mbatha-Raw and Mosaku (who was brilliant in Jordan Peele’s Lovecraft Country) appearing in quite minor roles, but we put that down to Marvel being Marvel (this is the studio that squandered Glenn Close in Guardians of The Galaxy and Julie Delpy in Age of Ultron). However, it seems their talents were being saved for big moments to come.
Both doubters become believers, as B-15 commandeers Sylvie and takes her to the Roxxcart store from episode 2, to privately ask about her memories. Sylvie insists she can’t implant visions, and that what she saw was her past. B-15 asks for her to do it again, and when Sylvie obliges, she says “what now?” Meanwhile, Mobius seems to be equally suspicious, despite Renslayer’s assurances that C-20 was being kept from him for his own good. He steals Renslayer’s TemPad and witnesses C-20 on trial, apparently lucid and confirming what Loki was saying all along.
Then comes the heartbreak. Mobius is convinced, but reluctant to stop the Time Keepers with just the support of two Lokis. Loki assures him he has the support of a friend, and the pair head out of the interrogation room, only to be stopped by Renslayer. Cornered, Mobius gives an endearing speech saying whoever he was on Earth, he had a jet ski, before Renslayer has him pruned. If the judge wasn’t a villain before, she certainly was now. Poor Mobius.
Sylvie and Loki are reunited just before they are brought before the Time Keepers, with Sylvie’s whispered “are you ok?” seeming to confirm that she cares about Loki too. We finally see The Time Keepers, who exchange barbs with Loki before sentencing them to death. Some feedback for Marvel (we know they’re avid readers): echoey voices are cool and all, but they made what were quite key lines almost inaudible.
B-15 shows up and helps both prisoners kill the TVA agents, while Sylvie faces off with Renslayer. Their foes defeated, Sylvie and Loki turn to The Time Keepers who offer Sylvie a chance to join them. She refuses, beheading one and revealing all of them to be artificial androids. Loki turns to Sylvie and begins to confess his feelings, before he’s pruned by a seemingly defeated Renslayer! Devastated, Sylvie forces Renslayer to tell her the truth about the TVA.
So, where now? Mobius’ death was hard enough (Wilson did a great job) but Loki being pruned is a real issue in a show called Loki that has two episodes to go. Luckily, this is Marvel. A mid-credits scene sees Loki awaken and wonder if he’s in Hel (the canon afterlife in the comics), a voice says “not yet, but you will be unless you come with us”. He looks up, and it’s the voice of Richard E Grant who is dressed as ‘Classic Loki’, beside Kid Loki (Jack Veal) and Boastful Loki (Deobia Oparei). That’s a lot of Lokis.
In one episode, everything seems to have changed. Marvel cliff hangers don’t always pay off, but the storytelling on this season has been solid and there’s every reason to hope the final two episodes will deliver something satisfying. With next week’s Black Widow feeling very much like a return to the standard MCU format, this Terry Gilliam inspired inter-dimensional mystery continues to separate itself from the crowd, much like its hero.
New episodes of Loki are available every Wednesday on Disney+.