Journey Into Mystery
Episode 5 of Loki begins with a slick establishing shot through the ruins of a city. A monstrous shadowy creature roars in the distance, prompting Loki and his variants to rush away. This is Alioth, as we soon come to learn, and it’s there to destroy everything. Our Loki is not happy, demanding answers after bein pruned. As we soon find out, these different variants of Loki were taken from their timelines by the TVA and pruned. Among those is Kid Loki, who actually killed Thor in his reality. There’s a variety of other tales traded as the variants make it to an underground lair, eventually leading Loki to make a big decision. He’s going to head out and stop Alioth. Walking away from the booming laughter, he opens the vault door to uncover President Loki and his cronies, who head down to the underground chamber with the others. Having stopped Renslayer, back in the TVA Sylvie questions her just what’s going on. According to Renslayer, the branched timelines haven’t been destroyed per-se, they’ve just moved across to a void at the End of Time. Apparently the time-keepers are trying to turn that into a utopia but the verdict is still out on that one. Sylvie and Renslayer work together and use the projection of Miss Minutes to concoct a new plan. Specifically, they intend to use a time void spacecraft to travel to the End of Time. Of course, Renslayer isn’t one to trust and she soon brings her goons in to try and capture Sylvie. Well, she has other ideas and instead decides to prune herself. Sylvie inevitably shows up in this void arena, where Mobius happens to be driving a car. How? Who knows, but it’s a nice moment nonetheless. He saves her from certain doom and the pair drive off together. At least to begin with anyway. Sylvie convinces Mobius to head back as she wants to confront the creature. Of course, that’s easier said than done given Alioth can devour objects and creatures in record time. Just to show off its impressiveness, an entire boat is zapped into this void, allowing the creature to devour everyone onboard without a second thought. Silvie, Mobius and Loki eventually reconvene where they come up with a new plan. Sylvie is convinced that the real ringleader is behind the cloud monster and this is just standing guard, like Cerberus acting as the Guardian to the Underworld. Sylvie intends to enchant the monster, with Loki deciding to stick around and help. Alligator, Classic and Kid Loki all head back to their lair to wait it out. Mobius meanwhile, heads back to the TVA with the intent of burning it to the ground. Loki and Sylvie head down to face Alioth. However, Classic Loki uses his powers to conjure forth an entire holographic town because he’s stronger than he realizes. Ignoring this contrivance for a second, it doesn’t last given Classical Loki is killed. Or is he? Is this another fakeout? You can never tell with this show! Anyway, it’s enough of a distraction for Sylvie and Loki to uncover their next destination – a spooky looking castle.
The Episode Review
Loki’s penultimate episode brings with it some solid answers, quirky comedy and decent action too. The episode does have some Easter eggs sprinkled throughout, including the Thanos Copter which inevitably has ignited the online community into a bit of a frenzy. Meanwhile, Sylvie pruning herself to reunite with our Loki is a nice touch while the episode does start to hint who the big bad will be for Marvel’s Phase 4. It seems like Kang or Doctor Doom are the most likely candidates given the castle at the end but my money’s on the former. As someone who’s not completely clued up on all the comics, the internet has certainly been full of keen-eyed fans theorizing who could be the next big bad and Kang seems to fit the bill here – especially if those theories are to be believed! This series has been a bit of a mixed bag at times but when Loki embraces its weirdness and less of the walky-talky shenanigans of an alien planet filler, the show is all the stronger for it. Let’s hope this one can end with a bang.
