Loki, “For All Time. Always.”, Review!

 The season finale of Loki is here!  Last episode’s run to the conclusion had Sylvie finding Loki and the other Lokis.  She filled them in on her plan to use her powers on Alioth.  They need to get past the “guard dog” and reach the other side to find out who is really behind the curtain.  Kid Loki gave Loki his sword, the one that killed his Thor?  They needed a distraction and Classic Loki had one, bringing up an illusory Asgard!, the Alioth destroyed it and Classic Loki!  Sylvie combined with Loki to tame the beast and they started toward the castle on the other side.  The episode opens with some old time swing music, then we hear voices, MCU characters from past films.  It pulls back from the sun and out past the solar system, a spaceship zips past, we hear Neil Armstrong.  A blur as the Milky Way Galaxy spins and it becomes a blue globe that turns red.  This leaps forward and then retracts into a black globe submerged in a galaxy.  Then, an identical one to the side, more voices.  The Multiverse?  

We start to move through a time vortex blurring everything, sort of like 2001 mixed with Doctor Who.  This turns into blue streaks and ends in the thread that is the Sacred Timeline.  Floating outside of it is an asteroid that looks ringed with the center missing.  Loki stands with Sylvie in front of the castle, it looks like a still image.  Eerie music as we get the alien, rocky landscape, they walk towards the castle.  Sylvie and Loki reach the black door with cracks of gold across it. She is a bit nervous to enter the castle and Loki gives her time to calm down.  The door opens, two robed statues flank the misty room, Miss Minutes suddenly appears!  Loki and Sylvie draw their swords.  Miss Minutes says it is the Citadel at the End of Time.  She says “He Who Remains” is impressed with them.  He has offered a bargain to have them have a place in the timeline. The bonus is that Loki can win the Battle of New York and kill Thanos!  Sylvie who has been escaping the TVA all her life is given a “lifetime of good memories.”  This is the Monkey’s Paw dilemma.  

Miss Minutes appears at Renslayer’s office, she checks her TemPad, “he” has given her some other files.  We get the tilted pan of Loki and Sylvie walking down a dark corridor.  They reach another room with statues, previous Time-Keepers?, a broken column, and dusty rubble.  A door chimes and they turn to it with their swords.  The elevator door opens and there is a man in a purple, half-robe. “He Who Remains” (Jonathan Majors) greets them.  Majors we know will appear as King the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania next year.  The first appearance of Kang was in Avengers #8 (1964).  “He Who Remains” chomps on an apple and invites them to his office.  Sylvie attacks him in the elevator, but he shifts away to the couch and then again shifts.  The elevator door opens and He serves a drink while his fireplace ignites. Sylvie and Loki take a seat.  It seems like this mysterious villain is like Loki+.  Renslayer gets a knock at the door, it is Mobius with a TVA baton, she tries to call in a Minute Man, but she’s out of time, ha!  Hunter B-15 moves from a locker in Fremont, Ohio, 2018.  Minute Man run after her, she moves to an office, and tries to talk to the Minute Man.  

They are interrupted by a woman who looks like Renslayer!  This is the original, not the Variant!  This really isn’t resolved in the finale.  At the office, Sylvie tries to again cut him with her sword, but shifts away from her strike.  His jokey attitude is just not threatening as a villain.  Plus, the actor doesn’t have the delivery to be funny or have a hint of menace.  I would have preferred a more mysterious villain who finds his job wearisome and life absurd.  He takes out a folder and removes two papers to show Loki and Sylvie that he knows what happens, sort of like the Twilight Zone episode, “A World of His Own” (1960) every action is written in a script.  This Kang says he’s seen it all, omniscient?  Renslayer argues that everything is a “necessary lie” without it is chaos.  Mobius says it is free will.  Renslayer opens a timedoor.  Mobius says they can build a better world.  He activates the baton, but Renslayer takes it and kicks him down. She takes her briefcase and enters the timedoor.  Back at the castle, Sylvie asks him who he is and “He Who Remains” says he has been called a “conqueror.”  

He flicks a metal piece from his wrist and it transforms to his 30th century Variant, a scientist, others discovered “universes stacked on top of each other.”  They encountered each other, but there were more aggressive versions that started a war, where the Variants are attacking each other with TVA batons.  Sylvie brings up the Time-Keepers, but the truth is that he discovered Alioth and used him to end the war.  Kang Void Edition offers for them to kill him and rule the TVA together.  Then, he stops, there is a rumble like a storm, and he says they have crossed a threshold.  Loki says his fate is in their hands.  Kang leans forward with a large coin and Sylvie draws her sword, but Loki pulls her back.  Next, Loki uses his power to pull ack Sylvie and they have to clash swords while arguing.  He calms Sylvie down enough to say that without him, they could unleash a greater danger.  Sylvie thinks Loki just wants the throne.  They get into a fierce duel, Sylvie in slo mo is about to swing her sword, Loki ports in her way.  Loki has a dramatic moment with Sylvie admitting he only wants her to be okay.  Shifting lighting on their faces.  They kiss and Sylvie knocks him back through a time door to the TVA.  The coin with the golden cracks turns dark. 

She uses her power to slam his desk to the side.  Kang laughs.  Sylvie plunges her sword into his chest.  Dead? maybe, but I think this is a Variant or something.  She drops to the floor.  Outside the castle window, we see the Sacred Timeline is branching out at multiple places, What If...?  The Watchers like Uatu in that show appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).  Mobius and Hunter B-15 see this on a TVA monitor.  Loki looks sad just sitting, then races down the TVA hall, he sees at the cafeteria that the clock has multiple hands. Loki goes to the records section and finds Hunter B-15 and Mobius to tell explain what happened. Mobius doesn’t recognize Loki, he thinks he is an analyst, this is similar to the Ray Bradbury story, “A Sound of Thunder.”  He sees now the statue of the Time-Keepers replaced by Kang in his comic book armor.  There is an end credit scene, but that is short and just to tell viewers there is a season 2.  Loki’s finale is slow paced, the epic events and characters were the last two episodes, it all hinges on whether you like the portrayal of Kang.  He is not really a surprise and his jokey attitude eliminates any kind of interest whether he lives or dies and really what happened to him.  Plus, unresolved is what happened to Ravenna Renslayer, who is the original person and why has she caused Variants?, and what will happen with the TVA?             

Three Time Twisters out of Five! 

#Loki, #ForAllTimeAlways, #HeWhoRemains, #JonathanMajors