Loki Season One Episode Three - 'Lamentis' Spoiler Review

 Loki's third episode was not at all what I was expecting, it was a slower-paced episode where the two Lokis got a chance to talk and get to know each other.  I did not think the episode was bad, but when there are only six episodes in a season, you expect each episode to be important.  I feel that this show probably could have been done in 2.5 hour movie rather than a six episode show.  If episode three title 'Lamentis' is any indication it is that the show could have easily been five episodes.  I know it is sounding like I hated the episode, I did not, and I even kind of liked it.  Lamentis was just an episode that did not feature anything of significance, I wish we saw more of what was happening at the TVA (hello episode four), or maybe some flashbacks to Loki or Sylvie's past.  We got a Midnight Run type of episode that was not as funny as Midnight Run, and it also lacked the action to keep me entertained.  I continue to be impressed by the visual style of the show and Lamentis did not disappoint, I also am impressed by how much I like Tom Hiddleston's performance of Loki.  Hiddleston has always been fantastic as Loki, but in the show, we are seeing a little more of the sadness that Loki seems to carry with him.  Where Loki can be a charming rogue, Sylvie does not seem interested in those games as she is more direct in her approach.  The two styles of Loki and Sylvie clash, but when used together in the right moments will lead to the desired result.  In my episode one and two review I spent the entire conclusion theorizing, and after episode three I see that the only thing that I said that ties to episode three is that there is something weird about the TVA.  We still do not know what is weird, but we got confirmation that the TVA has not been truthful in how it acquires it's employees.  

'LAMENTIS' RECAP

The episode opens up in a restaurant where we see Hunter C-20 sitting on a patio with Lady Loki, both are wearing normal casual clothes.  They are having drinks as if they are friends, but Lady Loki suddenly asks Hunter C-20 how many people are guarding the Time Keepers.  The question confuses Hunter C-20, the scene changes slightly, and Lady Loki asks again, and this time Hunter C-20 realizes that she is in an old memory.  We zoom out to see that Lady Loki and Hunter C-20 are inside the Roxxcart store and that Loki and Mobius have just entered the building.  Lady Loki was able to get something out of Hunter C-20, that the elevators to the Time Keepers is gold.  We learn that the portal Lady Loki opened as she got away in episode two was to the TVA, she is trying to locate the gold elevators.  Lady Loki needs to fight some of the remaining TVA hunters in order to search, while Loki arrives through the same portal and goes after the knives that Hunter B-15 took away from him.  Loki confronts Lady Loki as she finds the elevators, the Lokis fight until Renslayer arrives.  Lady Loki threatens to kill Loki if Renslayer doesn't back down, Renslayer tells Lady Loki to kill him then. Loki then uses the Tempad to open a portal so he and Lady Loki can escape.  They escape to Lamentis 1 in 2077, they fight, and Lady Loki tries to open another portal, but the device is out of power.  Lady Loki yells at Loki when she realizes they're on Lamentis 1, it is the worst of all the apocalypses saved on the Tempad.  Lamentis 1 is a moon that is about to collide with a planet, Loki uses his power to hide the Tempad from Lady Loki.  Lady Loki attempts to mind control Loki, but it fails leaving them to try and barter a truce, so they find a way to charge the Tempad and escape Lamentis 1.  

As they are walking to a nearby town Lady Loki reveals she goes by Sylvie now, when they arrive at the town is had been abandoned.  They come across one resident who ends up shooting both Sylvie and Loki, the resident thought tells them that all the other residents are going to the Ark.  Sylvie and Loki find a train that is about to depart that will bring them to the Ark, Loki pretends to be a guard who is escorting Sylvie.  The plan does not work until Sylvie takes control of the guard at the entrance to the train who lets them on.  While sitting on the train Sylvie and Loki bond, Loki talks about his mother and love.  Sylvie and Loki lament the fact that they have struggled to find love, Loki admits that he had flings with Princesses and Princes.  Sylvie takes a nap and wakes up to find Loki singing Asgardian songs in the bar with the bar patrons.  One of the patrons goes to the guards and suggests Loki does not belong, Sylvie and Loki fight the guards until Loki is thrown out of the train and Sylvie is forced to follow him.  The fall off of the train has destroyed the Tempad, there only way of escape is to make it to the Ark and fly off of the world.  

While making their way to the Ark Sylvie tells Loki what she learned from Hunter C-20, how the key to getting the information was from her life before the TVA.  Loki is shocked because he was told that everyone who works for the TVA was created by the Time Keepers, all the employees of the TVA are variants who have had their memories removed.  Loki and Sylvie have to fight through a mob of people to get to the Ark, but before they can make it the Ark is hit by a meteorite and destroyed.  Without the Ark they are stranded on Lamentis 1 as the moon is about to be destroyed as credits roll.

THOUGHTS ON 'LAMENTIS'

I really liked the visual look and design of the Lamentis 1, we got to learn a little about Sylvie, but nothing much happens in the episode.  Episode three did not feature any big action sequences nor were there any big reveals besides that the TVA employees were all variants before joining the TVA.  There is something exciting in the episode premise, but it is not fully executed.  I would not have minded if the entire episode was about Sylvie and Loki bonding while riding the train.  If the episode was a train ride where we got to know both characters better, then I would not have minded the lack of action.  Unfortunately, Lamentis did not feature almost details about Sylvie's life or why she is after the Time Keepers.  We learn how Sylvie can take hold of people, we learn that TVA employees are probably all variants who had their memories wiped and made to serve the TVA.  I think both of those things are important, I think the variants will play an important role going forward, and I think Loki is going to use Sylvie's mind control power for himself.  I wish the episode gave us more about Sylvie and her motivations, where Loki was willing to share details about his past Sylvie chose to keep her past to herself.

Sylvie and Loki finally work together to get on the train, Loki's idea of pretending to be a guard escorting a prisoner is set for failure until Sylvie takes control of the guard.  This teamwork between the two of them show how strong they can be together, neither of them alone could have entered the train without the other's assistance.  After the Tempad is broken Sylvie could leave Loki to die, but she chooses to stay with him.  Sylvie has been a loner for some time, but meeting Loki has given her a partner that she possibly has not had in some time.  I can only assume that they will be rescued from Lamentis 1 by Mobius and the TVA.  Since the TVA controls time, they have the "time" to search apocalypses until they find Loki and Sylvie on Lamentis 1.  Once Loki and Sylvie are saved, I wonder what will happen to them since we know the TVA was after Sylvie and Loki left Mobius behind at the Roxxcart store.  There will be dire consequences for both if they are captured by the TVA, but I can see some excitement there too.  At some point the show will need to give us more background information on Sylvie, I wonder if that will be in episode four.  Maybe episode four starts with Sylvie and Loki being rescued, but then we get a detour telling us about Sylvie's past.  All I can do is theorize, there is nothing much in this episode to go on.  

I hope you enjoyed the review, thank you for reading and join me soon for my review of Loki seasoned one episode four.