The third episode of Loki is a doozie! We finally spend time away from the TVA and watch the two Lokis get to know each other. The episode name, Lamentis, is a reference to the apocalyptic moon both Lokis end up on after escaping the TVA headquarters.
I have to say – the series just keeps getting better and better. It’s not the typical slow-burn approach almost every series on television uses now, which I appreciate. The plot is developing at a perfect pace and the character development is deep.
Plot Synopsis
This episode starts with an odd scene where Commander C-20 and Lady Loki are having drinks at what looks like a restaurant on the coast, somewhere on Earth. Everything starts making sense when you realize Lady Loki is trying to trick C-20 into divulging secret information on the location of the Timekeepers.
The scene shifts out of C-20’s mind to the Roxxcart store from the last episode, essentially explaining how Lady Loki got the intel she was looking for.
Next, Lady Loki opens a time portal into the TVA and attempts to use her enchantment on a Minute Man but it doesn’t work. We know that magic doesn’t work in the TVA headquarters from the first episode; Lady Loki just found out the hard way.
Although, it wasn’t too hard, since she attacks and subdues every Minute Man guarding the hallway to the golden elevator – presumably the one that leads to the Timekeepers.
Moments later, Loki runs through the time portal, into the locker room of the TVA. He recalls Hunter B-15 stowed his daggers in her locker, so he retrieves them before searching for the female version of himself.
Loki follows the trail of bodies in the hallway and it leads to Lady Loki. Before the duo spar, Loki asks her a few questions. As they start to fight, Ravonna Ravenslayer and two Minute Men show up. Ravenslayer takes a swing at the Lokis with her reset wand.
Loki acts quickly and they escape through a new time portal.
Here we learn that Lady Loki doesn’t like to be called Loki. Hmm.
Loki grabs (and hides) the TemPad – the device that opens time portals – to make sure Lady Loki doesn’t leave him stranded. Oh, and the TemPad battery is too low to open a new time portal.
Their fighting is interrupted when a meteor blasts down between the two Lokis. That’s when they realize they’re on Lamentis-1, the worst apocalypse they could have possibly traveled to.
The Lokis run into an abandoned mining shack and after a brief tiff, they start working together to look for a power source strong enough to recharge the TemPad.
As the duo walks to the nearest town, Lady Loki tells Loki she goes by Sylvie now. Massive clue! Check out the easter eggs section below for more info.
Sylvie and Loki make it to the nearest town that is uninhabited but for one woman. Sylvie tries to use brute force to enter the woman’s home, but she’s shot backwards when the woman fires a massive blaster at her.
Brute force is no substitute for diplomacy and guile.
Loki, talking to Sylvie
Next, Loki tries his own style approach. He portrays the woman’s husband, whom he sees in a photo through a window. He speaks kindly to the woman and she blasts him too. Apparently the woman’s husband never spoke that kindly to her in their 30 years of marraige.
Loki and Sylvie try a different approach – the kind a regular person would have used initially: they just ask their question. Where is everyone?
The woman tells them that everyone went to the Ark, the planetary escape vessel. There’s a train boarding now to bring residents to the main city where the shuttle is. A long line of middle and lower class people await boarding while rich people board freely.
To get on the train, Sylvie and Loki need a ticket. In lieu of a ticket, Loki disguises himself as a police officer and pretends Sylvie is a prisoner. The policeman checking tickets to board the plane stops them. As things start to escalate, Sylvie enchants the policeman and the duo safely board the train.
Sylvie and Loki sit in a bar car on the train, at a comfy booth. And once again, when there’s a scene at a table or desk, things get serious.
Sylvie asks Loki about his mother. He seems somber and speaks highly of her. Sylvie says she can barley recall her mother any longer. Loki shows Sylvie a trick his mother taught him and shoots small fireworks out of his hand.
Loki asks Sylvie how she learned to enchant people and she says that she taught herself.
Next, a waitress walks up to their table and offers two flutes of champagne. Sylvie doesn’t want a drink so Loki takes both. The conversation takes a turn regarding love.
Sylvie admits she has a postman she sees on and off. She asks Loki if there’s a princess or prince waiting for him, and he tells her he’s been with both but never in love. Yes, Disney and Marvel officially proclaim Loki is bisexual! It’s amazing to see this happen in June, which is gay pride month.
The conversation fades as Sylvie gets sleepy and Loki imbibes.
Sylvie wakes up to Loki singing with everyone in the bar car and he’s no longer in disguise. She also notices a man get up, glare at Loki, then leave the car. This alerts her to the likelihood that somethings about to happen.
In a funny moment, Loki tells Sylvie the definition of love that he came up with, using a metaphor of a dagger. Sylvie tells him that it’s a terrible metaphor.
Police officers enter the car and ask Loki for their tickets. He goes to materialize some tickets with his hand, but since he’s drunk, he makes fireworks instead.
Loki and Sylvie fight the officers and Loki seems to be much stronger as a drunk. Maybe it’s just me.
The fight ends when Loki gets tossed out of the train window. Sylvie realizes Loki still has the TemPad so she jumps out too.
When Loki pulls out the TemPad, it crumbles into a broken heap of electronics.
Now they’re stuck on Lamentis-1 thanks to Loki’s excessive drinking. Sylvie gets frustrated with Loki and lets out a huge scream, ending with a green power outburst.
She sits down on the grown, accepting that she and Loki are now going to die on the moon. Loki suggests they attempt to hijack the Ark as a last-ditch effort to survive. Sylvie agrees and the duo take off walking to the main city.
Along the way, the two bond and actually begin to trust each other (or at least they say so). Sylvie finally concedes and explains to Loki how enchantment works.
Sylvie: Okay, fine. You want to know how enchantment works. I have to make physical contact and then grab hold of their mind.
Loki: How?
Sylvie: It depends on the mind. Most are easy and I can overtake them instantly. Others, the stronger ones, it gets tricky. I’m in control but they’re there too. In order to preserve the connection, I have to create a fantasy from their memories.
Loki: And you call me a magician.
DUring this conversation, Loki learns that the TVA agents are actually variants. All of them. And they don’t even know they are.
Sylvie and Loki enter the chaos of the city and attempt to make their way to the Ark. The police officers have barricaded the gate to the boarding entrance and a crowd starts getting unruly.
Just then, the planet that’s going to crash into the moon splits in half, sending larger meteors down onto the moon. One lands close to Sylvie and Loki, blasting them backwards.
They survive and continue fighting their way to the shuttle. In one moment, Loki displays immense power when he not only catches a falling building with his powers but pushes it back, too.
As they near the ship, a large meteor slams into the Ark, destroying it.
Cue credits and a wonderful song:
Easter Eggs
There are quite a few easter eggs in this episode of Loki.
1. Name: Sylvie Power: Enchantment
If that sounds familiar to you, then you’re likely a Marvel comic book reader. However, if you have no idea where I’m going with this, allow me to introduce the Enchantress to you, aka Sylvie Lushton. The first (and real) Enchantress is Amora, not Sylvie Lushton. However, in the comics, Loki created Sylvie and gave her powers similar to Amora the Enchantress, so Sylvie took on the Enchantress persona.
2. Lamentis
The moon Loki and Sylvie are stranded on, Lamentis-1, comes from a Marvel comic. In Marvel’s Annihilation: Conquest Prologue #1, the story starts on “Lamentis Outworld,” located at the edge of Kree space. If you notice the image below, the background is purple, just like most of the scenes in this episode.
3. PostMan
Sylvie mentions having a sort of relationship with a postman. Could that be a reference to Stan Lee? The Marvel icon has appears as a FedEx postman in Captain America: Civil War. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Lee appeared as an astronaut speaking to The Watchers, explaining that he was once a FedEx postman. He also appeared in the Fantastic Four (2005) as Willie Lumpkin, a character Lee created who is a USPS postman.
4. Loki’s Song Requires Closed Captions
In the scene where Loki and Sylvie are on the train and Loki gets drunk, turn on your closed captions. The song he sings shows up in the captions as, “Loki singing in Asgardian.”
5. Another! Smash!
In the train scene where Loki is singing with everyone, he finishes his drink then yells, “Another!” and throws his glass on the floor, smashing it. Thor did the same exact thing in the first Thor movie.
6. Hidden Aliens Movie Reference
99.999% of people don’t watch end credit scenes (roughly). That means you likely missed the Aliens (1986) movie reference in this episode.
