Welcome back to the blog readers. Loki is really killing it with its first two episodes of the season, and each episode was getting better than the last. Juicy content, killer performances, and an overall good time make for quality television right now. It is almost like we went from one good show to another. Now we shift our focus to the halfway mark of the season so far. Can we continue on this upward trajectory, or would we fall off the Sacred Timeline? Would this episode, titled "1893," and directed by production designer Kasra Farahani, with a story by Eric Martin and a teleplay by Martin, Farahani, and Jason O'Leary, be the start of something good? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
I have to say that you are all aware that I loved the first season, and I am loving the second season so far. But this episode is very interesting, because this episode shocked me. This episode is absolutely fucking brilliant. We finally got answers on what Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes have been up to, we got an electric performance from Jonathan Majors, and we got a shit ton of revelations here. I cannot wait to talk about this episode.
Before I get into the actual review of the episode, I do want to take a second to address the giant elephant in the room, and that is the legal issues surrounding Kang actor Jonathan Majors. In case you do not know, and I do not want to share all the details, Majors is accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend in New York in March. Majors has vehemently denied these accusations, with his legal team claiming that they had evidence of his innocence. That is all the detail I will go into, but I want to say that I have never laid a judgment on Majors because I truly think that he is innocent. I have seen the kind of man he has been over the last year, and that man does not seem like the type of guy to do something like this. I could be totally wrong here, but everybody is innocent until proven guilty, right?
Now to get into the meat of this review. There is a common thread throughout this episode, and that is the goings on of Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes. Well, fortunately, this episode opens up on them going to Chicago in 1868 to complete a mission. Renslayer is initially hesitant to do what was asked of her, but she obliges and drops a package in an open window. We later learn that the package is a TVA handbook and the recipient is a young Victor Timely, who is a variant of He Who Remains. And Miss Minutes reveals that this mission was given to her by He Who Remains before his death. Renslayer's initial hesitance to do this shows that she probably is not fully on board with turning a variant into He Who Remains, but her worries are quickly dashed when Miss Minutes insures her that this is what He Who Remains wanted. It appears that this is what she has wanted to do to restore order to the TVA.
Loki and Mobius appear in 1868 Chicago to no avail and find themselves going to 1893 Chicago in a new branched timeline where Timely is a genius inventor who has created a prototype of the Temporal Loom. Part of the scene of his introduction to the device served as the post-credit scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. This scene and the events leading up to it are crucial to the episode's structure. Loki and Mobius together are a home run, and nothing encapsulates that more than their scene when they arrive at the World's Fair. The pair are drastically different from one another but at the same time are perfect for each other. I love how much detail we have in Victor Timely's presentation. Loki's fear at seeing the man that looks like He Who Remains, Renslayer's awe at the man, and just the overall eccentricity of Timely.
There is a lot to break down here, but the first thing I want to talk about is how damn good Jonathan Majors is in this role. Or these roles, however you want to put it. We have seen him as multiple versions of Kang so far including Kang himself, He Who Remains, Victor Timely, and some other lesser-known ones in the Council of Kangs. I have loved him as every single one of them. But there is something about Timely that feels extra special to me. I don't know if it is the possibly fake stammer that he puts on, or the fact that he genuinely is not like his other variants. Majors excels at making you sympathize with his characters, and Timely may just be the most sympathetic of Kang's variants. And he is just a very funny guy. We get to see a more humorous side to Majors as Timely that we did not get to see with the other variants, and it is such a breath of fresh air. The next thing I want to discuss is how terrifying it is that Timely has already created a prototype of the Temporal Loom, meaning he could possibly be the next Kang variant to watch out for. As much as I was howling and hooting at the quirks of Timely, I was also wary to see if he was at all like Kang or He Who Remains. The jury is still out on him, so we will see in time. I hope so at least.
What happens after the presentation takes up the remainder of the episode. Timely finds himself being chased by four parties: Loki and Mobius, Renslayer and Miss Minutes, some businessmen who want revenge over some fake inventions, and Sylvie, who gets very close to killing Timely like twice. You can understand Sylvie's reasoning for wanting Timely dead. He is a variant of He Who Remains, and it can be believed that he will rise to power similar to him. Loki and Mobius want him so they can fix the actual Temporal Loom and save the TVA. Renslayer and Miss Minutes want Timely to become the next He Who Remains. So he is being pulled into many different directions, and it is Renslayer and Miss Minutes who get to him and help him escape. This is significant for many reasons, one of which we will get into.
In the comics, Kang the Conqueror is romantically linked to Renslayer, and that might have been the archived conversation we heard in the TVA "War Room" in the first episode. Renslayer and Timely strike up a romantic connection, but a slip-up on her part (calling them partners when Timely previously explained he does not do partners) causes Miss Minutes to find an opportunity to betray her and get Timely all for herself. When they get to Timely's lab in Wisconsin, Miss Minutes berates an oblivious Timely for not giving her a body and tries to put the moves on him. This happens in stereo with Renslayer, Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie all arriving at the lab to try to get him. Sylvie overpowers Renslayer and ignores Loki to get to Timely who begs her not to kill him because he is not like his other variants. She relents, allows him to go to the TVA with Loki and Mobius, and sends Renslayer and Miss Minutes to the Citadel at the End of Time. There, Miss Minutes reveals that she has a secret about Renslayer that will make her angry. Man, what the hell is this secret, and how earth-shattering could it possibly be? We need answers!
This episode is significant in a whole lot of ways. Victor Timely is now in the TVA, so what chaos could this possibly cause? Will something happen to turn him crazy like one of He Who Remains' variants? Why did Sylvie abandon her episode-long journey to kill Timely, and what does this mean for her character? What is that secret that Miss Minutes has about Renslayer that will make her angry, and does it possibly involve Kang? I love this episode to death and I hope that we only go up from here. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next review.
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