Loki Season 2

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Prepare for more temporal-buddy-cop shenanigans - and with both Quantumania and Secret Invasion having died the death, Marvel badly want to fix the timeline if the Secret Wars arc is going to survive.

 

And if anyone should know how to handle parallel universes, slips and general timey-wimey-malarkey, it's Everything Everywhere's Ke Huy Quan.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

I was wondering the other day when we'd get a second helping of certain Marvel shows.  Nice to the see the trailer for this one.  Even more excited to see the Chicago World's Fair portrayed.  The Devil in the White City is one of my favorite non-fiction books, and I'm very interested to see the fair visualized.  This trailer may just have been cut to show the best bits, but this season looks to be a hum-dinger.

 

Any word on when What If...? season 2 drops, or at least the trailer?

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Hmm... Loki vs the World's Fair Murder Castle would be one hell of a story beat, though quite how you'd run it I'm not sure...

 

About What If: there's no recent updates on drop date. But given the changes, budget cuts and mass layoffs at Disney as Bob Iger tries to dig them out of a hole, it's not a surprise that it's been pushed back a bit. Might drop as a surprise package for Labour Day, Halloween or Christmas, but most likely early 2024 now.

 

There are three episodes of the back nine that are known about, and one of which was played in full at SDCC 2022 - so don't go looking for badly-filmed spoilery stuff.

Read this badly-written spoilery stuff instead:

Spoiler

The one that's already been seen is Captain Carter vs The Hydra Stomper - a twist on Winter Soldier where Rogers has managed to survive until Peg's return. 

It also includes Black Widow, Rachel Weisz returning as her adoptive mom...

...and one Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch.

 

The second one that was in the can when COVID chopped the season was an alternate version of Ragnarok's Sakaar sequence, but with Tony getting the boot from Earth, running into a very angry Gamora and then teaming up to survive. This was also the Gamora that appeared in the season finale.

 

But the third and by far the most interesting one we know of adds a brand new character. Instead of the Vikings, the Tesseract accidentally winds up in the hands of a Mohawk tribe in what's now upstate New York, several hundred years pre-colonial era. Leading to a young tribeswoman named Kahoori having to harness its power - and recruit allies from across time and space - to protect it and save her people. 

 

Like Prey did with Comanche, the whole thing will be in the Mohawk language and has been partly written with a tribal historian (who's also a massive Marvel nerd, so it's gonna be fine).

 

The other things that are sorta-known - the writers may be screwing with us - is that there isn't really an overarching arc to Season 2, and the remaining nine are all "bottle episodes": and that they're going to be looking at some of the newer popular characters like Shang-Chi.

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

21 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Hmm... Loki vs the World's Fair Murder Castle would be one hell of a story beat, though quite how you'd run it I'm not sure...

 

About What If: there's no recent updates on drop date. But given the changes, budget cuts and mass layoffs at Disney as Bob Iger tries to dig them out of a hole, it's not a surprise that it's been pushed back a bit. Might drop as a surprise package for Labour Day, Halloween or Christmas, but most likely early 2024 now.

 

There are three episodes of the back nine that are known about, and one of which was played in full at SDCC 2022 - so don't go looking for badly-filmed spoilery stuff.

Read this badly-written spoilery stuff instead:

  Hide contents

The one that's already been seen is Captain Carter vs The Hydra Stomper - a twist on Winter Soldier where Rogers has managed to survive until Peg's return. 

It also includes Black Widow, Rachel Weisz returning as her adoptive mom...

...and one Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch.

 

The second one that was in the can when COVID chopped the season was an alternate version of Ragnarok's Sakaar sequence, but with Tony getting the boot from Earth, running into a very angry Gamora and then teaming up to survive. This was also the Gamora that appeared in the season finale.

 

But the third and by far the most interesting one we know of adds a brand new character. Instead of the Vikings, the Tesseract accidentally winds up in the hands of a Mohawk tribe in what's now upstate New York, several hundred years pre-colonial era. Leading to a young tribeswoman named Kahoori having to harness its power - and recruit allies from across time and space - to protect it and save her people. 

 

Like Prey did with Comanche, the whole thing will be in the Mohawk language and has been partly written with a tribal historian (who's also a massive Marvel nerd, so it's gonna be fine).

 

The other things that are sorta-known - the writers may be screwing with us - is that there isn't really an overarching arc to Season 2, and the remaining nine are all "bottle episodes": and that they're going to be looking at some of the newer popular characters like Shang-Chi.

 

 

Loki vs ...Murder Castle:  The thing almost writes itself.  This Loki has become reluctant to kill.  From his admission, he doesn't like to do it, but sees it as a necessity to achieve goals.  So what happens when this reluctant killer, lord of mischief and misdirection gets wind of a sinister hotel full of traps and false-walled passages (malevolent mischief and misdirection) with one who actually enjoys killing in the center of it?  I'm left with two questions:  Will reluctant Loki kill, and will he enjoy this particular kill?

 

Comments on the What If...? hidden content:

Spoiler

Captain Carter:  so it sounds like they're continuing the last scene of the first season.  Good.  I liked everything the did with Captain Carter and Steve so far, and am down for more.  Would love to have a whole animated series of them.

 

Of Mohawks and Tesseract:  wondering if it will be shown that the Vikings who made it to America brought the Tesseract, possibly for safekeeping.  Then something happened, and the Mohawks took control.  Did they really say "Mohawks", and not some other native group?  I was visiting historical site Cahokia last year, and its my understanding that the Native American/First Nations tribes we know by name today arose around the time of the British War of the Roses during the start of the "Little Ice Age", with another civilization or civilizations predating them ( the Mississipian culture) which would have been present at the time of the Vikings.  So it seems odd that Mohawks would be involved, unless the show is going to reveal the Tesseract was buried for a time until the age of the Mohawks.

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

I was writing it in my head the other way round. Old Loki would not appreciate someone trying to outmaster him in terms of confusion and illusion, let alone a mortal. And our new, slightly-more-heroic Loki would not want anyone he needed or cared about getting stuck in there either. So a duel of the tricksters ensues... to the (grisly, and probably poetically just) death.

 

On the What if bit:

Spoiler

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

Did they really say "Mohawks", and not some other native group? 

Yes, yes they did. Repeatedly.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/what-if-kahhori-new-super-hero

 

EDIT: I just spotted a tiny tidbit in that article that raised an eyebrow. This article was dated March 3rd, and a tie-in Kahhori Funko was released on March 29th (plus a new Peggy, and a Hela).

 

So they must have been confident enough in that drop date to tell the merch team. What went wrong?

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

Regarding why the delay for What If...?  It's intended spring release was about 4 to 5 months after Bob Iger returned to the helm of Disney.  It's possible that his behind-the-scenes re-balancing of the company contributed to the delays.

 

Regarding that unusual, upcoming What If...? episode:

Spoiler

The news at that link you included said "fell to Earth" so it's possible that they intend in this alternate timeline for the cube to not only come to Earth on a different continent, but to arrive at a different century, which gets past the problem of no Mohawk nation in the Viking era.  So cancel the idea of the Vikings bringing it to America.

 

While not every episode in What If...? is known, how cool would it be if Squirrel Girl is first introduced to the MCU by means of a What If...? episode?  (I'm saying that without having watched about 1/3 of Phase Four. She might be in one of those for all I know.)

 

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by Techwright

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

SG was already present in animated form in the short-lived Marvel Rising series, which also added an animated Kamala Khan and Ironheart before their live action debuts... plus one Chloe Bennet as yer actual in-universe Quake.

 

 

There was also a New Warriors live-action series developed and piloted for Freeform. Unfortunately it was canned before release by - quoting the showrunner - a rich, straight, homophobic Brentwood turd at Marvel. Who has since himself been thoroughly canned from Marvel for being... well, see above. 

 

Here's Milana Veyntraub (This Is Us) in the pre-CGI costume...

 

[Ghost]

On 9/19/2023 at 10:12 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

SG was already present in animated form in the short-lived Marvel Rising series, which also added an animated Kamala Khan and Ironheart before their live action debuts... plus one Chloe Bennet as yer actual in-universe Quake.

 

 

There was also a New Warriors live-action series developed and piloted for Freeform. Unfortunately it was canned before release by - quoting the showrunner - a rich, straight, homophobic Brentwood turd at Marvel. Who has since himself been thoroughly canned from Marvel for being... well, see above. 

 

Here's Milana Veyntraub (This Is Us) in the pre-CGI costume...

 

Loved her in Werewolves Within - would no doubt loved her as Squirrel Girl

[Techwright]

On 9/19/2023 at 11:12 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

... plus one Chloe Bennet as yer actual in-universe Quake.

 

Assuming Chloe is game for it, I'd very much like to see her portray Quake in the live-action MCU.  Actually, I'd like to see the whole "Agents of..." gang in the MCU, even if as a cameo for most of them.  The moment that cut their universe from the MCU was a crying shame.  I'd like to see that TAHITI is a magical place in the MCU as well, and that there was a different outcome for the team after that one all-important event.  (And might that give us the amazing Mallory Jansen as Madam Hydra??)

[Mr. Vee]

Spoiler

I feel like that suit walk would've been a lot less dramatic if OB had just loaned Mobius his suction cup belt

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

 

Spoiler

10 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

I feel like that suit walk would've been a lot less dramatic if OB had just loaned Mobius his suction cup belt

 

I understood that reference... 😊

 

thoughts:

Spoiler

• You'll need a good pause button reflex to see all of the details and easter eggs (eg: the warning about Spaghettification on the floor - which is a real physics concept, as is Nuclear Pasta. Not sure if scared or hungry now.)
• Nice cameo from Liz Carr and a well-deserved starring role for journeywoman character actress Kate Dickie.
• Ke Huy Quan effortlessly slotting in and turning our heroic comedy duo into a trio, plus surprisingly well handled time travel memory malarkey. Remembering things that just happened 500 years ago...
• Much cartoonery with the opening chase sequence. She'll be fine...
• New guy X-5 seems like a bit of a git. Who doesn't love a jetski?
• I get the feeling that the overload is a bit more than that and the flashing lights may be Morse.
• Who stabbed Loki with the time sticky thing from behind?
• As B15 notes, that's a lot of troops and heavy gear for just one Variant, even Sylvie. What's up, Dox?
• There is a genuine moral quandary at work here. If they keep pruning people, they send them to be devoured out of existence by a time monster. If they don't, they set off a multiversal war that kills billions. Is there an option C?
• Post-creds: Sylvie appears to be wanting a normal life, and you can't get much more normal than working in a McD's (per spoilery product placement photos already released, thanks McD's PR team.) It'll also make her that much harder to find. Then again, she also showed up in the TVA, but when relative to everything else that's happened?

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

14 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

 

  Hide contents

 

I understood that reference... 😊

 

thoughts:  (responses in Orange)

  Hide contents

• You'll need a good pause button reflex to see all of the details and easter eggs (eg: the warning about Spaghettification on the floor - which is a real physics concept, as is Nuclear Pasta. Not sure if scared or hungry now.)   I've not looked for all the easter eggs yet.  Was that a banana in a vacuum tube container?
• Nice cameo from Liz Carr and a well-deserved starring role for journeywoman character actress Kate Dickie.  I'd previously been unfamiliar with Kate Dickie and wondered if they were portraying a character damaged by some time trauma.  Now that I know, I'm pleased they're giving her the role.  I wonder if they'd be open to giving roles to English speakers who are not from America or the Commonwealth.  Give the TVA a more global feeling.  Tongayi Chirisa, the Zimbabwean actor who voices Cheetor in the latest Transformers movie springs to mind.  I first saw him in 2008's Crusoe as Friday and felt he deserved a big role in Hollywood.
• Ke Huy Quan effortlessly slotting in and turning our heroic comedy duo into a trio, plus surprisingly well handled time travel memory malarkey. Remembering things that just happened 500 years ago...  I love watching Quan act.  I could easily watch an hour of OB puttering around in his workshop carrying on quirky conversations.
• Much cartoonery with the opening chase sequence. She'll be fine... 
• New guy X-5 seems like a bit of a git. Who doesn't love a jetski?  And what's going on between him and General Dox?  Even B-15 curled a lip.
• I get the feeling that the overload is a bit more than that and the flashing lights may be Morse.  Interesting.  Perhaps there's a whole 'nuther level of the story going on...
• Who stabbed Loki with the time sticky thing from behind?  ...simultaneously with person or persons helping things along.
• As B15 notes, that's a lot of troops and heavy gear for just one Variant, even Sylvie. What's up, Dox?  Possibly a timeline pruning run despite orders?  I've been wondering, with branches coming off of branches, does targeting the original branch for a pruning remove all the sub-branches?  That would be a quick way to bring things back in to orthodox control.
• There is a genuine moral quandary at work here. If they keep pruning people, they send them to be devoured out of existence by a time monster. If they don't, they set off a multiversal war that kills billions. Is there an option C?  Find and target for shutdown the original Kang before all the variants can emerge?
• Post-creds: Sylvie appears to be wanting a normal life, and you can't get much more normal than working in a McD's (per spoilery product placement photos already released, thanks McD's PR team.) It'll also make her that much harder to find. Then again, she also showed up in the TVA, but when relative to everything else that's happened?

 

 

It's pretty clear to me: 

Spoiler

That Loki is correct and the TVA has a timeline as well, and that it's occupants have been brainwashed into believing it does not.  (Umm, how do you have memories, or even a dialog if you don't have a timeline?) It also seems apparent that someone is doing some cleanup including repeatedly wiping memories along that timeline.  What isn't clear to me is whether Loki is also jumping between variations on that TVA timeline.  After all, we start by seeing an intact Kang statue, where no one knows Loki, which would seem to suggest a future where the TVA is overtaken and brainwashed again, however, damage from the same event that damaged the Kang statue is appearing in the "present" where Loki is known and there is no Kang statue outside.  Are there two or more parallels in play here?

 

EDIT:  Just saw the New Rockstars breakdown of the episode, and their take fits the Occam's Razer principle much better than my comments above..  The statues I'm seeing are not Kang, but are most likely that of He Who Remains, which makes these moments a past of the TVA where He Who Remains tried to operate openly.  Presumably, that didn't work for some reason (there's a reference at the end of season 1 to him unexpectedly authorizing 63 variable lines, confusing Mobius and B-15), and He Who Remains wiped all TVA memories, began again, hiding himself, covering or removing all traces, and creating the fictional trio of robots to "rule" the TVA as we saw in season 1.  So, not just the past, but a distant past in the TVA, and probably not a side-step to a parallel TVA like I thought above.

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Techwright
corrective information

[Techwright]

By the way, notice the names at the TVA, such as Mobius and Orebouros?  Names that suggest looping of time, probably not their real names.  It got me wondering what the mean of "Renslayer" was, since she was a major player at the TVA, and we learned through a teacher's office last year, that Renslayer was not her real last name.  I cannot find a real-world name of Renslayer (there may be one), but I did find that in Chinese, "ren" is a concept of “humanity,” “humaneness,” “goodness,” “benevolence,” or “love” (quoted from Britannica online).  It's merely a guess, but might the name Renslayer be a juxtaposition of the Chinese concept with the English word "slayer"?  In other words a killer of humanity or goodness, which is more or less what we see of Judge Renslayer in season one: destroying humans of variant timelines in the name of maintaining a single timeline.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Industry note:

Spoiler

12 hours ago, Techwright said:

I'd previously been unfamiliar with Kate Dickie and wondered if they were portraying a character damaged by some time trauma. 

 

Kate and Liz are regular Brit TV guest-role specialists: Liz filling an NCIS Ducky-ish specialist-exposition/deep-character role on Silent Witness (great series if you like your procedural dramas), and Kate in small roles on Thrones (the deeply weird and unsettling Lisa Arryn amongst others.) But it's a practical thing: as the series was filmed at Pinewood instead of Atlanta this time around, you're going to get quite a lot of Brit guest actors to fill in the small brushstrokes. 

 

[Mr. Vee]

☝️ reminds me of the Philomena Cunk line to the effect that Games of Throne was good if you wanted to know what all the suspects from Midsomer Murders and Morse and that were doing back in dragon times

[Techwright]

Season 2, episode 2

Spoiler

I'll start by dropping back into Season 1 for a moment.  Many reactors reasonably pointed to the mysteries of "who pruned Loki" and "who rang the phone in the hall" and offered speculation that we would visit these again in future episodes.  It suddenly hit me that there's a third mystery:  who set up the reel-to-reel tape for Loki to play in the triangular courtroom?  That was a very specific conversation to just randomly walk up and play.  This hit me when watching episode 2, and Loki refers to the recorded conversation.

 

Okay, on to episode 2:

 

Tom Hiddleston makes ruffled shirts, big bowties, and somewhat bell-bottomed tuxes actually look cool.  There are moments in the opening sequences where you could see how he could play James Bond.

 

The movie that "Brad Wolfe" stars in, Zaniac, is actually a Marvel reference.

 

Do movie stars actually exit the limo and look away from the crowd to give peace signs across the street?  Genuinely puzzled by that shot.

 

Really surprised that foot chase scene took as long as it did.  Someone forgot that Loki is a frost giant with Asgardian powers.  He should have run Brad to ground in a flash.

 

The ultimate capture of Brad/X-5 was fantastic and should silence any who question whether this was really Loki in the show, like some had naysayed last season.

 

Reviewers not knowing what an automat is nor who the name-dropped Brigitte Bardot is = me feeling old.

 

Loki smiling at Mobius referring to him as the "god of mischief":  the look said "Finally, someone respects that!"

 

Why is there a firehose in prisoner detention room #7?

 

The "you're locked in here with me" sequence might have been a bit more effective, especially with viewers, if Loki had put a little green magic on the door handle, and if Mobius had put more desperation into his performance.  Many reviewers knew it was a setup because to lock from the inside should be impossible, and because Mobius looked like he was just going through the motions of panicking.  Lost chance to make the viewers wonder a bit if Loki had deceived Mobius.

 

Great effects on the force field box scene. That could not have been a physically easy scene for actor Rafael Casal to shoot repeatedly, scrunched up like that.

 

Did they really build an entire 1982 McDonalds just for this show?  I'd thought they'd just spruced up an older McDonalds for the shoot, but some of the outdoor shots show there's absolutely nothing around the building except wilderness.

 

I'm surprised the opening move in Loki & Sylvie's attack on General Dox's operation wasn't to enchant the control panel into disappearing or such.  It might have been the obvious opening move to prevent additional damage.

 

Curious detail:  Sylvie's battle armor has had some minor changes between season 1 and season 2.  The breastbone U piece in season one was worn gold-painted leather only.  This season it is the same U shape, but it is now brass studs on leather, with nearly all the brass studs missing on the left side.  Yet supposedly, Sylvie went straight from the last scene she was in at the end of the first season, to 1982 Oklahoma in her first scene of season 2.  Or did she?   I'm not really sure why this is different, but given the attention to detail this show has put forth, it is an odd thing if there's not a significance to it.

 

Do McDonalds actually make 19-year-olds store managers?  I never worked fast food industry, so I'm genuinely puzzled by Jack, the very young manager.  Also the employee to customer ratio looked to by almost 1 to 1.

 

Wondering what that control pad that Sylvie took off He Who Remains can do.  Last season, we saw it create constructs for HWR to tell the tale of his alternate selves, and of course, it helped him move out of the way of Sylvie's attacks, and opened the portal into the past that Sylvie shoved Loki through.  What else can it do?  Does it contain the "temporal aura" needed to save the TVA?

 

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

thoughts on ep2:

Spoiler

• Liking the London premiere from the grimy 70s (and, yes, it would be London if you're going to hire Pinewood-local extras...
• ...and handily, Jack Cunningham-Nuttall, who plays the young McDs manager, is also a Pinewood local and a dual citizen, so he can more or less convincingly pull off a midwestern accent. (Going full Okie might not have been good.)
• Also, this means that McDs' is probably an old British one, or a spruced-up Little Chef (whose ghosts still litter the roadsides of the UK).
• And yes, I know a kid from my village who's still in sixth form (aka US Junior and Senior years) who's a shift manager at the McDs up the road, dealing with everything from annoyed customers to power cuts.
• Can't see Hiddlestone as Bond. As M or a Bond villain, mind...
• We haven't seen Miss Minutes/Tara Strong back yet. What is she up to with Renslayer...?
• ...and props to Eugene Cordero for making Casey entertainingly weird. Note that he has an additional credit as Hunter K5E... is that the same character, or are they just collecting variants like Pokémon? 

 

[Techwright]

5 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

thoughts on ep2:

  Hide contents

• Liking the London premiere from the grimy 70s (and, yes, it would be London if you're going to hire Pinewood-local extras...
• ...and handily, Jack Cunningham-Nuttall, who plays the young McDs manager, is also a Pinewood local and a dual citizen, so he can more or less convincingly pull off a midwestern accent. (Going full Okie might not have been good.)  Minor Technicality:  Oklahoma is part of the American South, not the Midwest.  It does border Kansas, which the census bureau considers the Midwest, but it is definitely the South.  Jack's accent felt a wee bit heavy-handed, but not alarmingly so. I actually thought he was full-on American from some other state trying to imitate an Okie accent, so he did well.
• Also, this means that McDs' is probably an old British one, or a spruced-up Little Chef (whose ghosts still litter the roadsides of the UK).  Interesting info.  So they have ones sitting out in the countryside with nothing around them?
• And yes, I know a kid from my village who's still in sixth form (aka US Junior and Senior years) who's a shift manager at the McDs up the road, dealing with everything from annoyed customers to power cuts.  Also interesting.  More power to that kid.  Here, unfortunately, there's enough troublesome jerks with entitlement issues that a teen might be in over their head dealing with bullying customers.  Still a rarity, fortunately, but even a couple could ruin a manager's day.
• Can't see Hiddlestone as Bond. As M or a Bond villain, mind...  Is that because he's such a good Loki? I'd hate to typecast such great talent. I still remember his small part in War Horse as a doomed heroic soldier, and he can play a good guy quite well.  "M" I'm not so sure about.  The role usually doesn't have much to it, and might be a waste of his talent.  Dame Judy had a luxuriously large role created for her M.
• We haven't seen Miss Minutes/Tara Strong back yet. What is she up to with Renslayer...?  Haven't a clue, unless it is seeking a way to bring He Who Remains back through one of umpteen number of sci-fi tropes.  I suspect Miss Minutes will be making an appearance next episode since O.B. announced she's the only one (in his opinion) who can override the security door.  Of course, finding the A.I. and getting its cooperation are two different things.  I'm wondering if O.B. or Casey have the ability to hack and force the A.I. to their will.  I'm still guessing though, that the key to those doors is the device Sylvie took off of He Who Is Now Remains.
• ...and props to Eugene Cordero for making Casey entertainingly weird. Note that he has an additional credit as Hunter K5E... is that the same character, or are they just collecting variants like Pokémon?  No idea.  I'm wondering if "Hunter K5E" was/will be Casey at some point along the TVA's timeline, like if he was reassigned at some point along with a memory wipe.   Incidentally, I was looking a clips of Kong: Skull Island the other day and realized Eugene was in it.  The movie reads like a partial who's who of MCU actors:  Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, and Eugene Cordero.

 

Responding in orange.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Replies to yours..

 

Spoiler

16 hours ago, Techwright said:

Also, this means that McDs' is probably an old British one, or a spruced-up Little Chef (whose ghosts still litter the roadsides of the UK).  Interesting info.  So they have ones sitting out in the countryside with nothing around them?

Yep - they were/are often the only building for miles off an A-road (primary/State road) or motorway, so there's large amounts of endless nothing around them and anything suspicious could be easily CGI'd out. And yes, it's a little worrying throwing kids in front of aggrieved idiots on the Divorcee Handover Friday Night Shift, but they mostly don't have guns over here.

 

16 hours ago, Techwright said:

Is that because he's such a good Loki?

Different type of agent and movie. Even the Connery and Moore Bonds aren't quite as measured and cerebral as Hiddlestone's usual range.

If I'm typecasting him, it's because I'd like to see more of Jon Pine - and if you've not caught The Night Manager yet, do check it out...

...which also features a breakout performance from Liv Colman: and a properly evil Hugh Laurie, which are words that still feel weird after his 80s/90s comedy career.

 

Thinking on't, I'd quite like to see Hiddlestone as Fleming himself during his Naval intel work in WW2: intelligent, smooth, diplomatic, imaginative, bit haughty, excellent planner, and frankly a bit of a b**tard, including to his assigned units - and his long-term on/off/on lover Anne Charteris. (And no, you're not casting Wilson as Wild Bill Donovan. Needs to be more of a visible age difference, and way too meta.)

 

Miss Minutes will return in ep3, including as some kind of massive, terrifying Pacman ghost storming through the Chicago World's fair era.

Also in next week's trailer: weird floating timey wimey tentacles everywhere? Is time getting unwound on a very literal basis?

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

13 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Replies to yours..

 

  Hide contents

Yep - they were/are often the only building for miles off an A-road (primary/State road) or motorway, so there's large amounts of endless nothing around them and anything suspicious could be easily CGI'd out. And yes, it's a little worrying throwing kids in front of aggrieved idiots on the Divorcee Handover Friday Night Shift, but they mostly don't have guns over here.  I wasn't really addressing guns as I was referring to bullying speech.  It may not wound the flesh, but it can still destroy a person.  

 

Different type of agent and movie. Even the Connery and Moore Bonds aren't quite as measured and cerebral as Hiddlestone's usual range.

If I'm typecasting him, it's because I'd like to see more of Jon Pine - and if you've not caught The Night Manager yet, do check it out...  I'm sorry to say that the video is not available in my country.  I guess someone forgot to pay the carrier bill.

 

...which also features a breakout performance from Liv Colman: and a properly evil Hugh Laurie, which are words that still feel weird after his 80s/90s comedy career.

 

Thinking on't, I'd quite like to see Hiddlestone as Fleming himself during his Naval intel work in WW2: intelligent, smooth, diplomatic, imaginative, bit haughty, excellent planner, and frankly a bit of a b**tard, including to his assigned units - and his long-term on/off/on lover Anne Charteris. (And no, you're not casting Wilson as Wild Bill Donovan. Needs to be more of a visible age difference, and way too meta.)  I'm fine with that, just so long as Hiddleston ends up as the Doctor at some point. 😁

 

Miss Minutes will return in ep3, including as some kind of massive, terrifying Pacman ghost storming through the Chicago World's fair era.  Looks like Renslayer will be there as well.  I wonder...are they trying to revive He Who Remains, or possibly find a closely compatible replacement?  Or is Victor Timely actually Kang Zero?   The Chicago Worlds Fair was the hunting ground of America's serial killer of the Ripper era: H.H. Holmes.  Would they dare include him in the tale?

Also in next week's trailer: weird floating timey wimey tentacles everywhere? Is time getting unwound on a very literal basis?  I'm guessing that is the spaghetti-fication that O.B. was warning Loki about.

 

 

[Techwright]

season 2, episode 3

 

Right off the bat, I'm wondering...

Spoiler

...are they possibly trying to show the TVA as a closed circle of time?  We already have learned that there is a pattern of past-present-future in the TVA, and that at least one point in the past, apparently all the TVA workers' minds were wiped after serving for a time.  The most recent wipe appears to have happened sometime in the last 400 years (O.B. remembers Mobius' visit 400 years before, while Mobius cannot remember it.) I say "at least one point in the past", because if this is cyclical in nature, their minds may have repeatedly been reset, with only that of Oroborous forgotten, or perhaps spared because of his technical knowledge.  Another thing that I've wondered might tie into a cyclical TVA are the sculptures and statues.  Recall back in the last episode of season 1 that Loki and Sylvie walked past 4 statues in a castle room, one statue having been smashed and never cleaned up.  Loki find the relief of 5 faces of Kang this season.  Might these not be stylizations, but representations of how many variants have risen to become He Who Remains previously?

 

Which brings me to the episode today:  was the plan of He Who Remains to train Victor as his successor, or was the plan to bring Victor to a place where a copy of He Who Remains' mind is fused with Victor, essentially creating He Who Remains Mark 2 (or would that be 6)?

 

LOVE the ragtime version of the MCU theme.

 

One thing I like about Victor is that, while generally likable, they subtly show his ego:  he's not willing to share his spotlight with anyone.  No partners for him. 

 

One thing I do not like about Victor, and honestly any of Jonathan's performances so far, is his paced speech.  Combined with Victor's inherent stutter, the stage show was painful to watch.

 

So what's Victor doing in 1893 on the sacred timeline?  He Who Remains stated that the Kang variants come from the 31st Century.  He Who Remains knew the exact window to hoist the book through.  Could Victor be a kidnapped infant from one of the branch timelines, taken by He Who Remains and hidden on the sacred timeline in the past to grow up as He Who Remains' ace in the hole?

 

I heard one interesting theory from reactors:  Renslayer might be, unaware to herself, a female Kang variant.   While I tend to discount this view, I do find it interesting.

 

I suspect the big secret about Renslayer is not that she's a Kang variant, but that He Who Remains erased her memory along with everyone else's when he reset the TVA, removing traces of himself and substituting the three robots as the "heads" of the TVA.  This is worse for her, because, as we heard in the reel-to-reel tape, He Who Remains (or a variant?) complimented her on her work at his side previously.  She probably at that time had vision of a close partnership, something we've learned is not something this guy likes.

 

$1000 for Victor's energy loom seems a bit small. That works out to $34,200 in today's money.  That seems pretty small for a con game. I'd probably have written in triple for that.

 

Not really sure what Sylvie hoped to accomplish by dropping Renslayer in the inner chamber of the castle at the end of time.  I'd have understood if she dropper her outside where the beast could pursue her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thoughts:

Spoiler

16 hours ago, Techwright said:

Not really sure what Sylvie hoped to accomplish by dropping Renslayer in the inner chamber of the castle at the end of time.  I'd have understood if she dropper her outside where the beast could pursue her.

Illustrating that (a) HWR is dead and ultimate futility an'all'that, and (b) she's not a monster. BTW, kind of a shame we didn't spend longer in Chicago, and we never got to do the Murder House thing, because if Sylvie had been feeling just a little meaner...

 

I was not expecting Miss Minutes' speech (or the wonderful slow-build delivery from Tara Strong. But we all know how giving AIs real bodies work out, don't we? Clearly Victor does, and he cut her off rather than having to invent the shotgun-axe).

 

Is this Kang variant a bit different - one that HWR handpicked because if the plan to erase the spare timelines failed, he'd be able to help manage them instead? Or is he selfish/terrified enough to land everyone back in trouble?

 

Also, Victor seems somewhat in awe of Ouroboros, although he seems slightly confused as to which are his and which are OB's inventions. Unless OB is also a Kang variant...

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

9 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Thoughts:

  Hide contents

Illustrating that (a) HWR is dead and ultimate futility an'all'that, and (b) she's not a monster. BTW, kind of a shame we didn't spend longer in Chicago, and we never got to do the Murder House thing, because if Sylvie had been feeling just a little meaner...   That thought is clarifying, thanks.  Pitting Sylvie against H.H. Holmes would be amazing...and over too quickly. Sort of like Bambie Meets Godzilla for villains.

 

I was not expecting Miss Minutes' speech (or the wonderful slow-build delivery from Tara Strong. But we all know how giving AIs real bodies work out, don't we? Clearly Victor does, and he cut her off rather than having to invent the shotgun-axe).  Excellent reference to an MCU variant timeline, which probably is destroyed now.  😭 (Are we sure Kevin Feige isn't a Kang variant?)  Also, Victor should totally invent the shotgun axe, just because.  Now excuse me please while I go watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the third time.

 

Is this Kang variant a bit different - one that HWR handpicked because if the plan to erase the spare timelines failed, he'd be able to help manage them instead? Or is he selfish/terrified enough to land everyone back in trouble?  Good, fundamental questions.  Magic 8-ball says "Ask again later".  I will say this: that Victor is seriously disinclined to listen to any "partnership" comment shows that he has the king-complex that motivates so many Kang variants.  His plea to Sylvie appeared heartfelt and genuine, but like Anakin Skywalker, he still retains the seed of evil within him.  Whether he lets it grow or not, well, he himself said that he's capable of making his own choices.  What I'm most concerned for him is whether there's a trap mechanism that might erase all that he consciously is, and substitute the mind and memories of He Who Remains.  HWR did say to Sylvie "see you soon".  At the time I thought he was referring to opening the Pandora's box of all Kang variants, but this way, HWR might return to existence if, for example, the whole reason his temporal aura is needed is to trigger said trap.

 

Also, Victor seems somewhat in awe of Ouroboros, although he seems slightly confused as to which are his and which are OB's inventions. Unless OB is also a Kang variant...  That would be quite the delicious twist.  I do feel they need to introduce Kang variants at some point, even briefly, that do not resemble Jonathan Majors.  It would be in keeping with all those Loki variants that didn't look like Tom Hiddleston.  After all, the multi-verse has infinite combinations, or at least used to.

 

Orange responses in the quote.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Techwright

[High_Beam]

IMO Marvels biggest live action mistake was going multiverse.  Yes there were cool moments but it is not going to end like they want.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

4 hours ago, High_Beam said:

Yes there were cool moments but it is not going to end like they want.

It is apparently one of K.E.V.I.N's greatest loves... and thing is, when someone with that much power has too much affection for a property, it tends to put the brakes on making said properties into good movies. You have 120 minutes or so to pack in everything a potentially fresh audience needs to know and care about from months or years of back issues, form it into a proper sequence of events, and somehow make an entertaining picture. Having a robotic ultrafanboy kibitzing over your shoulder isn't great.

 

Multiverse Of Madness had quite a few things going for it: a superb cast, a script with a recognisable dramatic arc in it, and the imagination of the mighty Sam Raimi - even if he ripped off one bit from Roger Corman. 

 

Quantumania... isn't as unwatchable as some folks might say, but is clearly attempting to kick off Kang's villain arc. It throws a lot of heavy concepts at you in a short space of time, along with a bunch of gloopy and possibly unfinished CGI. And it doesn't "stick the landing" as a complete movie, because there's no landing to stick. 

 

Loki... is an oddball little piece and clearly the one they were allowed the most creative freedom on, and yet makes the most sense - not least because we've had two series to get to know everybody and what's going on.

 

If they ditched the Kang Dynasty flick and instead finished it up in Loki, with Mobius, OB and Loki wrapping up the timeline in a neat bow instead - possibly rewriting history with OB as the originator of the TVA, not Kang - I would not be sad in the slightest.