LOKI S01E03 – Lamentis Review and Recap

Loki Episode 3 Recap

After bombing the timeline the Variant finds herself at the TVA ready to take down the Time Keepers when Loki interrupts her insistent on receiving some answers. Of course they’re both then interrupted by Ravonna Renslayer and end up falling through a time portal into another apocalypse on Lamentis-1.

The two the spend the episode stuck on this moon as the world it orbits begins crashing down on it in a literal planet-destroying catastrophe. While dealing with trigger-happy home owners, Loki getting drunk, and many, many near-death experiences, the two hatch a plan to hijack the ark that is this civilizations only hope for survival in order to save themselves.

Loki and the Variant, who we officially learn is named Sylvie, have some wonderful heart-to-heart chats where we learn more about Loki’s youth and his relationship to his mother, Frigga. Both Loki and Sylvie are confirmed as bisexual. And we learn that all the people working for the TVA are themselves variants.

They reach the ark only in time for it to be destroyed leaving our anti-heroes stranded permanently and without hope.

LOKI S01E03 - Lamentis Review and Recap — *LOKI S01E03 – Lamentis Review and Recap*

Loki Episode 3 Review

A lot of people have considered this a weak episode because of its slow pace and its attention to character building over plot building. But this is how episodic storytelling happens and I’m not sure how so many have forgotten this very basic rule. At some points you gotta take a break in order to learn more about these characters in order to enrich them and our relationship with them.

In a way that is plot building because when something good or bad happens to them down the line we care about them more because we had some time to spend with them. In my opinion this was another really strong episode for the series and I’m thankful for the break. It makes the wait for the exploration of the bombing of the Sacred Timeline that much more enticing.

I loved the scenes where these two just sit and talk to one another. Tom Hiddleston and Sophie Di Martino have wonderful chemistry much like Hiddleston with Wilson – maybe Hiddleston is the key here – but we get some great performances out of them in this episode. From the expressively funny in their back-and-forth banter: I lost it at the lines “Oh, god no!” and “You’re so weird!” to the melancholy when discussing their pasts and the meaning of love.

Especially the story of Frigga showing magic to a young Loki. That got me. The conversation on love was a bit heavy-handed feeling but it didn’t take me out I just think the dialogue could’ve been better throughout that. And the in-canon confirmation of Loki and Sylvie’s bisexuality is a huge boon for representation that’s desperately needed in Marvel Studios works. Many viewers and fans finally saw themselves seen and it was nice to watch the afterglow from everyone on Twitter.

Now if we can just see it in practice that’d be nice. I personally would love to see Loki fall for Mobius because the two are intellectually similar and I think it’s been hinted at in the past that Loki had a crush on Sif in the earlier Thor films but I’d have to go back and watch them to confirm. We do get hints that possibly Loki is falling for Sylvie in this episode and uhhh dude, don’t do it. That’s all I can say.

Lamentis-1 could have used a tune-up in its design, however. I’m way over planets or moons being shown as single terrain entities in most sci-fi. Not all are but most. I know OUR moon is a single terrain entity but that doesn’t mean this entire fictional place needed to look like a giant purple, dusty dune. But I digress. That’s a nitpick but it didn’t take away from the overall episode.

Two more notable scenes for me was when Loki sang in Asgardian, or I imagine Nordic, and it was just a beautiful continued look at the many different sides to Loki that we never had the chance to see before. I’ll say this as someone who wasn’t a big Loki fan before this series is turning me into one. The second scene was the final one. The long single shot that played out like a video game with different moments where the viewer could be expected to his any number of buttons to perform various acts.

Loved it in The Incredible Hulk. Loved it here. It really was epic to watch the city break into complete madness as the world crumbles around them and our anti-heroes try to make one last desperate push for salvation. When it fails the episode leaves you and both Loki and Sylvie feeling breathless. Masterclass ending.

Overall Feelings

From top to bottom this was a really nice episode with some great banter and great visuals. We learned a lot about Loki and a bit about Sylvie and that’s just as important to the story as anything else. I’m incredibly excited to see how they get out of their predicament and where their battle with TVA leads them from here. Next episode is sure to be heart-pounding!

Observations of the Sacred Timeline

In the comics Lamentis showed up during the Annihilation: Conquest event that saw a new annihilation wave sweep across the galaxy at the hands of Ultron and reintroduced the Guardians of the Galaxy to a modern audience of which the movies were based on.
I would love for someone to translate – if possible – the lyrics to Loki’s song if it hasn’t been already. I really wanna know what leads into that chorus which is the only part in English.
Sylvie telling Loki that she isn’t a “Loki anymore” is very eyebrow raising. Curious to see where that goes.
I do appreciate when Marvel Studios projects bring up social and class issues like in here when there is a brief mention of the poor not being allowed a chance to be saved but the rich are taken in without trouble. However, I really need MS to go all in on it sometime and take a fully proper stance despite being a corporate entity themselves. That would be nice.
Not many nods to the broader MCU in this one but that’s alright. Loki showing off fireworks using a spell that Frigga taught him was all I really needed to see.
Curious if Sylvie’s enchantment doesn’t actually work on Loki because she herself is a Loki?