Loki Episodes 1-3 Mini Review & Sylvie Theory

Here’s the thing. I wrote this, right? I recorded the video/voice over, yes? Then, I got swamped with a freelancing job (of which, if you want Graphic Design work or Photography/Portraits done, contact me, and let’s get it done), my other part-time job, and family. Thus, I find myself here sitting at my desk typing out why a new episode of Loki (of which I haven’t seen yet at the time of me posting this) is out and my theory video… is not. I still think this is a solid theory that might hold up still – who knows, I don’t! – so, I decided to just post it here for people to read. Enjoy. Yes, spoilers ahead.

WOW. Wow, wow, wow! Now, don’t mistake my confusion and almost disappointment with admiration. I already know many of you won’t agree with me when I say that the Loki series on Disney+ is… how do I put this lightly… a little lackluster. Now, I am indeed enjoying the ride and I am excited to see where things will go! However, the underlying problem with this series is that it is trying to be many things as just one “contained” thing that just isn’t that thing whatsoever that they’re trying to be… and perhaps… it quite never will be. We are only three episodes out of a potentially six or seven-episode series! We’re practically halfway through and, well, the pacing – to me – is a little off, but we will get to that when we come to it.

Episodes 1 – 3 Mini Review/Rant and Theory for one major character in the show! If you haven’t seen Loki episodes 1-3, I suggest you stop reading, go watch the first three episodes, then come back and read. There will be spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned (twice); I won’t apologize after this point.

So! I wanted to say a few things about the show that will certainly set some of you off for sure – can’t win ’em all, right? So far… I am intrigued to see where this series will end, not necessarily how it will get to the end, haha. I feel the story content is lacking in substance within the first three episodes, at least, and the director and crew are cleverly hiding that lack of substance behind “homages” to other properties, but falling flat each time as they aren’t really paying homage to anything, rather directly taking from something else that worked for them, in hopes it works for Loki. Aside from the obvious rip-offs from Kill Bill (compare that scene to this), to Snow Piercer, to clearly Doctor Who (which I will touch on later).

Do I think Loki is a bad show? No! Not at all! As I said, I am very intrigued, even though I do get bored at times – HAHA – but I don’t think this show is a bad show in any regard. I just think in terms of creativity and storytelling, Loki is definitely the weakest of the three Marvel Disney+ shows thus far. I know that is such an unpopular decision, but hear me out. I personally resonate with WandaVision SO much. It’s a wonderful case study for dealing with grief from having lost every single thing and one that one has ever loved while needing to let go and move on. All the while, dealing with the consequences of not seeking the proper help to deal with the grief. It’s BEAUTIFUL. I could watch and re-watch WandaVision over and over. In fact, I just binged the show for a second time with my father a couple of weeks ago! Of the three, this is my favorite Marvel Disney+ TV show, so far.

Additionally, I have always loved the Captain America movies, especially Winter Soldier, so of course, I enjoyed The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, aside from a few times here and there where it got pretty heavy with the social commentary exposition. Where it was needed to a degree for awareness, it sometimes overstayed its welcome, and at times, I was like “We get it! Move the story forward, please!” All in all, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was also a fantastic series that I thoroughly enjoyed!

So, what do I mean by “creativity and storytelling?” That’s tough to define concisely. Essentially, as I have been repeating this now for too many times, the issue with this show is the pacing and lack of substance… and most of it, honestly, is because of the music choices made for the show!

(This is literally going to be the pickiest of comments ever, and I’m SO sorry!)

So, the TVA! The TVA looks like it was ripped straight from the 90s with all of their outdated-looking yet definitely operable tech! Were they taken from the 90s, perhaps? Perhaps, even the 70s? We don’t quite know just yet. However, I think this aesthetic is REALLY weird, but it works for the show in certain areas. It’s honestly really cool to see this visual choice on the silver screen, however, I don’t think it quite sticks the landing each time and that’s due to the music of the show. The music provides a sense of futurism with the synths, the ticking, etc. Because of that, the music just doesn’t fit with what we are seeing. To top it all off, whenever the theme or the synths begin to play, it just seems to drag the pacing down significantly, which is something you don’t want your soundtrack doing to your story! Take Guardians of the Galaxy and how their music complemented the story, but Suicide Squad’s music was a wreck trying to be hip and cool but just falling flat throughout the entire film. Loki’s thematic music, whenever it plays, is just… not working for me and it is one of the things that I really do dislike about the show. The theme song songs like an unfinished early draft of the Doctor Who theme song before the Doctor Who theme song became finalized. Sorry.

Speaking of pacing, the pacing of the show is WAY off. I mean, look at The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, those were hour-long episodes, yet the pacing worked, why? (Probably because they got better writers, HAHA!) But, also, it’s because it seemed more focused on what the goal was supposed to be, whereas Loki seems to be playing with this idea of being multiple things, yet it can’t really be its own thing. Loki isn’t meant for this type of sci-fi adventure. Not going to lie, when details about this series came to light, I thought it was an odd premise for a character suchas Loki. However, upon seeing the first trailer, my mind changed and I was kind of on board with this show! I mean, we all thought Loki was going to jump around time and space like a god of mischief Doctor Who, but apparently not? Instead, what we got was a really weird series of events that got us to [nw] Episode 4 – of which, I’ve yet to see.

In the events of episodes 1-3, we thought we would have more details revealed about Loki, Sylvie, or the TVA; and we did… kind of. Just narrowing it down to Sylvie as we will focus on her character in a second here, we got a REALLY fast and VERY poorly explained reason for how Sylvie got caught SO fast… Like, if her plans were THAT intricate like she claimed they were in episode 3, then why would she have given the little girl in episode one blue gum and leaving bread crumbs for the TVA to find her later on? Think about it. The fact that Kablooie was only in production for four years is such a TINY window when you’re talking about all of time and space itself, HAHA. Great job, Sylvie! Way to give yourself away! (Speaking of giving yourself away and Sylvie… Marvel gave themselves away with her identity and backstory with a single frame and wait until you hear my reasoning!) Anyway, the show seems to be moving very quickly, yet very slowly at the same time. I mean, Sylvie got to the golden elevators and then boom, she gets conveniently transported to Laminitis-1 with our titular character, and the entire episode is their time on Laminitis-1. I am wondering if we will ever spend time in any one new location for more than just one episode. By the way, the three episodes were written, probably not, haha! I know, I know! It’s super picky, but that’s just me. Still a good show regardless, just not as strong as I would hope.

Now, how would I have written the show? That’s for another time, but now… it’s time… for theories…! … … Hehe, you OCD people are SCREAMING wanting me to complete the phrase! (I shan’t not)

Sylvie Origin Theory

Okay, so. Theory time. Here is what I pieced together having watching Episode Three: Sylvie… is not a Loki. Well, not in the way Marvel is wanting us to believe she is. Marvel is wanting us to believe that this is a combination of Lady Loki and Enchantress Sylvie Lushton from the comics. However, I don’t think Marvel would throw away a good character such as Lady Loki by going this route. I mean, even Loki himself questions her membership of being a Loki more often than not because he wasn’t expecting a female Loki nor is she acting like a Lkiy, and he knows that. Which, brings me to my first point: The TVA should have known this Loki was a female based on what Sylvie told Loki in episode 3. She told Loki that she’s been running from the TVA her “entire life.” Now, entire might be a bit of a stretch here… or… is it?

You see, Sylvie Lushton from the comics was a girl living in Broxton, Oklahoma who woke up one day with Asgardian magic and tiny bits of memories here and there. Believing herself to be an exiled Asgardian – or at the very least, of Asgardian-Human decent, she leaves for New York City to become a superhero and an avenger. It is later revealed that Sylvie was given these powers by Loki himself, which was then further later revealed for the purpose of… well, it’s the god of mischief. He thought it would be fun to create a mortal who believed to be from Asgard with magic powers. This leads us, the readers – as there’s not much else done with the character of Sylvie Lushton – to believe that Sylvie was actually wholly created by Loki – memories and all. Before the day she woke up with Asgrdian magic, she never existed.

Again, everyone seems to believe that Loki’s Sylvie is a blend of Sylvie Lushton and Lady Loki, but like I said when I saw the price on grapes at the supermarket this morning, I ain’t buying it. What finally tipped me off to Marvel’s plans was this photo that I found three days before the premiere of episode 3.

Okay, great, I got this photo from the Marvel Wiki, so what? Well, when I saw episode three, my mouth DROPPED at this scene. I’ll wait for you to come back.

I mean, the similarities are there. Sylvie is NOT acting like a real Loki here. She’s acting like a child throwing a temper tantrum. In fact, she’s so far removed from how a Loki would act, that there is NO way that this girl right here isn’t actually just Sylvie Lushton who simply believes herself to be a Loki.

“But, Ivan, what of the file that has her name on it?” Okay, one, I could NOT find that file myself, but this could be a misdirect. Here’s how I know it is. The TVA couldn’t have had this file on hand before now because they didn’t even know this variant was a female as they kept calling Sylvie/the Lokie Variant “he.” They couldn’t have been more obvious about the fact that they knew they were chasing a male variant of Loki. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have told everyone to find someone who looks like Loki. I mean… she genuinely doesn’t look like Loki! If the files exist, then this means two things: 1. She was born a female Loki and Loki didn’t change himself to be female to hide from the TVA; 2. THEY ALREADY KNEW SHE EXISTED AND WAS FEMALE. But seeing as they did not, there’s either incredibly poor attention to detail in the writing, or she’s who I think she is.

So, with ALL that in mind, I truly believe that Sylvie is going to be a bi-product of Loki and a girl named Sylvie Lushton from Broxton, Oklahoma. Answer me this, if she had been running her “entire life” from the TVA… how long is that life exactly? Again, why didn’t the TVA know she was appearing as a female version of Loki? Her “entire life” probably isn’t as long as we think it might be. Sylvie Lushton from the comics had fake memories implanted by Loki himself to allow her to believe she was Asgardian, after all. I believe that an actual Loki out there in her timeline created Sylvie embuing her with magic and his own essence/soul so that she can use the magic given to her, thus making her a human-Asgardian hybrid with Loki DNA inside her, making her essentially… a Loki! I think, Loki created her either for fun or maybe for a grander bigger plan that Sylvie doesn’t know about and is thus a variant for simply existing. After all, Sylvie even says regarding memories of her mother that they’re just “blips of memory at this point.” Another reason for her creation and existence would be so that the TVA focuses on HER rather than on the actual Loki and maybe that Loki is the true villain of the show.

I don’t know what this theory is called, so if you guys can leave a comment if you know the name of this theory, that would be wonderful! But, there is this scientific theory that I know has been employed in Science Fiction many times before, but it’s the idea that Event A happens because Person B goes back in time to stop Event A, but inadvertently causes Event A to happen. So, B goes back to stop A but is then the cause of A in the first place and it is this really weird time loop that Person B has to now live in. They’re trapped in this endless cycle of being the root cause of Event A. I believe that Loki is Person B and Sylvie is Event A. It is also very possible that Loki will be the one to actually create Sylvie. For what purpose? I do not know. I just think that this scientific theory would be cool in this situation, but I have no how or why it would be employed, haha.

“So, B goes back to stop A but is then the cause of A in the first place and it is this really weird time loop that Person B has to now live in.”

– Ivan Montero

Either way, I don’t believe Sylvie is a Lady-Loki-Sylvie-Enchantress mashup. I believe she truly is Sylvie Lushton who believes herself to be a variant, but in actuality is just a bi-product of a different Loki for a bigger purpose… or maybe she truly is created by the Time Keepers somehow, which would ultimately suck. #BooTimeKeepers

That is all I have to say on the matter! Leave a comment below on what you think of this theory. What do you think of the series so far? I hear it’s supposed to pick up speed from here on out and I suspect that the series will truly end on a high note – or at least, try, as we have seen Marvel-Disney+’s track record so far with series finales… That is my mini-review/rant and theory! Please feel free to explore my website and check out all my social media, as well!

LOKI EPISODE 4 UPDATE

I STILL think my theory holds true (even though it’s ALMOST true – about 90% confirmed that she is indeed Sylvie-Lady Loki hybrid, haha) about Sylvie to be true! Notice how they still haven’t answered by Sylvie was taken! ALSO… MY THEORY ABOUT THEM KNOWI SHE WAS A FEMALE LOKI WAS RIGHT! Not only that, but the fact that she was taken as a child… hmmmm… a CHILD! Perhaps, she really was created by Loki and placed there and the TVA was like, “HAAAAAAA, NOPE!”

Either way, I will NOT let go of my theory until the show has completed!