I remain deeply impressed with Loki, a show that I wish was giving us more than six episodes a season like a traditional TV show would. But at least we have this week’s stunning episode that genuinely had some of the best moments we’ve seen in at least this current era of the MCU, even if that’s grading on a curve a bit.
The Best Villain (Miss Minutes) – I am not sure I have ever been as disturbed in the history of the MCU as when I saw Miss Minutes make that face as a room full of dissidents were squished in a giant cube. The show made a point not to show the actual gore, but Miss Minutes looking uh, gleefully bloodthirsty, for lack of a better term, cemented her as the most terrifying villain in a show meant to be setting up Kang, the next “Thanos” of the MCU. Yes, a sentient clock AI is more unsettling than he is.
The Best Death (Victor Timely) – Again, there are few moments that have genuinely shocked me in the MCU as of late, but this was certainly one of them. The death was so effective because A) it was entirely unpredictable, as even if Timely didn’t make it, no one would have predicted it would have been this abrupt. And B) The actual “spaghetti-fication” manner of death is easily the most memorable I’ve seen in the MCU since the Thanos disintegration snap. And speaking of that…
The Best Cliffhanger (Loom Failure) – All of this very much reminded me of the “we lost” moment from Infinity War, when Thanos got exactly what he wanted and half our heroes got snapped. Here, there’s not so much a singular villain doing that (Miss Minutes, though psychotic, I don’t think was trying to get the actual Loom to explode), but just a failure of the TVA’s containment after the timeline-unraveling events of last season. Timely’s death triggered an auto-failure sequence that is simply unable to be avoided, and the cut to credits cliffhanger on Loki’s face, seconds away from annihilation from the exploding Loom, was probably the best episode ending of any Disney Plus project in the MCU, even if of course, things will be salvaged somehow.
Allegedly, Loki writer Michael Waldron was supposed to be writing Secret Wars for Marvel, which seemed like good news, though that was back in 2022 and the MCU has been such a mess that it’s unclear if that’s still happening, with rumors of his departure. However, Loki season 2 has been almost entirely written by Eric Martin instead, with the episodes mostly directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, as opposed to Kate Herron directing all of them in season 1. This week’s was written by Eric Martin and Katharyn Blair, so full credit to both of them for what unfolded here.
It’s just nice to see that in an era producing things like Secret Invasion, that the MCU can still give us things like “Heart of the TVA” this week. And allegedly the next two episodes are even better.
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