Caution: Spoilers ahead for Loki
The God of Mischief meets his match in Loki episode 3, and the gloriously purposeful pair uncover a fresh batch of MCU Easter eggs during their journey across a dying moon. After shocking the world by revealing Loki's villainous variant to be none other than Lady Loki (more on that name later), this week's "Lamentis" forces Tom Hiddleston and Sophia Di Martino's respective Lokis to coexist. Decimating the Sacred Timeline allowed Lady Loki to infiltrate the TVA's head office, but her crusade against the Time-Keepers was interrupted by MCU Loki, who whisked them away to a faraway apocalypse and nabbed the woman's stolen TemPad to prevent her escaping, or worse, killing him.
With Sylvie's only hope of survival in Loki's hands, the pair have little choice but to cooperate, scouring the doomed moon of Lamentis-1 for a strong enough power source to recharge the TemPad which, unsurprisingly, requires more than a USB port to get going. Although the action is relatively self-contained compared to last week's history-spanning adventure, the interactions between Loki and his Lady elicit a number of seismic reveals, such as the TVA's agents being captured former variants.
As the duo grow less frosty toward each other, their journey across Lamentis-1 also reveals a Marvelous selection of Easter eggs for fans to enjoy. There are callbacks to past MCU movies, deep-cut nods to Loki's comic lore, and some cunning parallels between brothers. Here are the Easter eggs we found in Loki's "Lamentis."
Viewers have been waiting a long time to see Loki wield his famous daggers on Disney+. His attempt at blade-summoning in the TVA's courtroom was a embarrassing failure, and B-15 coldly snatched the blades away ahead of last week's mission. Upon returning to the TVA through Sylvie's time door, however, Loki finally grabs his trademark weapons from their locker and engages Lady Loki in battle. In a lovely little MCU Easter egg, Loki does a neat front double-dagger flip - a trick he demonstrated in glorious slow-motion during Thor: Ragnarok's Battle of Asgard. A little later, after landing on Lamentis-1, Loki successfully adopts the "dagger pose" he failed so spectacularly at in the premiere.
Not one to be outdone, Lady Loki wields an impressive sword throughout "Lamentis," dispatching Minute Men and local grunts with ease. A close-up reveals the blade is adorned with the kind of runes seen previously on Asgard, potentially revealing that Sylvie and Loki's backstories are closer than they seem. Like the "true" Loki, Sylvie was adopted. Unlike Loki, she was informed of her heritage at a young age, rather than living in ignorance. Sylvie never specifies that she was adopted from Frost Giants, however, and she also wasn't raised as Asgardian royalty, highlighting disparity between their backstories. The runes on Lady Loki's sword at least confirm some connection to Asgard.
Although her headgear remains unchanged from last week's episode, the missing horn becomes much more obvious now that Lady Loki isn't covered in shadow. Loki hasn't yet explained why the crown's left tusk is broken, but the design surely derives from the Marvel comics, where both Lady Loki and her more common counterpart also don a crown with the left horn snapped off. The detail symbolized Loki veering from destiny in the comic books - perhaps it represents a similar breakaway for Sylvie.
When doing battle against Sylvie, Loki chides her, "I thought perhaps we could work together... but now I see you lack vision." If this line feels somewhat familiar, that might be because, intentionally or otherwise, it's eerily close to a famous Emperor Palpatine quote from Return of the Jedi. While throwing Force lightning at Luke Skywalker, the villain cackles, "you'll pay the price for your lack of vision." Though Loki certainly isn't as evil as Palpatine, both share delusions of grandeur and a love of conquering, and it's perfectly in-character for both to view their schemes as part of some grand "vision" that the good guys just aren't great enough to see.
Landing outside TVA jurisdiction, Loki is finally able to whip out his magic tricks, and just as Sylvie looks to have gotten the better of him, the trickster reaches into his playbook and pulls out a tried and tested classic from 2012's The Avengers. As Sylvie grasps the all-important TemPad, Loki quickly teleports behind her, knocking his opponent down and seizing the pad for himself, thus gaining a tactical advantage for much of the episode. Fans will remember all too vividly how Loki employed a very similar tactic to kill Phil Coulson - distract from the front, slip behind, strike in silence. The only difference is that Loki conjured an illusion of himself to divert Coulson's attention.
Entirely by accident, the location Loki and Sylvie warp to is the moon Lamentis-1. Though not a famed setting from Marvel lore, Lamentis first featured as a Kree outworld in a one-shot prologue to Annihilation: Conquest. Serving as a backdrop to Quasar and Moondragon learning about an incoming cataclysm, Lamentis bears very little correlation to Loki's storyline, but the planet was bathed in a purple hue. Loki wasn't just trying to trick fans into thinking the moon was actually Vormir.
The world has been calling Sophia Di Martino's MCU character Lady Loki, and there's definitely a degree of similarity between them; the aforementioned broken horn, for example. But since her debut, many fans have suspected Lady Loki is actually Sylvie the Enchantress, based on her name appearing both in a TVA file and during the Spanish credits. Episode 3 confirms these suspicions - albeit not explicitly. Di Martino's character tells Loki that she goes by the name of "Sylvie," and subsequent references are made to "enchanting." All signs are pointing to Sylvie Lushton from the Marvel comics, otherwise known as Enchantress - another apparent source of inspiration for Loki's mystery new variant.
With Loki once again enjoying his full arsenal of magic tricks, he pulls another favorite from the hat - shape-shifting. The God of Mischief transforms into a widow's dead husband in a foolhardy attempt to gain her trust. This is exactly the same power Loki used to transform into Steve Rogers during Thor: The Dark World, and to assume the throne of Asgard before Thor: Ragnarok.
Conning their way onto a luxury train supposedly heading for an evacuation ship, Loki and Sylvie finally start to bond, discussing their respective past lives. The conversation turns to differences in the pair's use of magic, with Loki recounting how his skills are entirely down to his mother, Frigga. In this scene, Loki confirms something Thor uttered previously in Thor: The Dark World - "you had her tricks, but I had her trust." Loki's exchange with Sylvie reveals he did indeed adopt his mother's use of magic, but his personal memories of being nurtured and encouraged prove the second part of Thor's quote was wide of the mark entirely. Loki absolutely did have Frigga's trust.
Easing into their train journey, a waitress offers Loki a glass of champagne, which he readily accepts. Alcohol and mischief do, after all, go hand in hand. But when the more pragmatic Sylvie refuses hers, Loki takes that glass also, casually pouring one into the other for a double helping. In the first of two direct allusions between brotherly drinking habits, Loki's flagrant abuse of hospitality is very reminiscent of Thor during his encounter with Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok. His tea refused, Doctor Strange conjures Thor a large glass of beer, which then magically refills, much to the God of Thunder's delight. That Thor opts for ale and Loki takes champagne is a fitting alcoholic representation of their opposing personalities.
Loki's third episode confirms something fans have long suspected about the MCU's chief meddler - that he's bisexual. During the train conversation, Loki references enjoying sexual dalliances with all genders, and suspects Sylvie shares that trait. As well as bringing some much-needed representation to the MCU, Loki's sexuality is taken directly from the Marvel comic books, most notably Al Ewing's Agent of Asgard, which also made the character gender-fluid. Also the source of Lady Loki's one-horned crown, Agent of Asgard is evidently a key influence upon Disney+'s Loki.
There's a palpable sexual tension between Loki and Sylvie which, given the character's inherent self-obsession, is to be expected. Just like any aspiring lovers on a first date, the pair question each other on their recent romantic history, prompting Sylvie to reveal a long-distance casual relationship with a "postman." Though she might've literally been sleeping with a worker from one of Earth's numerous postal services, the term could apply to several characters from the Marvel universe. The Postman could be the leader of the Morloks - an underground group of mutants who appeared in 2002. This would mean Sylvie's lover potentially hails from the same universe as the X-Men. Alternatively, Sylvie's postman could be Willie Lumpkin, who delivered mail to the Fantastic Four and dated Peter Parker's Aunt May. Now there's an ex-girlfriend Sylvia wouldn't want to upset.
After one too many champagnes (or brandies), Loki has the train's entire bar erupting into song. While the chorus is in English, the rest is sung in the tongue of Asgard.
The Easter egg highlight of "Lamentis" is, yet again, caused by Loki's drinking. When his wonderful performance comes to an end, Loki slams his glass on the bar and yells "another!" Here, the tipsy God of Mischief is unknowingly copying his brother, who did exactly the same in 2011. Landing on Earth in his debut solo movie, Chris Hemsworth's Thor remains ignorant of the local customs, and after enjoying his first cup of coffee, throws his mug on the diner floor before shouting "another!" It's interesting that with a few adult beverages inside him, the usually calm and collected Loki slips into the same Norse habits as his brother.
Discussing the true nature of love, Loki and Sylvie both offer up truly awful metaphors. Sylvie says "love is hate" - a knowingly trite line that Loki mocks endlessly. The trickster fares little better himself when, very much under the influence, he declares that love is like an imaginary dagger, earning a mocking receipt from an unimpressed Sylvie. Neither declaration comes anywhere close to matching Vision's "what is grief, if not love persevering?" line from WandaVision. Sylvia and Loki's conversation could've been devised as a humorous take on the exchange between Wanda and Vision.
Naturally, Loki's drunken antics attract unwanted attention from local law enforcement, and a brawl ensues between the variant duo and the Lamentis-1 train guards. During the scrap, Sylvie removes her spiked crown and rams it brutally into a nearby guard's head, thereby proving she and Tom Hiddleston's character share more in common than they'd care to admit, since Loki himself uses exactly the same trick during Thor: Ragnarok's Rainbow Bridge scuffle.
Just like a cat always lands on its feet (though we don't recommend testing it), a Loki always lands face down with a disgruntled expression. Hiddleston first adopted the position after being sent on a 30-minute tour of the multiverse by Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok, and found himself adopting the same pose following the Roxxcart mall fight. This week we get exactly the same shot when the drunk reveler is tossed from a moving train.
"Lamentis" ends with Loki and Sylvie realizing that their only means of escape is to board the evacuation ark and alter history by ensuring it departs the surface successfully. This is essentially what Loki did for the people of Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok. Once the planet's destruction became inevitable, Thor, Hulk and Valkyrie (and even Skurge!) load as many Asgardians as possible onto evacuation ships. Realizing this is his ticket to survival, Loki offers his services too. Though variant Loki hasn't experienced these events, saving himself by saving the people of Lamentis-1 is eerily similar. And, of course, on both occasions Loki secretly wants to save the civilians - because even a Frost Giant's heart isn't completely cold.
New episodes of Loki release Wednesdays on Disney+.
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