Main cast: Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Sophia Di Martino (Sylvie), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ravonna Renslayer), Wunmi Mosaku (Hunter B-15), Eugene Cordero (Casey), Tara Strong (Miss Minutes), Richard Dixon (Robber Baron), Jonathan Majors (Victor Timely), Ke Huy Quan (OB), and Owen Wilson (Mobius)
Director: Kasra Farahani

Now 1893 is more like it. Things are moving again.

Unfortunately, that creepy cartoon clock thing from the previous takes center stage in this episode, and like most AI in shows and movies, it starts to get creepy with the fee-fees.

Meanwhile, poor Gugu Mbatha-Raw is back as Bitchface Renslayer, but unlike her last name and comic counterpart, she’s reduced to arguing with the cartoon clock like she’s an extra in an episode of Sesame Street. Ah, the things one will do for money.

In this one, He Who Remains—whom we all know is Kang thanks to all the hype around the MCU—had a Plan B in motion prior to the start of this season: he had Renslayer and Miss Minutes travel back to 1868, to plant some blueprints on Victor Timely—the dude that eventually becomes Kang Who Remains—to set in motion plans to make him become Kang. Oh my god, what is this? A sequel to Predestination?

In 1893, Victor has found the blueprints and used them to develop the gewgaws to scam people as well as prototypes for the present day TVA gadgets. This makes him more than a few enemies.

For one, the present day TVA civil war has threatened to overload everything and destroy the TVA. So, Loki and Mobius want to locate either Miss Minutes or Timely himself to grant them access into the TVA mainframe and fix things before everything goes ka-boom.

Timely has made enemies out of Robber Baron and his men, so they want him dead.

Meanwhile, Renslayer and Miss Minutes want Timely, the former to get him to become the official boss of the TVA and lead them all to greatness again, and the latter just has weird “Can you insert that pen drive of yours into my USB slot?” feelings for Timely.

Sylvie is perhaps the most sensible of the lot. She just wants Timely dead. He Who Remains? Hah, more like no one remains!

Now, on to the most important thing first. Tom Hiddleston fills his pants nicely when Loki and Mobius go back into the past, but Owen Wilson’s trousers are shockingly loose. This is definitely a hate crime, because, unlike Mr Hiddleston, Mr Wilson is one of those rare geezers that looks increasingly attractive as he ages, and having an utterly light crotch ruins that illusion of supreme daddy hotness. Are the people behind this show completely devoid of artistry and good taste?

Jonathan Major is good at scenery chewing, that’s for sure, but that’s all he has been doing since he is inserted into the MCU. This makes me wonder, because Kang is supposed to be this huge, scary threat that will threaten the whole multiverse, but so far all I have seen of him are humiliating defeats at the hands of D-list characters and scenery chewing. The latter is basically a minstrel show but with an actual black guy instead of someone in blackface, which is not becoming of a self-proclaimed progressive non-profit company, isn’t it?

This episode is a bit odd as well in that after all that build up between Loki and Sylvie in the previous season, they barely interact here and spend more time pursuing their separate agendas. They behave like the previous season never happened, both individually and together. Anything they may have learned about themselves are all but entirely gone here.

I’m not too sad about the lack of Loki and Sylvie moments, as I enjoy the bromance between Loki and Mobius far more than Loki and her. However, it sure seems like the people behind this show changed their minds drastically in what they want the show to be between the previous season and this one. Any progress made with character development seems squandered… but then again, that’s MCU in a nutshell these days, isn’t it? Squandered opportunities, everywhere and anywhere.

Also, given how expensive each episode of an MCU show is reported to be, I can only wonder where all the money went. This episode looks cheap. The costumes look too clean, everything looks too bright and hygienic, and nobody here seems to be capable of sweating or getting dirty—not the most believable jaunt into the past.

Still, there is some nice scenery chewing, and the two main guys Loki and Mobius are once again valiantly dragging the episode to the finish line with their dynamics that make the episode far more entertaining than it otherwise would be, and… well, the plot moves a bit, so that counts as a win?

Yes, it’s not the most exciting episode, but still, I’ll take whatever I can get. Now, how do I tell these people to make Mr Wilson wear better fitting pants in the future?