Loki

20210718 Comment:
Overall, I liked the show. But like the ending of many shows or the ending of the Infinity Saga (Avengers: Endgame), the ending of Loki was unsatisfying. Endings can be hard to get right. Arguably the ending of Loki and the ending of Endgame both involved deus ex machinas.
20231030:
I just finished the fourth episode and thought I had waited long enough such that all the episodes had released by now. Interestingly, however, it was to my surprise that I managed to catch up to the latest release, and so I 'll have to wait until 20231102 for the next episode.
20231102:
After completing the fifth episode, my in-head resolution of the story is best visualized using two axes of time, call them t1 and t2. When we watch a movie taking place in the MCU, we observe time flowing forward in t1. However, there are an infinite set of events progressing forward along t1 - perhaps even multiple copies at the same point in time - where sometimes there are very significant deviations resulting in branching timelines while often there are insignificant deviations which for all intents and purposes are equivalent. Thus for me, when the Avengers go back in time during Avengers: Endgame, what happens is that they are traveling to someone else's present (which actually aligns with what Bruce says). Note that most visits to the past are innocuous, as the items taken are returned. As such, in those instances the deviations are insignificant and hence their futures are equivalent (i.e., merge back to the same results). But among the changes during the time heist, the one that would branch due to being significant would be Loki stealing the Tesseract. But because there are infinitely many instances, there is a portion of that event where the Avengers arrive from the future and Loki steals the Tesseract and there are instances where no one is arriving from the future and events would take place as we would have witnessed in Avengers. Moving over to the TVA and the Loki tv series, members in the TVA are capable of viewing all of t1. However, in fact, there is no t1 and there's only a t2. Everything, TVA and all the instances along the fictional t1 are moving forward in time t2.

So how does time travel work in the TVA? Easy, just do the same as above but with t1, t2, and t3. MCU flows perceptually occurs along t1, and TVA perceptually occurs along t2, but the truth is everything flows forward along t3. So when Loki timeslips back in time, it seems like he's affecting his own future, but I would say that by destiny, it was actually another instance of himself that informs O.B. of exactly the same thing our Loki informs O.B. And this is the same for all other instances of time slipping. Up until the end of the fifth episode where he seemingly breaks the rules. And to me, he's not breaking the rules. To perceive as if he's rewinding time in t2 is fine because this is being recorded in the books as moving forward in t3.

In summary, there is only one axis of time, but an infinite set of instances of events which one can label with two additional ficticious axes of time.


S1E1
premise is flawed. though perhaps purposely flawed in that loki has his suspicions about the setup. how does a super timeline even work. what does it mean to operate outside the timeline. a device that seems to send someone to a previous position doesnt meant they are sent back in time... it's just... somehow part of the flow of time in that reality. if everything is preordained, how does one choose not to be a variant. it seems like one has no choice but to become a variant. in truth, perhaps a compromise is that the TVA acts as pruners. a tree grows branches and TVA trims all branches except one. but then the avengers dont really have to put any stones back, TVA can just handle it... i think regardless of the premise, I would still enjoy the show. but hopefully Loki does figure out something greater with the three lizard men.
1=20210716

S1E2
maybe they should change their strategy, like maybe have the person with the reset charge come in separately. haha, Im really happy he pointed out the reset charge pattern, "Dont tell me the Variant ambushed and kulled another team of Minutemen (GASP) and stole their reset charge as well".
"No one bad is ever truly bad, No one good is ever truly good." Interesting discussion and outcome (exploding timeline).
1=20210717

S1E3
hmm, what does this Loki want. huh, all magic is neutralized? what i dont realize is her plan. it's summarized by Loki as they're walking. Their teamwork and banter is charming. a plot point is revealed, where all the tva agents are just variants, but they don't know that.
though... why would a normal person be a variant. note I get for sake of the show, but you figure she should have been charging the device more regularly.
1=20210717

S1E4
wait what... how can this little girl doing nothing be a variant. I guess theyre just making an example. oh unless that's young Sylvie. I see... so basically there are natural variations of similar timelines. wow, their connection created a nontrivial branch. huh. why did they prune the agent and not Loki. what a bitxh: " I don't remember". ooooo what a twist. I kept thinking in my head... where is the agent, and when she will destroy Sylvie. and instead, she destroyed Loki. but come on, this is Hiddleston s show, he cant be gone. oh there's a post credit scene. more lokis.
1=20210717

S1E5
I wonder if Loki is in like a limbo of vahalla. though... would it make sense for multiple lokis across time to die and go to vahalla? they said its the Void. its later explained what the void is. haha an alligator loki. hahaha, whT waa your nexus event yoyr majesty, i kill3d thor. my question now is how did they know this loki arrived. hmm i didnt know that agent would have a reason to betray sylvie. anyways, smart thinking to selfprune. whoa, so many lokis (oh right, lokis area primary variant). lol all this time survivng and they attack each other. presumably the timekeepers maker wouldnt just keep files about the beginning and end od time lying around.
1=20210717

S1E6
wow... I thought it would just be straightforward and they turned it into this thing... where.... it was a battle of universes stemming from one of the members (I would kind of think like a Rick). though I think multiple universes and branching timelines are different concepts. how exactly is a branch of a timeline created? I thought in general there's only such thing as a forefront of spacetime. although the spacetime can theoretically rearrange itself in a previous state which... would be like traveling back in time... so anyways, this he who remains somehow knew everything up to a point. this doesn't really make sense to me.
1=20210717

S2E1
quite a leap of faith or desperation
was that floor cleaner from season 1?
hehe she'll be fine
he recognizes the worker (Casey)
lol there was someone else in the elevator
hehe four hundred years and he remembers
huh the green device went with him but not the stick
huh, the future
duct tape
Sylvie
how did he manage to prune himself?
1=20231022

S2E2
I don't remember X-5
apparently he went and got himself a life
hehe. he really knows hows to get under their skin
hehe Loki says he got under Mobius skin but Mobius deflects
chuckle. he refers to the time he went to earth to attack. The Avengers (2012).
hmm... did Sylvie always look like this or is this a different actress? [apparently it is the same actress. comparing before and after, I can see it. the season 2, she looks thinner. but I guess also with the british accent... did she always have such a thick accent?]
1=20231029

S2E3
the Marvel theme is done as a western piano ragtime
Miss Minites ... how does she exist outside the TVA
hmm... what is Renfield's goal?
interesting speech (Timely)
hehe a fake temporal loom (con-man)
the way Miss Minutes gets jealous is scary
hmm is there something about the flower?
I feel like the lack of Renfield in the End of Time when Loki and Sylvie arrived means that she isn't essential to He Who Remains
"Well, that wasn't me" (curious... this Miss Minutes is an AI... I figure she would have logically agreed)
I still don't get Renslayer's problem or goal
hmm that doesn't seem any more fair than the idea of free will and that not all the Loki's are bad... ("oh you will, you will do terrible things")
hmm. Sylvie identifies that Renfield just wants power
hehe, why release Miss Minutes who was definitely not on her side?
Miss Minutes says "I can tell you but it's gonna make you real angry" [oh... does it have to do with the recording Loki heard between Renslayer and He Who Remains... but that was in the past... which is kind of confusing if I think about it]
1=20231029

S2E4
"I know a really big secret. It's gonna make you real angry." during the recap... It made me think... maybe she's a He Who Remains variant.
Miss Minutes reveals the secret.
"That we don't need him. Maybe we never did." (hmm... so perhaps I'm half right? hehe)
Smile. "It's like a snake eating its own tail."
Sylvie smiles happily when O.B. refers to her without naming her (though surely everyone except perhaps Timely would understand)
Hmm... I don't know... I feel I liked Sylvie's character in Season 1, but for some reason here in Season 2 she seems a bit off.
"It's up to us to do better than He Who Remains." Essentially when they killed him, they needed to take responsibility for his role. He had one way of doing it (pruning) but what they sought was an alternative that doesn't involve pruning. Loki challenges that technically they need to be held accountable. Makes sense to me.
That's a good comeback. "We are gods."
Jeez. I'm not sure that makes sense for Renslayer to kill them all...
Wait what? He's holding the Loom timer device
Oh! I had asked in the other episode "how did he prune himself?" This resolution is so cool.
HAHA. "Dampeners that prevent people from using magic." "TURN IT OFF!"
Yike. "You'll never be him."
Hmm. Pruned Renslayer. Will she somehow be back? Seemed unsatisfactory end for her.
I didn't see that coming. Exploded. With that being said... I feel that perhaps... via some weird He Who Remains weirdness he'll fix it?
1=20231030 AM

S2E5
in the icon for the show Loki is holding the TVA handbook
recap: everything you did I paved the road.
recap: oh, I forgot... it definitely wouldn't be fixed in the present because the device they made exploded as well
why did Loki time slip resume? (hopefully they continue to make a consistent story... since that's what they went with for loki pruning himself)
lol, he just said hello to himself (this comment at when he picks up the book)
whoa... what's happening
Casey escaping from jail...
Alcatraz
hehe McDonalds, jet skis, bowling ball
B15 as a doctor, odd that he's not just slipping in position anymore but also across timelines
hehe selling jetskis
smile waving arms exactly like the air figure in the back
O.B. in the library?
huh it's a bookstore and he was trying to buy his own book
smile. PhD physicist as a hobby
O.B. explains what I observed... he says that Loki isn't just going through different times but also space and to people he knows. so it's not random
hehe 19 months and his wife left him
he said it so matter of factly. but how did he find Loki? (huge temppad)
what happened to her burger?
that is weird... Sylvie knows...
hmm Sylvie pushed him until he said "I want my friends back"
"go write yours" (kind of a conundrum there) [but the thing is... the worlds is gonna be erased regardless right? or do I misunderstand the situation of what's in danger? does the temporal loom exploding only a danger to the TVA?]
holy moly an entire person disappeared
his mug disappeared
his coffee is threading
yikes
does Sylvie know how to time slip?
oh she has a temppad
"it was a fiction problem"
hehe now he's kind of breaking the rules (I suppose that has to do with "it was a fiction problem")
"it's not about when where or why" the suspense...
"it's about who... I can rewrite the story"
very exciting
1=20231102 AM

S2E6
hehe. Mobius mumbles in puzzlement "This time?"
Why not go to a different moment in time?
Huh. He isn't saving much time?
Haha. How long to learn. They answer: decades, centuries.
Decaes later.
If after all this. The reason for Victor Timely to go... I suspect he won't make it. Otherwise Loki would just have gone? Or perhaps the risk of Loki doing it is if he fails he can't rewind time.
"It's a scaling problem." [...] "You can't scale for infinite."
Wow. He went really far back.
"See you soon."
Why doesn't he interface with He Who Remains?
Hmm. HWR asks if it's the first time they had the conversation and Loki doesn't answer so it's ambiguous. [Actually Loki asks, "How did you know?"]
"We die with the dying. We're born with the dead."
HWR seems to need to stop time with his device, while Loki just uses his finger.
"You lose." "I know."
"Gotta keep the big picture in mind."
"You just choose your burden."
I guess my question is... why can't Loki try his way and if it doesn't work out then rewind... Is the choice irreversible? After all... according to HWR, more than likely there's just a reincarnation effect.
Hmm... What's going on with the touching of timelines
Seems like he created a kind of mega-temporal loom powered by himself.
1=20231118

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