Ranking of “LOKI” Season One (2021) Episodes

 

Below is my ranking of the Season One episodes of "LOKI", the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)/Disney Plus limited series. Created by Michael Waldron, the series starred Tom Hiddleston in the title role:

RANKING OF "LOKI" SEASON ONE (2021) EPISODES

1. (1.02) “The Variant” - Time Variance Authority (TVA) agent Mobius M. Mobius put the variant version of Asgardian god Loki Odinson/aka Laufeyson to work, but not everyone at TVA is thrilled about the God of Mischief’s presence.

2. (1.01) “Glorious Purpose” - In the series premiere, Loki finds himself out of time and a prisoner of the TVA, forced - against his godly disposition - to cooperate with others.

3. (1.06) “For All Time. Always.” - The clock is ticking in the season finale, which finds Loki and one of his variants, Sylvie Laufeydottir, on a date with destiny to meet the founder of the TVA and a variant of Kang the Conqueror, He Who Remains.

4. (1.05) “Journey Into Mystery” - Loki tries to escape The Void, a desolate purgatory where he meets variant versions of himself.

5. (1.04) “The Nexus Event” - Frayed nerves and paranoia infiltrate the agency as Mobius and the high-ranking TVA Hunter B-15 search for Loki and Sylvie.

6. (1.03) “Lamentis” - Loki finds out “The Variant” aka Sylvie’s plan, but he has his own that will forever alter both their destinies.

Observations About “TIMELESS” (1.01) “Pilot”

 

In an impulsive move, I decided to do a re-watch of the first episode of “TIMELESS”, (1.01) “Pilot”.  And I noticed a few interesting things:

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT “TIMELESS” (1.01) “Pilot”

*Carolyn Preston was a seriously ill and bedridden patient when the series began.  Garcia Flynn’s changes to the timeline not only improved Carolyn’s life but also produced a currently active soldier for Rittenhouse.  Talk about irony.

*There was an interesting scene between Mason Industries founder Connor Mason and Homeland Security Agent Denise Christopher, in which the latter chastised the former for creating a time machine behind the U.S. government’s back.  Mason had called in the government after the newer time machine was stolen by Garcia Flynn.  I had no idea that Agent Christopher and Mason had clashed before the Season Two episode, (2.02) “The Darlington 500″.  I wonder if there will be future clashes between the two.

*Wyatt Logan had been heavily drinking at the time when he was first summoned to Mason Industries for the first time.  His wife had been dead for at least four to five years at the time, which means he was still in a state of grief.

*Another example of Wyatt’s continuing grief over Jessica was his instant attraction to fictional journalist, Kate Drummond, who strongly reminded him of his late wife.  In fact, this led Wyatt to attempt to save her from the Hindenburg’s original crash and save her from the revised crash, even though she was destined to die.

*This was a rather interesting scene to me.  One, I noticed that Rufus Carlin was kept in a separate cell from Lucy and Wyatt in order to maintain the racial status quo in 1937 New Jersey.  I also found the scene both funny, thanks to Rufus’ insults to the cop, and scary at the same time.  Instead of rushing the cell to hurt Rufus, the cop deliberately left the cell room and returned with a fellow cop with the intent to beat Rufus with batons (probably to death), especially since Wyatt was having difficulty unlocking the cells with the underwire of Lucy’s bra.

*This episode also introduced Flynn’s possession of Lucy’s diary.  To this day, I have always wondered how he managed to acquire it, if the time machines cannot travel to the future.  Or can they?  The page featured in the image above hint the team and Flynn’s activities in the episode, (1.08) “Space Race”.

*I was surprised that Lucy and Flynn had their first meeting so soon in the series.  What is interesting is that Flynn displayed no hostility toward her.  Instead, he told her about the diary and his personal knowledge of her.  He also revealed his knowledge of Lucy’s aspirations to follow in Carolyn’s footsteps, warning her that would be a bad idea.  This last remark struck me as a foreshadow of the Season One finale’s revelation of Carolyn as a Rittenhouse agent.

*This episode also revealed that Mason, had instructed Rufus to record the team’s mission and to continue doing so in the future.  This made me realize that Rittenhouse had been interested in Mason’s time machine from the beginning and foreshadowed Rittenhouse’s use of the newer time machine in Season Two.

*For a long time, I have wondered why Flynn wanted to prevent the Hindenburg from crashing the first time.  But when I noticed that he had planted a bomb on the airship before it was due to return to Germany, I eventually speculated that he had discovered someone connected to Rittenhouse was scheduled to travel on that return journey.

"LOST" Commentary: "Confusion Over Time Travel"

 

"LOST" COMMENTARY:  "CONFUSION OVER TIME TRAVEL"

I did a recent rewatch of the "LOST" Season Five episodes, (5.02) "The Lie" and (5.03) "Jughead".  After viewing it, I had come to a realization about the Oceanic 815 and the S.S. Kahana castaways left behind on the island, following the Oceanic Six and Ben Linus' departures.

The second half of "The Lie" featured the Oceanic castaways, former member of the Others Juliet Burke and the Kahana freighter survivors being under attack by the Others in 1954 with flaming arrows. I can recall seeing many figures attempt fleeing or attempting to into the jungle in order to survive. But now . . . I find myself wondering why did all of the remaining inhabitants at the Oceanic beach camp had skipped through time. Why all of them? And why am I questioning this writing decision?

The season's sixth episode, (5.06) "316", saw the Oceanic Six (sans Aaron Littleton), former Others leader Ben Linus, and pilot Frank Lapidus (who had been part of the Kahana crew three years earlier) return to the island on Ajira Flight 316 during the fall of 2007.  Of this group, only Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes and Sayid Jarrah had disappeared from the plane and traveled back in time to 1977.  Thanks to Frank's piloting skills; he, Sun-Hwa Kwon, Ben, and the rest of the Ajira 316 passengers and crew had landed on Hydra Island, the small island close to the main one.  At least those who had survived.  They did not time traveled back to 1977.  Instead, they had remained in 2007.

Here is another interesting tidbit.  In "The Lie", both James "Sawyer" Ford and Dr. Juliet Burke had noted that the zodiac inflatable boat that Dr. Daniel Faraday had been using to transport Neil Frogurt and other Oceanic 815 castaways from their beach camp to the S.S. Kahana during the Season Four finale, (4.12-4.14) "There's No Place Like Home", had also traveled through time with the castaways.  Even while it was beached.  Juliet had pointed out that it must have traveled along with them because Daniel and the five Oceanic castaways had been traveling toward the freighter when the time traveling began.  

I had also realized that only certain characters had played roles in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling into the island and the detonation of the Jughead in 1977.  They included:

*John Locke

*Dr. Daniel Faraday

*Dr. Jack Shephard

*Kate Austen

*Sayid Jarrah

*James "Sawyer" Ford

*Dr. Juliet Burke

*Miles Straume

*Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

*Jin-Soo Kwon

*John Locke

*Dr. Charlotte Lewis
*Rose Nadler

*Bernard Nadler

How did they play a role? 

*Locke, with the help of his fellow castaways, had left on the island, using the Donkey Wheel and electromagnetic energy inside the Orchid Station.  He wanted to contact the Oceanic Six and convince them to return to the island in order to save those left behind.  His death in Los Angeles set in motion the events that led to "the Incident".

*Unlike her fellow time travelers, Charlotte had never ended up in the 1970s and become part of the Dharma Initiative, due to her death from the time jumps.  But her death had led Daniel to join the Dharma Initiative's scientific staff at its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan and consider the possibility of changing the timeline to save her.

*Daniel was the one who became aware of the Dharma Initiative's dangerous drilling into the island's electromagnetic energy in 1977.  He was also the one who tried to warn Dr. Pierre Chang about the dangers of this drilling.  And he was the one who came up with the idea to use an old U.S. Army hydrogen bomb named Jughead to stop the drilling and destroy the island's electromagnetic energy, in order to reset time and prevent the crash of Oceanic 815's crash in 2004 and Charlotte's death from time travel.

*Following Daniel's death at the hands of his mother, former Others leader Eloise Hawking; Jack decided to continue with Daniel's plans by contacting the Others in order to get hold of the Jughead bomb.  Like Daniel, he saw this as an opportunity to destroy the island's electromagnetic energy and prevent Oceanic 815's crash in 2004.

*At first, Kate was willing to help Daniel and Jack acquire the Jughead bomb.  Following Daniel's death, she found his idea implausible and dangerous and sought out Sawyer and Juliet's help to stop Jack's plan to detonate the bomb.  Her appearance aboard the Dharma submarine had convinced Juliet and a very reluctant Sawyer to return to the island.

*Sayid Jarrah, who had been hiding from the Dharma Initiative ever since his attempt to kill the 12 year-old Ben Linus, had appeared to help Kate break away from Jack and the paranoid members of the Others, led by Eloise Hawking.  He was also the one who had dismantled the core from the Jughead bomb and tried to rig it for detonation upon impact.

*Although Rose and Bernard Nadler had experienced the time skips during the first five episodes of Season Five, they had separated from their fellow castaways/time travelers following the Others' attack upon the castaways in 1954.  Kate, Sawyer and Juliet eventually encountered the couple in 1977, where they had established their own cabin near the beach.  A comment by Rose had produced a brief and affectionate glance between Kate and Sawyer, producing jealousy within Juliet.  This led the latter to eventually embrace Daniel and Jack's plans regarding the bomb and convince Sawyer to help Jack.  She had believed a time reset would spare her the possible pain of being rejected by Sawyer, in favor of Kate.

*Sawyer had served as the Dharma Initiative's Head of Security, until the latter discovered he was personally acquainted with the recently arrived members of the Oceanic Six.  He had made a deal for him and Juliet to leave the island by their submarine.  But Kate had convinced the couple to help her prevent Jack from detonating the bomb.  Sawyer led the group that eventually came to Jack's aid at the Swan Station construction site, when the latter found himself trapped by armed Dharma personnel.

*Miles Straume (Dr. Chang's son), Jin-Soo Kwon and "Hurley" Reyes had all joined Sawyer, Juliet and Kate in their defense of Jack at the Swan Station construction site.

*During their three years with the Dharma Initiative, Juliet and Sawyer had fallen in love.  It was not surprising Juliet had developed a fear that Sawyer would renew his romantic interest in Kate.  This fear had finally took complete hold of her when she witnessed Sawyer and Kate's exchange of affectionate smiles at the Nadlers' beach camp.  This fear had driven Juliet to finally participate in Daniel and Jack's plans to use the Jughead bomb to change the timeline.  And this fear also drove Juliet to detonate the bomb, herself, when it had failed to do so after Jack had tossed it into one of the construction site's pits.

What is the point of all of this?  The above people had played a role in the incident regarding the Dharma Initiative's drilling and the Jughead bomb's detonation at the barely constructed Swan Station.  This detonation had finally stopped Dharma's drilling into the island and prevented a world-ending event in 1977.  In other words, the above people had played roles - major or minor - in saving the island and the world during that period.  

This meant Sun, the adult Ben, Lapidus and other passengers aboard Ajira 316 did not play a role in "the Incident" in 1977.  Neither did any of the other Oceanic castaways who had been left behind at their beach camp.  Which leads me to wonder why showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse had not allowed Ajira occupants Sun, Ben and Lapidus to travel back in time; but had allowed other nameless Oceanic castaways to time travel with Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Jin, Miles.  I understand why Frogurt and the four other Oceanic castaways had traveled through time.  They had been inside the Zodiac with Daniel, when the time skips began.  And since they had played no role in "the Incident", it was not surprising that Lindelof and Cuse had allowed the Others to kill them off in 1954. 

But what about the rest of the Oceanic castaways who had been left behind on the beach?  Lindelof and Cuse should not have allowed them to experience the time skips at all.  They had played no role in "the Incident".  Nor had they been inside the Zodiac boat with Daniel.  They should have remained behind at the Oceanic beach camp, in December 2004-January 2005.

"LOKI" Season One (2021) Photo Gallery

 

Below are images from Season One of "LOKI", the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)/Disney Plus limited series. Created by Michael Waldron, the series starred Tom Hiddleston in the title role:

"LOKI" SEASON ONE (2021) Photo Gallery