I had to be sure I was in the right mindset to write this. Just because recently it has bugged me majorly of how much the House of Mickey has done to ruin perfectly good lore. Loki, as we established already in the last season is a side character, even though he's an MC and everyone knows he's been a bad boy.
Except in this series he isn't actually malevolent, nor does he seem to be enjoying the plots of ruination. Maybe he is a Redeemed God since the All Father died. It is also kind of strange that he doesn't seek help from the other realms. One could assume that's because he's messed up with timey-wimey stuff, and he's not a proper Traveller. Just a tourist. A tourist with a toolbox to fix things, except the whole case is missing.
And in this episode, Loki is diving into the past to seek Miss Minutes. Maybe this is a good TT. We'll see...
The title bugged me, but I couldn't place my finger on why until I saw the opening shot you'll see above. To be honest, I should have guessed it was going to be the Nexus event for the North American TimeTravellers. Their most time and place, because it has roots for so many fabulous adventures ... if you are a Traveller. Honestly, a person could hide in that mass and be completely ignored observer, except it never happens in the story related TT's.
The scariest thing about that time and location, is the Chicago's Ripper, who happened to have a murderhouse masquerading as a flop house. People went there, but never got out. Do you think that TT's have a knowledge of him? I don't think so because the Agency never briefs on their Temporal Travellers.
Renslayer most certainly wasn't told anything. Just given coordinates that took her to a back alley and a barn, where a floating, glowing, speaking clock was waiting. "What took you so long?"
I'm starting to think Ms Minutes is the true malevolent spirit, because she knows everything and she chooses to do nothing. In fact, she's hiding in time. Just not in the wisest spot, because she most certainly would have lived more freely in the neon lights of Tokyo City. At present day and nobody would have seen a thing.
Her mission to the Renslayer, to deliver a package ... to one of the Kang's. Because that was the last will of He who Remains. And all Renslayer would get in return would be the power. The most intriguing detail was that the receiver was a boy, and the package contained the TVA handbook.
Back in the TVA, the problem with the Loom was expanding because it couldn't handle all of the expanded universe. All those good stories that appeared on the comic books pages, capturing imaginations of countless teens and YA's. They had to be pruned out and while the rest remained in the exec hands.
I was doing a facepalm, when Möbius voiced the problem, "How are we going to find a cartoon clock hiding in time?" The answer was Renslayer, who happened to have left a trace. So it wasn't long after the boys tracked down the spacetime location, and they appeared in the windy city.
Why the portal cannot be Cameron's balls of lightning? I also hated that they'd hit the wardrobe department before the jump to look right for the time period. Except all of their clothes are shiny and not mended. They might even smell nice, while the normal people look much scruffier. Not that it's a problem, but Möbius went to claim that they'd appeared in the right spot, where the TemPad hit had generated.
Except it wasn't the same muddy alley. Or year. So they went fast-forward in time and arrived in the right place, the fair. How could I have guessed it so easily?
Tracking the b*stard clock turned out to be even easier than I assumed, as Möbius just finished saying "breadcrumbs," when one appeared on the front page of Daily Chicago Press. This time as an article about a ghost clock. Sure, it reads like a fairy tale, but with a drawn evidence of her appearance, the 'detective' pair had their first clue. And it was leading them Midtown.
Nom, nom, nom. Popcorn in hand, they didn't leave the fair. Instead, they ended up to the Temple of Nordic Gods. Loki wasn't happy about their generalized views of Loki, Thor and Balder, while Möbius was amazed that Loki was "considered as one of them." Right opposite to the temple stood a placard, inviting people to come see: "Astounding Wonders of Temporal Marvels."
It was as if they'd been fed hints instead of playing the mystery game. But was it done by Victor Timely who happened to be the showman in the event, where the detectives were led into?
I liked that Kang's Variant tried to explain the baffled audience plausible science behind the Loom. He didn't use numbers but instead simple words to explain the method for gaining power. All by trumping over Edison's Event and using the zero-field to explain the method. Except he didn't explain the tapping and how it exactly works. But what he told the audience was straight out of Tesla's work, "To power the whole planet."
And he proved it by powering his machine and causing not only a blowout, but also a spectacular light show. While the audience was amazed, Möbius wanted to catch the variant, while Loki wasn't so sure about the idea.
The fact is that because of the show, the detectives didn't use the opportunity to catch Renslayer and Ms Minutes. Instead, it gave them a new goal, to catch the variant so that Victor Timely could possibly fix the real thing. Then the inventor went and sold the contraption for "One Thousand Dollars," and I facepalmed.
Although you might have guessed why it went for such a low sum, even for late 1800's, is that Victor knew it was a burned out piece of junk that most couldn't fix. In a plain English, Victor's contraption is a device that doesn't belong in the sacred timeline. At that time. I expected Mobious to make bidding. He didn't.
Maybe he also knew that his TemPad would have sang if the wreck would cause harm. So they were free to chase the Inventor and their Mark outside the pub. Mostly freely, even after Loki produced a magic trick.
I guess people are really that easy. Except it was saved when Victor Timely was caught up by a Councilman, with broken mechanical trousers. "A prototype," Kang tried to explain. And again it provided an excellent opportunity for the 'detectives' to catch all of their marks in one go. It didn't happened because the owner of the broken Loom finally figured out that he'd been conned.
What followed was another palm meeting the face moment as a comedy chase happened in the heart of the fair. Luckily it as saved by Sylvie appearing to slay the Variant.
"You've done enough," Sylvie shouted. "Get out of my face and let me do my job."
Loki couldn't allow that to happen. Instead, he ended again defending Kang. Almost as if it is his job to cock-up the real tasks and consequently allow the mix of multiple timelines and worlds together. Hence, we have the Curse of the Multiverse Madness gripping the MCU.
Outside the fight, Mobious had a talk with Renslayer, trying to inquire about what she's up to. But the woman refused, because they weren't partners any more. Why the agent didn't cuff her there and then? I don't know. Inside the Big wheel, Sylvie told Loki to not trust any Kang Variants. She even showed the evidence of TVA's handbook to the man. Still, the God of Mischief acted like one and prevent Sylvie from slaying the mark.
It all ended with Loki and Kang exploding out from the Ferris Wheel, landing straight to the feet of Renslayer and Möbius. And then Renslayer used the opportunity to cause panic by releasing Miss Minutes to the public. It worked on Renslayer favour, as she was able to escape with Kang's Variant to his hut and explain to the man of what he'll become if he accepts her as guardian and Miss Minutes as councillor.
A nexus moment that could have been avoided, but it never happened. And although they'd an able opportunity to jump in spacetime, they didn't because Kang couldn't leave his latest invention sitting in his lap. So they got into a lake ferry and went over to Wisconsin. Along the way Kang figured out who delivered the Handbook, and he showed Renslayer the invention, the Throughput Multiplier.
All looked romantic and good, until Renslayer fell in sleep and woke up in the lake after Miss Minutes betrayal. In the lab, the Ai took in turn on playing the manipulation game, as she revealed her true colours and told Kang that she'd been a simple algo for playing a chess. Over the time the Great Kang evolved her to become one capable of handling Temporal Events. What she wanted was Kang to make her a body. A real thing instead of an avatar.
It scared the inventor, and he was lucky to be able to lock the Ai before Renslayer appeared with her demands, and then the boys tracked down the location. The situation ended in a Mexican stand-off. Then Sylvie arrived, sweeping the floor with all of them. She even got her sword on neck of Victor Timely, but couldn't slay the man, because she believed in his innocence.
Sylvie allowed the boys to escape back to TVA, while she had words with Renslayer, before she literally kicked her at the End of Time. There, Miss Minutes appeared again, telling Renslayer that she knew a secret that would make her "very angry."
Is it going to have consequences?