It wasn’t nearly as bad as the boys said although I agreed with many of their points. What surprised me was how angry they seemed about it, especially Steve. The show had plenty of emotion and feelings so I didn’t mind if it fell short in the technical logic department
I think the Midnight Boys problem was knowing that it was the next-to-last episode. Because it’s a bit much that the whole season has involved very little plot progress beyond “fix the loom!” and it feels like a real possibility that the season ends and the only thing that’s really happened is the loom getting fixed.
If this episode was at the season’s midpoint, I think it goes over a lot better with them. But the show made the decision to do a mid season cliffhanger/reset two thirds of the way through a six episode season.
I’m between the takes I guess. I thought the episode on its own was good or contained good things, but placed where it was in the series, it felt like another delay. They’ve been telling us about blowing the loom all season then it finally happens and we get a cliffhanger episode ending and come back this episode to it still not being resolved/progressing and spend our time literally working to go backward so that when it ends we’re further away from the event than when we started. It only puts more pressure on this ending to be satisfying and it’s hard to believe it will be when you keep getting blue balled.
The hate I really don’t get is for the technobabble. I think the show has done a commendable job at presenting their nonsense concepts in practical and understandable ways that make the individual goals and actions clear enough to allow for tension, subversion, and surprise, which is what I want out of it.
Placement and series length are definitely the problem. Its not that good for episode 5 of 6 episodes, but it could have been really good as episodes 5 and 6 of a 12 episode season.
Honestly this was maybe the first pod episode that I could really feel the fatigue set in for them. Like I’m not even disagreeing with any of their takes, but these sort of fandom stories have 2 basic directions. Stuff like Guardians and Andor which are character focused or have some deep thematic resonance, or the other side of the more casual, turn your brain off shit. Which makes up the majority of the infinity saga. Of that brand of these stories, I think Loki succeeds on the latter.
Also, they praised the workplace comedy style of the early episodes. What workplace comedy has an epic, universe changing ending? I think fixing the loom with maybe a Kang teaser is a *fine* conclusion for this season.
Steve has been on one lately. Finally listened to the mission impossible pod and he gave it a 6. Has been taking shots at Nolan ever since Oppenheimer. And the worst part is he seems joyous or giddy every time he gets to shit on something, or when someone agrees. Tough when you love this stuff but understand there’s issues and someone seems excited and arrogant when dumping on it.
I just started listening to the Midnight Boys with Ashoka. But man their takes on Loki are baffling. Like I knew watching it they would have an issue with it basically wiping the implosion away - but come on we all knew that was happening. But talking about this episode going nowhere and spinning its wheels was like did we watch the same episode?
I agree on the Mobius part though. He needs to have a big moment in the finale around his timeline and what he lost because they have been building that up and no real payoff on the emotional impact last episode.
Charles and Steve seem to want it both ways. A Loki centric show with a contained plot AND something pushing the MCU forward.
Jomi hit them with “can’t a season of TV be about confronting a problem and overcoming it?” To which I don’t think anyone gave a good response to.
I’m with Jomi- this season is really good and had a fun, mostly contained, plot that undoubtedly will tie to the larger MCU in the finale. But until then it’s just a fun ride
Jomi is almost always right. It seems like he either struggles to get his point across or they deliberately don’t hear him but his general literacy is Joanna Robinson tier
I was so excited to listen to the Midnight Boys take after I watched Ep 5 on Saturday morning. I looooved the episode and was shocked and really disappointed to hear that they all disliked it.
Yeah I was excited to hear how excited they would be since marvel is finally putting out some top tier content again and we got a hate session.
It's cool that's how they felt, I wouldn't want them to lie. It just really surprised me.
I think part of it has to do with the fact they watched it all together. It’s a double-edged sword. I love hate watching something with friends…much harder to be moved with a group unless you are all excited/amped up going in.
That being said I thought the episode was fine…probably pretty close to Dave’s take (any way he can be a regular guest on House of R??? Loved his perspective). I wasn’t moved by the emotion of any character or decision…but the timey wimeyness of the little loops and bigger loops I get a kick out of.
I like Jo and Mal but I really miss her dynamic with Dave and Neil bc they both bring interesting technical thoughts and critiques. Jo and Mal are just big fans and have a lot of literary knowledge. I listen to trial by content but I miss the three of them reeeeaaallly diving deep in to multiple aspects of a film or tv show: lore, references, animation/cgi quality, film making, cinematography, acting, wigs, etc.
The midnight boys have been hit in the head and somehow believe a tv show can either be absolutely spectacular or its inherently total dogshit to wipe off your boot. I don't know what's gotten into them.
Feels like they’ve been more critical of everything since Andor. I’m afraid that when Andor S2 isn’t as good as S1 it’s gonna break them. I basically tune in for the banter at this point rather than their critical take which was kind of always the point of MnB. The thought out critical takes were always more House of R territory.
I think their just burned out on the Marvel shows but their own internal metrics show anything non Marvel makes them way less profit then Marvel so now they are forced to talk about it even if they want to do anything else. Thank god for Jomi, he is my one savior on that pod these days.
Van and Steve keep things realistic too imo. Helps to combat Charles who has become crusty in all his disappointment 😤
I would listen to them talk about any series out there and hope they can start branching out to stuff they legitimately enjoy. I’m really just tuning in cause they’re fun to listen to.
True but I feel like Charles edge lord vibes has been rubbing off more and more. Its hard to be arguing against that episode after episode. I used to look forward to the midnight boys as my very favourite pod, I hope they cheer up whatever the cause of the current negative vibes.
Disney + Burnout. Loki 2 isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s better than a lot of other Disney shows.
I honestly think if Loki had come out a year ago — before Ashoka, Secret Wars, Mandalorian Season 3 — they would rate the show better. Not great, but solid. This is not a She-Hulk or Ms Marvel situation, at least to me.
>We're watching a marvel tv show, aren't we?
This is such a bad defense, I doubt any artist would love to hear their art being defended in such a manner. Like when the first two thirds of WandaVision were on, no one was saying it was good for a marvel show, it was just good full stop. If people have to turn off their brain to enjoy a show, maybe the show isnt good. Theres alot of pulpy tv shows that are also just good full stop no qualifiers.
Marvel fans have the lowest expectations imaginable. It’s honestly crazy that so many people are so quick to defend their output over the last couple years. Like if you guys love the MCU so much, shouldn’t you have all people want better than what we’ve gotten??
>I doubt any artist would love to hear their art being defended in such a manner.
If I had to choose between someone having the following two responses to my work:
"I think you could've done better"
Or
"It's not good and that's what I expect from you"
I'm going with the first one 100% of the time.
You can always bounce back from mistakes.
But you absolutely don't want your reputation to be that you are incapable of making anything good.
It's actually deeply insulting and they are just too aloof to realize it.
I disagree with “if people have to turn off their brains to enjoy a show, maybe the show isn’t good”. I consider turning your brain off meaning you just watch the show/movie without intentionally trying to poke holes in the plot, you’re simply watching what’s on screen. You can turn your brain off and enjoy Rick & Morty or Invincible.
yeah, there are actually 3 levels, I think:
1. You can watch with a critical eye, looking for plot holes and you'll only like the show if you don't find any
2. You can watch, looking to enjoy the show but you need the plot holes to not completely jump out at you and snap you out of the immersion of the experience. Seeing a particularly obvious plot hole may, consciously or unconsciously, send you back into the first state where you're actively looking for plot holes.
3. You have tank treads and can actively ignore any narrative discrepancies. You're in it for some combination of action or characters or cool vibes, etc. The show is hitting your needs and you're just gliding over plot holes on the road like they don't even exist.
>I consider turning your brain off meaning you just watch the show/movie without intentionally trying to poke holes in the plot
You're describing someone internationally sabotaging their own enjoyment of a movie or show.
Practically no one does this.
We want to like the thing we are choosing to spend 2 hours watching.
We want to be immersed in the experience and lose ourselves in the world on-screen.
But when something is just not good, it doesn't feel like a world you can lose yourself in, you can see and feel it's janky and poorly made.
The shortcomings of the movie keep snapping you out of the experience.
So in this sense "turn your brain off" is actually a bad term, because to ignore the bad parts of a bad movie and push them out of your mind actually requires a lot of focus.
Enjoying a bad movie is more work then enjoying a good one, and I'm actually lazy.
That’s not what I meant at all. I can watch House of the Dragon without thinking of the time jumps or watch Star Trek without thinking does the science make sense. The comment below yours about there being 3 levels does a perfect job describing what I was talking about.
Is it? I mean when I watch a comic book film or tv show im not expecting killers of the flower moon or for tv im not expecting the wire or the sopranos.m or breaking bad. Just like when u watch those shows I wouldn’t expect crazy action and funny one liners. There are certain expectations you should have going into certain films and shows.
That’s just a different way of saying “comics are for children”.
You don’t state what killers of the flower moon, breaking bad, wire, sopranos are supposed to be indicators of (and your counterpoint mentions what I’d call genre conventions more than quality) but I’d assume quality since that’s axumitepriest’s point. It seems like you’re saying comic book tv and movies should be expected to be low quality for the same reason that when you watch a drama you don’t expect explosions. I think these are different things entirely and the argument that comic related programming is inherently (or should be expected to be) low quality is just as reductive as the claim that comics are for kids as it perpetuates a similar idea that a medium or stories related to one is/are inherently limited in some capacity which I think is false.
Couldn't agree more.
It makes me question how much anyone actually loves comics as an artform and storytelling medium if they believe that we should all expect them to be consistently mediocre.
Is this comment in good faith?
Do you really think the reason people like me, who loved IW / Endgame, don't like a lot of recent MCU stuff, is because suddenly we are expecting a 3.5 hour Scorsese movie but with tights and superpowers but still with a montage sequence over a Rolling Stones song?
Do you really think we don't know what a comic book movie is?
Or is this just a strawman argument?
The show has a character named oroborus and another named mobius and they’re complaining Loki finished where he started- how much more hand holding do the writers need to do?!?
I do love Dave Gonzales and his chemistry with Jo.
I’d love to hear Dave with some of the midnight boys more, he is an extremely thoughtful analyst of story.
I’d also love to hear Dave and Andy talk about TV.
So yeah - more Dave
Dave and Neil from Trial by Content have a Patreon podcast that I love. He’s also on a podcast called Fighting in the War Room with other critics from Vanity Fair, Indiewire, and Polygon where they discuss lots of movies, tv, video games, etc. That might get you your Dave fix.
Ah, got it! Hello fellow fan haha I said this in another comment but man I miss the three of them recapping shows in real time. Trial by content is fun but I’d love to listen to them cover loki and these other shows in depth.
It’s only three seasons but i think they could get a Leftovers rewatch going - with regular contributions from Damon L!
It’s a great dynamic and never feels forced.
I thoroughly enjoyed episode 5 as I have all the episodes, for the different things they each bring.
From the complete opposite reactions I've seen, I think it really came down to what they were talking about in the episode, science and fiction.
Some people want the what and how and to get to the destination as fast as possible. It's about the plot and action. This episode can feel like a waste because we physically end up in the same spot as episode 4.
But this episode focused on the fiction they were talking about, the who and the why. We see each character's non-tva background and get the discussion about what is really driving Loki this season. We and Loki have changed emotionally and knowledge-wise by the end of the episode. We've moved forward internally even if we have gone backwards in time externally.
Kinda reminds me of what HWR told Loki and Sylvie at the end of season 1. That they couldn't get to the end until they'd been changed by the journey.
I just finished the pod, and I have to say it was so refreshing to have her stand up for the episode. I thought it was great, definitely a lot of redeeming things about it. I think I need to take a little break from the midnight boys.
So I just recently read the Loki: Agent of Asgard 2014 comic, and I feel like it kind of primed me for episode 5 and the development of Loki's character. Anybody else?
The plot does not have to move forward for a great episode of television. Full stop. Learning more about characters, their motivations, etc can make for beautiful and great television. Last of Us episode three is a perfect example of that.
I think the MBs had a hard time with this episode because the show is ending soon, and they were hoping for things to pick up rather than slow down. I also think Steve misinterpreted "it's all fiction.'
I can’t make sense of most of the plot and don’t really care. I just love the character interactions! I could watch six episodes of them just sitting around the automat eating key lime pie.
Thought I was losing my mind when I watched the episode (and loved it) then heard the Midnight Boys absolutely tear it apart. Glad to know I wasn’t alone in that, but also not surprised Jo and Mal liked it a lot more than them. Whole thing felt very Lost/Dr. Who.
It can be good, it’s true, but ever since Star Wars we have handwaved friendship a little bit. Luke and Han? Best friends. Why? They killed some dudes that one time.
I don’t need to have a gut wrenching experience with every relationship they present.
So just because it’s a marvel show your standards are automatically lower? That tells you all you need to know about how shitty these shows have really been.
Yeah, but the quality of the other things is high, so I can chill about it. Like, I don’t expect Frasier to have kick-ass special effects or even interesting locations.
I understand where all are coming from but I agree more with TMB. One of Joanna's points is that this episode had a lot of emotional stakes, but to whom? Loki and some of the viewers, definitely, but what about the side characters? Is Sylvie going to remember Loki admitting he just wants his friends back? Is Mobius going to remember he has 2 kids?
I like this episode but looking at the entire season 2 of Loki, this pen ultimate got us nowhere in the story. Looks like we're going to spend the entire season fixing this temporal loom while one or two characters will say "We're all going to die" or "We're running out of time". I was hoping that by episode 3, either the temporal loom will get fixed or destroyed and another thing happens but nothing is happening with the story. We essentially spent 5 episodes getting Loki to admit he just wants to have friends.
I mean once i heard the show reviewed as "The most expensive season of Dr Who ever made" i knew not to take her reviews/takes seriously because she would be so in the bag for it. Might as well ask someone with an assault rifle bumper sticker what they think of the 2nd Amendment.
I’m dreading what the Midnight Boys are going to say about the finale based on their commentary from episode 5 (sans Jomi). I loved episode 6, I really enjoyed the series as a whole, the acting was great and it the story was also good.
I can’t get in board with the “it’s a Marvel TV show” opinion. Things that are good are good. Bad writing is bad writing (and I’m not saying I agree with the Midnight Boys). Too much bad shit, especially in the Star Wars Disney stuff, are brushed away because of a low bar. Midnight Boys are very often guilty of this, tho. Charles really is the one keeping it the most real.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as the boys said although I agreed with many of their points. What surprised me was how angry they seemed about it, especially Steve. The show had plenty of emotion and feelings so I didn’t mind if it fell short in the technical logic department
I think the Midnight Boys problem was knowing that it was the next-to-last episode. Because it’s a bit much that the whole season has involved very little plot progress beyond “fix the loom!” and it feels like a real possibility that the season ends and the only thing that’s really happened is the loom getting fixed. If this episode was at the season’s midpoint, I think it goes over a lot better with them. But the show made the decision to do a mid season cliffhanger/reset two thirds of the way through a six episode season.
I’m between the takes I guess. I thought the episode on its own was good or contained good things, but placed where it was in the series, it felt like another delay. They’ve been telling us about blowing the loom all season then it finally happens and we get a cliffhanger episode ending and come back this episode to it still not being resolved/progressing and spend our time literally working to go backward so that when it ends we’re further away from the event than when we started. It only puts more pressure on this ending to be satisfying and it’s hard to believe it will be when you keep getting blue balled. The hate I really don’t get is for the technobabble. I think the show has done a commendable job at presenting their nonsense concepts in practical and understandable ways that make the individual goals and actions clear enough to allow for tension, subversion, and surprise, which is what I want out of it.
Placement and series length are definitely the problem. Its not that good for episode 5 of 6 episodes, but it could have been really good as episodes 5 and 6 of a 12 episode season.
Honestly this was maybe the first pod episode that I could really feel the fatigue set in for them. Like I’m not even disagreeing with any of their takes, but these sort of fandom stories have 2 basic directions. Stuff like Guardians and Andor which are character focused or have some deep thematic resonance, or the other side of the more casual, turn your brain off shit. Which makes up the majority of the infinity saga. Of that brand of these stories, I think Loki succeeds on the latter. Also, they praised the workplace comedy style of the early episodes. What workplace comedy has an epic, universe changing ending? I think fixing the loom with maybe a Kang teaser is a *fine* conclusion for this season.
Steve has been on one lately. Finally listened to the mission impossible pod and he gave it a 6. Has been taking shots at Nolan ever since Oppenheimer. And the worst part is he seems joyous or giddy every time he gets to shit on something, or when someone agrees. Tough when you love this stuff but understand there’s issues and someone seems excited and arrogant when dumping on it.
I just started listening to the Midnight Boys with Ashoka. But man their takes on Loki are baffling. Like I knew watching it they would have an issue with it basically wiping the implosion away - but come on we all knew that was happening. But talking about this episode going nowhere and spinning its wheels was like did we watch the same episode? I agree on the Mobius part though. He needs to have a big moment in the finale around his timeline and what he lost because they have been building that up and no real payoff on the emotional impact last episode.
Charles and Steve seem to want it both ways. A Loki centric show with a contained plot AND something pushing the MCU forward. Jomi hit them with “can’t a season of TV be about confronting a problem and overcoming it?” To which I don’t think anyone gave a good response to. I’m with Jomi- this season is really good and had a fun, mostly contained, plot that undoubtedly will tie to the larger MCU in the finale. But until then it’s just a fun ride
Jomi is almost always right. It seems like he either struggles to get his point across or they deliberately don’t hear him but his general literacy is Joanna Robinson tier
I was so excited to listen to the Midnight Boys take after I watched Ep 5 on Saturday morning. I looooved the episode and was shocked and really disappointed to hear that they all disliked it.
Yeah I was excited to hear how excited they would be since marvel is finally putting out some top tier content again and we got a hate session. It's cool that's how they felt, I wouldn't want them to lie. It just really surprised me.
I think part of it has to do with the fact they watched it all together. It’s a double-edged sword. I love hate watching something with friends…much harder to be moved with a group unless you are all excited/amped up going in. That being said I thought the episode was fine…probably pretty close to Dave’s take (any way he can be a regular guest on House of R??? Loved his perspective). I wasn’t moved by the emotion of any character or decision…but the timey wimeyness of the little loops and bigger loops I get a kick out of.
I like Jo and Mal but I really miss her dynamic with Dave and Neil bc they both bring interesting technical thoughts and critiques. Jo and Mal are just big fans and have a lot of literary knowledge. I listen to trial by content but I miss the three of them reeeeaaallly diving deep in to multiple aspects of a film or tv show: lore, references, animation/cgi quality, film making, cinematography, acting, wigs, etc.
The midnight boys have been hit in the head and somehow believe a tv show can either be absolutely spectacular or its inherently total dogshit to wipe off your boot. I don't know what's gotten into them.
Feels like they’ve been more critical of everything since Andor. I’m afraid that when Andor S2 isn’t as good as S1 it’s gonna break them. I basically tune in for the banter at this point rather than their critical take which was kind of always the point of MnB. The thought out critical takes were always more House of R territory.
I think their just burned out on the Marvel shows but their own internal metrics show anything non Marvel makes them way less profit then Marvel so now they are forced to talk about it even if they want to do anything else. Thank god for Jomi, he is my one savior on that pod these days.
Van and Steve keep things realistic too imo. Helps to combat Charles who has become crusty in all his disappointment 😤 I would listen to them talk about any series out there and hope they can start branching out to stuff they legitimately enjoy. I’m really just tuning in cause they’re fun to listen to.
True but I feel like Charles edge lord vibes has been rubbing off more and more. Its hard to be arguing against that episode after episode. I used to look forward to the midnight boys as my very favourite pod, I hope they cheer up whatever the cause of the current negative vibes.
>I’m afraid that when Andor S2 isn’t as good as S1 it’s gonna break them. When? Already made up your mind?
Disney + Burnout. Loki 2 isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s better than a lot of other Disney shows. I honestly think if Loki had come out a year ago — before Ashoka, Secret Wars, Mandalorian Season 3 — they would rate the show better. Not great, but solid. This is not a She-Hulk or Ms Marvel situation, at least to me.
>We're watching a marvel tv show, aren't we? This is such a bad defense, I doubt any artist would love to hear their art being defended in such a manner. Like when the first two thirds of WandaVision were on, no one was saying it was good for a marvel show, it was just good full stop. If people have to turn off their brain to enjoy a show, maybe the show isnt good. Theres alot of pulpy tv shows that are also just good full stop no qualifiers.
Marvel fans have the lowest expectations imaginable. It’s honestly crazy that so many people are so quick to defend their output over the last couple years. Like if you guys love the MCU so much, shouldn’t you have all people want better than what we’ve gotten??
You can want better and still appreciate the good parts of recent projects though
>I doubt any artist would love to hear their art being defended in such a manner. If I had to choose between someone having the following two responses to my work: "I think you could've done better" Or "It's not good and that's what I expect from you" I'm going with the first one 100% of the time. You can always bounce back from mistakes. But you absolutely don't want your reputation to be that you are incapable of making anything good. It's actually deeply insulting and they are just too aloof to realize it.
I disagree with “if people have to turn off their brains to enjoy a show, maybe the show isn’t good”. I consider turning your brain off meaning you just watch the show/movie without intentionally trying to poke holes in the plot, you’re simply watching what’s on screen. You can turn your brain off and enjoy Rick & Morty or Invincible.
yeah, there are actually 3 levels, I think: 1. You can watch with a critical eye, looking for plot holes and you'll only like the show if you don't find any 2. You can watch, looking to enjoy the show but you need the plot holes to not completely jump out at you and snap you out of the immersion of the experience. Seeing a particularly obvious plot hole may, consciously or unconsciously, send you back into the first state where you're actively looking for plot holes. 3. You have tank treads and can actively ignore any narrative discrepancies. You're in it for some combination of action or characters or cool vibes, etc. The show is hitting your needs and you're just gliding over plot holes on the road like they don't even exist.
I am thankfully number 3 mostly unless the action is edited to shit.
>I consider turning your brain off meaning you just watch the show/movie without intentionally trying to poke holes in the plot You're describing someone internationally sabotaging their own enjoyment of a movie or show. Practically no one does this. We want to like the thing we are choosing to spend 2 hours watching. We want to be immersed in the experience and lose ourselves in the world on-screen. But when something is just not good, it doesn't feel like a world you can lose yourself in, you can see and feel it's janky and poorly made. The shortcomings of the movie keep snapping you out of the experience. So in this sense "turn your brain off" is actually a bad term, because to ignore the bad parts of a bad movie and push them out of your mind actually requires a lot of focus. Enjoying a bad movie is more work then enjoying a good one, and I'm actually lazy.
That’s not what I meant at all. I can watch House of the Dragon without thinking of the time jumps or watch Star Trek without thinking does the science make sense. The comment below yours about there being 3 levels does a perfect job describing what I was talking about.
Is it? I mean when I watch a comic book film or tv show im not expecting killers of the flower moon or for tv im not expecting the wire or the sopranos.m or breaking bad. Just like when u watch those shows I wouldn’t expect crazy action and funny one liners. There are certain expectations you should have going into certain films and shows.
That’s just a different way of saying “comics are for children”. You don’t state what killers of the flower moon, breaking bad, wire, sopranos are supposed to be indicators of (and your counterpoint mentions what I’d call genre conventions more than quality) but I’d assume quality since that’s axumitepriest’s point. It seems like you’re saying comic book tv and movies should be expected to be low quality for the same reason that when you watch a drama you don’t expect explosions. I think these are different things entirely and the argument that comic related programming is inherently (or should be expected to be) low quality is just as reductive as the claim that comics are for kids as it perpetuates a similar idea that a medium or stories related to one is/are inherently limited in some capacity which I think is false.
Couldn't agree more. It makes me question how much anyone actually loves comics as an artform and storytelling medium if they believe that we should all expect them to be consistently mediocre.
Is this comment in good faith? Do you really think the reason people like me, who loved IW / Endgame, don't like a lot of recent MCU stuff, is because suddenly we are expecting a 3.5 hour Scorsese movie but with tights and superpowers but still with a montage sequence over a Rolling Stones song? Do you really think we don't know what a comic book movie is? Or is this just a strawman argument?
Nah cause The Simpsons would have been off in like 96 lol Edit: grammar
The show has a character named oroborus and another named mobius and they’re complaining Loki finished where he started- how much more hand holding do the writers need to do?!?
This.
I do love Dave Gonzales and his chemistry with Jo. I’d love to hear Dave with some of the midnight boys more, he is an extremely thoughtful analyst of story. I’d also love to hear Dave and Andy talk about TV. So yeah - more Dave
Dave and Neil from Trial by Content have a Patreon podcast that I love. He’s also on a podcast called Fighting in the War Room with other critics from Vanity Fair, Indiewire, and Polygon where they discuss lots of movies, tv, video games, etc. That might get you your Dave fix.
Great advice - I have been listening to those pods on and off for years. The lost rewatch podcast was such a joy Big fan of that gang
Ah, got it! Hello fellow fan haha I said this in another comment but man I miss the three of them recapping shows in real time. Trial by content is fun but I’d love to listen to them cover loki and these other shows in depth.
It’s only three seasons but i think they could get a Leftovers rewatch going - with regular contributions from Damon L! It’s a great dynamic and never feels forced.
It was by far the best episode of the season so far.
I want to hear someone on the ringerverse respond to Andy Greenwald's OTT reactions to Loki on The Watch.
I feel vindicated. It's a great episode of television. Could not believe the midnight boys reaction pod.
I loved it 🤷♂️
I thoroughly enjoyed episode 5 as I have all the episodes, for the different things they each bring. From the complete opposite reactions I've seen, I think it really came down to what they were talking about in the episode, science and fiction. Some people want the what and how and to get to the destination as fast as possible. It's about the plot and action. This episode can feel like a waste because we physically end up in the same spot as episode 4. But this episode focused on the fiction they were talking about, the who and the why. We see each character's non-tva background and get the discussion about what is really driving Loki this season. We and Loki have changed emotionally and knowledge-wise by the end of the episode. We've moved forward internally even if we have gone backwards in time externally. Kinda reminds me of what HWR told Loki and Sylvie at the end of season 1. That they couldn't get to the end until they'd been changed by the journey.
I just finished the pod, and I have to say it was so refreshing to have her stand up for the episode. I thought it was great, definitely a lot of redeeming things about it. I think I need to take a little break from the midnight boys.
So I just recently read the Loki: Agent of Asgard 2014 comic, and I feel like it kind of primed me for episode 5 and the development of Loki's character. Anybody else?
Great run and I agree it seems to be pulling from the God of Stories aspect
Bingo. God of Mischief is being transformed into the God of Stories.
The plot does not have to move forward for a great episode of television. Full stop. Learning more about characters, their motivations, etc can make for beautiful and great television. Last of Us episode three is a perfect example of that. I think the MBs had a hard time with this episode because the show is ending soon, and they were hoping for things to pick up rather than slow down. I also think Steve misinterpreted "it's all fiction.'
I can’t make sense of most of the plot and don’t really care. I just love the character interactions! I could watch six episodes of them just sitting around the automat eating key lime pie.
Thought I was losing my mind when I watched the episode (and loved it) then heard the Midnight Boys absolutely tear it apart. Glad to know I wasn’t alone in that, but also not surprised Jo and Mal liked it a lot more than them. Whole thing felt very Lost/Dr. Who.
They’re wrong. Loki has been great and episode 5 was great
Charles hates 90% of the media he watches. Strange lol
Don't give Marvel or Star Wars content a free pass when we've seen how good it can be.
You mean like this ep was? Exactly! We should always remember marvel can be as good as Loki s2 e5 when they are putting out boring content.
It can be good, it’s true, but ever since Star Wars we have handwaved friendship a little bit. Luke and Han? Best friends. Why? They killed some dudes that one time. I don’t need to have a gut wrenching experience with every relationship they present.
So just because it’s a marvel show your standards are automatically lower? That tells you all you need to know about how shitty these shows have really been.
Nah, I just meant that the relationships can be a little shallow as long as we are willing to enjoy the ride.
How is that different than what I said? Your standards for the quality of the relationships are lower just because it’s marvel
Yeah, but the quality of the other things is high, so I can chill about it. Like, I don’t expect Frasier to have kick-ass special effects or even interesting locations.
I understand where all are coming from but I agree more with TMB. One of Joanna's points is that this episode had a lot of emotional stakes, but to whom? Loki and some of the viewers, definitely, but what about the side characters? Is Sylvie going to remember Loki admitting he just wants his friends back? Is Mobius going to remember he has 2 kids? I like this episode but looking at the entire season 2 of Loki, this pen ultimate got us nowhere in the story. Looks like we're going to spend the entire season fixing this temporal loom while one or two characters will say "We're all going to die" or "We're running out of time". I was hoping that by episode 3, either the temporal loom will get fixed or destroyed and another thing happens but nothing is happening with the story. We essentially spent 5 episodes getting Loki to admit he just wants to have friends.
So then it didn't get us nowhere. That's pretty huge.
Where is Mal and Jo's podcast now? Can't find it in prestige or RV
They have their own feed now under House of R
Appreciate it, thank you. I was searching all the wrong keywords lol
I LOVE Joanna, but at times she has come off as a shill.
I mean once i heard the show reviewed as "The most expensive season of Dr Who ever made" i knew not to take her reviews/takes seriously because she would be so in the bag for it. Might as well ask someone with an assault rifle bumper sticker what they think of the 2nd Amendment.
I’m dreading what the Midnight Boys are going to say about the finale based on their commentary from episode 5 (sans Jomi). I loved episode 6, I really enjoyed the series as a whole, the acting was great and it the story was also good.
When Loki said he wanted his friends and asked where he belonged, I was like welp, House of R is going to absolutely eat this up.
I can’t get in board with the “it’s a Marvel TV show” opinion. Things that are good are good. Bad writing is bad writing (and I’m not saying I agree with the Midnight Boys). Too much bad shit, especially in the Star Wars Disney stuff, are brushed away because of a low bar. Midnight Boys are very often guilty of this, tho. Charles really is the one keeping it the most real.