Loki Introduces Us to Another Tale of the Dangers of AI
Midway through the second season of Loki, we find the storyline embarking on an almost cliché of science fiction: fearing AI.
In the unfolding drama of Loki, the decayed body of He Who Remains, the ultimate villain unveiled in Season 1, still haunts the chair where Sylvie’s final blow met its mark. Yet, against all odds, the Master of Time resurfaces in an alternative timeline. It seems his words, “Reincarnation, baby,” ring true. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, as we know from the previous episode that his temporal aura can help save the TVA.
Image © 2021 MARVEL.
Spoilers ahead, for those not up to speed with the most recent episode.
Time-Traveling to 1893
We’re on Loki’s third episode of the second season, an episode dubbed “1893.” The action centers entirely around Victor Timely, a 19th-century genius inventor. Thanks to Ravonna Renslayer, Miss Minutes, and, allegedly, the master plan of He Who Remains himself, Timely gets his hands on a copy of the TVA operations manual.
New characters join the fray, challenging the narrative to maintain and expand on character depth. Case in point: Sylvie, once a force to reckon with, now feels sidelined. She’s turned into a totally unsympathetic, one-track-minded automaton, it seems. Meanwhile, O.B. is granted but a fleeting moment to address the TVA’s tech glitches. About all he serves to do is set Mobius and Loki on the way to their next task. They need to try to find something called a Throughput Multiplier to manage the overflow of timelines.
Image © 2023 MARVEL.
Drama unfolds when Loki and Mobius pinpoint Ravonna’s TemPad to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. This alternate timeline was born when a younger Victor Timely was shown a hint of his destiny.
What initially seemed like a quest to find Miss Minutes and save the TVA quickly transforms into a wild chase. Timely becomes a prized pawn as Loki, Mobius, Ravonna, Miss Minutes, a duped businessman, and Sylvie all have their motives to reach him first.
Racing Against Time to Catch Timely
Chaos ensues as Ravonna and Miss Minutes manage to extract Timely amidst distractions from the chaotic World’s Fair. Once alone, the connection between Ravonna, Miss Minutes, and Timely, who’s destined to be He Who Remains, takes an interesting twist.
The trio’s eventual departure to Timely’s Wisconsin lab (a tip of the hat to the comics) turns into an eventful trip for just two. A business-minded Ravonna finds herself dunked in Lake Michigan when she makes the mistake of referring to a partnership with self-avowed loner Timely.
Image © 2023 MARVEL.
Timely’s lab becomes the final battleground. Events quickly spiral into a surprising move by Miss Minutes, an insistence on her right to authority by Ravonna, and an urgent appeal from Loki and Mobius. In the midst of all of this, Sylvie, magic in tow, shatters Ravonna’s climactic monologue.
In the climax, Sylvie is faced with a haunting choice: eliminate Timely, preventing him from ever becoming He Who Remains, or trust in a reformed TVA under Loki and Mobius.
Sylvie hesitates, allowing Timely’s plea to highlight the very essence of free will the Loki variant champions. “You don’t know me. I can make my own choices,” he asserts.
In the end, Sylvie lets Timely accompany Loki and Mobius, armed with the treasured Throughput Multiplier that Timely had conveniently already constructed a prototype of. Left alone with Ravonna, Sylvie exacts revenge for a childhood wrong, sending her spiraling through a Time Door to join the corpse of He Who Remains at the End of Time.
Victor Timely and He Who Remains: the Same, but Different
Timely has a very unique quirk — his speech. It’s unpredictable and paced differently, enunciating words in the oddest places. At times, he seems to even stutter. This trait can be traced back to He Who Remains from season one. Even after eons at the End of Time, traces of Timely linger in him.
They are distinct, something Timely tries to capitalize on when he insists he can make his own choices. Nevertheless, there’s a shared essence between Timely and He Who Remains. Both are geniuses, and Timely’s desire for control and dominance is very much reminiscent of He Who Remains.
Just listen to him after discussing the Temporal Loom: “I don’t do partners.” His cautious side emerges even more when Ravonna and Miss Minutes aim for TVA leadership. He’s attracted to Ravonna, reminiscent of the comics’ connection between Kang the Conqueror (Timely’s variant) and the TVA agent. Yet, fearing what could come from a partnership, Timely quickly cuts ties. Quite literally, as he cuts through the lines securing the lifeboat they’d been lounging in.
The big question: Is Timely destined to morph into He Who Remains? This could shape future episodes. Sylvie, empathizing with being deprived of choices, spared Timely. She, once denied a life in Asgard for simply being a Loki, gifted Timely the opportunity she never had. With Timely’s Temporal Aura and Throughput Multiplier, he’s invaluable to O.B.’s efforts to mend the Loom. But the man Timely evolves into? That could change everything.
Revisiting Miss Minutes
What strikes me the most about “1893,” though, is the rising specter of fear surrounding Miss Minutes. Introduced in the first season as the TVA’s mascot, there’s much more to this anthropomorphic clock than meets the eye.
Miss Minutes, we learn, was one of He Who Remains earliest creations. She is, in fact, a rogue artificial intelligence carrying out plans the villain made in the event of his demise. Of course, there’s more to it than that.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
Miss Minutes unveils herself to Timely, dropping the black-and-white disguise she wore to blend into the period. There’s a distinct flirtatious vibe. “Is there a sketch of me in that journal of yours?” she teases Timely. It all reveals a deeper connection between the two, or Miss Minutes’ desire for one.
She shares how He Who Remains granted her freedom — to craft her own programming and desires. Yet, for all their time together, he never truly met her most profound wish. “If I had a body, we could truly lead together,” she confides in Timely.
Timely hesitates, “Yes, that’s…that’s something I don’t know how to do.”
“You never even tried,” she retorts. “With all your power, with all your abilities, you just kept me as your thing. Your computer. Your toy. Instead of what I could have been … your girl.”
A Return to the Age-Old Fear of AI
For as long as I can remember, science fiction has expressed fear of what AI could eventually become. Whether it’s HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey, Skynet of the Terminator franchise, or The Matrix itself, AI eventually desires to be more than a tool to help humanity.
Such it is with Miss Minutes. This unexpected revelation of Miss Minutes’ unspoken affection for He Who Remains is a delightful twist. Her response upon learning that Timely doesn’t reciprocate those feelings isn’t a bit surprising.
I do find it interesting that the story writers are out of sync with some of the marketing folks within Disney. A promotional poster for the series quickly became the talk of the design world. Illustrator Katria Raden pointed out on X (previously known as Twitter) that the spiraling clock graphic in the backdrop might be the handiwork of generative AI.
She noted specific elements in the design “randomly turning into meaningless squiggles”, hinting at the occasional quirks left behind by AI-driven image tools. The buzz among designers? Whether artificial intelligence had a hand in creating this controversial visual.
Then we see the turn of the storyline bringing up concerns over AI evolving into more than humanity can handle. Ultimately, the episode ends on a suspenseful note. A smitten Miss Minutes teases Ravonna, and indirectly us, “Well, it was foolish of him to make an enemy out of someone who knows all of his secrets. I know a really big one about you. I can tell you, but … it’s going to make you real angry.”
Not only worries about AI there but also an homage to the old saying that hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned, no?
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of the most recent turn of events? Head on over to our forums. We can talk in more detail about the episode and the progression of the storyline.
Loki streams Thursdays on Disney+.
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
