Spoilers Loki season one discussion thread

[Guy Gardener]

Soaps like The Edge of Night, As the World Turns, and Coronation Street have been going on literally for generations.

One person doesn't write a single episode or a string of single episodes without a lot of cocaine.

What happens (sometimes) with soaps is that a lone writer writes/drafts an arc. One longish story, that the EP then breaks into a number of chunks that are then peppered through the next episodes, or most of the season, depending on what sort of faith the EP has in the storyline.

So it's 5 or 6 writers each responsible for 3 to ten minutes an episode, and then a master mind figures out who goes where and what is working and what is not, as the ratings come in.

 

[Morpheus 02]

The cartoon clock played by Tara Strong explained that the TVA was stopping multiversal war by "limiting" the number of universes, but she was probably lying, even though it makes sense.

One universe is short on resources, so it strip mines a neighbour, who rallies, chases them back to their home universe, and lights it on fire.

Remember the Cromags from Sliders?

I think you opened the door here -- that this show will end WITH the MULTIVERSE being created... So I am thinking that the Dr. Strange movie will use a whole lot of elements from this show, at least in some level ... and perhaps even Spider Man : Home Slice (or whatever the name it is) will mention it as well?

If you think the X-Files was the first TV show ever to use arc based storytelling then you're very much mistaken.
Old American TV shows may have preferred spoon-feeding the audience in tiny little mouthfuls so they won't be confused and miss all the commercials that get edited in every 5 mins, but the rest of the world has been coping with the burden of paying attention to their modern media narratives for more than two episodes a stretch since the day of wireless serials.

I think they may be especially talking about Sci-FI shows... where a Bbaylon 5 type of arc was, well, limited to a few shows like Babylon 5. It is more common now... but maybe some times is unneeded, or too much. Like a return to episodic TV could be good as well...

 

[Reverend]

I think they may be especially talking about Sci-FI shows... where a Bbaylon 5 type of arc was, well, limited to a few shows like Babylon 5. It is more common now... but maybe some times is unneeded, or too much. Like a return to episodic TV could be good as well...

Over here, serialised sci-fi goes back at least as far as The Quatermass Experiment; 40 years before either B5 or X-Files.

Personally, I don't miss the days when I can skip over two whole seasons a-piece of TNG, DS9 or Voyager and only felt like I missed out on 4 or five good episodes per season, tops. The reality was that those shows weren't very good for the majority of their runs. They have a few strong stretches in the middle, but they all took too long to get going and all ran out of steam way before the finish line.
Serialisation comes with it a certain pressure and expectation to maintain a level of quality. Doesn't always work that way, but it works more often than the alternative did.

 

[Nerys Myk]

the day of wireless serials.

America had those too. Movie serials and soaps as well.

 

[Reverend]

America had those too. Movie serials and soaps as well.

Well clearly that can't be true because X-Files invented inter-episode storytelling!

 

[Guy Gardener]

I think you opened the door here -- that this show will end WITH the MULTIVERSE being created... So I am thinking that the Dr. Strange movie will use a whole lot of elements from this show, at least in some level ... and perhaps even Spider Man : Home Slice (or whatever the name it is) will mention it as well?



I think they may be especially talking about Sci-FI shows... where a Bbaylon 5 type of arc was, well, limited to a few shows like Babylon 5. It is more common now... but maybe some times is unneeded, or too much. Like a return to episodic TV could be good as well...

JMS wrote 92 out of 110 episodes.

He also had a 200 page bible laying out a 5 year plan, before he wrote the pilot movie.

JMS is crazy.

Aaron Sorkin had a lot of Cocaine, and he wrote 87 out of 88 episodes during the first four seasons.

Normal people can't do that.

They need time to masturbate.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I remember when Murder One came out and there was great fuss about the idea of a series that would focus on one main storyline (a murder trial), as opposed to weekly stories. The show didn’t really catch on, despite great hype and acclaim. Season 2 saw its atypical leading man, the older, bald Daniel Benzali, replaced with the more telegenic Anthony LaPaglia and they did two different cases over the season, for those of a shorter attention span. But it still didn’t take off and was cancelled.

The next high profile series I remember where you had to catch every single episode or else be lost was 24, which obviously seemed to grasp the imagination more successfully.

 

[Thestral]

There's no reason that "episodic" storytelling can't be just as high quality as the serialized format. "City on the Edge of Forever" and "The Inner Light" and "Duet" weren't great episodes because they were Part 13 out of a 25 episode movie but because they were excellent stories told within the time frame.

On the other hand Discovery (I haven't seen season 3 yet) suffers badly from trying and failing to tell these great epic stories that lead from one episode into the other. And there's a reason I've really felt no drive to go back and watch Game of Thrones after the swan dive into cement that was the final season.

And character growth over many episode doesn't have to only come in stories that are plot-linked from one to another. See Flashpoint (the TV series, not the way-too-copied Flash story). Serialization can be great and done really well but there's nothing wrong with high-quality episodic stuff that shows growth in characters over time.


ETA: Oh right, Loki. This last one, especially the conversations between Loki and Sylvie on the train, were the most I've been engaged with the show so far. These quiet scenes were quite good.

 

[The Wormhole]

And character growth over many episode doesn't have to only come in stories that are plot-linked from one to another. See Flashpoint (the TV series, not the way-too-copied Flash story). Serialization can be great and done really well but there's nothing wrong with high-quality episodic stuff that shows growth in characters over time.

Which is why I always enjoyed the approach the Stargate shows took (or at least SG-1 and Atlantis) of having a mixture of continuing arcs and episodic stories.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

Just to keep this in perspective, Loki is only 6 episodes. I wouldn't bother with it if it were six unconnected episodes, no matter how good. There's a place for both styles.

 

[dupersuper]

TNG, DS9 ... The reality was that those shows weren't very good for the majority of their runs.

Ah, I see the source of my confusion. We're from different realities.

Just to keep this in perspective, Loki is only 6 episodes. I wouldn't bother with it if it were six unconnected episodes, no matter how good.

How odd. Would you watch a six episode twilight Zone marathon you happened upon flipping channels?

 

[Tuskin38]

How odd. Would you watch a six episode twilight Zone marathon you happened upon flipping channels?

Twilight Zone isn't following the same character between every episode though.

 

[Richard Baker]

Kirk?

 

[theenglish]

Which is why I always enjoyed the approach the Stargate shows took (or at least SG-1 and Atlantis) of having a mixture of continuing arcs and episodic stories.

Or shows like Buffy and Angel. For what its worth, DS9 became more serialized as time went on.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I wasn’t expecting

Spoiler

Sif!

There’s also an after credits scene this week.

 

[1987SpaceGuy]

fun episode 4.
Loki had some neat character development moments in this episode.

Spoiler

"the boss" fight with the time lords and TVAs was over way to quick. Wonder if it wasn't a ruse and the real one still lies ahead.
Wonder where "our" Loki ended up in the post credit scene: Lokiland/Lokiworld with other variants of himself?
Does everyone who gets "terminated" end up in such a place of their own?
Did we see the last of Mobius?
I'm baffled too about the croc/gator Loki, must be a comic joke/tie in I guess

 

[KennyB]

Great episode. That after credits scene was amazing.

 

[Tuskin38]

Spoiler

Huh so I’m guessing timelines/people aren’t erased but just shunted off into their own dimension.

Also an article on having the Loki’s fall in love
https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love

 

[Guy Gardener]

Spoiler

Huh so I’m guessing timelines/people aren’t erased but just shunted off into their own dimension.

Also an article on having the Loki’s fall in love
https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love

Nah.

Spoiler

Loki was rescued?

 

[StCoop]

So is this the first instance of a 616 character appearing in the MCU?