Journey Into Mystery was thought provoking and the most fun with these kinds of shows seems to come from seeing how close one can get with predictions of what happens next. Host Steve Loscalzo has been theorizing for weeks about what it all means, but sums up his guess at the end of today's episode.

Time travel is a tricky business for writers. There is a lot you have to get your audience to go along with because truly explaining it is impossible. What you then have to do is set up leaps of faith and hope people get the "timing" of your jumps right. Too easy and it isn't fun to follow. Too hard and too many people give up before the end. Kudos to Marvel Studios for picking people who, through five episodes at least, have come up with the right balance.

We see get visual and dialogue call backs to past episodes and other Marvel properties. If you dig deep enough, you find lessons on faith, love, trust, and hope. There's just one episode left to find out what we can about the TVA, multiverses, and the master of time as we now know it.

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Episode 4 was better than Episode 3, but the details on how all this time manipulation are affecting things in the universe have been scarce. Sure we know somewhere out there the Avengers eventually get the job done, but at some point Scott Lang goes drifting through the quantum realm and Thanos successfully snaps half of existence into...oblivion? We're not sure when, where, or how we happen to be and the what and why of the TVA seem to be thin threads, but at least we like the who of this show...and they're no Doctors...the strange or Gallifreyan kinds.

We resolve Lamentis, but still don't know why little Sylvie ran afoul of the time cops or how she really managed to avoid recapture when she escaped. Ravonna Renslayer looks like a villain right now and Loki sure does love himself, doesn't he? Heck, his love of self might just crack open chaos. Episode five is next and it looks like we'll meet even more Loki variants. We doubt he'll like them more than Sylvie.

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Halfway through the season and we get a Loki/Sylvie team up episode. It wasn't our favorite.

Yeah, sure, we called a major plot point, but we get the feeling a lot of other people already did. We did get quite a few reusable soundbites from this episode and a couple major plot points and a few things that might get a call back later in the series, but this was a short, not terribly sweet installment of what may end up becoming required watching in order to understand the future of the MCU.

Or not. Which would mean that everything happening in this show ends up being unimportant and having no impact on Phase Four. We'll remain optimistic, which is more than we can say for Sylvie and Loki at the end of this one, right?

Episode four is next, putting us in the second half of the arc. There's still time to make your voice heard...well, hear your words read on the podcast, I guess. You can send feedback via email at [email protected] or interact on Twitter @TheWayPhaseFour and Facebook at facebook.com/TheWayPhaseFour and, please, do!

When you plan on telling a story in only six episodes, you don't really have time for fluff. Sure you can reuse the set for multiple scenes and ask your actors to do the heavy lifting of expository, but if that doesn't work...well, Netflix can probably tell you about a few of those.

No, this is Disney Plus--Marvel Studios, actually--so you get your Bonnie Tyler song in the fight sequence, sure, but you also get three men and two different women each playing their own version of an "Enchantress" in the back of a Roxxmart SuperCenter.

We thought we couldn't wait to see episode two, but The Variant was that mix of answering lingering questions from the previous episode and presenting us with new information to speculate that we've grown to love.  

Loki's time has come...or has time has come for Loki? Six episodes of the newest Marvel Studios show on Disney Plus have begun streaming on Wednesdays. From mid-June to July 2021 we'll check to see how Loki and the Time Variance Authority are getting along. The god of mischief brought his glorious purpose to the first episode and we have a good idea about what to expect. We hear about the Time Keepers, the sacred timeline, Loki and his crime time...crime against time? time crime? Whatever, listen to Miss Minutes explain it all if you need to. Just don't forget to take a ticket.

Things are set up nicely and we can't wait for episode two. Loki may be the most important Marvel Studios show yet for no other reason than it's going to set up what we know about time and the multiverses that Doctor Strange and Ant-man and the Wasp and, well, everyone else are up against. We resisted the urge to dissect the episode scene-by-scene and word-for-word. There are so many directions the show can go, it feels like a Wonkavator.

Wanda and Vision split up, The Falcon became Captain America, and now the god of mischief gets his turn on the Disney Plus streaming service. Loki debuts June 9th, 2021 and This is the Way Phase Four's Steve Loscalzo talks briefly about what he expects to see.

You can be both critical of a thing and enjoy it. You can find faults and still find the good. Disney's first (and only?) season of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier comes to a close with episode six and Disney was quite alright preaching to the viewers, even if they were part of the choir. When that social commentary makes sense "in-universe" the show does double-duty in entertaining and setting examples. Where the plot support is weak or lacking outright, the flaws glare and Disney doubles down.

Our podcast will continue with more news, reviews, and more after a brief break. Let us know what you'd like to see before we pick back up with Loki coverage and other content that continues the Marvel Studios Multiverse. Send feedback via email ([email protected]) or interact on Twitter (@TheWayPhaseFour) or Facebook (facebook.com/TheWayPhaseFour). This is the Way we do Phase Four!

I thought heroes ran toward problems, not away from them?

We will continue to quickly recap episodes here and discuss what we think is happening in the show and how it will fit into the Marvel Studios Multiverse. Send feedback via email ([email protected]) or interact on Twitter (@TheWayPhaseFour) or Facebook (facebook.com/TheWayPhaseFour). This is the Way we do Phase Four!

If the world wasn't watching, they're probably talking now about what happened in season 1, episode 4 of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Karli Morgenthau took her villainous turn last week and now we have John Walker sullying the stars and stripes with blood. Steve Rogers showed mercy. Walker shows none. Zemo smashes vials. Hoskins might be done.

Ayo showed her softer side to Bucky six years back, but now she's all business and beats up...everyone. Do not mess with the Dora Milaje. Sam is hoping no one messes with his family. Zemo didn't want to so he made like a mutant ninja turtle of the teenage variety and took to the sewers. This was after he gave Steve Rogers a compliment, bribed kids with candy and nursery rhymes, and got to smash 11 vials of super serum before getting knocked out cold by a disc of vibranium. Poor Sharon is still waiting for that pardon in Madripoor.

We will continue to quickly recap episodes here and discuss what we think is happening in the show and how it will fit into the Marvel Studios Multiverse. Send feedback via email ([email protected]) or interact on Twitter (@TheWayPhaseFour) or Facebook (facebook.com/TheWayPhaseFour). This is the Way we do Phase Four!

The Power Broker makes an appearance...well, no, he doesn't. It's still the title of the first episode in April. John Walker continues to disappoint us (the viewers) and falls behind in the search for a big splashy win. Karli Morgenthau visits her "Mama" and the three musketeers (Falcon, Winter Soldier, and Zemo) visit the 'poor (Madripoor, that is).

The season (and probably series) is halfway done and there are still a few questions, but less and less time to make the reveals. We get a Wakandan connection at the very end, but how many loose ends are going to stay loose if we keep introducing new threads?

We will continue to quickly recap episodes here and discuss what we think is happening in the show and how it will fit into the Marvel Studios Multiverse. Send feedback via email ([email protected]) or interact on Twitter (@TheWayPhaseFour) or Facebook (facebook.com/TheWayPhaseFour). This is the Way we do Phase Four!