Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) has been through a lot in season 2 of Loki, and we’re finally getting to see her just take a moment for herself and not be forced to put on a front of some kind. While her “fronts” in season 2 have been working at a McDonald’s or just showing everyone how much she still doesn’t trust any variant of He Who Remains, Sylvie hasn’t really had a chance to just feel.
Spoilers for Loki season 2 episode 5 lie ahead. Read on at your own risk.
Now, in season 2 episode 5 titled “Science/Fiction,” we get to see Sylvie leave Loki (Tom Hiddleston) behind to go and just take a moment for herself. When she is gives Loki some advice that might be a hard pill for Loki to swallow, Sylvie needs a moment to just breathe. After the world around her feels like it is caving in on her, she goes to a place that gives her solace: The record store.
When she walks in, she’s instantly greeted like an old friend, which makes this scene so much more relatable. After she tells the shop owner, Lyle, about her emotional state, Lyle says that he has a suggestion for her and gives her a song that will either make her feel better or will make things much worse. And when the song begins to play, he’s 100% correct. The song in question is “Oh Sweet Nuthin'” by the Velvet Underground, released in 1970. It’s been featured time and time again in movies and television shows to highlight an emotional moment.
This moment is beautiful and poignant because this song really gets to the heart of Sylvie’s emotional state, everything that’s happening with the TVA, and the state of the world in Loki.
Sylvie is representation for the classic rock girls
As someone who is very much the embodiment of a “dad rock” girl, this moment really spoke to me. I’ve had that same kind of emotional connection and realization that Sylvie is having to “Oh Sweet Nuthin'” by the Velvet Underground before. While she was punk rock in season 1, season 2 has a much different kind of vibe for the rocker chick in us all. She’s calmer in the sense that she doesn’t want to fight back nearly as much. Instead, Sylvie would rather embrace the life she does have and just understand who she is.
It is what makes this “Oh Sweet Nuthin'” moment such a powerful one. I’ve been there, as many classic rock fans have been. When she leans back and just lets whatever emotion is going to take over do so? That’s something special, something that season 1 Sylvie would never have let happen, and it was emotional to see that unfold. It’s truly a beautiful moment in an overall wonderful episode of television, and just something that I won’t forget from the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large. Well, that and hearing the Velvet Underground in the MCU. That was pretty rad.
(featured image: Disney+)
