I've finally finished it! It turned out to be a terrible longread, but I hope it was worth it. Sorry for possible mistakes: English is not my native language. And don't forget that everything below is just my personal opinion and nothing more.
The status: "it's complicated", or a word in defense of Sylvie
So, the season 2 of the Marvel Studios sensational and popular series "Loki" has died down. It’s powerful finale probably didn’t leave anyone indifferent, even those people who aren’t an ardent Marvel fan. That's just, alas, not all viewers were satisfied with it, and it frankly disappointed representatives of a separate category of fans.
Yes, now I'm talking about sylki shipers who expected a beautiful happy ending in old Disney classic style with a kiss / wedding / going to the sunset, holding hands (underline needed) in the season finale but in the end got something completely different. Even, I might say, the something exact opposite.
And now we have as a result a disappointed "howl in the swamps" from the aforementioned shipers in almost all major social networks. Not from all of them surely (I personally know quite a few of them who were quite satisfied after the season finale although they remained some emotionally traumatized as well). However, the "howl" is nevertheless massive enough to draw my attention to it and to make me interested in it as a social phenomenon.
So I naturally wonder: what’s the reason for such diametrically opposite reactions of the same category of viewers? After all, in theory, both satisfied and dissatisfied viewers watched the same series with the same events, characters, actions and dialogues.
The answer, if you just think about it, is pretty obvious: it's about perception. Actually it’s about the emotional, mental and cultural "baggage" with which each of us, the audience, approaches the viewing. And also it’s certainly about the life experience that is absolutely unique for every person, completely different from one another and therefore often going against what the creators are trying to show us on the screen.
A simple familiar example: a person whose relationship with his/her "other half" has always been quite neat and smooth, without any significant difficulties and shocks will never understand a couple that literally has difficulties all the time, that comes together and breaks up for hundred times, that has two people who being ardently and sincerely in love stil can’t agree or even just understand each other. That classical proverbial "Full will never understand the hungry".
Returning to our sheep (very secretive, stubborn and impossibly similar sheep, I must say), the relationship between Loki and Sylvie in the series is a psychologically complicated as hell and unimaginably confusing thing which is directly influenced by both their early life psychotrauma and the impending Multiverse catastrophe.
Unfortunately not all the viewers are able or want to dig a little deeper than what lies on the surface and perceive the events of the series (in general) and season 2 (in particular) the way its creators intended.
Most of all claims are made by both "ordinary" fans and sylki-shipers against Sylvie and how she is shown in season 2. The most common of them are:
* she dared to live a calm and quiet life in the devil-knows-where-place instead of realizing her guilt and rushing headlong to search for Loki;
* she met Loki coldly and behaved the whole season like absolutely nothing had happened between them in the previous one;
* she doesn't seem to regret or suffer at all;
* she doesn’t look broken, lost or unhappy (and then they often put Mobius as an antipode example).
Maybe it's not the whole list of claims, but, again, I've shown here only the most common ones.
And do you know what's the saddest and yet the funniest thing? If we look at the purely series "picture", without any trying to look deeper, read the context, understand the psychological background of the words and actions of the characters, then all the above-mentioned claims even seem quite justified.
But let's not pick the easy way. Let's try to understand Sylvie's nature and motives to figure out what's really happening between Loki and Sylvie in season 2 and why the creators and actors of the series are so strongly bending the line of Loki and Sylvie’s "deep emotions for each other".
Let's go!
"Difficult childhood, paper toys"
I'm certainly sneering now a little, but let's take a moment away from Loki's heroic sacrifice in the season finale and the universal crying for him and go back to the past, to the distant past of Sylvie and Loki, to their very childhood.
What do we know about Loki? Firstly, his childhood was quite happy and relatively calm (the constant "background" envy of his brother and from-time-to-time-confrontation with him don't count though we all remember his turning into a snake and back and stabbing Thor with a dagger, isn't it?) He had a father, a mother, a brother... a family. In general, he had a normal childhood.
And what had Sylvie at the same time? N-o-t-h-i-n-g! Her world was cut. Her loved ones died when she was just a child about 11-23 years old by Midgard standards.
And now imagine that strange people in military uniforms come to a kind and sweet girl who dreams of becoming a hero (which is perfectly shown in the series from her games), roughly drag her out of her usual life to no one knows where and finaly destroy her entire world. Can you imagine how stressful it is even for an adult, not to mention a child?
And what about her future life? It's a natural hell! A nightmare lasting ror centuries, where you have no rest at any point in time / space, where you are constantly being chased, where you are forced to jump through the apocalypses just to hide and survive. And by the way you can easily die not even from hunters hands but banally from the consequences of on those apocalypses...
Has all of this left a giant imprint on Sylvie's personality? Absolutely yes! Something like that would have put that imprint on any of us.
In general, Sylvie should have a monument erected for the very fact that living in this nightmare she managed not to go insane and even (more or less) saved her humanity.
But during those dreadful centuries she had completely forgotten how to trust somebody… or she had even consciously cultivated her distrust to everyone in the world. And given her constant running and life in the apocalypses where people often show their worst qualities in the face of death, this distrust is more than justified.
So let's keep in mind her first psychological feature – Sylvie has had great trust problems for many centuries.
About emotional maturity and some parallels
And then Loki bursts into her "gray days", almost literally turning everything upside down.
Sylvie experiences a real affection, maybe for the first time in her bitter life. For the first time and more than ever she is acutely aware of her loneliness and she wonders: is it really necessary to be alone? Perhaps one person, a special one, can be trusted?
She lived in the apocalypses. She has never had and couldn’t have had a long-term relationships. Therefore she simply doesn’t know how to build them or, moreover, adequately maintain them.
In this regard, Loki is much more emotionally mature than her. Not even at times, but dozens of times. She is insanely afraid of relationships, trust, because trust is also about opening up to a person. And "opening up" for her is equivalent to "becoming vulnerable" that she had never been able to afford herself since her childhood.
And here I personally see a clear parallel with Sherlock and Molly from my favorite BBC show (which, by the way, also made a big noise 5 years ago). Sylvie is Sherlock: emotionally traumatized in childhood, denying feelings, considering them to be "weakness" and in many ways emotionally immature person. And Loki is Molly, who entirely understands and accepts her feelings, who doesn't run away from them and can live with them.
So let's also keep in mind her second psychological feature – due to her troubled past Sylvie isn’t yet emotionally mature enough. She still has to go this way and hopefully we’ll even see it in the future.
"Just turn around now. You're not welcome anymore"
After all at some moment Sylvie decided to trust Loki. But then (almost right after that) there comes their great confrontation in the Citadel. Loki's opinion is so diametrically opposed to her own that it amounts to the very certain betrayal in her emotionally immature perception.
Really! While half of the fandom is damning her for "betraying Loki," it seems like only a few people think about the fact that he betrayed her as well.
The whole tragedy of the situation is that both of them are right, and they are equally right, but each of them is right in their own way. Both Loki's words "But what's good in free will if everyone's dead?" and Sylvie's words "You'll just replace one nightmare with another" are the pure truth.
And since both of them are right, then there're two ways to assess the consequences of their duel from the outside: none of them betrayed each other or they both betrayed each other.
However, judging by their further behavior they both prefer considering the situation as a betrayal, and each of them judges who really betrayed the other speaking from their own tower. Anyway being more emotionally mature, Loki has understood and forgiven Sylvie almost immediately. But Sylvie hasn’t. And analyzing the things shown in 2x2, all these months she weren't even trying to understand his motives and forget her offense, but she also were rubbing salt in her wounds in every possible way.
By the way Kevin Wright (EP of the series) also confirms this:
"Everything that happens in the season, I think, is still a ripple effect from Sylvie feeling deeply wounded and saing like "why aren’t we seeing this the same way?"
So there's a clear Sylvie's resentment at Loki's behavior in the Citadel and disappointment at the total discrepancy between their viewpoints.
As for the feelings for him... that feelings haven't got away. They became just even more acute and painful 'cause of her resentment (and btw that's also perfectly shown in the series). And that’s why he’s really not welcome to her in 2x2.
"I've been chasing you for three days just to tell you how much I don't care!"*
There's quite a funny thing that begins right from the moment of our complicated couple reunion.
Almost right after meeting Loki Sylvie, who lived a quiet life, worked at the MD and didn't even think about hunting numerous Kang's variants, begins to literally follow him on the heels, appearing from time to time right where he appears.
What's the reason? Imao, it's quite obvious. More precisely, there are two of.
The reason 1: she has to make sure that her beloved idiot is OK.
Despite the fact that during the months of her "quiet life" Sylvie had been trying to convince herself in every possible way that this relationship was over, that after the Citadel a "rollback" to their former connection was no longer possible, she still didn't forget Loki. And the fact that his new reappearance in her life only opened up old wounds and destroyed all the walls she had so carefully erected, is very clearly read in her behavior at this meeting.
As a smart girl (for a stupid one just wouldn't survive in her conditions), she immediately realizes that, holly shit, she's still loving him so hard! – this, again, is perfectly shown on her face at the moment of their first meeting, when she hadn't yet had time to gather herself, to fence off resentment and to put on a "sharp mask". But, as a girl who's not only smart, but also too proud and mortally offended, she wants his apology for what happened in the Citadel. That resentment is read in all her behaviour, almost in every phrase when communicating with Loki in 2x2.
Well, what happens next only outlines that desire more clearly.
First, she goes after Loki and Mobius to fight those hunters going to cut timelines. Then she follows them through the time-door to TVA (although she could just return to her time-branch and get it all out of her mind).
Yes, according to Sophia Di Martino, at first she does all of that only to "make sure that her new friends and new home weren’t damaged and didn’t disappear". But the motives for her further constant being next to Loki can be tied to this explanation with a very big stretch.
Even at the first time, she leaves only after she's finally convinced of Loki's desire to protect the "totally rotten TVA", after her new surge of anger and splashing it out on Loki (who at that moment isn't up to her resentments at all).
Is she being somewhat selfish? Surely. But, as a deeply offended and emotionally immature person, she simply can't do otherwise. She doesn' know how. This is by no means an excuse! This is a statement of fact.
So Sylvie leaves practically "slamming" the time-door. And really why would she come back if her timeline with her new home and friends are safe and sound? She could just live her quiet life and be happy. But paradoxically she does exactly the opposite! She comes back anyway, over and over again (!), first using the hunt for the Kang variant as a kind of reason, and then – just like that, without any clear reasons at all. The reason offered by Loki firstly doesn't hold any water (well, OK, she couldn't kill Timely – so what?) and secondly isn't confirmed by Sylvie herself loud and clear (she just admits that yes, she couldn't kill Timely, and explains why she couldn't do that but not why she came back).
No, the reason is clearly not in Victor Timely but in the underlying caring for Loki, which is confirmed by Sophia's words btw:
"She doesn’t care about the TVA. I think she does care about Mobius and about Loki".
Now reason 2: a direct consequence of her continued resentment.
Sylvie literally craves Loki's apology for the Citadel events. In 3x3, she flung her demands almost right at his face.
And that’s where the main problem of this couple lies (a very typical problem for a relationship in general btw): she's waiting for an apology, while he's completely misunderstanding: a) the importance of it to her and b) for what, in fact, he has to apologize if they are both right?
But it's really vital for Sylvie to get his apology in order to close this protracted gestalt, to forgive Loki and to forget her offense. And he completely ignores this moment over and over again… which is also very typical for a man involved in an important case btw.
Maybe if Loki had instantly understood what she needed they could be able to avoid a lot of mistakes and we, the fans, would get a completely different, much warmer and more romantic story. But... Now we have what we have. Moreover, this storyline is more than psychologically true.
And there can be the one clear conclusion from all said above: Sylvie feels anything but indifference towards Loki.
PTSD as it is
And here’s another point directly related to Sylvie's childhood. I’ve already spoke about it a little above, but now let’s look at it in more detail.
Have you noticed how painfully Sylvie still reacts to the death of timelines – especially when it’s caused by TVA?
It would seem that she and Loki are in the same conditions in the season 2: both have their homeworld cut, both, in fact, have nowhere to return. But unlike Sylvie, Loki accepted it, got over it and now is ready to move on without destructive anger.
Does he care about the demise of timelines? Surelly! Do gloomy thoughts and emotions prevent him from thinking clear? NO!
Why? Because, unlike Sylvie, he got over his trauma, he worked it out, but she was completely stuck in her PTSD, which her massive crisis of trust made only stronger.
Sylvie from the beginning of season 2 is Loki from the first "Thor": a deeply emotionally traumatized person who needs a lot more rethinking before he can work through this trauma.
She still fears and hates TVA and doesn’t trust any of its people. And when Loki suggests her to protect TVA, she naturally takes it almost as a personal insult.
And this is absolutely real, authentic and normal!
Just walk for a minute in her shoes. Imagine how you would react if you were asked to defend what you fear and hate? So, well?.. That’s better!
Time DOES matter
Also, let’s not forget about one more important detail. Since Loki and Sylvie were separated after the Citadel events, there has been a great time de-synchronization between them. I think only a few days (if not hours) passed for Loki between the events of 1x6 and 2x2. And Sylvie lived in her chosen timeline for 8 (!!!) months.
During that time she managed to organize a simple as 5 cents, but still a quiet life. A life without the eternal chasing. A life without destruction and death around. A life where she could have a very limited maybe though still a constant circle of communication.
Did she miss Loki after the Citadel events? Of course! Why? Just watch carefully the final 2x2 scene and most importantly – listen to the song playing in the background (Janis Joplin – Kozmic Blues). And all the doubts will disappear immediately.
And one another thing. Judging by the fact that she’s a frequent customer of the record store who chooses (by herself or with the help of a seller) music records of a certain genre and style, her longing for Loki didn’t appear right after a new meeting with him but long before that. Probably right after the Citadel.
Yes, she was offended, angry, convinced herself that she didn't want to see him anymore, but... she missed him anyway. And the time passed, gradually creating a habit.
In those 8 months Sylvie managed to get attached to her calm and simple life and began to appreciate it. And when Loki reappears on the horizon again, one of the many reasons for her unwarm welcome is just the desire to protect her cozy little world, not to let her quiet, peaceful life be taken away.
If Loki had coming a little earlier, before her habit forming, perhaps their meeting would be very different.
"I wanna be your number one"
And now we’re coming to almost the most important thing about their relationships in season 2 – to the thing that I personally suspected from the very beginning of their meeting after the Citadel events, but that was actually confirmed only in 2x5.
It turns out that all these long 8 months of her quiet life Sylvie had been sincerely believing that she was only on the second place on Loki's personal priorities list(!) and on the first place he had the TVA. And this is another reason why she gets angry, snaps, draws an invisible line between them by her whole appearance and behavior right from the very beginning of their reunion in 2x2.
She wants only two things from Loki – an apology for the Citadel fight and a confession that he came here for her. Just for her alone. But in the end, she gets something completely different – we might even say the diametrically opposite. And this only stings her pride more, only inflames her resentment more, generates even greater distrust... that causes many subsequent events in the future.
What's interesting is that Loki tells her the truth every time. (Quite a paradox for the God of Mischief, isn't it?) But at this very moment of her life, Sylvie doesn't need this kind of truth. She needs something completely different, which she doesn't get over and over again. And finally being tired of waiting she even hints about it quite openly in 2x3 and 2x4.
That's why their evening meeting at McDonald's in 2x5 is so significant. And btw that meeting is – a drum roll! – an alternative version of their reunion after the Citadel events, according to Sophia.
First and important: unlike the 2x2 reunion, this one is much more peaceful. Sylvie perceives Loki's appearance much more friendly. She practically doesn’t get angry, doesn’t "show her claws", but listens patiently and even takes him for a drink.
What’s the reason of such a dramatic change in behavior? I think that’s because of Loki’s coming on time and alone. Therefore there was a chance for them to explain the things for each other properly.
This time, Sylvie’s not at work and she has some free hours. This time there’re no others next to Loki (some annoying others like that guy in the TVA prison uniform, and we remember: everything about the TVA still angers and scares Sylvie). This time they can talk in private without attracting unnecessary curious glances.
And they really talk, at first quite calmly and peacefully, but then again (!) the conversation turns completely away from where Sylvie expects.
The whole bar dialogue from her side is built in such a way as to find out clearly and ultimately: what Loki is fighting for. Rather, in her interpretation, the question sounds like this: Who is at the top of his personal chart?
And if Loki had said at that moment that first of all he wanted to save the world for her – that would be enough! The ice between them would have cracked completely and absolutely. If he had admitted directly and openly that Sylvie was, is and always will be the first for him, then lots of things would have turned out very differently.
However, though Loki is speaking honestly at that moment, but he's telling not what she wants to hear at all. She asks him what does he want and in his response he puts not her, but his friends – i.e. TVA – on the first place again. In such a case there’s no even matter that Sylvie is still hates the TVA. She wants to be his number one. This is of huge importance to her.
Well, we remember: Sylvie is only at the very beginning of her emotional maturity journey. And since she’s also a Loki, she has typical movie-Loki flaws which are some kind of selfishness and morbid vanity.
Sylvie doesn't want to be the second fiddle. She wants to be the first or the nobody for him.
Here, by the way, Sophia’s quote about the bar scene:
"Well, I think because she had to meet up with Loki and tell him to go and find himself and figure out his purpose, that whole bar scene is about her trying to help him figure out what he wants. And I think it’s just big seeing someone again – that brings up so many emotions, doesn’t it? – after such a long time. So she’s probably had a s**t day because of that".
Indeed, when you’re forced to meet your ex, it often causes a lot of emotions. But in most cases they’re anger, sadness and regret. Does Sylvie express anger during the bar talking to Loki? Absolutely not. Does she express sadness and regret? Oh, yes!
Why? Because despite everything she's convinced herself of, Sylvie still loves Loki and has hope for them. But again she was forced to say and hear something completely different from what she wanted. If she had really enchanted him and looked into his heart in 2x2, she would have seen the truth at once. But she just doesn't want it in 2x2, and he no longer offers it to her in 2x5.
As a result, she remains in the dark. And that’s why, at the end of their difficult bar conversation, Sylvie, being deeply offended and disappointed (once again!), with the eyes full of tears, tells Loki that they need "to write their own (i.e. separate from each other) stories" and then she leaves... to that record store where she completely drowns in melancholy.
Here I should put another Sophia’s quote about Sylvie's feelings at that moment:
"...it’s that feeling when you listen to a beautiful song and you just cry, but it sort of feels nice".
Now think about how often do you cry when listening to even a very beautiful, lyrical and soul-touching son? And in general, will you cry when you’re in a glad, joyful and/or peaceful state?
I think a lot of people will agree that a song or music makes us cry only when it’s in tune with our current mood, when it touches certain painful strings of our soul, when it reminds us of something from our bitter experience.
Yeah, there are, of course, deeply sentimental people who can be touched by any little thing. But Sylvie is definitely not one of them. Otherwise, she would have behaved and talked to Loki in a completely different way.
And here we come back to the issue of Sylvie's indifference. Think about it: if she really didn't care about Loki, would she "heal her mental wounds" this way? And would they even be – these wounds?
But nothing ever real
Actually Loki and Sylvie have two main problems in the season 2: 1st) an acute lack of time and 2nd) a total misunderstanding of each other. And the main reason for their misunderstanding is the lack of experience of real relationships for both.
Yes, as we know from their train conversation in 1x3, they both had some love affairs before. But the true feeling of love and care came over them only for each other. With all the consequences.
At the time of season 2, they’re both still learning how to build relationships and work on them. And if they had more time, they would certainly have learnt this.
But unfortunately a cruel fate in the face of the show creators decided otherwise.
Breaking the ice
So Sylvie comes to season 2 with all these inner mess. And it’s manifested by sharpness, coldness, anger.
However being next to Loki, she seems to slowly thaw and becomes softer. And at the moment of their final "farewell", where Loki reviels her the price they have to pay to save the Multiverse, she’s no longer angry, she’s not trying to stop him. Instead she demonstrates full acceptance of the situation and the pain that Loki got such a hard lot.
We can see the tears in her eyes. Her pride, resentment, stubbornness – that all disappears before the coming catastrophe. She finally realizes it’s inevitability and (please, mind it now!) she doesn’t even try to stop or dissuade Loki in any way. She only says that she’ll not bless him to kill her.
Once again: she’s not resisting at that moment! Sylvie – is – not – resisting! Not at all! Surely, deep inside she knows, she feels that Loki won't do it, he’ll be able to find another way. Btw, Sophia also talks about it in the interview I shared a link above, about their hidden unspoken rule – not to kill each other.
However, the very fact that Loki was faced with such a choice causes Sylvie great pain.
"I need to get out there!"
And then comes the epic finale. The moment of truth. Loki makes his difficult choice and goes down the stairs to the door leading to the Temporary Loom.
At the same moment – mind it too, please! – the others are just staying and it seems like they aren’t even noticing what’s going on. It’s only Sylvie who Immediately realizes what Loki is up to, and who first rushes for him with an expression of not just concern, but almost panic on her face. And only then Mobius goes as well.
Sylvie tries to break through the door (with a very expressive exclaim btw: "No! No, Loki!"), but she just can’t open it. And then she rushes upstairs, turning to O.B.: "I need to get out there!" Unfortunately even such a technical genius as O.B. can’t open that damned door. I guess Loki, who had become a great tech-savy during those centuries, blocked it really good.
"I need to get out there!" That one phrase shatters down all the claims of some viewers to Sylvie's feelings and behavior at that moment.
She didn’t just "stay and stare" as Loki actually sacrificed himself. She was ready and she wanted to follow him. It was him who didn’t allow that.
"Soft gets you killed"
And so the die is cast. The sacrifice has been made. The Multiverse has been saved, and all the show characters have to find their place in it again.
And then we got a lot of viewers (especially among the sylki-shipers) who ‘came really outraged by Sylvie's "too happy" smile in the end of her final conversation with Mobius. Like while he stands being completely broken and lost, she squints in the sun and smiles "carelessly".
And for unknown reason, no one... well, almost no one comes to mind that this scene is mirroring the dialogue between Loki and Mobius from 1x4, when Loki is informed that Sylvie has been cut.
Remember: what does he do after hearing that? A few seconds of a complete embarrassment and then he leans back in his chair and smiles, trying his best to hide the pain. But his eyes and the crack in his voice are instantly catching him red-handed.
It's exactly the same story with Sylvie in the finale. She smiles and "flippantly" shrugs her shoulders after Mobius' question of where she's going to go now. But just a minute earlier, she says: "It's weird without Loki here, isn't it?" with exactly the same voice crack, and tears are shining in her eyes exactly the same way.
Sylvie has been used to hiding pain since her childhood. Softness is a weakness for her. And she can only show her weakness and vulnerability to one being in the Multiverse. And it's definitely not Mobius.
P.S. A few words about Sophia
In conclusion, I want to add a few thoughts not just about Sylvie, but about the series as a whole, and a little about the fandom.
If you've read the full Sophia's interview I put the links above you must have noticed how carefully and as if with constant caution she speaks about her character's relationship with Loki. Unlike the screenwriter and EP, who openly talk about deep feelings Loki and Sylvie are having to each other, she prefers to call what's happening between them not "love", but "quite strong trust" (which btw significantly contradicts the behavior of Sylvie herself in the series). And although sometimes the idea that Sylvie "definitely won't let things just go" breaks through in her interviews it's like she always tries to soften her answers to the overwhelming number of questions about Sylvie and Loki relationship.
Many fans of the couple may be upset by this, but if you think about the root cause of such caution, there'll be no reason for such an offence.
And the root cause is just the fans themselves, the fandom, the violently negative reaction of a certain fandom part to the character and to her romantic line with Loki.
Remember the storm made by the fans of that fandom part (we all know what is that part, isn't it?) at the end of season 1. Remember those tons of negativity poured out not only on the character itself, but also on the actress who played this character! Because of this negativity, Sophia was eventually forced to close comments on her Instagram profile. And since then, she has become much more careful about speaking out something about the series in the interviews.
However, despite all of that, she still allows herself to be a little frank on Instagram sometimes. As a huge fan of Sophia, Sylvie and the series in general, I strongly advise not to ignore that fact.
If you doubt that Sylvie's feelings for Loki are true, just go to Sophia's Instagram profile and look at some of her stories and posts. Her playlist "Sylvie Mix Tape" on Spotify alone says ten times more than all her interviews.
P.P.S. UST and fans' interest
In the end of this huge meta, I want to add a few words about the good old UST (Unsolved Sexual Tension).
There's a wonderful phrase in one of my favorite sci-fi writers novels: "Always happy character isn't interesting." Indeed, the hero, whose life is a continuous Carnival and who literally reaches everything easily, ceases to seem real very soon, causes readers' boredom and even begins to annoy at some point.
It's really interesting and exciting to follow the hero who's overcoming difficulties – physical, psychological, romantic – no matter. And the more difficult the task, the higher the stakes and the more desperate the struggle, the stronger the reader's or viewer's interest is.
The same goes for romantic relationships between characters in a book or movie. I.e., paraphrasing my favorite sci-fi writer's quote: "Always happy relationships aren't interesting."
Yes, our fan hearts are certainly warmed by "happily ever after" for the beloved characters. But let's be honest with ourselves: how long will our interest and empathy for our beloved couple last, if everything settles down and everything goes well, if there're no more difficulties and struggles in their lives and relationships, if that notorious UST (the sexual tension that hasn't found a way out) disappears (you know, that thing when between the characters everything literally sparks and blazes, but at the same time they stubbornly don't admit their feelings either to themselves or to each other)?
Something tells me it won't be for long.
And as a quite vivid (even, I might say, a classic) example of UST, I can cite the relationship between Mulder and Scully from another sensational series – "The X-Files". The twists and turns of their relationships, shown by hints and semitones, were incredibly interesting and even hot to watch ... exactly until season 7, where their UST was finally resolved – clearly and unambiguously.
Another classic example of UST is the relationships between Sherlock and Molly from the BBC series "Sherlock". But in the case of this couple, the show creators acted more competently. The sexual tension between them remained unresolved in the finale. The audience was given only a hint, thereby leaving both interest and space for imagination.
Exactly the same (and maybe fortunately) happens to Loki and Sylvie. Their story is not over yet, as both the show EP, the screenwriter and the actors say in one voice. Here and there, insides pop up that Marvel still has plans for these characters.
Would it be interesting to follow the new adventures of Loki and Sylvie if they were an established couple? Maybe. But something tells me that it's not nearly as interesting as it is now, when they are apart again, and their "sexual tension" hasn't been solved.
This is what the Marvel leadership has been playing, is playing and will continue playing on. And UST has always been, is and will be, perhaps not the main, but a very significant thing to drive the plot.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks for your attention! And if all written above hasn't shed at least a drop of balm on your soul wounds made by season 2, remember: there's no such a finale that couldn't be fixed by a good fanfiction. ;)
* My favorite quote from "An Ordinary Miracle" by Eugeny Shwartz.
