Loki's Sylvie is my Doctor and you can't change my mind

It's hard watching Sylvie Laufeydottir, the female Loki "variant" in Disney+'s Loki series, but not because she's a bad character. If anything, she's been the breakout star of the show, which is pretty impressive considering the lead of the series is Tom frikkin Hiddleston.

But this feeling isn't really isolated. Other fans have noticed something about the Asgardian firecracker when she commands a scene, traveling through time and space in search of her glorious purpose with Loki in tow...

And the running in quarries, don't forget.


...my god, this is the female Doctor we deserved.

Don't get me wrong, this is far from Jodie Whittaker's fault. She's playing the Thirteenth Doctor as best she can, and she is the source of some of the current seasons' brightest moments. But watching Loki and seeing Sophia di Martino looking like she's having so much fun as Sylvie just stings, because this was the female Doctor I've been wanting to see for a long time.

Like the Doctor, Sylvie is smart, determined, and just a tad ruthless. She's also shown to have a soft, even quirky side. She's a hundreds-year-old goddess of mischief who deep down is still a little girl looking for her place in the universe. And she may not have all the answers, but when she does, people follow her lead. All of these combined form something warmly familiar yet exciting and new.

Which is more that I could say for the first female Doctor in the show's history, who has unfortunately been let down by the people behind the show. Thirteen is constantly breathless and two steps behind of her show's many mysteries. Taking charge has never been her strongest suit, and she's portrayed to make bone-headed decisions. While other Doctors would have had over 9,000 ideas on how to break out of a jail, the showrunner inexplicably had Thirteen need a man to save her.

Sure, there has been a glimmer of a Doctor in some episodes (her sobering monologue in The Haunting of Villa Diodati still haunts me to this day), but those moments are few and very far between. And while I will defend Doctor Who at every opportunity, these days the show makes it damn hard to do so. And yet Sylvie's charm and attitude has done more to make me feel excited for a female Doctor than two entire seasons of actual Doctor Who!

It hurts to see my favorite character NOT act like my favorite character, yet have Sylvie in Loki make me feel like I've known this strange new character all my life. With Loki's last episode airing tomorrow, it's messed up to think that this may be the last time I see a good "female Doctor Who" for a while. Where the hell is Moffat when you need him?

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