Loki Season 2 Episode 5 Based One TVA Member's Origin On A Bizarre True Story
"Loki" has taken to combining famous true mysteries with the shenanigans of its title character. In Season 1, the audience learns that infamous hijacker D.B. Cooper was none other than Loki (Tom Hiddleston) fulfilling a deal after losing a bet with Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Season 2 sticks with this approach of mixing fiction and reality by revealing the true identity of TVA employee Casey (Eugene Cordero).
Initially introduced to Loki as a helpful desk worker, Casey eventually ingratiates himself into the series' inner circle and becomes one of the people the God of Mischief calls friends. In a mad dash to bring Casey back into the fold in Episode 5, Loki uses his new superpower to discover that in Casey's real life, he was an inmate at the famous prison Alcatraz. After he and two others are shown trying to escape, one fan on Twitter noted their lives are quite similar to a true story.
"Casey is Frank Morris!" @TrickstersFolly theorized. "In 1962 three men escaped Alcatraz and were never seen again! We don't know what happened to them although the popular theory is that they drowned in San Francisco Bay. One was named Frank." Just like the mystery of D.B. Cooper, "Loki" spins an interesting yarn to solve another major American mystery.
Casey and Frank Morris share several similarities
At first glance, Loki's interaction with Casey, aka Frank, is a scene played for laughs. But upon further inspection, it seems pretty evident that Casey's fixation on stealing things or bank vaults was more than that.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Morris led brothers John and Clarence Anglin in their escape from Alcatraz in 1962. In a bid to fool the guards, they constructed life-like dummies and placed them in their beds during the night shift. The men crawled through a hole in the cell wall and intended to escape on a homemade raft. After discovering that the men had made it past the Alcatraz walls, a manhunt went into effect. But mysteriously, the men were never seen again.
Some wonder if they made it across the San Francisco Bay and lived in anonymity for the rest of their lives. However, the FBI concluded that because of the cold temperature of the water, in addition to the current, it was unlikely they lived through their attempt. These facts are reflected in Episode 5, lending credence to @TrickstersFolly's theory. As Casey escapes his cell, we see a makeshift dummy, and he and his two comrades attempt to make it across the water. Loki's interference in this story is a much more interesting way to conclude it than the likely reality: instead of freezing to death in frigid water, maybe Frank really had just absconded with a Norse deity.