Episode 1, “Ouroboros,” picks up right where season one ended, with Loki returning to the TVA but a different version than the one he is used to.
It is clear immediately that Loki is still shaken from his encounter with He Who Remains. He is freaked out by the prospect of a multiversal war and Kang the Conqueror destroying everything in his wake.
His distress is not helped by his new condition of time slipping, where he is slipping through the past, present, and future. Loki is directly affecting the timeline even within the TVA by cracking the floor in the past which stays there in the present and conversations in the past suddenly being remembered by those in the present.
The confusion of the condition is compounded by the fact that the time in the TVA does not work in a linear fashion since they exist outside the timestream.
Once Loki slips back into the present, he is reunited with Agent Mobius after last seeing him at the End of Time. Their dynamic has clearly evolved since the last time they were on screen together. They now have a friendly rapport with one another.
In an attempt to cure the time slipping, the duo meet Ouroboros, or OB, played by award-winning actor Ke Huy Quan.
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
In an attempt to cure the time slipping, the duo meet Ouroboros, or OB, played by award-winning actor Ke Huy Quan. OB is a forgotten member of the TVA and is the only one who knows how everything works. Quan plays him as a very cheerful character, which makes him a sympathetic character when remembered that he is forgotten by all in the TVA.
OB tells the two that the only way to stop the slippage is by pulling Loki out of the timestream, which, if done wrong, could be fatal for both him and Mobius. Adding to the danger, the TVA is somewhat collapsing due to the numerous timelines being created at once, overwhelming the systems. All of this makes the rest of the episode quite tense.
Before the procedure could be completed, Loki slips into the future where the TVA is in disarray. People are seen evacuating as it seems that the timelines grow and grow. It is there where Loki encounters Sylvie once again only briefly before getting taken out by an unknown person which leads to him being successfully pulled from the time stream.
The episode closes with an army of TVA hunters preparing to hunt Sylvie down with what seems to be excessive force for only one person. It could be believed that this army is not preparing for Sylvie but for war.
The idea of a multiversal war has been around this series since season one, and it seems that this season will build up to it. It is also shown that the TVA was created as a result of the war, with numerous versions of Kang creating it and appointing one of their allies, Ravonna Renslayer, as a judge.
A lingering mystery after this episode is Sylvie’s role in all this. She has the blame put on her for causing the branching timelines and has an army after her. In the post-credits scene, she is evading capture in 1982 Oklahoma. So now the question is what will happen to her?
To close out this week’s episode, here are some things to keep in mind:
- What was the true reason the TVA was created?
- What is Sylvie’s goal?
- What does this mean for the multiverse saga?
Episode 2, “Breaking Brad,” starts with Loki and Mobius meeting with and apprehending rogue TVA hunter, X-5, as he poses as a movie star, Brad Wolfe.
During the opening scene, we get a hint of Loki’s trickster persona with his usage of shadow clones to catch Wolfe. Something that will be highlighted as the episode continues.
A majority of this episode takes place over an interrogation, as Brad was a member of the team trying to catch Sylvie before going AWOL from the TVA. The interrogation brings drama that has been missing from many MCU projects as of late.
As the interrogation heats up, Brad poses an interesting question to Mobius, “What did you leave behind when you were taken by the TVA?” The question that makes Mobius lose his temper and blow up at Brad, which was his goal.
The interrogation brings drama that has been missing from many MCU projects as of late.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
Loki, surprisingly, is the one who pulls him away from the tension, showing a shift in their dynamic. They then go for key lime pie, which is an odd scene due to the room being filled with pies, but it is a great scene highlighting their friendship.
While this scene shows Loki’s now reformed side, the next time he meets with Brad, he shows his more villainous side. He uses a machine that creates a box that will shrink over time as he tries to get Brad to confess to what happened on the Sylvie hunt.
This entire sequence is extremely thrilling as Mobius bangs on the door of the interrogation room, pleading with Loki not to do it. It genuinely seems like Loki is going to go through with killing Brad but right after Brad tells them where Sylvie is hiding, it is revealed that Mobius was in on it the entire time and it was just a negotiation tactic, keeping in line that Loki is not a villain anymore but still a trickster god.
Once they go to 1980s Oklahoma, where Sylvie is hiding, the mood switches to a slightly more relaxed tone, more fitting for a drama instead of an action show. Loki tries to reconcile with Sylvie after seeing that she has built a brand new life.
This drama is compounded by Brad’s reluctance to stay in the timeline they are in, as he is afraid of something that he is not willing to speak about. That something is revealed to be a general of the TVA’s plot to prune all branched timelines all at once.
The fighting is unremarkable.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
This leads to an action scene where Loki, Sylvie, and Mobius attempt to stop the general’s plot. The fighting is unremarkable. It shows Sylvie’s power, but means very little as the general’s plan still goes the way she wants it to, with almost all branches being destroyed.
The episode ends with Sylvie telling off Loki and the TVA as she returns to her branched timeline.
With this episode, an interesting question is posed: What would the TVA members be if they were not taken? It is something thought about by Loki and B-15 after they learn the truth. Brad is an example of it, running from the agency to create a life for himself.
To wrap up this episode, here are some things to think about:
- What is Sylvie going to do now?
- Will more agents of the TVA leave to live normal lives?
- Will the general face consequences for her actions?
Episode 3 begins not in the titular year but 25 years earlier in 1868. It is here where Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes are reintroduced. They give a TVA guidebook to a little boy named Victor Timely, one of the variants of He Who Remains.
Victor Timely makes this episode absolutely shine. He is properly introduced at the 1893 Chicago Fair, where Loki and Mobius are trying to locate Renslayer. Timely is presenting a prototype version of the Temporal Loom at the fair, the same device OB used to stabilize Loki.
Right from his introduction scene, it is clear that Timely has a very awkward and timid personality. He is very quiet when presenting and has a tendency to take long pauses in his speech, a quality that makes him clearly distinct from Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and the Wasp” or even He Who Remains in the first season.
[A] quality that makes him clearly distinct from Kang the Conqueror in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ or even He Who Remains in the first season.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
Timely also is a bit of a conman. As he attempts to create futuristic devices with outdated technology, his inventions fail quite a bit. This gets him into trouble as he has to sell the patents for these devices and the buyers are often unhappy with the quality of his products.
His temporal loom failing leads to one of the highlights of this episode, a chase scene throughout the fair between Timely, Ravonna, Loki and Mobius, one of these aforementioned buyers, and Sylvie who wishes to kill Timely for being a variant of He Who Remains.
This chase scene is wonderful. The music choice feels like it is straight out of an old cartoon and there is a hint of classic slapstick humor that gives this scene such a strong personality.
Immediately after that chase scene, however, there is a tense scene where Loki is the only thing keeping Sylvie from killing Timely. The music from the previous scene is cut with a deafening silence as Loki attempts to use his magic to push Sylvie away as she lunges for him, machete in hand. They do succeed in getting Timely from Sylvie as Miss Minutes creates a distraction for Renslayer to grab Timely and get him away from the fair.
The music choice feels like it is straight out of an old cartoon and there is a hint of classic slapstick humor that gives this scene such a strong personality.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
Timely takes Renslayer and Miss Minutes to his home to rest for a little. It is here where Renslayer and Timely hit it off. They enjoy each other’s company, something highlighted again when they take a boat to Timely’s lab. The two have a natural chemistry as they talk about the plan for the future. The chemistry is cut short as under the manipulation of Miss Minutes, Ravonna is thrown overboard by Timely.
Miss Minutes plays an interesting role for the remainder of this episode. She is trying to get Timely to be the same person that He Who Remains was. Something that Timely is against as he is not that person.
It is here also where things get complicated. Miss Minutes was created as a sentient A.I program, simply as a thing to pass the time by He Who remains. However, during their time alone, Miss Minutes developed feelings for He Who Remains. Those same feelings are harbored toward Timely, someone who is very against it. This rejection leads to Miss Minutes being upset and states that Timely has made a powerful enemy, one that knows all of his variants’ secrets.
A huge component of this episode is variants. It asks if variants should be held responsible for actions done by other versions of themselves. Timely is a great example of this as while he is a variant of a horrible conqueror, he is simply a down-on-his-luck inventor.
Sylvie stands solely on the side of they are indeed responsible, but has a change of heart as Victor begs for his life, stating that he never did any of those things. She allows him to live and be under the custody of the TVA.
It is an aspect of variants that will hopefully be explored more and more as the season goes through its second half.
As we place the half-way marker, here are some things to keep in mind for this second half:
- How can Timely help the TVA?
- What are Miss Minutes’ and Renslayer’s overall roles?
- What might be happening on the other branched timelines?
The fate of the TVA has fallen into uncertain hands following the events of Episode 4: Heart of the TVA.
Episode 4 occurs right where the last ended, with Miss Minutes letting Renslayer in on a secret. She is shown a recording that reveals He Who Remains only won the multiversal war because of her and that she was destined to be at the top of the TVA with him before he decided to erase her memories.
Her revelation causes her to be upset and declare that she will take back the TVA.
The remainder of this episode is focused on the fate of the TVA as it is in crisis as the temporal loom is overloaded with too many temporal energies from the emerging branches. Loki and Mobius bring Timely to help stabilize the loom.
Timely is crucial to the fate of the TVA as he has the same temporal aura as He Who Remains. It is because of this that whoever can get their hands on him, essentially controls the TVA.
This scene is horrifying without anything being explicitly shown–the screams and Brad’s facial expressions do the work for it.
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
While our heroes are trying to save the TVA, Renslayer and Miss Minutes decide to reorder it. They go to the holding cell where General Dox and her group of insurgents are after pruning the branches in Episode 2.
The two come to them with an ultimatum, anyone who helps her reach the top of the TVA will be rewarded with a place on the timeline, an aspiration that tempts Brad onto her side. The others, however, stand against her. A decision that leads to Miss Minutes crushing them in the shrinking box from Episode 2.
This scene is horrifying without anything being explicitly shown–the screams and Brad’s facial expressions do the work for it.
Brad, now under the command of Renslayer, kidnaps Timely and sends him to the conference room of the TVA where Renslayer is waiting. At this point, Renslayer’s plan gets slightly messy. She plans on getting to the top of the TVA but to do that the TVA needs to survive, something that is not going to happen if Timely is not freed.
So what was she planning to do with him there? A question that is not pondered on for long as OB reboots the system that has kept Miss Minutes in power and allows magic within the TVA. This allows Sylvie to control Brad into pruning Renslayer and freeing Timely.
This scene means very little in the grand scheme of this story and exists only to close the mystery of who pruned Loki in the first episode
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
While Loki and Sylvie are freeing Timely, a time-displaced Loki from Episode 1 appears and is promptly pruned by the present Loki. This scene means very little in the grand scheme of this story and exists only to close the mystery of who pruned Loki in the first episode but that plot line has been largely forgotten with all the other chaos taking place in the show.
Loki, Sylvie, and Timely get to the Temporal Loom just in time to send Timely out to save the TVA. This does not go well as he is immediately spaghettified as soon as he steps out of the blast doors into the walkway of the temporal loom.
Timely’s death shocks the characters as the Temporal Loom explodes, sending a shock wave straight for them, ending the episode.
With this episode, the TVA is in a position that might be worrisome. The army of hunters that the TVA once had have been killed by Miss Minutes. Renslayer, a former judge, has tried to cause a revolt that led to her being pruned. On top of that, the temporal loom exploded and now the TVA itself might actually be destroyed.
The outlook does not look good for the organization following this episode.
To wrap up the episode, here are some things to keep in mind for next week:
- What is the fate of the TVA?
- Did Renslayer survive?
- What does the destruction of the TVA mean for the timelines?
The penultimate episode of “Loki” asks the question of where Loki truly belongs.
Episode 5: Science/Fiction begins with Loki in the crumbling TVA, with not a soul around him. This scene is obviously distressing but the stress is compounded by the return of Loki’s time slipping. He nearly escapes the spaghettified TVA due to the time slipping, and he ends up being pulled through timelines, places where his friends have really built a life for themselves.
None of Loki’s friends remember him, the one that hurts the most is Mobius, now named Don.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
None of Loki’s friends remember him, the one that hurts the most is Mobius, now named Don. He gets pulled to OB’s lab, who in this world is a struggling author and theoretical physics professor. Only he is willing to help Loki get back to the TVA because he wants to escape his dull routine and failure as a writer.
Just like in the first episode, OB is consulted on time slipping but instead of curing it, they want to control it. OB and Loki fail again and again before just focusing on getting the group back together so that they can use their temporal energy to find the TVA. Loki does this by handing OB a TVA handbook so that he can create a proto-tempad.
What follows is Loki attempting to convince his friends to join him in the new TVA, which is successful up to when he goes to Sylvie. Sylvie is the only one who remembers Loki, which makes sense since she crafted her life by herself and was not just taken away by He Who Remains like the others.
Sylvie does not want to help Loki since she sees the lack of a TVA as necessary. People can make choices and live their lives not confined to the Sacred Timeline. She questions why Loki feels the need to go back to the way things were, shooting down the answer that he just wants to be prepared for the multiversal war. The real answer is that he misses his friends.
Those friends, however, are sadly lost to time. As can be seen by Mobius and Hunter B-15’s interactions in the new timeline, they are awkward around each other and do not have anything in common. Sylvie argues that it would be better if they just went back to their branches and lived their lives. This hurts Loki because he does not have a life to live anymore.
Loki is an outsider no matter where he is. In Asgard, he was the lesser brother to the mighty Thor who raised war on Earth. On Sakaar, he had a home for only a few moments before being forced to flee. Even in the greater timeline, Loki’s branch was purged since he escaped where he was supposed to be. Loki did not have a place until the TVA, and now that place is gone.
Everything unravels in front of Sylvie’s eyes including the life she’s built, leaving only her as she escapes to Loki’s location.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
Loki returns to OB’s lab to tell the variants that it is pointless to try to create the new TVA without Sylvie and that the variants should go back home. While he does this, Sylvie’s timeline begins to spaghettified in a beautiful scene scored by “Oh! Sweet Nuthin,” by the Velvet Underground. Everything unravels in front of Sylvie’s eyes including the life she’s built, leaving only her as she escapes to Loki’s location.
Back at the lab, with Sylvie back, Loki is ecstatic as he feels as though he can finally rebuild the TVA. That optimism is short-lived as the timeline also begins to be spaghettified.
In a moment of despair, Loki controls his time slipping, taking him to just before the timeline collapses. With the clarity of how to control the slipping, Loki goes back to before the end of the last episode, with a newfound hope to save the future.
With the series wrapping up, here are some things to consider for the final episode:
- How is time slipping caused?
- What are the limitations of Loki’s control?
- How does saving the TVA affect these new realities?
The “Loki” season 2 finale, “Glorious Purpose,” gives Loki his true role in the universe.
The episode starts back at the ending of episode 4. Loki has complete control over his time slipping and getting back before the Temporal Loom explodes. He attempts to make the sequence of events faster and faster so that Timely is not spaghettified by the Temporal Radiation.
He fails again and again, even going back centuries to learn as much about physics and engineering to help OB in speeding up the process, but it does not work. Loki loses again and again.
Loki decides that it would be better to talk to He Who Remains to figure out why this keeps happening. He slips right before Sylvie kills him, pleading with her not to do it as he knows that his death will doom the timelines. He fails to persuade Sylvie over and over. Each failure leads to him going back and trying again.
He fails to persuade Sylvie over and over. Each failure leads to him going back and trying again.”
— Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
Loki’s new control over the time slipping is an important part of this episode’s plot. He is so desperate to have things go the way he wants them to, spending so much time trying to create the world that he envisions. In a way, he is like He Who Remains in that everything has to be the way they want it to be.
After numerous loops of the same events, Loki and He Who Remains have a conversation as they pause Sylvie. In this conversation, Loki learns that everything up to this point has been planned by He Who Remains. His death, Loki finding Timely, the Temporal Loom exploding, all of it planned. He even planned on Loki getting the ability to Time-Slip.
All of this season was He Who Remains’ grand design to be back in power. Now, all he has to do is have Loki kill Sylvie and all is back to normal for him.
This revelation absolutely destroys Loki as he consults Mobius and Sylvie from different points in time. He cannot just give up on his friends since his failure results in their erasure from the timeline.
With advice from Mobius and Sylvie, Loki slips back to the point of the TVA’s destruction and goes out into the Temporal Loom walkway instead of Timely. He is able to push through the radiation without being spaghettified and is able to destroy the Loom. …taking his throne like he always wanted, but now burdened with a glorious purpose.” — Editor-in-Chief Micah Freeman
With the Temporal Loom destroyed, the multiverse is free to blossom. Loki gives life to all of the dying branches as he weaves them all together into the shape of Yggdrasil, the tree of life in Norse mythology.
Loki’s story ends with him at the center of the tree, finally taking his throne like he always wanted, but now burdened with a glorious purpose.
With the foundation of the new multiverse, there is still an incoming threat. Kang the Conqueror is still out there and the multiversal war that He Who Remains prophesied might still come to pass, leaving the door open for future projects.
As the book of this season closes, here are some things to keep in mind for future projects:
- The multiverse is now revived.
- Loki is the watcher of the Multiverse.
- The threat of Kang is still out there.