Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for Loki Seasons 1 and 2!
Since it was announced back in November 2018, the Disney+ series Loki has been met with an extremely captivated fanbase dedicated to the beloved titular character. After his far too swift (and wildly unnecessary, IMO) death in the first minutes of Avengers: Infinity War earlier that year, many fans saw this as hope for the return of the trickster god, considering it was far from his first time “rising from the dead.” However, we soon realized that this isn’t our Loki from the dead, but in fact, the one who escaped with the Tesseract during the Avengers’ time heist in Avengers: Endgame, meaning he has no memory of his counterpart’s life after the events of the first Avengers movie.
This Loki is soon captured by the Time Variance Authority, or the TVA, an organization dedicated to protecting the Sacred Timeline and effectively eliminating any stray “variant” of time, now targeting Loki because he strayed off the path that all Lokis across a multitude of timelines are destined to follow. Despite initial reservations, our beloved trickster captured our hearts once again as we followed his new journey through the mysterious TVA in a race to uncover its truths and, alongside his new partner, Mobius (an analyst at the TVA), chase down a new wildcard: Sylvie, a female Loki.
So, where did Season 1 leave off?
The last time our Lokis graced our screens, they were running against the clock to uncover the truth about the TVA, namely that the Timekeepers are a cover for the real leader of the TVA: He Who Remains. It is also discovered that every employee in the TVA is a variant that was kidnapped from their timeline, meaning they all have lives of their own. After being pruned, separated, and encountering a number of Loki variants, Loki and Sylvie travel to the End of Time, where they are face to face with He Who Remains, revealing that he is a variant of Kang the Conqueror tasked with overseeing the TVA in order to keep the rest of the Kang variants in check.
He Who Remains offers two options: either they kill him, leaving no one to keep the multitude of Kang variants in check and therefore unleashing a multiversal war, or the two of them take his place as keepers of the timeline. Sylvie, whose mission has been to take down the TVA and give everyone free will since they kidnapped her as a child, refuses to believe the threats. After a heated and emotional fight between her and Loki, with Loki showing his vulnerability and admitting his feelings for her with a kiss, she still chooses to stick to her plan and kicks him through a time door back to the TVA, thus completing her mission by killing He Who Remains.
Following this, we discover that what He Who Remains prophesized has come to pass: a multiversal war has been unleashed as timelines began to branch uncontrollably. Heartbroken over the betrayal, Loki charges through a now chaos-filled TVA before finding Mobius and Hunter B-15, who are trying to figure out how to contain the new branches. After frantically attempting to warn them about what’s to come, it’s soon discovered that they have no memory of Loki. He is now in an alternate reality where the TVA is run by none other than a variant of Kang. The season ends on a cliffhanger and we were left wondering about the fate of the timelines for two years — until now.
So, what’s going on in Season 2?
Premiering on Thursday, Oct. 5, Season 2 of Loki picks up right where it left off, with Loki running from TVA employees, including a Mobius who no longer remembers him (breaking hearts around the world). He soon flashes back to his current timeline, where Mobius actually remembers him, discovering that he is involuntarily being ripped from timeline to timeline. Despite his current state, Loki still feverishly tries to warn every member of the TVA of the imminent arrival of He Who Remains. Side note: I absolutely have to commend the acting skills of Tom Hiddleston in this episode, as it is his emotional range that emphasizes the terrifying nature of Kang the Conqueror.
It is in this episode, titled “Ouroboros,” that we are introduced to the character from which the episode’s name is derived, played by none other than Ke Huy Quan. This character is the lighthearted wit that Loki needs, serving as the sole repairman of the TVA who hasn’t had a visitor in 400 years — until Loki and Mobius step inside. In this, these three men band together to try and repair the unruly branches of the timeline whilst also attempting to rid Loki of his “time slipping” by pruning him to rip him from every timeline, but not before he accidentally slips into a future TVA amid their plans.
Whilst succeeding in saving Loki by the skin of their teeth, we finally get our first glimpse at Sylvie. She’s seemingly happy to see Loki in this future, which causes him to hesitate right before we hear a phone start to ring (WHO IS CALLING?) and he is suddenly pruned (WHO PRUNED HIM?). We also see our current Sylvie, fresh from killing the Kang variant, walk into a McDonalds. She’s immediately overwhelmed with the amount of warmth and love coming from its customers, declaring that she now wants to try everything that life (or in this case, a McDonald’s) has to offer.
“Breaking Brad”, which premiered on Thursday, Oct. 12, showcased a lot of the Loki talent that fans have been waiting to see! Not only did we get him using his magic to a greater extent, but we also witnessed him bring back some of that villainy and mischief the God of Mischief is known for during a tense interrogation scene in an effort to find Sylvie’s location. I have to shout out Tom Hiddleston’s acting once again, as well as Sophia Di Martino’s (Sylvie). You could feel the tension and emotion loaded into their first encounter since what went down at the end of time.
The episode ends on a cliffhanger, as we discover that the TVA agents who left to “find Sylvie” were instead actually working to prune every stray branch from the timeline, despite Ouroboros’ best efforts to contain the branches without eliminating them. These actions effectively killed billions of people within the branches, only leaving a few stragglers behind after the plan was interrupted by Loki and the team. Despite this and Loki’s pleas to stay, Sylvie returns to her life working at McDonald’s and that’s where the episode ends.
Now you’re all caught up on all things mischievous! With what we’ve witnessed so far, I think I can assume that everyone, Marvel fan or not, will be on the edge of their seats and in for a wild ride. This show is a must-watch for the fall season, and I would love to see more FSU students getting in on the action! Marvel Studios’ Loki releases new episodes every Thursday at 6 p.m. (ET) /9 p.m. (PT), streaming only on Disney+.
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