When I compare the first two episodes of Loki to Wandavision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (FAWS) premieres, I think Loki might be the best MCU series so far. I very much enjoyed both Wandavision and FAWS, but I am really surprised by how much I like Loki so far. Some of my enjoyment is directly related to the chemistry between Owen Wilson and Hiddleston but is also because of the interesting style of the show too. Loki is not blowing us away with great locations, special effects, action, but is giving us such an interesting story, it is hard not to be drawn in. Episode one is titled "Glorious Purpose", which is Loki's famous speech from the beginning of 2012's The Avengers. What the viewer needs to keep in mind at the beginning of the episode is that this Loki is not yet the hero he would become in Ragnarok, but the villainous Loki. The show makes a point to show his evolution in the MCU to help viewers better understand the character. Owen Wilson is playing a character called Mobius who works for the TVA, he handles the dangerous variants, not Loki who is more of a pussycat. Episode two is called "The Variant", we meet the variant in question in the opening scene, but we cannot see who is under the cloak. Loki and Mobius are like two detectives working a case in episode two, and that leads to some funny scenes and an interesting ending reveal of the variant's plan.
WHAT HAPPENED IN EPISODES 1 & 2
Episode one kicks off with a flashback to Avengers: Endgame, we again see how Loki gets his hands on the space stone and escapes. When Loki escapes, he travels to Mongolia where he crashes into the desert, and when greeted by locals he tries to do the Glorious Purpose speech before he is interrupted by agents of the TVA. Loki is identified as a variant, which is someone who has deviated from their proper place in time. Loki is easily captured and brought to the TVA, during his booking in the TVA Loki is constantly embarrassed. We learn from a video Loki watches that the TVA was created by the Time-Keepers to protect the sacred timeline and prevent another multiverse war. Loki's magic does not work in the TVA and the infinity stones are used as paperweights in the TVA office since they too are useless there. Loki is brought before a judge and he is sentenced, but Owen Wilson who plays Mobius arrives and takes Loki. Mobius is investigating a series of assaults on agents of the TVA; Mobius believes Loki can assist him on this case. Mobius brings Loki to an interrogation room where he starts to show Loki his past and a little of his future. Loki does not respect the authority of the TVA and refuses to believe what he is seeing is real. Loki sees his mother's death in Thor: The Dark World, and after a distraction, Loki is able to escape. While trying to escape he gets his hands on the space stone where he finds out that infinity stones are useless in the TVA, Loki realizes that the TVA might be the greatest power in the universe. Loki returns to the interrogation room and continues to view his future, he sees Odin's death, his eventual bond with Thor and his own death at the hands of Thanos. Loki upon seeing his death is temporarily humbled, he decides to work with the TVA. Mobius kept asking Loki if he likes hurting and killing people earlier in the episode, which Loki kept evading. Loki now admits that he does not enjoy hurting or killing people, it is something he does to inspire fear because he is weak. Mobius tells Loki that the variant that is behind the attacks on the TVA is Loki. We go to Oklahoma in 1858, we see TVA agents arrive to investigate an item in the field from the future. The variant appears and kills the agents as the episode ends.
Episode two opens with an assault on a team of TVA agents by the variant who takes control of one of the agents and kills the remaining agents. The variant then takes the TVA agents, and the device they use to reset the timeline and leaves. The fight is done with Bonnie Tyler's Holding out for a Hero (I need a hero) playing in the background. Loki is sitting at a desk supposedly getting trained, but he is reading a jet ski magazine. Loki is asked a question by Miss Minutes, what happens when a nexus event branches past the red line. The answer is that the TVA is no longer able to reset the timeline and the sacred timeline is destroyed. Mobius gives Loki a windbreaker and takes him on a mission to investigate the attack we saw at the beginning of the episode. Mobius offers a meeting with the Time-Keepers if Loki helps take down the variant, the meeting gets Loki motivated. Loki, at the site of the attack attempts to confuse the TVA agents, Mobius realizes Loki is wasting time and ends the attempt.
Mobius goes to meet with his boss Ravonna Renslayer (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in her office, her office is full of trophies which are items from various missions. Ravonna is not convinced Loki is helping, she says the Time-Keepers are monitoring this case very closely. Ravonna gives Mobius some papers to sign, the pen is a trophy, and it says Franklin D. Roosevelt High School on it. Loki is trying to explain what he did back there was a lesson, Loki is obviously scared of what will happen if they no longer need him. Mobius tells Loki that he knows what Loki is after, he wants to meet the Time-Keepers and seize control of the TVA from them. Loki is tasked with research, he tries to get the clerk to give him files on the Time-Keepers, the TVA and the beginning of the sacred timeline. The clerk says those are classified; she then leads him to the files that Mobius actually wanted him to read. Loki gets an idea, he thinks the variant is hiding in apocalypses, since they are going to be destroyed no matter what then anything the variant does will not cause a branch in the timeline. Loki proposes to test his theory, he wants to go to an apocalypse and cause disturbances and see if what he does causes a branch in the timeline. Mobius brings Loki to Pompeii right before the volcano explodes, Loki causes chaos, and Mobius confirms that Loki did not create any new branches with his actions.
Mobius and Loki set about trying to determine which apocalyptic event the variant is hiding out in; Mobius took a candy from a previous attack, and they track that back to an event. Mobius and Loki have an existential talk, which leads to Mobius remembering about the candy. They realize the variant must be in Alabama in 2050, Mobius goes to Renslayer to approve the mission to Alabama. Renslayer says if the mission is a failure there is nothing she can do. They arrive in Alabama as a hurricane is laying waste, they enter a Roxxcart store which is being used as a shelter. They split up, but Mobius is not allowed to take Loki with him. Loki is paired with Hunter B-15 (played by Wunmi Mosaku), they are searching when Hunter B-15 is possessed by the variant. Loki and the variant talk, Loki offers the variant a chance to help him overthrow the Time-Keepers. The variant rejects Loki's offer, the variant is not interested in ruling the TVA. Mobius locates the kidnapped hunter who is babbling to herself, the hunter says she gave away the Time-Keepers location to the variant. Loki and the variant fight, Loki appears to be overmatched. Loki finally meets the real variant, and it is Lady Loki (played by Sophia Di Martino), her plan is to send the stolen reset charges to various points in time. We go to the TVA as all hell breaks loose, branches are opening up all over the sacred timeline. Lady Loki leaves and Loki follows her through the doorway as Mobius arrives and tells him to stay put.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND WHY THE TVA IS A BIG DEAL
The ending to episodes one and two was fantastic, they both had a great visual style to them while also keeping the viewer excited for the next episode. As much as I have read about the show and the TVA, I have no idea what will come next. There are a few theories, but nothing too detailed, and from experience on the other Marvel shows I know not to get too attached to my theories actually happening. I hope we get to spend more time with Lady Loki in episode three, I have no idea what she is trying to accomplish, but I think her look and powers are awesome. The series first season is only six episodes long, so I think the series will move at a faster pace compared to Wandavision and FAWS. The TVA is another world that is being built up, I wonder if the TVA will play a bigger role in the MCU after this series. Based on the first two episodes I think there is something weird with the TVA, I do not think they are evil, but something is amiss. When Mobius was meeting with Renslayer her office was full of trophies, but not all of them were from Mobius. Mobius might be a clone; in the comics the TVA uses clones. If Mobius is a clone then, there might be a different type of Mobius who is different in personality working other cases. Is the other Mobius bad, and will the Mobius we got to know so far turn out to be a good guy.
What will happen to Loki has me excited to keep watching, will Loki be forced to rejoin his original planned timeline and have his memory wiped. For the current continuity of the MCU to work Loki has to go back to Asgard with Thor at the end of Avengers 2012. That is the thing with time travel, it always messes with your mind. Was Loki going to the TVA always part of his journey, or will Loki have a different trajectory after the series. Loki asking if the TVA is the greatest power in the universe makes me believe it might be true. One theory I have is if Lady Loki is working for someone like our Loki was working for Thanos, could Lady Loki be in league with Kang the Conqueror. Kang is a villain from the future who goes back to the past to take over the world/universe. Kang has been confirmed for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, so it is not out of the question that Kang might be the one behind Lady Loki. The TVA is very formidable, and anyone looking to alter the timeline would need to take out the TVA first. Lady Loki says she is not interested in ruling the TVA so what is her goal, to destroy it. The employees of the TVA seem like a weird group, the hunter appears to be mean and cruel, while Mobius is shown to be a lot more empathetic.
Mobius says that while the TVA is protecting the past, the Time-Keepers are busy working on the future and that we will meet in peace at the end. When Mobius said that it felt like a line, I do not believe the Time-Keepers are as altruistic as they want everyone to believe. The Time-Keepers may even be villains using the TVA as protection against their enemies. I am wondering if we will meet these Time-Keepers before the season is over, if Marvel is truly planning a second season, they may want the first season to end with a cliff-hanger. The last thing I found very interesting is the re-emergence of the word nexus, in Wandavision we learned that Wanda is a nexus being. Nexus beings have the power to altering the flow of the time stream, and they are keys to the multiverse. In Loki they use nexus as events which since the term nexus just made its debut in the Disney Plus series it is something important in the MCU. Nexus events are moments when branches are created in the sacred timeline that could throw reality into chaos and lead to another multiverse war. A multiverse war seems to be what we are heading towards in the MCU, both the Spider-Man and Doctor Strange sequels will have direct ties to the multiverse. We have no idea what the next Marvel Avengers film will be centred around, I was thinking the Kree-Skrull War, but now I am think a Multiverse War is a definite possibility.
Two final little things I noticed, in episode one when Loki is first brought into the TVA, we see a Skrull is also being booked as a variant. I wonder since the TVA exists out of time (?) will this be related to the Secret Invasion Disney Plus series or is just Marvel trying to show that Skrulls are all over. My last little note concerns the pen Mobius uses while in Renslayers office, it says Franklin D Roosevelt High School. I assume since a big deal was made about the pen, it will be somewhat important. It could also be another red herring which Marvel is using to great effect to generate conversations. I have no idea what the pen is about, and nobody who isn't working on the show or for Marvel know either. I hope you enjoyed the article, please join me next week as I review episode three.
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