This article contains spoilers for episodes 1 and 2 of Loki.
The new Marvel Cinematic Universe show Loki, starring Tom Hiddleston had a massively successful premiere with fans and critics hailing the first episode. We saw the eponymous God of Mischief getting arrested by the Time Variance Authority, an agency that consisted of Timekeepers, aka the protectors of the ‘sacred timeline.’
Through humour, typical Loki antics and some action we found out that when he escaped with the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame, he created an alternate timeline. Loki, now a variant, was arrested by the TVA due to this and was tried for a fitting punishment (which is synonymous to extinction). However, agent Mobius instead, recruited Loki to help find a variant who was murdering other TVA soldiers across timelines.
We saw Loki watching his life in the normal timeline unfold. We saw him after the events of 2012 Battle of New York to his death at th3 hands of Thanos. He also realised that the TVA is the highest power in the Universe and his hijinks have no effect there. Loki then agreed to help out Mobius.
In the shocking climax we saw a mysterious figure burn some TVA soldiers alive and escape with their “reset charge,” a device which resets the timeline after a Nexus Event—basically an alternate timeline against the predefined Sacred timeline. What was more shocking, is when Mobius revealed that the murderer was actually Loki.
The second episode gives us a clarity about this absurd turn of events. Loki, himself, is confused. But we are told that this murderer is not Loki but an alternate version of him. Hence, only Loki can help Mobius track the murderer down.
We see the TVA agents take Loki to the latest scene of the crime. However, Loki being his unreformed self tries to trick them. When Mobius sees through his trick, he is threatened with extinction. A helpless Loki then decides to actually put in the work and actually comes up with a theory.
Loki theorises that this Variant/murderer is able to hide without the TVA finding them because they are hiding before an apocalypse. Loki takes Mobius to Pompeii, before Mount Vesuvius is about to erupt. However, Loki tells the people that they are going to die, asking them to run. However, there is no change detected in the timeline. This is because, despite Loki’s improvisation, the destruction is bound to happen.
Back in the TVA, Mobius shows Loki an evidence taken from episode 1, a chewing gum called ‘Kablooi.’ By determining the manufacture and sale years of the gum, Loku Mobius and other TVA agents go to a city about to be wrecked by a hurricane.
The party reaches a supermarket, where Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) keeps her surveillance on Loki and Mobius goes out in search of the murderer. This is where the action starts. Loki then comes across a form that changes bodies, from Hunter B-15 to shoppers in the supermarket. When Loki realises that it is his shape-shifting contemporary, he challenges them to appear in front of them.
We finally see who the murderer is, it is a female version of Loki. Lady Loki then asks if Loki wants to form an alliance with her and take control over the TVA. We then see what she is up to. She then reveals that she has set all the reset devices to explode all at once. She escapes through a portal and despite Mobius’ protest, Loki follows her. When all the devices explode together, it causes the entire timeline to collapse. This is where episode 2 ends.
Now, what does this mean?
Lady Loki was murdering TVA agents to get access to their reset charge devices. Murder, for her was means to an end, to take control over the TVA. She would appear in different timelines and cause the timeline to branch, which would lead the agents to that particular timeline. However, she would kill them and escape with their devices. She collected enough devices to create the timeline to collapse, which is what happened at the end.
What does this mean for the MCU?
In episode one, when Miss Minute was explaining to Loki, about the significance of the Sacred Timeline, we found out that any disruption can affect the entirety of the universe. So when Lady Loki actually caused the collapse of the timeline, she potentially caused the extinction of all humanity and beyond. In a way, this is more dangerous than Thanos’ snap, which erased only half of the universe.
What can we expect from the rest of the series?
Marvel Studios is notorious for their secrecy, and hence we will never be able to actually predict what will happen in the series. However, we can take a guess as to which direction the show can potentially take. In the next episode Loki will most probably deal with his villainous impulses. By following the murderer, he has definitely stepped into the dark side. This is not the same Loki who was reformed through Thor: Dark World, Ragnarok and even Avengers: Infinity War. This Loki, while aware of his life story, is still hungover from his attempt of world-domination.
However, since Loki is one of MCU’s favorite characters, we are sure he will not stay on the dark side for long. We don’t know how it will happen but we are sure he will be made to rectify the destruction caused by Lady Loki.
Starring Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Wunmi Mosaku and Sophia Di Martino, the show is created by Michael Waldron and directed by Kate Herron. Loki streams weekly on Disney+ Hotstar Premium.
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