Loki returns to the TVA, at least sort of. 

Marvel didn’t hold back in the first episode of Loki Season 2. We jumped right back in where season 1 left us almost 2.5 years ago, and it seems things are only getting crazier in the TVA. Before we get into the main moments of the episode, I do want to mention that for the time being, I’m going to try and avoid talking too much about the wider MCU implications of the Loki series. I think we can all agree we can go in circles each episode if we open that can of worms, so I’ll try my best to focus mainly on the episode’s events and how they might affect the series as a whole. With that said, make sure you also have given our full reactions episode a listen by either clicking the button to find your listening platform of choice or by listening live with the link provided. 

Loki and His Timeslipping

From the second the trailers dropped, fans were made aware of a new term known as timeslipping, and it’s the main problem Loki faces in this first episode. It also helps to explain what the finale of season 1 meant, as we got the answer to why Mobius didn’t know who Loki was. He wasn’t in a different timeline, but instead in the same timeline at a different place on it. Either way, we see him timeslipping not just through the past and present of the TVA, but we do see him slip once into the future, giving us a glimpse of what may be coming by the time we reach the second half of this series. 

Loki’s timeslipping into the past gives us vital information on the TVA itself and strengthens our running theory from the predictions that we may be following the track of the history of the TVA. This season may be an exploration into its origin to fix it, and it looks like after the first episode, that theory is still very much on the board. The most important thing we know about the TVA in the past is that there was a moment in which it was controlled by Kang openly, rather than the ruse of it being the Timekeepers. We also have learned that during that time, Mobius was already around, meaning that Mobius was clearly wiped between the point in which Loki interacts with him at the end of season 1 and the Mobius we know in general. It opens the door for questions about how many times people have been wiped and the time that has passed, as time moves differently in the TVA.

Yet the glimpse into the future we see shows that not only does Sylvie make her way back into the TVA, but it seems that things are still in utter chaos. Episode 1 establishes two opposing sides of the TVA since the death of He Who Remains: one that believes branches should not be pruned (Loki + team’s side) and the other side that wants to continue business as normal. With the glimpse into the future we get, it wouldn’t be entirely shocking if the chaos is being caused by a form of civil war taking place inside the TVA as the Sacred Timeline continues to overload outside.

Meeting O.B.

One of the most important moments in episode 1 was meeting O.B., who works in the repairs section of the TVA. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable, but his gained importance comes from the additional years he seems to have on others. O.B. clearly recalls when he met Mobius 400 years ago, even though Mobius had no memory of their first interaction. This appears to be because Mobius was very likely wiped within the timeframe of 400 years for whatever reason, but it also opens a new branch of information that makes O.B. an insanely prominent player in this game. O.B. not only remembers meeting Mobius years ago, meaning he hasn’t been wiped since then, but he also labeled the time since their meeting, saying it had been 400 years. As even said earlier in this post, time supposedly moves differently in the TVA, yet O.B. is able to calculate and measure the amount of time passing while in it. For the first time, we might get real information on what time moving differently in the TVA really means and could help us place how time has been working.

O.B. also has another very important job, which is that he is the one who has access to the time stream. This is the loom-like thing that we see knitting all the branched timelines together into the Sacred Timeline. While I will get to the loom in a second, the important thing is that we’ve seen it and know someone who has helped ensure it has worked correctly for at least 400+ years. Obviously, we know a lot of the information that O.B. has on it came from Miss Minutes, but it still makes him once again a vital character in understanding how essentially the crux of the TVA works.

The Time Loom

Prior to the first episode, we were directed by the Loki series that the Timekeepers aka Kang sorted through the infinite universes and put together one working timeline. We now see just how exactly that was working. The time loom pulls in all the branches and we can assume Kang would communicate to the loom which scenarios from the branches should be pulled into the Sacred Timeline and which ones should be destroyed. Going off this belief, the big question still remains on how it works now with the Multiverse being fully open. In the episode, O.B. is the one to tell us that there are too many branches trying to pull into the loom, so it’s being overfilled. Yet the question is how are these branches being fed into it?

Again, going off the information that Kang would sort through the different timelines and put the right ones through, how are branches from the Sacred Timeline ending up back into the loom for sorting? We know the loom is building the past, not the present, which was our previous belief. Yet any branches that continue to come from the past would end up where exactly? There is definitely some needed clarification, especially now that we have the loom itself in the picture. It’s a surefire way to predict that Loki and Sylvie might just end up having to step into Kang’s role afterall to stop the chaos because what exactly is going to happen if the loom gets destroyed?

Conclusion

As we move through season 2, more answers should come our way pertaining to the time loom and the fate of the TVA. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, especially about the time loom, as I think this will be the impetus for many of the actions Loki and team take this season to try and preserve it. They may have fixed Loki, but the chaos is far from over. Tune in today for the new episode of Loki Season 2, with us returning to our Monday reactions episode now that we are back from vacation. Get excited, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Loki Season 2 Episode 1”, Christian Bone, We Got This Covered