Loki Spoiler Recap: The Variant
Behold, dear readers, the benefits of unloading all your expository dialogue right off the top. Now that the audience is generally caught up on what the TVA is, at least on a surface level, we can dive right into the larger story.
And dive we do. Or maybe it’s less diving and more falling through a Time Door? But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The episode begins at a Ren Faire in Wisconsin, 1985. The TVA show up chasing the Loki Variant. They follow the signature into the jousting tent, where the Variant triggers the sound system, and we are treated to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero”, which is really having something of a pop-culture resurgence lately.
The Variant gets the better of them, possessing their commander C-20, and killing the rest before disappearing through a Time Door, hostage in tow.
Meanwhile back at the TVA, Loki is officially part of the team. He’s got a little desk of his own, he’s wearing a tie, and Miss Minutes is trying to give him training tutorials. That all gets put on hold though, when Mobius drags him into their investigation of the events at the Ren Faire.
While there, Loki stalls and monologues just enough that he nearly causes a red line event - as in, he nearly makes the nexus event reach the point where resetting the timeline is impossible. His reasons for doing so remain unclear, but one thing that is clear is this: no one at the TVA trusts Loki now.
Except Mobius, that is. He reasons that in understanding the Loki who is with them, they will have an easier time understanding the Variant as well. Ravonna Renslayer - who is both Mobius’ friend and superior - is skeptical. Mobius assures her that everything will work out. Famous last words.
He assigns Loki the task of going through all files pertaining to the Variant. But what kind of God of Mischief would he be if he didn’t try to flout the rules a little. After unsuccessfully trying to dig up files on the TVA itself, he is finally given the only documents that aren’t classified, one of which details the destruction of Asgard as seen in Ragnarok.
It is at this point that I realized what it was I found so jarring about Loki in this episode. This version of Loki is the 2012 version, post-Avengers. He has none of his Phase Two or Three growth, and it’s a testament to Tom Hiddleston’s performance how well he can flip the switch on this character and regress him to that smug, overconfident, unrepentant (but still loveable) asshole we knew almost a decade ago. We knew going in that we were going to have to watch Loki grow - and hopefully redeem himself - all over again, but this episode was very clear on what exactly that’s going to look like. The pilot was heavy and emotional, but this was Loki at his most chaotic, equal parts humorous, pedantic and menacing.
While Loki doesn’t find much useful in the files Mobius gives him, he does come to a separate conclusion. He reasons, in one of the episodes funnier scenes, that the Variant is likely hiding in apocalyptic events, because then they wouldn’t leave a variance signature behind. Any actions they perform that fall out of line with the timeline won’t have a ripple effect, because wherever they’re hiding is annihilated shortly after.
Loki and Mobius test this theory by going back to Pompeii the day Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Loki frees all the goats, then loudly informs the townsfolk that they’re all about to die - in fluent Latin, no less. Despite Mobius’ panic, the volcano erupts and the timeline registers no traces of Loki’s interference.
Armed with this new knowledge, they try to narrow down which apocalyptic event the Variant might be hiding in. Using the Kablooie candy from last week as a clue, they narrow it down to a place called Haven Hills, Alabama which was wiped out by a hurricane in the year 2050. With Ravonna’s begrudging approval, the team go ahead, determined to find the Variant before things get out of control.
Naturally things get out of control almost right away.
Loki and Mobius are split up by B-15, and Loki follows her through the giant, abandoned grocery store they find themselves in. When they find a random man shopping for plants in the middle of a hurricane (azaleas, the same plant that killed Sparky in WandaVision - coincidence? Probably), that’s when the chase is on. Loki correctly guesses that this is the Variant in disguise, and things only get more bonkers from there. The Variant abandons the body of the shopper, inhabiting B-15’s instead, and engaging Loki in conversation.
Loki tells the Variant that his ultimate goal is to take over the TVA and the timekeepers. Because this is post-Avengers Loki who is still on a quest for power. The Loki who wants to be a king instead of fighting for something that matters. He asks the Variant to join him as his lieutenant, but the alternate Loki reveals that she’s not interested.
Yes, that’s right. Once she stops inhabiting the bodies of others, we learn that the Variant is none other than Lady Loki! I’m sure this has huge implications to the comic book readers, but for me, I’m just freaking out and completely along for this ride.
She tells Loki that her plan isn’t about him, then sets it in motion. All at once the many, many, reset charges she has light up, and as one drop through tiny Time Doors into various points in the timeline, causing an untold number of fractures to the Sacred Timeline. The task done. She flees through a Time Door, and Loki runs in after her, well within sight of Mobius, who’s probably feeling pretty silly right about now.
Phew, that was a lot. And I’m sure I left a lot out. This show is dense, and it seems to be packing each of it’s 6 episodes to the brim with lore, characterization and action. We’re a third of the way through and I’m breathless already.
Lingering Thoughts:
I loved Mobius’ line about Loki being a “scared little boy” out in the cold, not just for the metaphorical side of “why is he like this”, but it also conjures up imagery from the first Thor movie, and Loki coming to terms with his frost giant background.
I have no idea where any of this could be going, but one thing I do hope is that they keep hopping around in the timeline. I’m an absolute sucker for that kind of thing, and I feel like the end of this episode leaves a lot of room for those kinds of exploits. I also appreciate that they do take the time to explain their own internal time-travel logic, because it’s different in every show, and always gives me a headache when I try to think about it.
One element I do want to shout out before I wrap up is the absolutely fantastic score by Natalie Holt. It’s unsettling in all the right places, and the use of the ever-terrifying theremin is a wonderful, haunting touch.
The question I leave you all on is this: if Phase Four had come out in order, how would the fracturing of the Sacred Timeline have played into how we absorbed the other stories? Because this is a pretty momentous thing that just happened, and I cannot wait to see how this has an effect on the Sacred MCU Timeline.
Loki airs Wednesdays on Disney+. Check back here every week for our spoiler recap at noon Eastern.