Let’s Talk about Loki Episode 2-4

What if we had a Loki episode where people died?

What if these people were characters we knew and not just random redshirts?

For that matter, what if we had a Loki episode where EVERYONE died?

Let’s talk about Loki episode 2-4, the total bloodbath.

Ravonna’s Secret

This episode starts right where the previous one ended.

We’re at what remains of the Citadel at the End of Time. Miss Minutes is revealing the secret of Ravonna Renslayer to Ravonna Renslayer.

This particular secret will set Marvel fandom ablaze, as it connects to any number of conspiracy theories and projections involving the character.

Some fans believe she’s a Kang variant, thereby creating some symmetry with Loki and Sylvie.

Others believe Renslayer either has been or will become Kang’s love interest.

Then, there’s the darkest timeline, the one that connects the character to the Fantastic Four.

Recent MCU rumors suggest a much more interconnected Phase Five/Six story than anyone had previously connected.

This week’s Loki episode keeps all options on the table by revealing that Ravonna is an accomplished warrior.

Miss Minutes shows the TVA judge how she’d earned a better gig than she received.

A flashback shows He Who Remains thanking the accurately named Renslayer for her leading the troops that won the multiversal war.

The plan calls for the two of them to create and lead the TVA together. They even reference its slogan, “For all time. Always.” That was a joint thing.

Then, Kang betrayed Ravonna and all his other troops who would become TVA agents.

At Kang’s instruction, Miss Minutes wipes their memories and reduces Ravonna from conquering overlord living at the utopia at the end of time to a judge.

Don’t get me wrong. A judge is a good job but compared to co-leader of the multiverse, it’s a dramatic downward career trajectory.

By the way, Kang’s memory wipe is called Protocol 42. I don’t know whether that’s significant, but let’s keep it in mind.

Welcome to the TVA!

Remember how weird Loki’s first day at the TVA was? Well, someone has that beat.

We watch Victor Timely explore the structures designed by Kang the Conqueror, his variant. Victor’s face is carved in the walls. It’s unsettling.

Since the TVA is dying, Loki and Mobius are pressed for time. They ask Victor to proceed to the Loom, whose sound he recognizes.

While they head toward the Loom, we watch Hunter B-15 and Judge Gamble decide what to do with the war criminals never mentioned in the previous episode.

As a reminder, General Dox and her crew snuffed out trillions of lives at once by pruning timelines. They’ve been in custody at the TVA since then.

Gamble believes that Hunter B-15 can persuade them to work in the TVA’s best interest, which would require a ginormous leap of faith.

Alas, as I said at the top of the article, the story will never come to that. They’re not long for this world.

At the Loom, we witness a sequence that triggers alarms among all attentive viewers.

Ouroboros, the author of the TVA Handbook, meets Victor Timely, who has built his entire life around the teachings of the TVA Handbook.

Before Timely can simp to Ouroboros, the latter gentleman realizes he’s in the presence of the person whose work inspired said TVA Handbook.

Ouroboros and Victor join the mutual admiration society and ask for one another’s autographs.

During this conversation, the show makes the following point:

“So, if your work is based on his work, and his work is based on your work…”

Two thoughts: 1. Do you know what an ouroboros is? It’s a snake that eats its own tail. 2. Do you know who would admire Kang the most? Another Kang.

“A Good Plan”

To save the Sacred Timeline, someone must take the Throughput Multiplier to dock with the Loom.

If all goes well, the modification will rebalance the Loom and save the Sacred Timeline.

I should add that a funny moment occurs when O.B. says, “When…someone killed He Who Remains and released all those branches and ruined my life.”

Ouroboros looks accusingly at Sylvie, who stands proudly while Timely looks shocked.

If O.B. is a Kang variant, which no longer seems like the wild guess I thought it was in episode two, the “ruined my life” part takes on new meaning.

Anyway, nobody volunteers to go outside because the radiation nearly killed Mobius last time, and it’s much worse now.

Mobius suggests they get some pie, an idea Sylvie derides as patently absurd. They later have pie.

There’s something going on with that commissary that randomly lures people, just like there’s something going on with Ouroboros.

In the prison cell, General Dox and her troops listen to a diatribe from Hunter X-5, who has already proven he’s quite treacherous.

Hunter B-15 arrives soon afterward and asks for Dox’s help. The sheer audacity of it and the nobility of the TVA bounty hunter impresses Dox.

After the hunter leaves, Ravonna Renslayer teleports into the room, and everything gets messy. Literally.

Renslayer asks for the TVA workers to join her cause. Only X-5 does. Then, he tries to look away as Miss Minutes punishes the others.

The super-mega-evil clock uses the torture device from two episodes ago to squish Dox and her soldiers into paste. It’s grim.

By the way, Miss Minutes really likes committing this atrocity. Ravonna Renslayer picks the worst partners.

The Loki’s Assassin Reveal

We’ve got a couple of surprise prunings in this episode. The first occurs when Victor grows obsessed with the nature of the hot cocoa machine.

As an inventor, he wants to watch this machine in action. Mobius assigns a TVA agent to follow him.

An almost Vaudevillian scene (complete with music) plays out in silence as Victor eventually offers the TVA agent a cup of hot cocoa.

No, that’s not a trap, even though it plays out that way. As the agent happily sips, Hunter X-5 prunes him and thereby terrifies Victor.

Interestingly, Zaniac appears conflicted about murdering his former co-worker, just as he didn’t really want to join Ravonna.

X-5 just wants to be a famous actor in the 1970s. Is that so wrong?

Around the same time, Miss Minutes starts interfering with all the TVA systems.

So, in short order, Hunter B-15 tells everyone that Dox and her team died horribly. Mobius reveals that Miss Minutes is back. And someone has kidnapped Timely.

An absolutely hysterical moment occurs when Victor enters the TVA executive chamber.

Also present are an unforgiving Ravonna and a disapproving Miss Minutes.

Victor has the same look as someone whose two dates at the dance just found out about each other. I busted up at this setup.

The ladies seek information from Timely, which he semi-willingly chooses to provide.

Afterward, we cut to a moment in time we’ve already seen. Sylvie takes the elevator while Loki takes the stairs.

Guess who Loki sees standing between him and the elevator shaft!

Yes, it’s Before Loki who got pruned at the end of episode one. And yes, current Loki prunes him.

Even Doctor Who diehards will struggle with the timey wimey concept. It’ll bake your noodle.

The Next Two Deaths

That pruning isn’t even the most shocking one. It does solve the mystery of who is calling on that ringing phone, though. It’s O.B. and Mobius.

O.B. hears what has happened to Loki and decides to take down the safeguards so that he can prevent interference from Miss Minutes.

The TVA icon warns that it’ll allow magic in the building, though. That thought excites Loki and Sylvie.

Meanwhile, in her final moments, Miss Minutes claims she needs to tell Victor something. Her tone turns ominous as she states, “You’ll never be him.” Eep!

Then, the show does a cute Mr. Game & Watch reference as something dreadful happens in the background.

The three statues of Kang’s face carved into the wall all open their eyes. Victor notices and quietly states, “Oh, dear.”

Soon afterward, the lights go out, and Ravonna tells X-5 to investigate. While outside in the dark, he encounters Loki, and Sylvie bewitches him.

X-5 happily returns and prunes Ravonna Renslayer into oblivion. The victor of the multiversal war dies in a dark office.

Loki and Sylvie rush in and take Victor down to the Loom, where he unlocks the security gates. Notably, the system identifies him as He Who Remains.

Let’s just say that everything outside the windows is looking bleak. Loki quickly volunteers to use the device outside.

Victor gives the hint that he’s pulling a trick, as he nobly volunteers instead. It’s a swerve, though. The surprise is much more shocking.

The instant Victor Timely exists the building, the radiation spaghettifies him.

If you watch the gruesome CGI, you can even see the teeth fly away. There is nothing left of that dude.

The Shocking Conclusion

Folks, we haven’t even gotten to the shocking moment yet!

Seconds later, everyone in the room realizes that without the fix in place, the Loom will explode. AND IT DOES!

Yes, this episode ends with Loki staring in horror as his (and everyone else’s) fate is sealed.

The producers of the show knew this ending would be a shocker. So, they’ve already performed interviews that suggest Loki and Sylvie return.

Everybody else’s fate is in question since the TVA appears to have disintegrated.

Since time travel is involved, that doesn’t mean its fate is sealed, though.

After all, this episode showed current Loki killing past Loki in past Loki’s future, which was current Loki’s now—got all that? Exactly.

Anything can happen during the final two episodes of Loki season two.

What I can say with confidence and emphasis is that episode four thrills with its multiple shocking twists and sets the stage for a stunning conclusion.

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